Since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022, the focus topic for people has been artificial intelligence for the past year and a half. According to statistics from The Paper, as of April 30th, out of 5361 A-share listed companies, 5351 have timely disclosed their 2023 annual reports. Among them, 2842 mentioned artificial intelligence, accounting for 53.1%.

As one of China's three Internet giants, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are leaders in domestic artificial intelligence, especially Baidu. With its continuous innovation and application in deep learning, natural language processing, and other fields, Baidu has become a leader in the field of artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence has borne abundant fruits in all fields, with Baidu's new generation AI technology and patents leading the way.

Baidu is one of the earliest Internet companies in China to delve into artificial intelligence research and application. Through its deep learning platform, PaddlePaddle, Baidu supports various deep learning models, promoting the application of artificial intelligence technology in industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation. In addition, Baidu Brain, as its core AI technology and data platform, provides services including speech recognition, image recognition, natural language processing, and others, driving the development of the intelligent economy.

In the field of autonomous driving, since the launch of the Baidu Apollo autonomous driving platform in 2017, Baidu has cooperated with multiple car manufacturers and parts suppliers to promote the landing and commercialization of autonomous driving technology. Baidu has also launched unmanned delivery vehicles and unmanned taxi services, demonstrating its strength in the field of autonomous driving.

Baidu has been laying out artificial intelligence technology since 2013, and in March 2019, it launched the Wenxin large model 1.0, continuously iterating and upgrading, and continuously innovating its technology. In October 2023, it released the Wenxin large model 4.0. The "Baidu Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Patent White Paper 2024" shows that by the end of 2023, Baidu had applied for 19,308 patents and granted 9,260 patents in the field of artificial intelligence, ranking first domestically for six consecutive years.

Baidu has deployed the entire stack of AI chips, frameworks, models, and applications, with leading self-developed technologies and products at each level. Baidu has a powerful series of basic models, and the Wenxin large model has become the most advanced and widely used AI basic model in China. Among global giants, Baidu was the first to release the Wenxin Yiyu, a large model product comparable to ChatGPT, and was the first to open it to the whole society, with a user base exceeding 200 million. Using AI thinking to revamp AI-native applications, Baidu has reconstructed products such as Baidu Library, Search, Network Disk, and Maps.

Based on its leading R&D experience and deep patent accumulation, Baidu realizes that the competition for large models is entering the next stage: starting from 2023, the focus will shift to the development of AI-native applications.

Alibaba doubles down on e-commerce AI, building a  comprehensive layout for the AI era

Alibaba Group is not only a leading global e-commerce platform but also a significant driver of artificial intelligence technology. Through its subsidiary Alibaba Cloud, it provides AI services supporting applications such as machine learning, data analysis, and computer vision. Alibaba also utilizes AI technology to optimize its e-commerce business, such as recommending products through machine learning algorithms and improving search accuracy using natural language processing techniques.

Alibaba also occupies a leading position in the field of intelligent voice interaction, with its smart speaker Tmall Genie relying on Alibaba Cloud's computing and data processing capabilities to perform functions such as home control, music playback, and information retrieval, greatly enriching users' smart living experience.

Focusing on AI-driven e-commerce: "AI-driven" has become one of the group's two strategic focuses, integrating core e-commerce businesses with AI comprehensively. At the same time, Alibaba, leveraging Alibaba Cloud's computing power and the intelligence of the TongYi big model, has already deployed AI products comprehensively for both To C and To B.

In digital services, there is an independent "Lingyang DaaS";

In design, Alibaba's design team has created the "Duiyou" platform, which provides one-stop AI design services and allows designers to earn income by creating AI models, addressing the demand for designers to obtain free and high-quality materials;

In the field of overseas trade services, Alibaba has pioneered AI-native business assistants to help foreign trade merchants improve operational efficiency, increase conversion rates, and find business opportunities. The AI business assistant can intelligently optimize product titles, images, videos, and other content, analyze product market size, category trends, category explosions, and other information intelligently, and intelligently match RFQ business opportunities, with intelligent product delivery, intelligent reception, and other functions, providing practical advice quickly and intelligently based on foreign trade scenarios.

Tencent's AI Layout Overview: The concept of "AI in all" penetrates the application of artificial intelligence

Tencent is one of China's largest social media and gaming companies and continues to exert efforts in the field of artificial intelligence. Through its artificial intelligence laboratory, Tencent has made a series of breakthroughs in areas such as image recognition, voice recognition, and machine learning, and its AI technology has been widely applied in its own social platforms such as QQ, WeChat, and gaming products.

In addition to applications in the consumer internet field, Tencent also uses AI technology in areas such as healthcare and urban management. For example, its AI medical image analysis system has helped many hospitals improve diagnosis efficiency and accuracy, demonstrating the social value of AI technology.

In terms of laboratories, through various forms of cooperation, Tencent has established many AI-related laboratories at home and abroad.

Regarding the absorption of AI companies and talent, compared to the other two major giants, Tencent's primary means is not outright acquisition but rather investment, with a focus on angel rounds and Series A rounds. For example:

-Diffbot: Led by Tencent in 2016, primarily utilizes artificial intelligence technology to enable "machines" to extract key content from web pages and output structured data that can be directly recognized by software.

-iCarbonX: Tencent participated in its Series A financing in 2016. iCarbonX is positioned in the research of a digital life ecosystem created by life big data, the Internet, and artificial intelligence.

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B-side applications:

1. Internal use: Tencent's Mixun large model has been tested in over 400 business and scene scenarios, improving operational efficiency. 

Regarding advertising, Tencent President Liu Chiping mentioned in the 2023 earnings call that AI has brought revenue to existing businesses, mainly reflected in short-term advertising business growth driven by more accurate targeting and higher click-through rates. In gaming, at the 2024 GDC conference, Tencent announced the self-developed AI game engine GiiNEX, which includes functions such as NPC dialogue, game plot, and map generation. It is currently being used in level design for "Dream of Yuan Star".

2.External use: Tested/released as separate functional modules in Tencent Documents, Tencent Conference, Tencent Advertising, and Enterprise WeChat.

C-side applications:

Launch of the Mixun Assistant, Tencent Yuanbao, and QQ AI Chat Partner in testing. It is expected to drive more mini-programs and app-side applications in 2024.