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China’s Baidu launches free erniE 4.5 and X1 via web chatbot to compete with DeepSeek
Baidu Introduces ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1 AI Models, Offering Advanced Performance and Affordability in China’s Competitive AI Landscape
Isabella V16 March 2025
Baidu has launched the AI models ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1, offering performance comparable to DeepSeek R1 at a lower cost. ERNIE 4.5 improves understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory, while ERNIE X1 focuses on deep reasoning. ERNIE Bot is now free for individual users.
Key Points:
- Baidu has released the AI models ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1.
- ERNIE 4.5 offers improvements in understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.
- ERNIE X1 achieves performance similar to DeepSeek R1 at half the cost.
- ERNIE Bot is now free for individual users.
In the AI space, Baidu recently introduced two new models: ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1. ERNIE 4.5, described as a next-generation native multimodal model, features significant advancements in understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory. These improvements include better hallucination prevention, logical reasoning, and enhanced coding skills. In parallel, ERNIE X1 is designed as a deep reasoning model with multimodal capabilities, offering performance comparable to the DeepSeek R1 model, but at half the cost.
In addition, Baidu has made its AI chatbot, ERNIE Bot, freely accessible to individual users, ahead of schedule. Previously, ERNIE Bot required a monthly subscription to access, but is now freely available through the official website.
For enterprises and developers, ERNIE 4.5 is accessible via API on Baidu AI Cloud’s Qianfan MaaS platform, and ERNIE X1 will be available soon. Pricing for ERNIE 4.5 starts at $0.55 per 1 million input tokens and $2.2 per 1 million output tokens; for ERNIE X1, the prices are $0.28 and $1.1 per 1 million tokens, respectively.
These developments underscore the growing competitiveness in the AI industry in China, with companies like Baidu and DeepSeek pushing the boundaries of innovation and accessibility.
The availability of advanced models at reduced costs could have significant implications for the adoption and integration of AI across industries globally.