Chinese tech giant Baidu said it has launched two artificial intelligence models, including the ERNIE X1, which it claims delivers the same performance as DeepSeek R1 “at only half the price.”

Chinese search engine Baidu has launched two new AI models — Ernie 4.5, the latest version of the company’s foundational model first released two years ago, as well as a new reasoning model, Ernie X1.

Baidu has introduced its latest X1 reasoning model and the Ernie 4.5 foundation model, both of which are now accessible via its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot.

Baidu has launched two new AI models, Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1. The Ernie Bot is now free, with Ernie 4.5 being multimodal and outperforming GPT-4.5. Ernie X1 focuses on reasoning and will be priced lower than Ernie 4.

Baidu, a major AI and internet company, has unveiled its latest foundation models: ERNIE 4.5, a native multimodal model, and ERNIE X1, a deep-thinking reasoning model. The company noted that this launch highlights its focus on advancing next-generation AI technologies.

Baidu's efforts come on the heels of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek unveiling its AI model R1 in January and detailing in a paper how large language models, or LLMs, could be built on tight budgets and improved without human supervision. U.S. tech stocks plunged on Jan. 27, with Nvidia seeing around $589B in market cap erased on that day.

It achieves collaborative optimization through joint modeling of multiple modalities, demonstrating exceptional multimodal comprehension capabilities.

Baidu introduced Ernie X1, a reasoning model that can support tools such as advanced search, generation of AI images, and webpage reading.

Chinese internet search giant Baidu released a new artificial intelligence reasoning model Sunday and made its AI chatbot services free to consumers as ferocious competition grips the sector.