Baidu’s ERNIE Bot will be fully free for all users on PC and mobile platforms starting April 1, according to an announcement made on WeChat yesterday. The update will include long document processing, enhanced professional search, advanced AI drawing, and multilingual conversations. Additionally, a new deep search function will also be available from April 1, giving complex responses and supporting multi-tasking across different scenarios.
As of November 2024, ERNIE Bot has 430 million users, processing over 1.5 billion queries a day. On February 3, Baidu’s intelligent cloud platform launched DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3 models. According to CNBC, Baidu plans to release its next-generation AI model later this year, enabling it to compete with emerging players like DeepSeek. [Baidu WeChat account]
