China’s Baidu unveils AI-driven Wikipedia for international users

Chinese tech giant Baidu launched a Wikipedia challenger this week, banking on artificial intelligence to bridge information gaps for local and worldwide audiences in a move analysts said was aimed at seizing global opportunities.

BaiduWiki, a Wikipedia-style service available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese, quietly went live on Monday, according to records from the Wayback Machine, a digital archive platform.

A now deleted post on Baidu’s official account on social-media site X described BaiduWiki as an international version of the Baidu Baike online encyclopaedia and said it currently hosted 1 million entries across the languages, which had been translated with the help of multiple AI agents.

Baidu launched Baidu Baike in 2008, building it into one of the largest such services, with more than 30 million entries as of January.

On Wednesday, the company also introduced a new “global search” feature for its Ernie Assistant, giving the chatbot’s more than 200 million monthly active users immediate access to information including global destinations and scenic spots, Baidu said in a statement.

Pulling in overseas information for local users while doing the opposite for a global audience marks a strategic move to use AI and Ernie Assistant to bridge global information gaps, said Zhang Yi, founder and chief analyst at internet market consultancy iiMedia.

With many Chinese companies now expanding overseas, the move could help them circumvent the language barrier, which has been a pain point for local enterprises, Zhang added.

Baidu was also expected to include its global search function in other areas to cover technology and academic frontiers, according to a report by state-backed financial outlet Shanghai Securities News.

“The new initiatives could help lay the groundwork for other Baidu services, from AI and AI cloud to advertising, to pursue international growth,” Zhang said. (South China Morning Post)