Baidu to Introduce a $145 Million Fund to Support AI Startups in China
In Brief
The renowned Chinese tech leader Baidu is gearing up to launch a $145 million venture capital fund dedicated to fostering AI-oriented startups in the country.
This fund will primarily target firms engaged in developing AI solutions, including areas like speech recognition, natural language processing, and various other innovative domains.
In an exciting development, Baidu revealed plans today to spearhead a $145 million venture capital fund focused on nurturing AI startups within China. Reuters report .
This fund is likely to operate under the Baidu Ventures (BV) umbrella, concentrating on companies that are creating AI technologies encompassing speech recognition, natural language processing, and beyond. Baidu Ventures already oversees five funds valued at over $700 million, with aspirations to become a premier venture capital player in the burgeoning AI space.
"We see AI as the next significant wave of innovation, and we aim to be front and center in this transformative journey. Investing in AI startups will allow us to catalyze the advancement of this groundbreaking technology and ensure its benefits reach a broader audience,\" stated Robin Li, CEO of Baidu.
Currently, Baidu Ventures is honing in on early-stage companies that are leveraging AI technology. To date, BV has made investments in more than 100 businesses across various sectors like renewable energy vehicles, life sciences, corporate services, smart urban solutions, semiconductor advancements, smart technologies, and the Internet of Things. Some notable names inBV’s portfolio include RealAI, a provider of AI research and development solutions; AI Prime, which specializes in AI-driven industrial security solutions; and Aqrose Technology, which develops industrial AI platforms for computer vision and advanced robotics.
Alongside the fund's launch, Baidu is planning to kick off a competition aimed at developers to create applications utilizing their ERNIE large language model (LLM) or to integrate this model into their existing offerings.
Earlier this March, Baidu unveiled its own AI-powered large language model, ERNIE. Several other prominent Chinese corporations such as Alibaba, Tencent, and SenseTime Group quickly followed suit by launching their own generative AI services. Last week CEO Robin Li expressed that Baidu is on track to introduce its LLM chatbot, ERNIE 3.5, imminently.
Per a report Chinese firms have rolled out a total of 79 large language models since 2020, propelled by a significant push from the government to enhance AI algorithm development. However, the ongoing U.S. export controls present hurdles in acquiring the necessary semiconductors for training these models. China The Chinese government is keeping a close watch on the evolution of large language models domestically. Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China introduced \"Measures for Generative Artificial Intelligence Services\" to address potential risks and misuse of AI technologies while fostering innovation that aligns with the country's core values. This legislation is anticipated to pass later this year.
Top 3 Chinese AI Chatbots of 2023: Ernie Bot, Tongyi Qianwen, and HunyuanAide. released the draft Essential Insights on Large Language Models That You Should Know
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