Chinese company Baidu has announced the launch of two new generative AI models — ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1. The event took place on March 16, 2025. ERNIE 4.5 is the latest version of the company’s foundational model, first released two years ago, and demonstrates the ability to understand memes and satire, highlighting its “high emotional intelligence.”
We've just unveiled ERNIE 4.5 & X1! 🚀
— Baidu Inc. (@Baidu_Inc) March 16, 2025
As a deep-thinking reasoning model with multimodal capabilities, ERNIE X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price. Meanwhile, ERNIE 4.5 is our latest foundation model and new-generation native multimodal model.… pic.twitter.com/cLKVHYvbzw
ERNIE X1, a new model for deep thinking and reasoning, attracts attention with its ability to perform tasks on par with DeepSeek R1 but at half the price. Both models feature multimodal capabilities, allowing them to process video, images, audio, and text. This opens up new horizons for their use in various fields, from image analysis to academic research.
Free access to ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1 via the ERNIE Bot platform makes these technologies available to individual users, highlighting Baidu’s commitment to expanding its ecosystem of AI-driven tools and services. For corporate users, the ERNIE 4.5 model is already available via API on the Baidu AI Cloud platform, and ERNIE X1 will be added soon.
