Why Is Baidu Stock Trading Higher Thursday?

Baidu, Inc BIDU stock is trading higher on Thursday, mirroring the broader IShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI trends. 

This rise follows reports that China's central bank has committed to further enhancing financial aid for businesses and critical sectors. The aim is to bolster and broaden employment, foster a stable and robust real estate market, and ensure the continued stability of the Yuan.

Meanwhile, Baidu's ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot reached a significant milestone with over 100 million users, as announced by Wang Haifeng, the chief technology officer of the Chinese internet company, at a deep learning summit in Beijing. 

This achievement comes after the public release of Ernie Bot in August, following a more than five-month trial period and a partial unveiling in March, which allowed select users to explore its capabilities, Reuters reports.

The initial unveiling of Ernie Bot was considered somewhat underwhelming by analysts. Yet, it gave Baidu a crucial first-mover advantage in the increasingly competitive market of generative AI chatbots. 

This market expansion in China follows the late 2022 launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in the United States, rapidly becoming the world's fastest-growing software application within just six months.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has since been valued at over $80 billion. Microsoft Corp MSFT, a key investor in OpenAI, has poured $13 billion into a for-profit subsidiary, acquiring a 49% stake.

Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, has been actively promoting Ernie Bot and its related products, emphasizing their potential to enhance the company's market share across its core businesses, including its search engine, cloud services, and smart car technologies.

In a recent assessment by SuperCLUE, which evaluates generative AI-powered chatbots, Ernie Bot was ranked as the leading chatbot in China. 

However, it scored 79.02, trailing more than 10 points behind the latest version of ChatGPT. This highlights the competitive landscape in the generative AI chatbot sector and Baidu's position.

Price Action: BIDU shares traded higher by 2.03% at $116.71 in the premarket session on the last check Thursday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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