Baidu has unveiled two powerful new artificial intelligence (AI) models — Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1 — marking a significant advancement in the company's AI capabilities. While Ernie 4.5 is the latest foundation model designed to excel in multimodal understanding, Ernie X1 is Baidu’s first “deep-thinking” AI model focused on complex reasoning and logic. The company has also announced that its popular chatbot platform, Ernie Bot, will now be free to access without any premium fees.
Ernie 4.5 AI Model: Features and Capabilities
Ernie 4.5 is a multimodal AI model that can process multiple types of data, including text, images, audio, and videos. Users can upload various file formats and ask queries about them, making the model ideal for interactive and content-rich tasks. The model is designed to handle conversational messages efficiently and excels in contextual understanding, including memes, satire, and nuanced language. Baidu claims that Ernie 4.5’s improved memory and reasoning abilities provide a superior conversational experience. In terms of performance, Baidu asserts that Ernie 4.5 outperforms GPT-4.5 across multiple benchmarks while being available at just 1% of GPT-4.5's cost. According to Baidu’s internal testing, this powerful yet budget-friendly model is poised to provide affordable AI solutions for businesses and developers. The model is accessible via the Ernie Bot platform and through API integration on Baidu’s AI Cloud MaaS platform Quianfan.
Ernie 4.5 Pricing
- Input Price: CNY 0.004 (Approx. Rs. 0.04) per 1,000 tokens
- Output Price: CNY 0.016 (Approx. Rs. 0.19) per 1,000 tokens
Baidu has announced that Ernie 4.5 will be open-sourced on June 30, where developers will gain access to the source code and model weights for further customization and research.
Ernie X1 AI Model: Features and Capabilities
Baidu’s second AI release, Ernie X1, is a reasoning-focused AI model designed for tasks requiring deep logical thinking, problem-solving, and analysis. The company has positioned Ernie X1 as a competitor to DeepSeek-R1, emphasizing its robust cognitive capabilities.
Ernie X1 supports multiple tools and advanced capabilities, including:
- Chinese Knowledge Q&A
- Literary Creation and Manuscript Writing
- Dialogue and Logical Reasoning
- Complex Mathematics
The model also integrates powerful tools such as:
- Advanced Search
- Image and Document Understanding
- Image Generation
- Code Interpretation
- TreeMind Mapping
- Webpage Reading
Baidu explained that Ernie X1 is built using progressive reinforcement learning (RL) and an end-to-end training approach. It also employs a multi-faceted reward system to improve its reasoning capabilities. The model features a visible chain of thought (CoT), ensuring transparency in its decision-making process.
Ernie X1 Pricing
Once launched, Ernie X1 will be available at significantly lower costs:
- Input Price: CNY 0.002 (Approx. Rs. 0.02) per 1,000 tokens
- Output Price: CNY 0.008 (Approx. Rs. 0.09) per 1,000 tokens
While Ernie X1 is not yet available on the Quianfan Platform, Baidu has confirmed that the model will be released soon.
With the introduction of Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1, Baidu is strengthening its presence in the global AI landscape. By offering a powerful GPT-4.5 rival at a fraction of the cost, along with an advanced reasoning model, Baidu aims to provide affordable yet high-performance AI solutions for businesses, developers, and general users alike. With Ernie Bot now free to access, users can explore these advanced AI models without additional costs, marking a significant step in AI accessibility and innovation.
