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Baidu launches paid version of Ernie Bot as Chinese firms rush to make money from their generative AI chatbots
- Ernie Bot 4.0 was unveiled by Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li Yanhong last month
- Baidu’s move comes as Chinese tech firms race to commercialise their large language models
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Iris Dengin Shenzhen
Chinese internet search giant Baidu has launched the paid version of its ChatGPT-like service Ernie Bot, as the country’s tech companies race to make money from their generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
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The professional plan gives users access to the recently released Ernie Bot 4.0 at 59.9 yuan (US$8.18) per month, reduced to 49.9 yuan per month for auto-renewal subscriptions, according to the tech company’s official website.
The subscription allows users to make 100 inquiries every three hours via Ernie Bot 4. Meanwhile, the more basic Ernie Bot 3.5 remains free of charge to the public.
Ernie Bot 4.0 was unveiled by Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li Yanhong last month with the promise of improved capabilities in understanding complex questions, generating pictures and handling basic arithmetic.
“Its generalised abilities are by no means inferior compared to GPT-4,” Li said at its launch on October 17, referring to the latest ChatGPT model from Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
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