Baidu’s (BIDU) AI chatbot Ernie has exceeded 200M monthly active users, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter, as competition heats up among Chinese tech giants in the AI race.
Ernie Assistant is integrated into the Baidu search engine app and on personal computers. The AI bot is also linked with the company’s Baidu Map and Baidu Health platforms.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
The Ernie bot is linked to apps such as JD.com, Meituan, and Trip.com, which allows the agent to help book flight tickets, order food delivery, and search for health and legal advice, among other things, the report added.
Baidu’s AI services compete with those from companies like Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (TCEHY), ByteDance (BDNCE), and DeepSeek (DEEPSEEK).
Last week, Alibaba said it is embedding its Qwen chatbot into its consumer ecosystem and allowing it to carry out tasks on users’ behalf.
The Qwen app surpassed 100M monthly active users within two months of its November launch, the report added.
TikTok parent ByteDance rolled out its first AI-integrated phone in partnership with smartphone maker ZTE in December last year.