Baidu Sues Apple And 'Relevant' Developers Over Fake 'Ernie Bot' Apps

Baidu Inc. BIDU, the Chinese search engine giant, has filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. AAPL and app developers over fake “Ernie Bot” apps. 

What Happened: Baidu has taken legal action against Apple and “relevant” app developers for distributing counterfeit versions of its Ernie Bot app on the App Store, reported Reuters. 

The company has filed lawsuits against Apple and the creators of the fraudulent versions in Beijing’s Haidian People’s Court. 

See Also: China’s AI Dominance A Threat For US? Former Google CEO Speaks Out Against Proposed Pause

“At present, Ernie does not have any official app,” Baidu said in a statement. The company, also known as China’s Google, posted a photograph of its court filing.

“Until our company’s official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Store or other stores are fake,” it said.

Apple did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments. 

Why It’s Important: Baidu’s Ernie Bot has been acclaimed as China’s closest equivalent to OpenAI‘s AI-powered chatbot called chatGPT, the report noted. 

Last month, Baidu unceremoniously canceled the highly-anticipated public launch of Ernie Bot and instead conducted a private closed-door meeting with the initial batch of companies testing the product. 

Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li, unveiled Ernie Bot on March 16.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: As Google, Microsoft Battle Over AI Heats Up, China’s Answer Is ‘Ernie Bot’