Chinese search engine Baidu has launched two new AI models — Ernie 4.5, the latest version of the company’s foundational model first released two years ago, as well as a new reasoning model, Ernie X1.

The Beijing-based company claims ERNIE 4.5 outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 on multiple benchmarks while being priced at just 1% of its American competitor’s rate. This aggressive positioning signals Baidu’s determination to capture market share in the increasingly competitive global AI landscape.