China's leading tech company, Baidu, has launched two cutting-edge AI foundation models—ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1—ahead of schedule, making them freely accessible through ERNIE Bot. This strategic move aims to compete directly with OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 and DeepSeek-R1, offering powerful AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost. With multimodal and deep-thinking reasoning features, these models mark Baidu’s latest push to lead the AI race.

What is ERNIE 4.5?

ERNIE 4.5 is Baidu’s multimodal foundation model, designed to handle text, images, audio, and video. Positioned as a strong competitor to GPT-4.5, ERNIE 4.5 is claimed to outperform its rival across multiple benchmarks. Baidu asserts that ERNIE 4.5 delivers enhanced understanding, generation, and reasoning abilities, along with:

• Multimodal capabilities: The model processes and integrates various data types like text, images, audio, and video for richer, more accurate outputs.
• Superior memory retention: ERNIE 4.5 boasts enhanced memory capacity and the ability to prevent hallucinations, making it more reliable for real-world applications.
• Improved accuracy: It can understand complex language structures, satirical content, and internet memes more accurately than other models.

The most compelling part of ERNIE 4.5 is its pricing. Baidu claims it costs just 1% of the price of GPT-4.5, making it an incredibly affordable option for businesses that need scalable AI solutions without the high costs.

ERNIE X1: A Reasoning Powerhouse

While ERNIE 4.5 excels in multimodal capabilities, ERNIE X1 is designed specifically for advanced reasoning and problem-solving. This model is focused on tasks that require deep thinking and logical analysis, such as:

• Advanced problem-solving
• Manuscript writing
• Complex logical tasks
• AI-powered search
• Document analysis
• Code interpretation
• Business research

Baidu positions ERNIE X1 as a direct competitor to DeepSeek-R1 but at half the cost, making it an affordable choice for businesses and developers needing robust reasoning capabilities. With pricing as low as RMB 0.002 (₹0.023) per thousand tokens for input and RMB 0.008 (₹0.094) per thousand tokens for output, ERNIE X1 offers excellent value for money in the AI reasoning space.

Free Access to ERNIE Bot Ahead of Schedule

Originally set for April 1, 2025, Baidu has fast-tracked the launch of ERNIE Bot, making both ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1 available for free to individual users ahead of schedule. This means that anyone can access and experiment with these models via the ERNIE Bot platform.

For enterprise users, ERNIE 4.5 is now available through Baidu AI Cloud’s MaaS platform (Qianfan), with ERNIE X1 set to be integrated soon.

Baidu’s AI Roadmap and Future Plans

Baidu’s aggressive AI strategy doesn’t stop here. The company has big plans for the future, including:

• ERNIE 5.0: Expected to launch in the second half of 2025, ERNIE 5.0 will focus even more on commercialization.
• Open-sourcing AI models: By June 30, 2025, Baidu plans to make its AI models open-source, which could significantly boost adoption in the AI research community.

With the global AI competition heating up, Baidu’s move to offer high-performance models like ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1 at affordable prices positions it as a serious contender to global AI giants. Whether these models can truly challenge the likes of GPT-4.5 and DeepSeek-R1 remains to be seen, but it certainly makes the AI race more exciting and accessible.

The Future of AI is Here

Baidu’s ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1 launch signals a major shift in the AI space, offering powerful, affordable AI solutions to businesses and developers worldwide. With multimodal and reasoning capabilities, these models are designed to tackle real-world problems, from AI-driven network maintenance to smart agriculture.

As 5G and AI adoption continue to grow across industries, Baidu’s bold move to offer free access and competitive pricing could change the dynamics of the AI market, making these advanced technologies accessible to a broader audience.