Baidu began as a search engine company. It now provides a long list of services and is a leader in self-driving technology. It has also “aggressively” invested in AI since 2012, making it an early player, one which also boasts decades of data from its many online services it can use to train its models.
But Ernie’s launch event—hosted by the company’s CEO Robin Li, dressed in a crisp dress shirt, dark slacks, and white sneakers—only showed pre-recorded sessions of the model answering questions and undertaking tasks. Commentators surmised Baidu lacked full confidence in Ernie’s ability to perform. Li even admitted on stage that the model was “not perfect” and that his company was releasing it so soon because “the market demanded it.”