Baidu, a major search engine company in China, has released an upgraded version of its AI chatbot, Ernie 4.0, which competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, announced at the company's annual technology conference in Beijing on October 17, 2023 that the launch of the new version of Ernie 4.0 could lead to a new round of economic growth. Although the general public cannot yet access the latest version of Ernie 4, Li claims that it is as good as OpenAI's ChatGPT 4. Baidu has been gradually transitioning into an internet service company specializing in AI-related services since the launch of its generative AI chatbot, Ernie, in August 2023.