China's Baidu says developing AI chatbot

While a number of smaller Chinese firms have begun developing a rival to the app, Baidu is by far the biggest to throw its hat into the ring, though the firm did not announce a launch date for the service, set to be called 'Ernie Bot'. — Reuters

BEIJING: Chinese search engine giant Baidu on Tuesday said it was developing an AI-powered chatbot, as tech giants rush to match the success of ChatGPT, a hugely popular language app that has sparked a gold rush in artificial intelligence technology.

ChatGPT, created by San Francisco company OpenAI, has caused a sensation for its ability to write essays, poems or programming code on demand within seconds, sparking widespread fears of cheating or of professions becoming obsolete.