OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Baidu’s Ernie Bot – and Isiuwa for Africa

When it comes to mobile, respect Kenyans in Africa. They just understand how to build on mobile. And when it comes to consumer AI, recognize Chinese. What TikTok accomplished is industry-shaping. Yes, it has the best video recommendation engine in the world. As I noted when Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman were launching Quibi, positing that they would fail,  the quality sauce in TikTok has continued to provide a new basis of competition in this sector.

Now comes AI and natural language computing. Another Chinese powerhouse has unveiled its future: ‘Chinese multinational tech company Baidu has seen its shares rise, following the announcement to launch its artificial intelligence chatbot. The company’s shares rose to 13.48% higher on Asia’s morning trade. The company had recently confirmed that it is internally testing an AI chatbot called “Ernie Bot” which it plans to roll out in March after testing. Ernie stands for “Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration,” Baidu said, describing it as a “large language model” that was introduced in 2019.’

“What distinguishes ERNIE from other language models is its integration of extensive knowledge with massive data, resulting in exceptional understanding and generation capabilities.

“It has since evolved into a series of advanced big models that are capable of handling a wide range of tasks, such as language understanding, language generation, and text-to-image generation”, the company added.

Now, we have ChatGPT, Bard from Google, Ernie Bot from Baidu, at the upstream with an amalgam of many downstream players.  African entrepreneurs: now is the moment. I have a great name – “Isiuwa” which literally translates to “head of the world” and a great variation of the name “Ndubuisi” in the Igbo Nation.

(In Igbo etymology, Isiuwa means “life is first in this world”, connecting to “Ndubuisi” where it is abbreviated from. It expands the full way of writing Ndubuisi which is “Ndu bu isi uwa” –  life is the first thing in this world. Forget Google translator and trust my interpretation because I am a village guy, infinite.)

Indeed, why can’t we have the head of the world in a chatbot from Africa?

That said, Apple may come up with a chatbot AI in its possibly iPhone evolution.

Apple might be preparing to push the price of its high-end iPhones even higher. CEO Tim Cook has told investors that iPhone buyers are “willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford,” because the device is so “integral” to their lives. That’s fueled rumors that Apple might soon unveil a top-end brand, the iPhone Ultra, with new features such as a faster chip and no charging port, Bloomberg notes. Apple’s top-of-the-line model now sells for US$1,600, up 66% since 2009. The costliest phone from rival Samsung currently goes for $2,160. (LinkedIn News)

Baidu Shares Surge Following Announcement to Launch AI Chatbot

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.