Baidu boasts strong AI user growth alongside launch of first smart glasses

At Baidu World 2024, where it announced the new Xiaodu AI Glasses, CEO Robin Li said the Ernie model now sees 1.5 billion API calls per day

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A Baidu sign seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:32pm, 12 Nov 2024

Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong touted strong user growth for its Ernie large language model (LLM) at the company’s annual conference where it debuted a pair of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, as China’s largest internet search firm jostles for attention in a sea of competitors.

Li said at the event on Tuesday that its Ernie model, known as Wenxin in Chinese, handles more than 1.5 billion application programming interface (API) calls per day, several times more than the 200 million calls per day it was seeing in May, underscoring its growing popularity.

China’s AI market has seen the introduction of more than 200 LLMs since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 ignited a race in the industry. Baidu, a pioneer in China’s AI market that launched Ernie Bot in March 2023, is going up against Big Tech rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, along with numerous start-ups such as fundraising darlings Moonshot AI and Zhipu AI. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Baidu founder and CEO Robin Li Yanhong speaks at the Baidu World 2024 conference in Shanghai. Photo: Baidu

Baidu is starting to reap the benefits of AI while revenue from its more traditional online services has been falling. The company said AI-driven growth helped stabilise its financials in the second quarter, but it did not provide any details. Revenue from online ads, its main source of income, fell 2 per cent year on year to 19.2 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion).

The company is keeping its AI financials close to its chest even as it courts business for those services. The theme of the Baidu World 2024 conference is “applications are here”, highlighting the ways in which its AI has been deployed across more than 100 industries, from education to manufacturing.

Li emphasised the role of AI agents, which he referred to as “carriers for content, information, and services in the AI-native era”. For instance, Baidu’s enterprise-facing AI agent Qiaocang, which was on display at the venue, enables businesses to create customised agents. These AI agents can serve as customer service bots and sales assistants, helping to boost conversion rates and analyse customer demographics.

Baidu’s Qianfan, another platform, has helped corporate clients train 33,000 AI models and develop 770,000 applications, Li said.