Connect with us

Published

on

Chinese technology giant Baidu has launched its own ChatGPT rival, Ernie bot.

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Baidu said Tuesday the artificial intelligence model underpinning its chatbot outperformed OpenAI’s ChatGPT in several key areas.

The Chinese search engine has been publicly testing the Ernie Bot in China since it was revealed in March. The chatbot is based on Baidu’s foundational AI model called Ernie. A foundational model is AI that’s trained on huge amounts of data. The latest iteration of Baidu’s model is called Ernie 3.5.

Citing the China Science Daily journal, Baidu said Ernie 3.5 surpassed ChatGPT in a number of benchmark tests. ChatGPT is based on OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 model.

Ernie 3.5 also beat GPT 4, OpenAI’s latest and more advanced model, in Chinese language tests, according to the science journal.

The focus on Baidu’s advancements underscore the intense competition taking place in the area of generative AI with technology giants in the U.S. and China rapidly advancing developments.

Can China's ChatGPT clones give it an edge over the U.S. in an A.I. arms race?

One test cited by the Chinese science journal was based on standard admission and qualification exams such as those required to get into college or qualify as a lawyer. Ernie 3.5 surpassed ChatGPT and GPT 4 in Chinese.

However, it was behind GPT 4 in English even though it was ahead of ChatGPT. This test was released by Microsoft.

Another test focused on Chinese and contains over 13,000 multiple-choice questions covering more than 50 different subjects. Ernie 3.5 was ahead of ChatGPT and GPT 4 in this evaluation.

A third test contains questions on various subjects such as science and humanities and was developed by a group of U.S. universities. Ernie 3.5 was behind both ChatGPT and GPT 4.

Baidu spoke about its advances with its AI as it looks to take a lead in the technology versus rivals such as Alibaba.

Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro

“Just three months after the beta release of Ernie Bot, Baidu’s large language model (LLM) built on Ernie 3.0, Ernie 3.5 has achieved broad enhancements in efficacy, functionality, and performance,” Haifeng Wang, CTO of Baidu said in a statement.

“These improvements are evident in creative writing, Q&A, reasoning, and code generation, as well as in training performance and inference performance.”

Baidu said one defining feature of its latest model is the ability to access “plugins” which are basically apps that can be accessed via Ernie Bot. Baidu’s search feature has been integrated with Ernie Bot via a plugin, for example.

Continue Reading

Technology

Bitcoin price rises as Israel-Iran ceasefire begins, and Senate unveils major crypto bill

Published

on

By

Bitcoin price rises as Israel-Iran ceasefire begins, and Senate unveils major crypto bill

Crypto prices, including bitcoin, rose on Tuesday after President Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

By midday Tuesday, bitcoin had passed the $105,000 level, ether jumped back above the $2,400 mark, and XRP climbed to $2.19. 

The risk-on action in the markets, which also saw stocks rally on the Mideast de-escalation, wasn’t the only source of momentum, as Republican senators unveiled a major bill to set the rules of the road for crypto. Specifically, the legislation would define when crypto is a commodity or a security, allow crypto exchanges to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and reduce the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulation of digital assets — a big reversal from the plans of President Biden’s SEC Chair Gary Gensler to closely regulate the crypto industry.

The new framework was introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott of South Carolina and Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who heads the panel’s Digital Assets Committee. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the regulatory development was important for the U.S. to regain the lead in the crypto industry, where he said it has fallen behind other markets, including Europe.

Last week, the senate passed a stablecoin bill, marking the first major legislative win for the crypto industry, which now heads to the House for consideration of its version of the bill. Both bills prohibit yield-bearing consumer stablecoins — but differ on agency regulatory oversight. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney weighed in on the advancement of the Senate version, the Genius Act, telling CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the credit card giant has been embracing stablecoins. 

Meanwhile, investors increased their bets on crypto company Digital Asset, which raised $135 million in funding from several big names in banking and finance, including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities. The firm, which touts itself as a regulated crypto player, said it will use the funding to advance adoption of its Canton network, which is a blockchain for financial institutions, another sign of how major financial institutions are embedding themselves into the once obscure crypto world. 

Continue Reading

Technology

Ambarella shares soar 19% on report chip designer is exploring sale

Published

on

By

Ambarella shares soar 19% on report chip designer is exploring sale

Thomas Fuller | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Ambarella shares popped 19% after a report that the chip designer is currently working with bankers on a potential sale.

Bloomberg reported the news, citing sources familiar with the matter.

While no deal is imminent, the sources told Bloomberg that the firm may draw interest from semiconductor companies looking to improve their automotive business. Private equity firms have already expressed interest, according to the report.

Read more CNBC tech news

The Santa Clara, California-based company is known for its system-on-chip semiconductors and software used for edge artificial intelligence. Ambarella chips are used in the automotive sector for electronic mirrors and self-driving assistance systems.

Shares have slumped about 18% year to date. The company’s market capitalization last stood at nearly $2.6 billion.

Read the Bloomberg story here.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Continue Reading

Technology

Nvidia CEO Huang sells $15 million worth of stock, first sale of $873 million plan

Published

on

By

Nvidia CEO Huang sells  million worth of stock, first sale of 3 million plan

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends a roundtable discussion at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 11, 2025.

Sarah Meyssonnier | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold 100,000 shares of the chipmaker’s stock on Friday and Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The sales are worth nearly $15 million at Tuesday’s opening price.

The transactions are the first sale in Huang’s plan to sell as many as 600,000 shares of Nvidia through the end of 2025. It’s a plan that was announced in March, and it’d be worth $873 million at Tuesday’s opening price.

The Nvidia founder still owns more than 800 million Nvidia shares, according to Monday’s SEC filing. Huang has a net worth of about $126 billion, ranking him 12th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The 62-year-old chief executive sold about $700 million in Nvidia shares last year under a prearranged plan, too.

Nvidia stock is up more than 800% since December 2022 after OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first released to the public. That launch drew attention to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, which were needed to develop and power the artificial intelligence service.

The company’s chips remain in high demand with the majority of the AI chip market, and Nvidia has introduced two subsequent generations of its AI GPU technology.

Nvidia continues to grow. Its stock is up 9% this year, even as the company faces export control issues that could limit foreign markets for its AI chips.

In May, the company reported first-quarter earnings that showed the chipmaker’s revenue growing 69% on an annual basis to $44 billion during the quarter.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Market Navigator: Nvidia warning signs

Continue Reading

Trending