[Baidu Search] Allow users to specify the desired level of 'rich media' in search results

TLDR Baidu unveiled ERNIE 5.0, a new all-in-one AI model that understands and generates text, images, audio, and video, plus a wave of AI tools like digital humans, no-code app builders, and general AI agents. The company is also pushing globally with robotaxis, a new self-evolving agent called Famou, and international products like MeDo and Oreate. This matters because Baidu is building a full AI stack—from core models to apps, agents, and self-driving cars—making China a major player in the worldwide AI race. SUMMARY Baidu held its big Baidu World 2025 event and showed off its latest AI foundation model, ERNIE 5.0. ERNIE 5.0 is “natively omni-modal,” which means it is built from the start to handle text, images, audio, and video together. It is designed to be better at understanding and creating mixed media, following instructions, reasoning, using tools, and acting like an AI agent that can plan and execute tasks. People can try a preview of ERNIE 5.0 in ERNIE Bot, and business users can access it through Baidu’s Qianfan cloud platform. Baidu’s CEO Robin Li said the real value is in applications, not just models, and that AI should be built into everyday work so it becomes a core part of how companies and people get things done. He argued that AI apps can create up to 100 times more value than the base models underneath them. Baidu highlighted its robotaxi service Apollo Go, which has now given more than 17 million fully driverless rides in 22 cities around the world. The cars have driven over 240 million kilometers in autonomous mode, showing that Baidu is turning AI into real-world transport services. On the search side, Baidu said about 70% of its top search results now show up as rich media like images and video, not just blue links. It is also letting partners tap into this AI search via APIs, with hundreds of companies such as Samsung and smartphone brands already using it. Baidu showed GenFlow 3.0, its general AI agent for handling complex tasks and workflows, which now has more than 20 million users. GenFlow 3.0 can work across many formats at once and remember more, making it better at long, multi-step jobs. For global users, Baidu launched Oreate, an AI workspace that uses multiple agents to help create documents, slides, images, videos, and podcasts end to end. Oreate already has over 1.2 million users in international markets. The company upgraded its no-code app builder Miaoda to version 2.0, which has already produced hundreds of thousands of apps in China. Its global version, called MeDo, is now live at [medo.dev](http://medo.dev) so developers worldwide can build AI apps without writing code. Baidu also pushed its digital human technology, which powers realistic AI presenters and hosts for livestreams and e-commerce. This tech has launched in Brazil and is aiming at new markets like the U.S. and Southeast Asia, including platforms like Shopee and Lazada. A new real-time digital human can understand context, respond instantly, and show natural emotions, and was heavily used in China’s big “Double 11” shopping festival. Baidu introduced Famou, which it calls the world’s first commercially available self-evolving agent. Famou is designed to act like a top algorithm expert that can keep learning and adjusting to find the best solutions in complex areas like transport, energy, finance, and logistics. Access to Famou is starting through invitation codes, signaling a more controlled early rollout. Overall, Baidu is positioning itself as a full-stack AI company, with powerful models, agents, tools, and real-world services all tied together and increasingly pushed to global markets. KEY POINTS * ERNIE 5.0 is Baidu’s new all-in-one AI model that handles text, images, audio, and video in a single system. * It is built for multimodal understanding, creative output, reasoning, and agent-style planning and tool use. * ERNIE 5.0 is available in preview via ERNIE Bot for users and via Qianfan cloud for enterprises. * Apollo Go robotaxis have completed more than 17 million fully driverless rides across 22 cities worldwide. * Baidu Search now shows about 70% of its top results as rich media, turning search into an AI-first, visual experience. * GenFlow 3.0, Baidu’s general AI agent for complex tasks, has over 20 million users and stronger memory and multimodal abilities. * Oreate is a new global AI workspace that uses multiple agents to create documents, slides, images, videos, and podcasts. * Miaoda 2.0 is Baidu’s upgraded no-code app builder in China, while its global twin MeDo lets developers worldwide build AI apps without coding. * Baidu’s digital human tech is going global, starting in Brazil and moving into markets like the U.S. and Southeast Asia for livestreaming and e-commerce. * Famou is a self-evolving AI agent that can optimize complex systems and is being launched commercially via invite. Source: [https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baidu-unveils-ernie-5-0-and-a-series-of-ai-applications-at-baidu-world-2025--ramps-up-global-push-302614531.html?tc=eml\_cleartime](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baidu-unveils-ernie-5-0-and-a-series-of-ai-applications-at-baidu-world-2025--ramps-up-global-push-302614531.html?tc=eml_cleartime)