Chinese tech giant Baidu announced on Sunday the launch of two new AI models, including a reasoning-focused model that it claims rivals DeepSeek. This move marks Baidu’s latest push into the fiercely competitive artificial intelligence sector.
The startup DeepSeek has recently made waves in China’s AI industry, intensifying competition. The company asserts that its models are on par with, if not superior to, leading AI models in the United States—while offering significantly lower costs.
Baidu highlighted the capabilities of one of its latest models, stating:
“Ernie X1 delivers performance comparable to DeepSeek at only half the price.”
The company emphasized that X1 excels in comprehension, planning, reasoning, and self-improvement, making it the first deep-thinking model capable of independently utilizing tools.
Additionally, Baidu introduced its latest foundation model, Ernie 4.5, which boasts advanced multimodal understanding and enhanced language capabilities. The company claims to have significantly improved the model’s comprehension, generation, logical reasoning, and memory functions.
Furthermore, Baidu noted that the new model possesses a high emotional intelligence and can effortlessly interpret humorous memes and satirical cartoons.
