The Chinese search engine giant, Baidu has filed lawsuits against “relevant” app developers and Apple Inc over counterfeit copies of its Ernie bot app available on Apple’s app store.
The company’s artificial intelligence-powered Ernie bot, which debuted last month, has been billed as China’s answer to the ChatGPT chatbot developed in the United States.
Baidu said it had filed lawsuits in Beijing Haidian People’s Court against the developers of the counterfeit Ernie bot applications as well as Apple.
“At present, Ernie does not have any official app,” Baidu said in a statement on Friday posted on its official “Baidu AI” WeChat account.
“Until our company’s official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Store or other stores are fake,” it added.
On Saturday, a search in Apple’s App Store revealed at least four fake apps with the Chinese-language name of the Ernie bot.
Users who apply for and receive access codes are the only ones who can use the Ernie bot.