Chinese search engine giant Baidu said on Friday it would make its next-generation artificial intelligence model Ernie open-source from June 30, a major shift in strategy as competition heats up.

Asian equities were mixed but mostly lower overnight as Korea and Japan outperformed and Hong Kong and Mainland China underperformed.

Baidu is making a strategic move to strengthen its position in China’s artificial intelligence race by making its chatbot, Ernie Bot, free to all users starting April 1. The decision signals a shift in the company’s approach as it grapples with intensifying competition from emerging players like DeepSeek and ByteDance’s Doubao.