China’s AI Charge Part 1: The Battle Begins to Build a ChatGPT Challenger

The launch of ChatGPT with a whopping 175 billion parameters impressed many — including Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li. Sensing what could be a disruptive threat to China’s AI sector, Li deemed it necessary for his company to launch its own large language model (LLM) that could match ChatGPT.

Li personally led the effort. Baidu Chief Technology Officer Wang Haifeng was responsible for its execution. Building on more than a decade of AI know-how, Baidu succeeded in becoming the first among China’s tech giants to launch a ChatGPT challenger.