(Yicai) Aug. 31 -- Baidu's shares rose after the Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence behemoth said that Ernie Bot, its generative artificial intelligence product and large language model, is now fully available to the public after regulatory approval.

Baidu [HKG: 9888] closed 2.1 percent higher at HKD139.40 (USD17.77) a share in Hong Kong today, extending the stock’s gain to 25 percent so far this year. Its New York-traded shares [NASDAQ: BIDU] ended up 3.1 percent yesterday at USD145.08.

Baidu announced yesterday that Ernie Bot, a ChatGPT-style AI chatbot, can be downloaded from various app stores or be used through the Beijing-based firm’s website.

Four other Chinese technology companies, including SenseTime Group, also fully launched their AI chatbots to the public today, following the government’s go-ahead.

SenseTime’s shares [HKG: 0020] rose 3.3 percent to finish at HKD1.56 (10 US cents) apiece.

Baidu will collect tons of valuable real-world user feedback by making Ernie Bot available to hundreds of millions of users, said co-founder and Chief Executive Robin Li. This will not only help improve the company's foundation model but also help update the bot faster to enhance the user experience, he added.

Users were first invited to test out Ernie Bot on March 16. It builds upon Baidu's Ernie foundation model, which has ranked first in more than 10 authoritative tests domestically and abroad, according to the company.

Baidu also announced that it will launch a suite of new AI-native applications that allow users to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.

Editor: Martin Kadiev