The rumors are true: Baidu, a search engine that some consider the Chinese answer to Google, will launch its own open-source chatbot to compete against ChatGPT by American artificial intelligence company OpenAI. ERNIE Bot (文心一言) will officially be accessible to the public in March 2023.

ChatGPT’s release last November was a huge success and has stirred up discussions in the tech world and beyond. Countless industries have tried to integrate the novel technology into their daily workflow.

With ChatGPT blocked in the Chinese mainland, the release of ERNIE Bot could fill a gap in the Chinese internet, which caters to more than 1 billion internet users.

According to the Chinese online tech media outlet 36Kr, Baidu will soon finish its internal tests and release the chatbot to the public next month.

Baidu launched its AI platform ERNIE 1.0 in 2019 and has since invested billions of dollars in AI development. The company’s AI art generation platform ERNIE 2.0 also made waves in the creative field last year, stirring up heated discussions about the value of human creativity.

Cover image via VCG