Like Google, China's biggest search player Baidu is beefing up its product with AI to fight rivals

Baidu has given its duct the biggest overhaul in 10 years by adding artificial intelligence features

Baidu has been facing pressure from AI rivals Tencent and DeepSeek

Analysts told CNBC the move was a bid to keep ahead of fast-moving rivals DeepSeek, rather than traditional players

In this articleBIDU your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTPictured here is the Ernie bot mobile interface, with the Baidu engine page in the background

Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesChinese giant Baidu has bolstered its core platform with artificial intelligence in the biggest overhaul of the duct in 10 years

Analysts told CNBC the move was a bid to keep ahead of fast-moving rivals DeepSeek, rather than traditional players. "There has been some small pressure on the but the focus on AI and Ernie Bot is a key move ahead," Dan Ives, global head of re at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC by

Ernie Bot is Baidu's AI chatbot. "Baidu is not waiting around to watch the paint dry, full steam ahead on AI," he added

Baidu AI overhaulBaidu is China's biggest engine, but — as is also being seen by Google — the market is being disrupted

Users are flocking instead to AI services such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek, which shocked the world this year with its advanced model it claimed was created at a fraction of the cost of rivals

But Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, also noted that short platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou are also getting into AI and piling pressure on Baidu

To counter this, Baidu made some major changes to its core duct:Users can now enter more than a thousand characters in the box, versus 28 previously;Questions can be asked in a more direct and conversational manner, mirroring how people now use chatbots;Users can ask questions through voice but also mpt the seach engine with pictures and files;Baidu has integrated its AI chatbot features, which enable users to generate photos, text and s, into the duct. "This is more aligned with how people use ChatGPT and DeepSeek in terms of how they look for answers," Wang said

Outside of China, Google has also been looking to enhance its core duct with AI, highlighting how has been under pressure from the burgeoning nology

Since then, it has aggressively launched d AI models

However, the Beijing-headquartered company has also faced intense competition from fellow giants Alibaba and Tencent, as well as upstarts such as DeepSeek

These companies have also been launching new models and infusing AI into their ducts and Baidu's stock has fallen behind as a result

Baidu s have risen around 2. 5% this year, versus a 30. 5% surge for Alibaba and a 20% rise for Tencent. "This is a defensive and offensive move

Baidu needs to be aggressive and perception-wise show they are not the little brother to Tencent on the AI front," Wedbush Securities' Ives added.