Ernie 4.5 is a multimodal foundation model that processes text, images, audio, and video, and is priced at just 1% of GPT-4.5; it was open-sourced on June 30.
Ernie X1 is a model focused on reasoning, featuring tool integration for search, coding, and mapping, along with a clear chain-of-thought logic.
Free access is now available, with the Ernie Bot chatbot being offered at no cost and Ernie 4.5 accessible via API on Baidu’s Quianfan cloud platform.
In terms of performance, Baidu claims that Ernie 4.5 surpasses GPT-4.5 in various benchmarks, while Ernie X1 competes with DeepSeek-R1.
The pricing is affordable, with input tokens starting at ₹0.04 per 1,000 tokens for Ernie 4.5, and Ernie X1 being even more economical.
Baidu’s New Ernie AI Models: A Leap in Multimodal and Reasoning AI
Overview
Baidu has introduced two innovative AI models—Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1—representing a major advancement in China’s efforts to compete with global AI leaders such as OpenAI. These releases are accompanied by free access to the Ernie Bot chatbot, making advanced AI tools more accessible to users.
Ernie 4.5: The Multimodal Powerhouse
Ernie 4.5, the newest foundation model from Baidu, is inherently multimodal, capable of processing text, images, audio, and video.
It demonstrates exceptional contextual comprehension, including the ability to understand satire and memes, and enhances conversational responses, reasoning, and memory tasks.
According to Baidu, it surpasses GPT-4.5 in internal benchmarks while being 99% cheaper (input: ₹0.04 per 1,000 tokens; output: ₹0.19 per 1,000 tokens). Developers will be able to access its open-source code and weights starting June 30 through Baidu’s Quianfan cloud platform.
Ernie X1: Reasoning-Focused Innovation
The reasoning-focused Ernie X1 offers advanced tool integration, encompassing code interpretation, image generation, and TreeMind mapping. It has been trained using progressive reinforcement learning and is capable of addressing complex mathematics, logic, and Chinese question-and-answer tasks with a transparent chain of thought (CoT), similar to the capabilities of DeepSeek-R1.
Although it is not yet available, its pricing is expected to be lower than that of Ernie 4.5 (input: ₹0.02 per 1,000 tokens).
By offering Ernie Bot for free and implementing competitive pricing models, Baidu seeks to take control of China’s AI market and extend its reach globally. However, the absence of research papers for Ernie X1 raises concerns about transparency.
Availability
- Ernie 4.5: Live now on Quianfan and Ernie Bot.
- Ernie X1: Launching soon at ultra-low token costs.
