Baidu Inc. BIDU, the Chinese language search engine large, has filed a lawsuit towards Apple Inc. AAPL and app builders over pretend “Ernie Bot” apps. 

What Occurred: Baidu has taken authorized motion towards Apple and “related” app builders for distributing counterfeit variations of its Ernie Bot app on the App Retailer, reported Reuters. 

The corporate has filed lawsuits towards Apple and the creators of the fraudulent variations in Beijing’s Haidian Folks’s Court docket. 

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“At current, Ernie doesn’t have any official app,” Baidu stated in a press release. The corporate, also referred to as China’s Google, posted {a photograph} of its courtroom submitting.

“Till our firm’s official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Retailer or different shops are pretend,” it stated.

Apple didn’t instantly reply to Benzinga’s request for feedback. 

Why It’s Vital: Baidu’s Ernie Bot has been acclaimed as China’s closest equal to OpenAI‘s AI-powered chatbot referred to as chatGPT, the report famous. 

Final month, Baidu unceremoniously canceled the highly-anticipated public launch of Ernie Bot and as a substitute carried out a non-public closed-door assembly with the preliminary batch of corporations testing the product. 

Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li, unveiled Ernie Bot on March 16.

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