Baidu has launched Ernie 4.5 Turbo and Ernie X1 Turbo, two new large language models with enhanced multimodal capabilities, faster response times and dramatically lower costs for developers.
Ernie 4.5 Turbo is designed to deliver faster responses while being priced at just 20 percent of the original Ernie 4.5. Ernie X1 Turbo, which features enhanced reasoning and multimodal abilities, is offered at half the price of its predecessor, Ernie X1.
Baidu’s aggressive pricing strategy positions its models as up to 60 percent less expensive than comparable offerings from rivals such as DeepSeek.
“Our releases aim to empower developers to build the best applications — without having to worry about model capability, costs or development tools,” said Robin Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Baidu.
Both new models stand out for their ability to process and generate content across multiple formats-including text, images, audio, and video-reflecting the industry’s shift toward multimodal AI as the standard for next-generation foundational models.
“Multimodality will become a standard feature of future foundation models. The market for pure text-based models will shrink, while the market for multimodal models will continue to grow,” said Li.
AI-powered apps
Baidu also introduced a suite of AI-powered applications, including Xinxiang, a multi-agent collaboration app described as a “general super agent” capable of executing complex tasks from a single sentence prompt. Xinxiang currently supports 200 task types across scenarios such as knowledge analysis, travel planning, studying, and office work, with plans to expand to more than100,000 task types in the future.
Also launched is Cangzhou OS, a content operating system developed in partnership with Baidu Wenku and Baidu Drive. This system powers AI Note, a multimodal note-taking tool that enables users to create notes, mind maps, and quizzes from educational videos with a single click.
Baidu Wenku’s AI features now boast 40 million paying users and 97 million monthly active users, while Baidu Drive’s AI tools serve more than 80 million monthly active users.
To further empower developers, Baidu rolled out the AI Open Initiative, providing access to traffic, monetisation opportunities, and the latest AI services through a diversified content and service distribution system. The company is also integrating its model context protocol into existing products, streamlining the developer experience and enabling easier access to Baidu’s expanding suite of AI tools.
Photo: Kevin Ku
Entelechy Asia 