ERNIE X1 and ERNIE 4.5: Chinese company Baidu introduces two new AI models

Chinese company Baidu has launched two new artificial intelligence models — ERNIE X1 and ERNIE 4.5. The X1 model is a reasoning system that competes with DeepSeek’s R1 in terms of performance, but costs half as much, CNBC reports.

ERNIE X1 has “stronger capabilities for understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution.” Baidu says it’s the first deep thinking model to use tools autonomously.

If the X1 is going to compete with DeepSeek’s R1, the name ERNIE 4.5 hints that the Chinese company is also going to compete with OpenAI’s GPT 4.5 model. Baidu says the new model has “excellent multi-modal understanding capabilities. It has more advanced language capabilities, and its comprehension, generation, logic, and memory capabilities are comprehensively improved.” The company has also improved the model’s ability to understand memes and satirical images.