(MENAFN) In a bold move to intensify global competition in artificial intelligence, Chinese tech giant Baidu revealed on Monday that it will open-source its advanced AI language model, Ernie, according to media.

Baidu explained to media that its decision to release Ernie as an open-source model is aimed at empowering researchers and developers, fostering a more collaborative AI ecosystem, and promoting greater accessibility in the AI space.

By granting open-source access, Baidu allows users to explore, modify, and adapt Ernie’s core code and parameters, paving the way for customized solutions and further innovations.

The decision comes as Baidu joins a growing list of Chinese tech firms pouring resources into AI development, spurred by the launch of China's DeepSeek. This influx of investment has led to a wave of new high-quality open-source models, positioning China as a formidable player in AI development.

One such success story is Alibaba Cloud's Qwen2.5-Max, which has far exceeded expectations with over 200 million global downloads and more than 100,000 derivative models, surpassing Meta’s Llama to become the world’s largest open-source model collective.

In recent years, China has made significant strides in the field of open-source large language models, rapidly narrowing the performance and functionality gap with global AI leaders.

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