BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Chinese search engine leader

Baidu ( BIDU ) said on Thursday it would make its artificial

intelligence chatbot Ernie Bot free starting April 1, citing

improved technology and reduced costs.

The AI service will be accessible at no cost to all users on

both desktop and mobile platforms, Baidu ( BIDU ) said in a WeChat post.

Baidu ( BIDU ) faces growing competition in China's AI sector,

particularly from DeepSeek which offers free AI chatbot services

whose performance the startup said is comparable to the advanced

systems of U.S. pioneer OpenAI at lower operational cost.

Baidu ( BIDU ) was among China's first movers in AI following the

2022 debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT, but has struggled to gain

widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model. It has

said its latest version, Ernie 4.0, matches OpenAI's GPT-4

capabilities.

In terms of user adoption, Baidu's ( BIDU ) AI offerings have lagged

those of domestic competitors such as ByteDance's Doubao chatbot

and newcomer DeepSeek, showed data from AI product tracker

Aicpb.com.

In late 2023, Baidu ( BIDU ) introduced premium features to its

search engine powered by its advanced models including Ernie

4.0, charging 59.9 yuan ($8.18) a month.

It also announced on Thursday the launch of an advanced

search function which would also be freely available from April

1. The feature promises enhanced reasoning capability and tool

integration for delivering expert-level responses, Baidu ( BIDU ) said.