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 was among the first Chinese tech giants to roll out generative AI to the public in 2023,. But startups like DeepSeek have shaken up the industry with open-source models that are highly efficient and cost-effective.

Tech giant says reasoning model Ernie X1 ‘delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price’.

China's tech companies have ramped up efforts in AI exploration, launching a growing number of new models following DeepSeek's R1 release earlier this year. Baidu launched its latest foundation models -- ERNIE 4.

The world was just getting used to Chinese AI company DeepSeek being cheaper and better than many AI models released in the west, but it's now been upstaged -- and by another Chinese company at

In a move to stay ahead in the fast-paced artificial intelligence (AI) game, Chinese tech giant Baidu has launched two new AI models, ERNIE 4.5 and X1. The ERNIE 4.5 model is said to have "excellent multimodal understanding ability," with enhanced language skills and better comprehension, generation, logic, and memory capabilities.

Baidu's reasoning model excels in areas like daily dialogs, complex calculations and logical deduction, it said in a statement

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.

HONG KONG (Reuters) -- 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 Inc. released a new artificial intelligence model that articulates its reasoning, in an apparent bid to regain momentum against up-and-coming rivals like DeepSeek.

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