KEY TAKEAWAYS Chinese tech giant Baidu said it has launched two artificial intelligence models, including the ERNIE X1, which it claims delivers the same performance as DeepSeek R1 “at only half the price.

China's Baidu said on Sunday it has launched two new artificial intelligence models, including a new reasoning-focused model that it said rivalled DeepSeek's model, as it vies to stand out in a fiercely competitive AI race.

Baidu introduces its low-cost AI models, including Ernie 4.5, to rival DeepSeek and strengthen its position in China’s growing AI market.

Baidu released a new artificial intelligence model that articulates its reasoning, in an apparent bid to regain momentum against up-and-coming rivals like DeepSeek.

Ernie 4.5 is Baidu's new generation multimodal foundation model, which possesses the ability to understand and generate text, images, audio and video content based on given prompts. The model demonstrates comprehensive improvements in terms of understanding, generation, reasoning and memory compared with previous versions.

Chinese tech company Baidu said on Sunday it has launched two new artificial intelligence (AI) models, which are said to offer the same performance as the Chinese chatbot DeepSeek but at half the cost.

Chinese internet search giant Baidu released a new artificial intelligence reasoning model Sunday and made its AI chatbot services free as ferocious competition grips the sector.

Chinese tech giant Baidu launched two new AI models on Sunday: ERNIE 4.5, a native multimodal model, and ERNIE X1, a deep-thinking reasoning model.

Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek shocked its rivals with its open-source and highly cost-efficient model in January

BEIJING: China's Baidu said on Sunday (Mar 16) it has launched two new artificial intelligence (AI) models, including a new reasoning-focused model that it said rivalled DeepSeek's model, as it vies to stand out in a fiercely competitive AI race.