On November 21, Beijing time, Baidu released its financial report for the third quarter, showing that the revenue for the third quarter reached 34.447 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to Baidu (non-GAAP) reached 7.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23%, with both revenue and profit exceeding market expectations. In the past three months, Wenxin Yiyan has been opened to the whole society, and Baidu has released the 4.0 version of the Wenxin large model, with the number of Wenxin Yiyan users now reaching 70 million.
Robin Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of Baidu, said, "Against the backdrop of emerging opportunities in generative AI and foundational models, Baidu continues to strengthen technology and improve products, especially by launching the 4.0 version of the Wenxin large model, which is Baidu's most powerful foundational model. We have also leveraged the capabilities of the Wenxin large model and Wenxin Yiyan to reconstruct consumer and enterprise products as well as our own operations, bringing AI-native experiences while continuously improving efficiency."
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He pointed out, "At the same time, we have fully opened the Wenxin large model API to cloud customers, helping them develop AI-native applications and solutions. Baidu adheres to a business and product strategy with artificial intelligence at its core, laying the foundation for the revenue maintenance and profit expansion of the Wenxin large model and Wenxin Yiyan ecosystem for many years to come."
Baidu's CFO, Luo Rong, said, "Baidu's core maintained a stable profit margin in this quarter. Our continued investment in artificial intelligence has laid the foundation for technological and product innovation. In the future, we will continue to prioritize investment in artificial intelligence, especially generative AI and foundational models, and Baidu will unwaveringly focus on efficiency and strategic resource allocation."
The financial report shows that Baidu's core revenue in this quarter was 26.6 billion yuan, with a net profit attributable to Baidu's core (non-GAAP) of 7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%; Baidu's core online marketing revenue increased to 19.7 billion yuan. At the same time, the cumulative service volume of Luobo Kuaibao has increased to 4.1 million orders. It is reported that in the second quarter, the shipment volume of Xiaodu once again led the Chinese smart screen and smart speaker market.The API usage of the Wenxin Large Model is growing exponentially.
Since Wenxin Yiyán was opened to the entire society, in October, the Wenxin Large Model 4.0 was released. Users can experience the Wenxin 4.0 version through Wenxin Yiyán, and enterprises can call the API of Wenxin 4.0 through Baidu's Intelligent Cloud Qianfan Large Model platform. Currently, the number of Wenxin Yiyán users has reached 70 million, covering 4,300 scenarios.
The Wenxin Large Model and Wenxin Yiyán are opening up new development opportunities for Baidu. On the first day of opening, Wenxin Yiyán answered 33.42 million questions from users, ushering in a rapid increase in the number of users. Recently, the "Wenxin Yiyán Professional Edition" based on the Wenxin Large Model 4.0 was launched, which is open for paid use targeting the needs of professionals, distinguishing the Wenxin Large Model from other models in the market. Compared with the free basic version, the professional version has stronger model capabilities and image generation capabilities.
At the same time, the API usage of the Wenxin Large Model is growing exponentially. Not long ago, Robin Li said in a speech that the API usage of the Wenxin Large Model "exceeds the sum of the other 200 large models." It is reported that more than 10,000 enterprises call the large model capabilities on Baidu's Qianfan Large Model platform every month.
The usage of AI-native applications has surged, and the paid rate of the document library has increased significantly.
Recently, several AI-native applications of Baidu have shown significant growth in data indicators. Baidu has fully reconstructed its products based on the Wenxin Large Model and Wenxin Yiyán, and launched several AI-native applications such as Baidu's new search, Baidu's new document library, Baidu's "Yun Yi Duo" cloud disk, Baidu Map, and Baidu GBI.Restructured AI-native applications have achieved significant growth in user numbers: On the Baidu App, 640,000 creators have used AI-assisted creative tools to produce 14 million pieces of content, garnering 30 billion views; Baidu Cloud's "Cloud Bud" launched and became the world's first "personal cloud intelligent assistant," with a user base now reaching 20 million; Baidu Wenku's AI new features have been used by over 30 million users in total.
At the same time, user stickiness and activity of Baidu's AI-native applications are also rapidly increasing. It is reported that the cumulative usage of the prompts for the launched Wenxin Yiyan has reached 20 million times; the cumulative usage of Baidu Wenku's AI new features has broken 200 million times; as of mid-October, the cumulative request volume for Baidu Input Method's "Super Writing" has exceeded 100 million times, with a user approval rate of over 80%.
The brand-new AI-native experience will drive an increase in user online time, unlocking new monetization opportunities. Taking the new search as an example, the three major features of ultimate satisfaction, recommendation stimulation, and multi-round interaction can effectively enhance user stickiness, stimulate new demands, and achieve commercial monetization; taking Baidu Wenku as an example, Wenku has been restructured from a "content tool" to a "productivity tool," launching intelligent text and PPT generation and editing functions, resulting in a noticeable increase in the paid rate of Wenku.
At the same time, Baidu has also built AI-native applications from scratch and is gradually promoting their usage and commercialization, such as the first domestic generative business intelligence product "Baidu GBI" and the AI programming assistant Baidu Comate. It is reported that more and more traditional industry enterprise customers are showing a strong interest in the aforementioned products.
Baidu's Intelligent Cloud Qianfan large model platform serves over 20,000 enterprises.Driven by the rapidly increasing demand for AI-native applications, Baidu's Intelligent Cloud offers a full-stack service solution to customers that covers five major needs, including AI computing power, large model API calls, secondary development of large models, AI-native application development tools, and AI-native application stores.
At present, Baidu's Intelligent Cloud's Qianfan Large Model Platform serves more than 20,000 enterprises, covering nearly 500 scenarios. For instance, TAL Education has completed the training and development of large models based on Baidu's Intelligent Cloud, significantly enhancing the performance of the large models; Mianyi Technology has completed the training and optimization of multiple large models on Baidu's Intelligent Cloud, ensuring the continuity of model training and achieving good model convergence effects.
Simultaneously, in promoting the prosperity of the AI-native application ecosystem, plugins hold significant importance as they are the most accessible and easiest-to-use AI-native applications. Since the launch of the Lingjing Matrix Plugin Platform in September of this year, 27,000 developers have applied to join, including partners such as Ctrip, CITIC Publishing Group, and the China Justice Big Data Research Institute.