Baidu, one of China’s largest technology companies, released version 4.0 of its popular “Ernie” artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) chatbot.
According to an English language translation provided by Baidu, embedded in an X post alongside the usual Google Translate subtitles, CEO Robin Li claimed the updated model “stands on par with GPT-4 in terms of overall performance.”
Baidu CEO Robin Li announced ERNIE 4.0 foundation model, now available for invited testing. ERNIE 4.0 elevates foundation model capabilities in understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.
Read the thread to find out how. #BaiduWorld2023 pic.twitter.com/lSVwVl88QH
Robin Li described the updated capabilities of the new Ernie model through four distinct verticals: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.
Under the category of “understanding,” Baidu claims overall improvement in human-computer interaction. “ERNIE Bot can now accurately interpret 'out-of-order statements, vague expressions, and implied meanings' in text,” reads one post in the announcement thread.
This is particularly noteworthy, as Ernie has reportedly been trained in both Chinese languages and English — teaching models to understand colloquial or conversational prompts has, traditionally, been a challenging task for LLM engineers.
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In contrast to previous versions, Ernie 4.0 also appears to have significantly improved capabilities in both quality and speed when it comes to generating images, video, and coherent copy. “With just one image and a few prompts,” reads another post in the thread, “we created 1 video ad, 5 ad copies, and 1 poster in just 3 minutes. ERNIE Bot
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