Baidu offers new AI models with enhanced features, lower cost than DeepSeek’s products

The lower cost would help developers focus on creating ‘more super interesting and useful’ AI applications, Baidu CEO Robin Li says

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Baidu has made available to developers its latest artificial intelligence models, Ernie 4.5 Turbo and X1 Turbo. Photo: Shutterstock

Ben Jiangin Wuhan, China

Published: 7:00pm, 25 Apr 2025

Baidu on Friday launched two new artificial intelligence (AI) models that offer enhanced multimodal reasoning capabilities and cost less than comparable products from DeepSeek.

At a developer conference held in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, Baidu co-founder, chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong unveiled the multimodal Ernie 4.5 Turbo and X1 Turbo reasoning models.

According to Li, Ernie 4.5 Turbo costs about 40 per cent less than DeepSeek’s namesake V3 large language model (LLM), while X1 Turbo is being offered at a quarter of the price of the Hangzhou-based AI start-up’s R1 reasoning model.

“The essence of innovation is the lowering of cost,” Li said in his keynote speech, which stretched more than an hour. He pointed out that this would help developers focus on creating “more super interesting and useful” AI applications, rather than the expense involved in a foundational AI model.

That view reflects Li’s earlier forecast about the exponential growth of AI apps in China this year.

Baidu’s latest AI models were introduced just weeks after the Beijing-based company made its Ernie Bot service free to use from April 1, providing wider access to its AI models, as competition in this nascent field heats up with the rise of innovative newcomers like DeepSeek.