Chinese technology company Baidu has unveiled two new artificial intelligence models, including one that directly challenges the capabilities of DeepSeek’s R1. Baidu, headquartered in Beijing, claims that its new model, named Ernie X1, offers performance that is comparable to DeepSeek R1 but at one half the cost. The company also stated that the Ernie X1 possesses “stronger understanding, planning, reflection and evolution capabilities.”
In January, DeepSeek, a Chinese AI start-up, made headlines with its R1 reasoning model. DeepSeek’s model reportedly utilized lower-cost chips and required less data than its American counterparts. The launch of the model caused significant market fluctuations, resulting in nearly $1 trillion being wiped off of the value of major tech and infrastructure stocks in a single day in the United States. Although the market has since largely recovered, some uncertainty remains regarding the long-term impact of these developments.
