Baidu's Ernie Bot Free Amid AI Competition

Baidu plans to make its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, free for all users starting April 1, amid increasing competition in China's AI market from rivals like DeepSeek. This decision comes as part of Baidu's strategy to regain momentum and bolster user adoption, leveraging improved technology and reduced costs. Baidu has also announced the launch of a free advanced search function with enhanced reasoning capabilities. The AI landscape in China is highly competitive, with companies like Alibaba and ByteDance engaging in price wars to capture market share. Concurrently, Chinese tech stocks, bolstered by AI advancements such as DeepSeek's open-source model, have seen a rally, with the Hang Seng Tech Index reaching a three-year high. This indicates a renewed investor interest in China's technology sector, particularly in AI and related fields.