Chinese tech heavyweight Baidu Inc said on Tuesday it will continue to invest in the fast-developing generative artificial intelligence sector in the coming quarters, and plans to gradually integrate its ChatGPT-like chatbot service Ernie Bot into all of Baidu's businesses.
The company reported its total revenue reached 31.1 billion ($4.54 billion) in the first quarter of this year — an increase of 10 percent year-on-year — while non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net profit stood at 5.7 billion yuan, surging 48 percent year-on-year.
"We believe the emergence of generative AI and large language models presents a transformative potential of AI in various industries to help people and organizations achieve more and have a positive impact on society," said Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu.
Interest in generative AI, which refers to algorithms trained with huge amounts of data that are able to generate content such as images and text, has surged as ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot launched in November by US-based AI research company OpenAI has taken the world by storm.
Baidu introduced Ernie Bot in March, which boasts capabilities in fields such as literary creation, business writing, mathematics and understanding Chinese language.
Baidu plans to steadily integrate Ernie Bot into all its businesses to empower its products and offerings and attract a wider range of users and clients. So far, more than 300 enterprises have participated in the internal testing of Ernie Bot.
"Generative AI represents a new paradigm shift in AI, and Baidu is poised to take advantage of this massive market opportunity. Baidu will continue to invest unwaveringly in this area in the coming quarters," said Luo Rong, chief financial officer of Baidu.
"The Air EV is the newest version of electric vehicles manufactured by SGMW for the world, and Indonesia has become the first station," Shi Guoyong, president director of Wuling, said at its roll-out ceremony at Wuling's production factory in Bekasi, West Java province.
Wuling Motors Indonesia operates as a subsidiary of major Chinese automaker SAIC-GM-Wuling, which is a joint venture between SAIC Motor, General Motors and Liuzhou Wuling Motors based in Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Currently, Wuling has more than 150 local dealers in Indonesia, with a total of eight types of vehicles produced and sold locally.
In the EV sector, Wuling is not the only Chinese player in Southeast Asia. China's leading EV manufacturer BYD held a groundbreaking ceremony in March for its first car plant in Thailand, while Great Wall Motor, China's leading sport utility vehicle and pickup manufacturer, highlighted its three NEV models at the Malaysia Autoshow 2023 from May 4 to 7.
Looking ahead, Wuling will focus its efforts on the Indonesian market, Asmahani said on May 9 at the Wuling camp in Labuan Bajo. She is confident of Wuling's prospects with the Air EV model in the Indonesian market.
"It is a smart, very good solution for the Indonesian market," she said, noting that apart from being suitable for the road conditions in Indonesia, its price is affordable to Indonesian consumers, which has remained unaffected by inflation.
The car is small, measuring 3 meters in length, 1.5 meters in width and 1.6 meters in height, making it a top choice for driving on Labuan Bajo's two-lane roads leading to the summit's main venue, media center and hotels.
"The car is cute," said Brian Gomgom, public relations manager for Wuling Motors Indonesia. The Wuling camp in Labuan Bajo is staffed with about 80 people, including drivers.
Pointing to a Wuling car painted pristine white, Gomgom explained the detailing on the car's body in addition to the summit logo, saying the special patterns — largely in red and yellow — mark the local culture of Labuan Bajo. Also, the Wuling motto "Shaping Clean Tomorrow "can be seen, he added.
At the summit, Asmahani said Wuling provided services for 13 delegations, keeping three cars in mobile status for each, and operating for 12 hours a day starting from about 8:00 am.
"Being part of the ASEAN summit once again proves our commitment to accelerating green mobility in the global market," she said.
5月10日至11日，第42届东盟峰会在印度尼西亚纳闽巴霍举行。上午8点30分左右，在五菱汽车印度尼西亚营地，50辆汽车中有十几辆汽车待命。其他五菱航空的电动汽车也在值班。5月9日至11日，五菱电动汽车在印尼东努沙登加拉省旅游小镇纳闽巴霍为出席峰会的各国代表团提供通勤服务。超过370辆电动汽车为两年一度的峰会提供交通服务，其中282辆专门用于代表。五菱印尼销售公司品牌和营销总监Dian Asmahani表示，五菱很自豪能成为峰会服务的一部分，也为印尼在国内和东南亚发展电动汽车生态系统的努力感到自豪。与去年担任20国集团轮值主席国时一样，印尼——现任东南亚国家联盟(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)轮值主席国——利用此次峰会促进东盟电动汽车生态系统的发展，这是其国内和地区新能源转型以减少排放的关键一步。印尼外交部长雷特诺·马苏迪(Retno Marsudi)今年早些时候表示，有关协议将在峰会上得到批准。第42届东盟峰会的主题是“东盟事务:增长的中心”。正如在东盟峰会期间使用电动汽车所反映的那样，印度尼西亚热衷于加速该地区向绿色交通的过渡，并希望东盟也成为电动汽车增长的中心，”Asmahani说。作为2022年11月在度假胜地巴厘岛举行的G20峰会的官方汽车合作伙伴，五菱提供了300辆汽车的运输服务。Asmahani表示，在今年9月举行的另一届东盟峰会上，许多五菱电动汽车也将投入使用。他补充说:“我认为，作为一个汽车品牌，五菱希望积极参与电动汽车的发展，并加强印尼的电气化。”印尼政府公布了从上游到下游发展电动汽车产业链的吸引投资政策，并计划在今年年底之前为销售20万辆电动摩托车和3.59万辆电动汽车提供奖励。Asmahani认为，自4月份以来，政府为电动汽车购买者提供10%的增值税补贴，这表明政府对发展电动汽车生态系统的大力支持。官方数据显示，2022年印尼汽车市场销量约为104.8万辆，其中包括3万多辆五菱汽车，占2.9%。五菱Air EV车型在新能源汽车领域的销量排名第一，占总销量的78%以上。这款新能源车型已成为印尼消费者的最爱，自8月推出以来累计销量超过8600辆。五菱总裁施国勇在位于西爪哇省别加西的五菱生产工厂举行的推出仪式上表示:“Air EV是五菱为全球生产的最新版本电动汽车，印度尼西亚已成为第一个站点。”五菱汽车印尼分公司是中国主要汽车制造商上汽通用五菱的子公司，上汽通用五菱是上汽、通用汽车和柳州五菱汽车的合资企业，总部位于中国南方广西壮族自治区柳州。目前，五菱在印尼拥有150多家当地经销商，共有8种车型在当地生产和销售。在电动汽车领域，五菱并不是东南亚唯一的中国企业。今年3月，中国领先的电动汽车制造商比亚迪在泰国举行了首家汽车厂的奠土仪式，而中国领先的运动型多用途车和皮卡制造商长城汽车在5月4日至7日的马来西亚2023车展上展示了其三款新能源汽车。5月9日，Asmahani在位于纳闽巴霍的五菱大本营表示，展望未来，五菱将把重点放在印尼市场上。她对五菱Air EV车型在印尼市场的前景充满信心。她说:“对于印尼市场来说，这是一个聪明的、非常好的解决方案。”她指出，除了适合印尼的路况外，它的价格对印尼消费者来说也是负担得起的，印尼消费者没有受到通货膨胀的影响。这辆车很小巧，长3米，宽1.5米，高1.6米，是在通往峰会主会场、媒体中心和酒店的纳uan Bajo双车道道路上行驶的首选。“这款车很可爱，”五菱汽车印尼公司的公关经理布莱恩·贡贡姆(Brian Gomgom)说。纳闽巴霍的武陵营地有大约80人，包括司机。贡贡姆指着一辆漆成纯白的五菱汽车，解释了除了峰会标志之外，车身上的细节，他说，这些特殊的图案——主要是红色和黄色——标志着纳闽巴霍的当地文化。他补充说，此外，还可以看到五菱的座右铭“塑造清洁的明天”。在峰会上，Asmahani表示，五菱为13个代表团提供了服务，每个代表团有3辆车处于移动状态，每天从早上8点左右开始运行12小时。她说:“作为东盟峰会的一部分，再次证明了我们加快全球市场绿色交通的承诺。”
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