ChatGPT's Chinese rival Ernie disappoints, triggers 10% crash in Baidu's stock

Months after it first appeared online as a social media trend, ChatGPT has taken the internet and the tech world by storm, as it keeps unleashing AI's potential. After Microsoft invested ChatGPT and integrated it into Bing, Google responded with Bard that bit the dust and Elon Musk assembled his own team of AI researchers to create a rival.

Like Weibo is China's very own social media, the country's search giant Baidu created Ernie AI to counter ChatGPT, but failed to impress.

Lacklustre debut casts shadow over stocks

• The shares of Baidu crashed by as much as 10 per cent after the launch of Ernie Bot, as its founder Robin Li used pre-recorded videos instead of a live demo.

• Failure to show how Ernie can match up to ChatGPT in real-time, wiped out $4 billion from Baidu's market value, as the tech sector races to lead the AI revolution.

• The launch also came on the heels of ChatGPT-4's arrival, and was underwhelming for tech geeks as well as netizens, already excited about ChatGPT's new features.

Scripted interaction dragged down energy levels

• Since Li was talking to AI in a scripted video instead of testing its database with spontaneous prompts, users weren't convinced about Ernie's ability to rival ChatGPT.

• The billionaire who's firm is seen ahead of Alibaba and Tencent in competing with global tech giants, admits that Ernie Bot isn't perfect.

• But despite investing billions on the AI push, the debut of Baidu's bot has been dismissed as low-energy by Chinese users.

Apart from emerging as a rival for ChatGPT-backed Bing, Baidu also hopes to reverse its decline in the ad market, at a time when global internet giants are struggling with revenues.