Chinese technology groups Baidu and ByteDance launched their artificial intelligence chatbots to the public on Thursday after receiving regulatory approval from Beijing.A handful of AI start-ups also had their services greenlit for the public, in a development expected to help the companies improve their models and commercialise the technology as they race to deliver China’s answer to Microsoft’s OpenAI.
Baidu’s Ernie had previously only been available to a limited pool of users that signed up to test the chatbot. But from Thursday, everyone with a Chinese phone number can access the free chatbot, which Baidu has said will remake its business and bolster advertising revenue.
Baidu founder and chief executive Robin Li on Thursday said the public rollout meant “Baidu will collect massive valuable real-world human feedback” to make the chatbot work at a “much faster pace”.