BEIJING Reuters -- Chinese search engine giant Baidu has cancelled a planned livestreaming product launch related to its ChatGPT-like Ernie bot that it had advertised as open to media and the public.
The webcast, scheduled for Monday afternoon, was changed to a closed-door meeting with the first batch of companies testing the product, Baidu said in a statement on Monday morning.
The change in format was intended to satisfy the strong demand from 120,000 companies that had applied to test Ernie bot, according to the company, adding that this would be the first of many closed-door meetings.
Baidu's Hong Kong-listed shares fell by as much as 4.5% on Monday morning after initial reports of the cancellation.
Baidu CEO Robin Li, who gave a livestreamed presentation that showed the Chinese chatbot's different capabilities, was China's closest answer to the U.S.-developed ChatGPT, which was launched on March 16 by Baidu CEO Robin Li.
The presentation was still livestreamed and the share price dropped, due to strong demand from the Chinese corporate sector for generative artificial intelligence AI, the technology that powers products like Ernie bot and ChatGPT.