Baidu, the Chinese autonomous vehicle maker best known for years as a major internet search engine in China, has just made its generative artificial intelligence (AI) model available to the general public. The idea is to collect user feedback to improve the platform.
Currently only available in mainland China, Ernie Bot, this is the name of this AI, can be downloaded via local application stores or accessed via the Baidu site.
The Chinese tech giant also plans to launch native AI applications that it says will deliver four key generative AI capabilities: reasoning, memory, generation and understanding.
Ernie Bot can generate text, images, sound and video from text
First launched in March this year with limited access, Ernie Bot was previously available to users with invite codes, with its API accessible via Baidu AI Cloud.
Ernie Bot can, among other things, generate text, images, sound and video from text. He can also speak in several Chinese dialects, including Sichuan. Since its introduction in March, the AI model has learned skills in more than 200 writing genres, increasing content quality by 1.6 times, according to Baidu. Five plugins were also added to Ernie Bot this month, including Baidu Search, Data Analysis and Visualization, and Text to Video Conversion.
The Chinese vendor said it has invested 17.7 billion euros in research and development over the past ten years and offers an AI portfolio including applications, models and chips.
Other players are entering the market
Ernie Bot is one of the first generative AI apps to be made available to the general public in China. And other local actors arrive.
Zhipu Ai, SenseTime and Baichuan Intelligence Technology are among those that will soon introduce generative AI products, after obtaining government approval, Reuters mentions. Citing local media, the news agency adds that 11 companies have been given the green light to launch AI products locally, including ByteDance.
In recent months, several players in the Chinese market have unveiled generative AI models, mainly aimed at companies. E-commerce giant JD.com last month launched its large ChatRhino language model, which it says is customized to support verticals such as logistics, retail, healthcare and finance.
Provisional legislation to regulate AI
Tencent and Alibaba also announced initiatives to integrate generative AI into their products. Alibaba Cloud in April unveiled its AI platform, called Tongyi Qianwen, which is currently available to customers in China for beta testing and as an API for developers. The Chinese cloud computing provider has also launched a partnership program to boost the development of AI applications for vertical sectors, including finance and petrochemicals.
The accelerated development of AI comes amid tentative regulations in China, which were put in place to ensure sound development of the technology and safeguard national security and public interests, the Chinese government said.
Coming into effect on August 15, the interim legislation outlines various measures to help achieve these goals, including steps to improve the quality of training data, such as its accuracy, objectivity and diversity. Generative AI service providers also take legal responsibility for the information generated and its security, and they must sign service level agreements with the users of their services, clarifying the rights and obligations of each party.
Generative AI developers should ensure that their pre-training and model optimization processes are conducted in compliance with the law. In particular, they must use data from legitimate sources that respect intellectual property rights. If personal data is used, the individual’s consent must be obtained or it must be done in accordance with existing regulations.
Source: “ZDNet.com”