Baidu gets its own “reasoning” AI model
While DeepSeek’s fast, cheap, and open-source AI models may be getting all of the world’s attention, Baidu, one of China’s largest tech companies, is competing head-to-head with the smaller startup.
This weekend, Baidu released two new models: Ernie 4.5, its updated foundational model, and Ernie X1, a new “reasoning” model to compete with DeepSeek’s R1.
The company said Ernie 4.5 beat OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 on multiple benchmarks for “just 1% of the price,” according to a press release. Both models are free for individual users of the “Ernie Bot” chatbot.
Baidu is touting Ernie X1’s reasoning ability, but also its price:
“As a deep-thinking reasoning model with multimodal capabilities, ERNIE X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price.”
Baidu’s stock was up over 1% in early trading this morning.
The company said Ernie 4.5 beat OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 on multiple benchmarks for “just 1% of the price,” according to a press release. Both models are free for individual users of the “Ernie Bot” chatbot.
Baidu is touting Ernie X1’s reasoning ability, but also its price:
“As a deep-thinking reasoning model with multimodal capabilities, ERNIE X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price.”
Baidu’s stock was up over 1% in early trading this morning.
