Baidu claims newest version of Ernie AI Bot is better than OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5 and GPT 4

Baidu announced that its chatbot Ernie Bot, powered by an artificial intelligence-based large language model (LLM), has surpassed OpenAI’s groundbreaking ChatGPT in important metrics, intensifying the competition against US and local rivals.

According to a statement released on Tuesday, the Chinese search and AI company referred to a test conducted by the state-run newspaper China Science Daily. The test demonstrated that Baidu’s latest LLM, Ernie 3.5, outperformed both ChatGPT 3.5 in comprehensive ability tests and the more advanced ChatGPT 4 in several Chinese-language capabilities.

Baidu’s tall claims
Baidu’s Chief Technology Officer, Haifeng Wang, stated that just three months after the beta release of Ernie Bot, which was built on Ernie 3.0, Ernie 3.5 achieved significant enhancements in effectiveness, functionality, and performance.

Wang further emphasized that the recent improvements to Ernie’s LLM are noticeable in creative writing, question answering, reasoning, and code generation. The latest version of Ernie Bot also allows for the addition of plug-ins to expand its features.

One of the integrated plug-ins is “Baidu Search,” which equips Ernie Bot with the ability to generate real-time and accurate information. Baidu plans to incorporate more plug-ins from both Baidu and third-party developers.

Over 50 per cent improvement since launch
China Science Daily conducted tests based on benchmark assessments designed to evaluate AI-language models, such as AGIEval and C-Eval. These benchmarks assess the models’ performance through standardized exams and thousands of multiple-choice questions across a number of disciplines.

Baidu’s statement follows CEO and co-founder Robin Li’s remarks at a conference, where he highlighted that Ernie Bot’s model performance had improved by over 50 per cent since the release of version 3.0 in March. Li also mentioned a twofold increase in training performance and a 17-fold increase in inference performance, enabling faster and more cost-effective iterations and upgrades.

Given the US sanctions limiting China’s access to advanced graphics processing units for training large language models, improving efficiency becomes crucial for AI development in the country.

Li emphasized that the upgraded Ernie Foundation Model version 3.5 not only includes technical enhancements but also addresses safety concerns, potentially addressing growing content safety issues raised by Beijing.

China’s AI conundrum
China faces the challenge of balancing support and funding for generative AI development with the implementation of regulations and restrictions on overseas products to manage perceived risks associated with the technology.

Li believes that the governance of generative AI presents several challenges, requiring the establishment of sound laws, regulations, institutional systems, ethics, and moral guidelines to ensure healthy development.

Baidu’s release of Ernie Bot 3.0 in March marked China’s initial response to ChatGPT, prompting other companies like Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to introduce their own models. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

According to a test conducted by the Xinhua Institute in June, a think tank affiliated with the Xinhua state news agency, Baidu’s Ernie Bot ranked as the top alternative to ChatGPT offered by Chinese tech companies.

Baidu is actively integrating Ernie Bot into its other products, including cloud services, and has announced a 1 billion yuan (US$139 million) venture fund to invest in Chinese generative AI start-ups.

Li predicts that large language models will increasingly permeate various sectors, becoming a key driving force behind the growth of the digital economy and its integration with the real economy.

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