Despite the artificial intelligence boom, the revenue of Chinese technology giant Baidu has declined. The company generated a revenue of 34.1 billion yuan in the last quarter of the year. Speculations have started to emerge about Baidu losing its favor in the eyes of the Beijing administration due to criticisms related to its artificial intelligence technology.

Mixed results came from the balance sheet of Chinese technology giant Baidu. Despite the China technology rally starting with DeepSeek, Baidu recorded a decrease in its revenue in the three-month period ending in December. Concerns were raised as the company struggled under fierce competition in the internet search and artificial intelligence businesses. The company’s revenue decreased by 2 percent in this period, reaching 34.1 billion yuan (4.7 billion dollars). Expectations were that the revenue would be around 33.4 billion yuan.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CRITICISMS
Baidu was limitedly affected by the artificial intelligence rally compared to its rivals such as Alibaba and Tencent. The company’s shares increased by 9% in the past month. In the same period, Alibaba’s shares rose by 50%, and Tencent’s by 30%. Criticisms were also made regarding Baidu’s leadership in the field of artificial intelligence. The company was the first among Chinese technology giants to launch an artificial intelligence language model. However, it had commercialized the Ernie artificial intelligence by making it a paid service. Later, the application fee was removed, and users were refunded.

ABSENCE IN A CRITICAL MEETING
On the other hand, it was claimed that Baidu CEO Robin Li did not attend the meeting held by Chinese President Xi Jinping with technology leaders and entrepreneurs. After the allegations of Li’s absence at the meeting, Baidu’s shares witnessed a nearly 10% drop. This development was interpreted as a sign of Baidu starting to lose its influence as once seen as the biggest competitor of OpenAI.