Artificial intelligence is now a critical area of US-China competition, and Baidu is seen as the frontrunner in this field from China’s tech sector. Its product, which the company calls Ernie Bot, is closely watched as a gauge of how China’s offerings stack up against those from Alphabet Inc. and ChatGPT maker OpenAI Inc. The disappointment of the launch event was swept aside by the positive analyst reviews.
Baidu Inc. surged more than 14% Friday after brokerages including Citigroup tested the company’s just-unveiled ChatGPT-like service and granted it their preliminary approval.
Baidu’s leap reversed a 6.4% loss on Thursday after founder Robin Li debuted China’s answer to ChatGPT via recorded video, disappointing investors hoping for a real-time demo of the country’s highest-profile entry in a race to dominate the technology.
