Does Baidu's Ernie AI Chatbot Have a Connection to Chinese Military Research? Here's What the Company Says

Chinese technology company Baidu has firmly rejected claims linking its AI chatbot, Ernie, to Chinese military research.

According to the Associated Press, Baidu refuted the South China Morning Post report, which cited an academic paper from a university affiliated with the People's Liberation Army cyberwarfare division that allegedly had tested its AI system on Ernie and on AI firm iFlyTek's Spark, both of which are AI chatbots similar to ChatGPT.

Baidu Responds to Claims That Ernie AI Chatbot Linked to Chinese Military Research

After the report's publication, Baidu's Hong Kong-listed stock experienced a significant drop of over 11.5% on Monday. In a statement, Baidu denied any collaboration with the newspaper's authors or affiliated institutions.

The company emphasized that Ernie Bot "is available to and used by the general public." The academic paper from the PLA Information Engineering University reveals how researchers gave Ernie Bot prompts to produce simulated military response plans for Libyan troops against a US military attack.

Baidu argued that if the authors used large language models like Ernie Bot, they would have utilized the functions available to any user interacting with such AI tools.

Like ChatGPT, Ernie Bot allows users to ask questions or make requests, generating content based on the given prompt. Like many other internet services in China, this chatbot is also subject to censorship regulations, thus avoiding politically sensitive or taboo questions in line with Chinese government laws.

Baidu Stocks Decline

The South China Morning Post report initially suggested a "physical link" between Ernie and the PLA division. This statement has since been amended to clarify that the PLA lab tested its system on Baidu's AI model.

The sharp decline in Baidu's stock price raised concerns among investors, reflecting fears that Chinese technology firms with connections to the Chinese military or government might face sanctions similar to those imposed on Huawei by the US, citing espionage risks.

In recent years, China-US tensions have heightened over trade, technology, and Taiwan-related issues. Baidu, a prominent player in China's artificial intelligence sector and operator of the country's leading search engine, unveiled Ernie Bot in August 2023.

This move marked the company's entry into the competition among Chinese tech firms to create a counterpart to ChatGPT. By December, Baidu, headquartered in Beijing, announced that Ernie Bot had garnered over 100 million users.