Baidu launches AI assistant to help civil servants write essays on communist party ideology

Beijing-based search and artificial intelligence (AI) giant Baidu, which was the first to launch a ChatGPT alternative in China, has rolled out a new tool in partnership with the country’s most popular political study app.

The AI assistant, launched Wednesday on Baidu’s Ernie Bot platform, is a partnership with Xuexi Qiangguo, the official app for communist party members to learn ideology and doctrine. The app is run by the country’s propaganda authority.

The tool, named the “Xuexi Qiangguo official document assistant”, can search for content from President Xi Jinping’s articles and quotes, and ensure that the “information is strictly checked and verified”. The tool will be able to generate and polish-up official documents, according to a report by the state-backed Xinhua News Agency.

When accessed on Thursday, the new Baidu tool, accessible by searching its name on Ernie Bot, offered Xi’s latest theories on rural development and “moderate prosperity” – which recognised the party’s achievements in eliminating absolute poverty – as well as Xi’s “people-centred philosophy” that says development should benefit the people. It has handled more than 2,300 chats, it said.

Besides Xi’s speeches, the tool also generates results from government documents, policies and state media reports, while providing links to the original sources.