Chinese technology firm Baidu is offering access to its AI powerhouse Ernie, in a move that could lead to a new age in the development of AI. Developers and researchers worldwide will be able to begin tinkering and building on Baidu’s so-called Ernie model starting this week, a move that signals a shift for China’s AI industry.
In February, Baidu unveiled plans to open-source its next-generation AI product, which is presumed to be called Ernie 5. Its previous models, Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1, were released by the company early this year. Now the focus remains on what Baidu will actually offer and how much of the technology it will share.
AI open-sourcing comes in two variations. One is complete access, when a company makes the model’s core code, training process, and architecture available. This allows others to use, modify, and build on their own versions of the model. The second is partial access, in which only the model’s output weights are made available, so developers can apply the model but with no way of fully understanding or replicating it. It’s still unclear whether Baidu will go fully open-source or just share some parts
The company’s decision could help democratize AI and make it more available for innovation throughout the world, experts said. Every time a leading company in the field open-sources a powerful model, it further elevates the bar of the entire industry, not just in China but worldwide, said Sean Ren, a computer science professor and prize-winning AI researcher.
This is not Baidu’s only major stride in AI. The company is also developing new technologies, such as an animal sound interpretation system and a smartphone AI agent that it’s calling Xinxiang.
When China open-sourced their DeepSeek-R1 model, it sent ripples through the tech world, including the stock prices of top U.S.-based AI companies. Some see them as breaking in a similar way to Baidu’s move forcing the industry to a more open, collaborative development.
Whether Baidu ever releases Ernie 5, in whole or in part, remains to be seen.