The unaudited financial report for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 was released tonight. The financial report shows that the revenue reached 34.1 billion yuan, with an estimated 33.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%; Attributable(non-GAAP) was 8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44%.
Phone call after the release of earnings reportAt the meeting, BaiduIt is said that there will be more investment in large-scale model training, and it is expected that a new version will be released in ERNIE Bot at the end of the year.
▍ Increase investment in large language models. It is expected that a new version will be released by the end of the year.
The financial report pointed out that Baidu search is testing the new functions of "extreme satisfaction", "AI partner" and "AI BOT" which combine the big model. Baidu Library also announced the internal testing of "AI Document Assistant" in May, and Baidu marketing AIGC business creative platform "Qingrudder" has been opened to Baidu marketing customers.
Regarding the progress of the big model in the vertical industry, Li Yanhong said at the performance conference call that he is currently cooperating with the head hospital to provide AI assistants to assist doctors in clinical judgment, help patients find suitable departments and doctors, and provide online pre-diagnosis services. But he also pointed out that the application of the big model in the medical industry is still in its early stage.
"The model of a specific industry should be based on a strong basic model, otherwise it has no foundation. With the passage of time, the rapid development of basic models will provide stronger support for industry-specific models. There are only a few companies that can do basic models. " Li Yanhong said that Baidu will build a new engine around generative AI and big language model to promote long-term growth.
Li Yanhong revealed that,It is expected that a new version will be released in ERNIE Bot by the end of this year. In the transition period before the launch of the new version, Baidu will promote the use of the current version and explore applications and scenarios in different industries..
Regarding the future investment strategy, Luo Rong, chief financial officer of Baidu, said,Will continue to be strongInvesting in AI will increase investment in big language models and generative AI in the next few quarters.
▍ Smart driving business is affected by the decline in profits of the automobile industry.
From the perspective of segmentation, Baidu’s core online marketing revenue was 19.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%;Revenue was 7.8 billion yuan, up 17% year-on-year.
Regarding the recovery of online marketing revenue, Baidu executives said:The recovery momentum of industries such as medical care, business services, travel and local services is more obvious.The number of medical search queries has increased well year-on-year, and offline industries have also contributed a lot to online marketing revenue. In addition, advertisements distributed through short videos have achieved double-digit growth.
Baidu executives said that the advertising system is being rebuilt through generative AI, which helps advertisements to achieve better and accurate positioning and reach the people they want to reach.
In terms of intelligent driving business, in the second quarter, Radish Run provided 714,000 rides, a year-on-year increase of 149%. By June 30, 2023, Radish Run had provided 3.3 million rides to the public.
In June this year, Radish Run was awarded the first batch of unmanned commercial pilot notices by Pingshan District, Shenzhen. At present, Radish Run has been approved to provide unmanned self-driving travel services to the public in Wuhan, Chongqing, Beijing and Shenzhen. In July this year, Radish Kuaipao obtained the first batch of licenses issued by Pudong New Area in Shanghai, allowing all unmanned autopilot tests to be carried out on open roads.
Li Yanhong said, "In the past year, Baidu has been improving the unmanned taxi service in Wuhan. Today, the fleet size of Wuhan has expanded from the initial 5 vehicles to more than 200 vehicles. The focus of the follow-up is to continue to expand the fleet size, so that more cities and more users can use services in a wider range. The goal next year is to enter more cities. "
However, the current smart driving orders are still affected by the decline in profits of the automobile industry. “Although the automobile factory is very interested in intelligent driving, due to the decline in the profit of the automobile industry, the automobile factory has more cost control measures, which may affect the intelligent driving scheme in the short term.. "Baidu executives pointed out.