Baidu Sues Apple over Fake Ernie Chatbot Apps on App Store

Chinese tech giant Baidu has sued Apple and a number of app developers over fake versions of the Ernie AI chatbot on the App Store. After discovering several bogus apps in Apple’s App Store that claimed to incorporate Ernie’s technology, Baidu filed lawsuits in Beijing Haidian People’s Court against not only Apple but also the developers behind the apps.

“At present, Ernie does not have any official app,” Beijing-based Baidu said in a statement posted on its official “Baidu AI” WeChat account alongside an image of a document showing its court filing.

Baidu added: “Until our company’s official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Store or other stores is fake.”

Baidu Sued Apple over Fake Ernie Chatbot Apps on App Store

The company introduced its own version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in March. However, the company did not make it available for public use. Instead, anyone interested in trying Ernie has to apply to Baidu for a special code and then wait to see if they get selected.

At its launch event in March, Baidu CEO Robin Li claimed that its AI-powered Ernie chatbot has capabilities close to GPT-4, the latest version of OpenAI’s chatbot technology that’s now available in the Bing search engine. But it is also worth mentioning here that Robin Li gave a one-hour presentation on Ernie that only offered a small glimpse into the chatbot at that launch event.

Industry observers inside and outside China pointed to the fact that rather than showcasing Ernie through a live demo, Baidu opted for a lengthy presentation with pre-recordings of Ernie’s answers. The company’s shares also dropped 10% in Hong Kong following Li’s presentation.

Baidu has opted to play it safe and for now, is only offering the technology to select users.

See Also: China’s Baidu Announces ChatGPT Rival Ernie