Baidu unveils upgraded AI platforms at Beijing event

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) unveiled its upgraded Baige AI Heterogeneous Computing Platform 4.0 and Qianfan Foundation Model Platform 3.0 at its 2024 Baidu AI Cloud Summit in Beijing.

The Chinese internet search giant’s AI models Ernie now processes over 700 million inquiries daily on the Qianfan Foundation Model Platform, according to Dou Shen, executive vice president of Baidu.

Shen added that Qianfan has helped users fine-tune over 30,000 large models and built more than 700,000 enterprise applications.

The company noted that Baige 4.0 achieves over 99.5% training efficiency on clusters with 10,000 graphics processing units, or GPUs, and is capable of managing a 100,000 GPU cluster.

The company’s foundation model platform Qianfan 3.0 now offers services for model usage, model development, and application development. It also introduces a low-code platform for building enterprise-level apps using natural language, according to Baidu.

Baidu’s AI coding assistant Baidu Comate launched two features to help programmers review code and code architecture at an enterprise level. Comate is already serving over 10,000 enterprise clients, the company noted.

In addition, Baidu stated that its AI-powered customer service platform Keyue autonomously resolves 90% of inquiries, answering 1.5 billion user queries.

Baidu added that XiLing Digital Avatar 4.0 now generates industry-specific 3D digital avatars at significantly reduced costs.

Last week, Baidu’s tech rival Alibaba (BABA) released over 100 open-source AI models at its Cloud unit’s annual flagship event, Apsara.

China’s cloud services market has seen a price war with players such as Baidu, Alibaba (BABA), ByteDance (BDNCE), Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) (OTCPK:TCTZF) and iFlytek cutting prices of their large language models, or LLMs, which power AI chatbots.

Meanwhile, TikTok owner ByteDance is reportedly advancing efforts to make its own AI chips as it intends to get an edge over competitors in China’s AI chatbot market.