The user base of an artificial intelligence-based chatbot called Ernie, developed by the Chinese company Baidu, has reached a milestone of 100 million people.

Media reports that the mentioned firm provided information on the number of consumers of the specified digital product in Beijing at the Deep Learning Summit last Thursday, December 28. Baidu is currently the leader among Chinese Internet search engines. The company ranks third in the world in terms of the number of user requests processed.

Baidu launched its artificial intelligence-based chatbot in August this year. The operation of the digital product began after the Chinese government granted some technology companies permission to release AI chatbots to a wide consumer audience.

Until August, access to Ernie was provided only to a limited group of users using this development in the test mode format.

Also this year in China, ByteDance, whose ownership structure includes the world-famous TikTok social media platform, presented its chatbot called Doubao AI.

In August, the media noted that the launch of digital products based on artificial intelligence is of particular importance for ByteDance and Baidu, as these companies seek to improve their business strategies and increase the revenue generated from advertising.

Robin Li, founder, and CEO of Baidu, said that the public launch of Ernie will provide this firm with the opportunity to receive feedback from users, which will help make adjustments to the chatbot more quickly to improve the quality of its functioning.

In August, a set of 24 guidelines came into force in China, based on which processes in the local artificial intelligence industry are regulated. This set of rules is the first step of the world’s second-largest economy to control the sphere of advanced technology.

The media reports that Ernie’s early debut was not what can be described as an example of success. But these circumstances in no way negate the fact that Baidu became the first Chinese technology company to launch a chatbot on the local market.

Ernie’s debut followed the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is the fastest-growing software app within six months of appearing in the access space for a mass consumer audience. This digital product was launched in November last year. About a month after the debut of the chatbot, OpenAI announced that this development had been downloaded more than 110 million times. Consumers spent $28.6 million on access to this digital product during the mentioned period.

Many experts say that artificial intelligence has already transformed the economy, including the payment industry. The sphere of payments has joined the revolution in financial technology with a slight delay.

Artificial intelligence has the potential to profoundly transform workflows in many industries. Advanced technology will improve the quality of customer service. Artificial intelligence can also be used by companies as a tool for back-office automation, providing machine optimization of labor-intensive processes.

Form3 CEO Michael Mueller, during a conversation with media representatives in October, said that payments are still a growing business, despite the fact of its long existence.

As we have reported earlier, Baidu Launches Ernie 4.0.