Baidu World 2025, held in Beijing, marked a milestone for the Chinese search giant as it introduced ERNIE 5.0, a natively omni‑modal foundation model that processes text, images, audio, and video in a single architecture. The model is immediately available through Baidu’s ERNIE Bot chatbot and the Qianfan developer platform, positioning it as the core of Baidu’s AI ecosystem and a key driver for future cloud and application services.
The launch also unveiled a broad set of AI products designed to accelerate adoption across enterprises and consumers. GenFlow 3.0, a general‑purpose agent, now serves over 20 million users. Baidu’s next‑generation real‑time digital‑human technology, which debuted in Brazil, was used by 83 % of livestreamers during China’s Double 11 shopping festival and is slated for expansion into the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Miaoda 2.0, the upgraded no‑code builder, has generated more than 400 000 applications. Oreate, a one‑stop AI workspace for international markets, has attracted 1.2 million users worldwide. The international version of Miaoda, MeDo, is available to global developers via medo.dev, and Famou, a self‑evolving agent, is commercially available by invitation.
Baidu’s AI‑centric strategy is reinforced by its dominant position in China’s AI cloud market, where Baidu and Alibaba each hold roughly 25 % of the share. The company’s Apollo Go autonomous‑driving platform has completed over 17 million rides across 22 cities, with weekly driverless trips exceeding 250 000. Additionally, about 70 % of Baidu’s top search results are now presented in rich media format, reflecting the broader integration of AI into core services. Baidu’s proprietary Kunlun M100 and M300 AI chips, developed in response to U.S. export restrictions, provide the low‑cost, high‑performance compute needed to scale ERNIE 5.0 and other AI workloads.
CEO Robin Li emphasized the strategic importance of internalizing AI: “When you internalize AI, it becomes a native capability and transforms intelligence from a cost into a source of productivity.” He added that the industry is shifting toward an “inverted pyramid” where applications create 100× the value of foundation models, and that Baidu will continue investing in cutting‑edge models to drive technological innovation. Li also highlighted the potential of autonomous vehicles, stating that “autonomous vehicles will become new mobile living spaces, opening up countless possibilities.”
The combination of a powerful omni‑modal model, a diversified product suite, and a robust AI cloud platform positions Baidu to deepen its competitive moat in China and expand globally. By offering a cost‑effective foundation model and a range of developer tools, Baidu aims to open new revenue channels, accelerate AI adoption, and compete more aggressively with global leaders such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT series. The launch signals a decisive step toward a fully AI‑centric business model, with implications for Baidu’s cloud, autonomous driving, and digital‑human markets.
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