Caixin Global China Watch

Caixin Global China Watch

Share this post

Caixin Global China Watch
Caixin Global China Watch
DeepSeek’s Meteoric Rise Forces Baidu to Drop Chatbot Paywalls

DeepSeek’s Meteoric Rise Forces Baidu to Drop Chatbot Paywalls

Caixin Global's avatar
Caixin Global
Feb 18, 2025
∙ Paid
4

Share this post

Caixin Global China Watch
Caixin Global China Watch
DeepSeek’s Meteoric Rise Forces Baidu to Drop Chatbot Paywalls
2
Share
Baidu CEO Robin Li speaks during the company's Create conference in Shenzhen, China, on April 16, 2024. Photo: Bloomberg

Baidu CEO Robin Li speaks during the company's Create conference in Shenzhen, China, on April 16, 2024. Photo: Bloomberg

Following DeepSeek’s launch of free AI chatbot for the public, OpenAI and Baidu Inc. have followed suit, announcing free access to their own chatbot services, intensifying competition in the AI chatbot market.

Baidu said Thursday that its PC-based and mobile chatbot Ernie Bot would become fully free starting April 1, granting users access to its latest AI models with capabilities such as long-text processing, retrieval-augmented generation, AI-generated images and multilingual conversations.

【Subscribe now and check out for more coverage about China’s AI.】

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Caixin Global China Watch to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 CXG
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share