Chinese search giant Baidu has announced plans to establish a venture fund worth $145 million to back startups focused on content generated by artificial intelligence applications. The company will also launch a competition for developers who build applications off its ERNIE large language model (LLM) or integrate the model into their existing products. Baidu’s move follows that of OpenAI, which set aside $100 million for an OpenAI Startup Fund in 2021. Google is reportedly participating in the newest round of funding for Runway AI, whose software can conjure up images and videos based on just a few words. Meanwhile, in China, leading companies are racing to dominate in a world that’s increasingly awash in generative AI. Baidu’s billionaire founder Robin Li said the company will soon launch a new version of a large-language model, one that powers its ChatGPT-like service, Ernie Bot. Another Chinese tech giant, Alibaba, said last month that its own large language model, Tongyi Qianwen, will be integrated across its businesses to improve user experiences. Tencent is also working on a foundation model, called HunyuanAide. All are trailing the momentum of OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot, though ChatGPT’s use was banned by the Chinese government back in February.
