China’s web search giant, Baidu, has announced that it will shut down its encyclopaedia app, Baidu Baike, to focus more on the development of artificial intelligence (AI). The move comes as Baidu aims to make AI its next growth engine and improve user experiences. Baidu Baike, launched in 2006 as a local alternative to Wikipedia, relies on user contributions and has amassed over 27 million entries edited by 7.7 million netizens. The app gained popularity in China due to intermittent disruptions in accessing Wikipedia, which was eventually completely blocked in 2008. Baidu’s decision to close the Baike app aligns with its increasing investments in AI initiatives, such as its Ernie chatbot powered by a self-developed large language model (LLM) of the same name.
Baidu is placing great importance on AI, as evident from its chairman and CEO Robin Li Yanhong’s statement in the company’s financial report. He highlighted the significant strides made in advancing Ernie and Ernie Bot, reinventing products and services, and achieving breakthroughs in monetization throughout 2023. Baidu generated 134.6 billion yuan ($18.6 billion) in revenue last year, with its core business seeing an 8% increase in sales to 103.5 billion yuan. Li expressed commitment to generative AI and foundation models, which will pave the way for creating a new growth engine.
Ernie Bot, which attracted over 200 million users and 85,000 enterprise clients within 13 months of its launch, is considered one of the top two LLMs developed in China, according to Tsinghua University. Although it may still lag behind global leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic, Ernie has been progressively narrowing the gap with the best models worldwide. Baidu actively collaborated with companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tencent Holdings, and Ant Group to publish two new international standards on generative AI and LLM earlier this month, further solidifying its position in the field.
Baidu’s decision to shut down the Baike app may come as a disappointment to its millions of users, but it reflects the company’s strategic focus on AI development for future growth. As Baidu continues to invest in AI technology and build on the success of the Ernie chatbot, it is positioning itself as a key player in the global AI landscape. With its commitment to advancing generative AI and foundation models, Baidu is determined to create a new growth engine and remain at the forefront of innovation.
Use the share button below if you liked it.