On November 21, Beijing time, Baidu released its third quarter financial report, which showed a revenue of 34.447 billion yuan and a net profit attributable to Baidu (non GAAP) of 7.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23%. Both revenue and profit exceeded market expectations. In the past three months, ERNIE Bot has been open to the whole society. Baidu has released version 4.0 of ERNIE Bot's big model. At present, the number of users of Wenxin Yiyan has reached 70 million.
Robin Lee, founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu, said that, "Against the background of emerging opportunities of generative AI and basic models, Baidu has constantly strengthened its technology and improved its products, especially the launch of Wenxin Big Model 4.0, which is the most powerful basic model of Baidu. We have also used the ability of Wenxin Big Model and ERNIE Bot to reconstruct consumer level and enterprise level products and their own operations, and constantly improve efficiency while bringing AI native experience."
He pointed out, "At the same time, we have fully opened the Wenxin big model API to cloud customers, helping them develop AI native applications and solutions. Baidu adheres to the business and product strategy with AI as the core, laying the foundation for the revenue maintenance and profit expansion of Wenxin big model and ERNIE Bot ecology in the coming years."
Baidu's CFO Luo Rong said, "Baidu's core has maintained a stable profit margin this quarter, and our continuous investment in artificial intelligence has laid the foundation for technology and product innovation. In the future, we will continue to prioritize investment in artificial intelligence, especially generative AI and basic models. Baidu will unwaveringly focus on efficiency and strategic resource allocation
According to the financial report, Baidu's core revenue in this quarter was 26.6 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to Baidu's core (non GAAP) reached 7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%; Baidu's core online marketing revenue increased to 19.7 billion yuan. Meanwhile, the cumulative service volume of Radish Run has increased to 4.1 million orders. It is reported that the small shipment volume in the second quarter ranked first in China's smart screens and smart speakers.
The number of API calls to the Wenxin Big Model is increasing exponentially;
Since ERNIE Bot was opened to the whole society, in October, Wenxin Big Model 4.0 was released. Users can experience the version of ERNIE Bot through Wenxin Yiyan, and enterprises can call the API of Wenxin 4.0 through Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan Big Model Platform. At present, ERNIE Bot has 70 million users, covering 4300 scenarios.
ERNIE Bot and Wenxin Grand Model are opening up new development opportunities for Baidu. On the first day of opening, ERNIE Bot answered 33.42 million questions from users, ushering in the rapid growth of the number of users. Recently, the "ERNIE Bot Professional Edition" based on Wenxin Grand Model 4.0 has been launched, which is open to charging for professional needs, which also distinguishes Wenxin Grand Model from other models in the market. Compared to the free basic version, the professional version has stronger modeling and image generation capabilities.
At the same time, the API call volume of the Wenxin Big Model is increasing exponentially. Not long ago, Robin Lee said in his speech that the adjustment amount of Wenxin model "exceeds the sum of other 200 models". According to reports, there are over 10000 companies that use big model capabilities on Baidu Qianfan's big model platform every month.
The usage of AI native applications has surged, and the library payment rate has significantly increased
Recently, the data indicators of Baidu's many AI native applications have grown significantly. Based on ERNIE Bot's big model and Wenxin Yiyan's overall restructuring of its products, Baidu launched Baidu New Search, Baidu New Library, Baidu Online Disk "Cloud Yiduo", Baidu Maps, Baidu GBI and many other AI native applications.
The restructured AI native application has achieved significant growth in user volume: on Baidu App, 640000 creators have used AI assisted creative tools to produce 14 million pieces of content, receiving 30 billion views; After the launch of Baidu's online drive "Yunyiduo", it has become the world's first "personal cloud intelligent assistant" with a user base of 20 million; Baidu Wenku's AI new features have accumulated over 30 million users.
At the same time, the user stickiness and activity of Baidu AI native applications are also rapidly increasing. According to reports, ERNIE Bot has used 20 million prompt words online; The cumulative usage of new features in Baidu Wenku AI has exceeded 200 million; As of mid October, the cumulative number of requests for Baidu's input method "Super Write" has exceeded 100 million, and the user likes rate has exceeded 80%.
The new AI native experience will drive an increase in user online time and unleash new monetization opportunities. Taking new search as an example, the three major features of ultimate satisfaction, recommendation stimulation, and multiple rounds of interaction can effectively enhance user stickiness, stimulate new needs, and achieve commercial monetization; Taking Baidu Wenku as an example, the library has been restructured from a "content tool" to a "productivity tool", with functions such as intelligent text and PPT generation and editing, resulting in a significant increase in the library's payment rate.
At the same time, Baidu has also built AI native applications from 0 to 1 and gradually promoted their usage and commercialization, such as the first generative business intelligence product in China, "Baidu GBI", and the AI programming assistant Baidu Comate. It is reported that more and more corporate customers in traditional industries are showing strong interest in the above-mentioned products.
Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan large model platform serves more than 20000 enterprises;
Originating from the rapidly growing demand for AI native applications, Baidu AI Cloud provides customers with a full stack service solution covering five major needs, including AI computing power, large model API calls, large model secondary development, AI native application development tools and AI native application stores.
At present, Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan large model platform services more than 20000 enterprises, covering nearly 500 scenes. For example, TAL completed the training and development of the big model based on Baidu AI Cloud, significantly improving the effect of the big model; Facewall Technology completed the training and optimization of multiple large models on Baidu AI Cloud, guaranteed the continuity of model training, and achieved good model convergence effect.
At the same time, in promoting the prosperity of the AI native application ecosystem, plugins are of great significance, being the AI native application with the lowest threshold and the easiest to get started. Since the launch of the Lingjing Matrix plugin platform in September this year, 27000 developers have applied to settle in, including partners such as Ctrip, CITIC Publishing Group, and China Judicial Big Data Research Institute.
Institutional perspective
Morgan Stanley: We believe that Baidu is the best artificial intelligence internet company in China and a pioneer in driving breakthroughs in artificial intelligence in China. The key to the commercialization and monetization of Wenxin Big Model 4.0 is to help businesses improve their return on investment by creating better content, brands, improving efficiency, and operations. U0026nbsp;
BOCOM International: We believe that ERNIE Bot has the advantages of Baidu's traffic, search products and technical/financial support, and is expected to achieve rapid growth. We are optimistic about its potential role in restructuring Baidu's product portfolio and driving revenue.
CICC: Big models are gradually penetrating Baidu's entire product line, accelerating the absorption of feedback from end users, promoting the optimization of model performance, and improving the ability to adapt to different scenarios; At the same time, the restructured product line is also expected to enhance the competitive barriers of the business fundamentals. On this basis, we believe that the continuous expansion of the big model ecosystem (AI native application ecosystem, plugin ecosystem, and third-party model management ecosystem) is crucial for Baidu, or to strengthen the company's leadership position in the era of generative AI.