Baidu rebrands Ernie Bot as Wenxiaoyan in China to stand out from AI rivals
The tech giant is leveraging its dominant position in the internet search market to gain an edge in the fast-growing Chinese AI sector.
Baidu on Wednesday announced a rebranding of its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) app Ernie Bot, as the Chinese technology giant tries to distinguish itself in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.
The Chinese renaming of Ernie Bot to “Wenxiaoyan” from “Wenxin Yiyan” reflects the tool’s positioning as a “new search” assistant, according to Xue Su, vice-president and head of AI innovation business at Baidu.
“With new technologies, we are able to make search smarter and more convenient,” Xue said at a launch event in Beijing. While the company is exploring commercialisation opportunities for the service, the focus is on user value first, he added.
Baidu, operator of China’s most widely used search engine, is leveraging its dominant position in the internet search market to gain an edge in the fast-growing local AI sector, where start-ups and Big Tech companies alike are fighting for customers.
The Wenxiaoyan app, available for download from local Android and iOS app stores, allows users to search for internet content based on text, speech or images. The tool also features a range of AI functions, such as text-to-image generation, as well as customised agents made by third-party developers for specific tasks.
