Baidu, one of China's leading tech companies, announced on Sunday the launch of two new artificial intelligence models as it intensifies efforts to compete in the increasingly crowded AI landscape. The company's latest offerings include a reasoning-focused model that directly challenges rising star DeepSeek's capabilities.

ERNIE X1: Half the Price, Comparable Performance

The new ERNIE X1 model is being positioned as a direct competitor to DeepSeek's R1 model, which has recently disrupted the market by offering capabilities comparable to leading U.S. models at significantly lower costs. According to Baidu, ERNIE X1 "delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price."

Baidu highlighted that X1 features "stronger understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution capabilities," and claims it is the "first deep thinking model that uses tools autonomously" - a significant advancement in AI functionality.

ERNIE 4.5: Enhanced Multimodal Capabilities

Alongside ERNIE X1, Baidu introduced its latest foundation model, ERNIE 4.5. This update boasts "excellent multimodal understanding ability" with "more advanced language ability" and improvements across "understanding, generation, logic, and memory abilities."

The company also emphasized ERNIE 4.5's "high EQ," noting its ability to understand internet culture, including network memes and satirical cartoons - features designed to make the AI more relatable and useful in everyday contexts.

Intensifying Competition in Chinese AI Market

Baidu was among the first major Chinese tech companies to launch a ChatGPT-style chatbot. However, despite claiming performance comparable to OpenAI's GPT-4, the company has faced challenges in achieving widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model amid fierce competition.

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DeepSeek's recent emergence with models that reportedly match or exceed U.S. counterparts at lower price points has further intensified competition and reinvigorated the global AI race, particularly in China.

The Rise of Multimodal AI

These developments highlight the growing importance of multimodal AI systems, which can process and integrate various types of data including text, video, images, and audio. This versatility allows these advanced systems to convert content across different formats, making them more versatile and powerful tools for various applications.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly, Baidu's latest models represent another step in China's efforts to establish technological leadership in this critical emerging field.