Baidu launches two new versions of its AI model Ernie

The Chinese search engine Baidu has launched two new AI models – Ernie 4.5, the latest version of the fundamental model of the company that was released for the first time two years ago, as well as a new reasoning model, Ernie X1.

According to ReutersBaidu claims that the performance of Ernie X1 is “on the same footing with Deepseek R1 for only half the price”, and it praises Ernie 4.5’s “High EQ”, allowing the model to understand memes and satire. Both models have multimodal options, so that they can process video, images and audio, as well as text.

While Baidu was one of the first Chinese companies to launch a competitor to open the Chatgpt of OpenAi, it is reportedly struggling to find widespread adoption. In the meantime, the aforementioned Deepseek has recently released restless American AI companies and investors by releasing models that were apparently just as powerful at a much lower costs.

CNBC reported that earlier Baidu is planning to release its next generation modelErnie 5, later this year, with further multimodal improvements.