Fact-checked Jul 29, 2026
Also called: baidu inc., 百度
Baidu is a major Chinese technology company, best known for its internet search engine and significant investments in artificial intelligence, including autonomous driving and large language models.
Baidu, founded in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, is a prominent Chinese multinational technology company headquartered in Beijing. Often called "China's Google," it started as a search engine company and quickly became the dominant player in the Chinese internet search market. Over the years, Baidu has expanded far beyond search, investing heavily in diverse technological areas, with artificial intelligence being a core focus of its current strategy.
The company's main products and services include its namesake search engine, Baidu Maps, and the Baidu Encyclopedia. However, its significant push into AI has yielded several notable innovations. Baidu operates one of the largest AI research centers globally and has made substantial contributions to fields like natural language processing, computer vision, and speech recognition. These AI capabilities are integrated into many of its existing products and drive new ventures.
One of Baidu's most ambitious AI projects is Apollo, an open-source platform for autonomous driving. Apollo aims to accelerate the development and deployment of self-driving vehicles by providing a comprehensive set of software, hardware, and cloud services. The platform works with various car manufacturers and technology partners, showcasing Baidu's vision for intelligent transportation systems. This initiative highlights Baidu's commitment to applying AI to real-world challenges.
More recently, Baidu has gained recognition for its large language models (LLMs). Its ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through kNowledge IntEgration) family of models is a powerful AI framework capable of understanding and generating human-like text, translating languages, and answering complex questions. ERNIE Bot, a conversational AI application powered by these models, is Baidu's answer to Western counterparts like ChatGPT and serves as a flagship product in the generative AI space within China. Through these efforts, Baidu aims to lead the development of AI technologies that will shape future internet and computing experiences.
Baidu, founded in 2000 by Robin Li and Eric Xu, is a prominent Chinese multinational technology company headquartered in Beijing. Often called "China's Google," it started as a search engine company and quickly became the dominant player in the Chinese internet search market. Over the years, Baidu has expanded far beyond search, investing heavily in diverse technological areas, with artificial intelligence being a core focus of its current strategy.
Baidu is also referred to as baidu inc., 百度.
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