Baidu Inc. is planning to roll out an artificial intelligence chatbot service similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to a person familiar with the matter, potentially China's most prominent entry in a race touched off by the tech phenomenon. China's largest search engine company plans to debut a ChatGPT-style application in March, initially embedding it into its main search services, said the person, asking to remain unidentified discussing private information. The tool, whose name hasn't been decided, will allow users to get conversation-style search results much like OpenAI's popular platform.

The same day that Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella was outlining the company's plans for artificial intelligence, Chinese tech giant Baidu announced it had poached one of the US firm's former leading AI researchers. Industry veteran Qi Lu was previously in charge of Microsoft's applications and services unit and helped to orchestrate the firm's push into AI and bots before a bicycle accident led to his early exit from the company last September. Now, Lu is moving to Baidu where he'll become the company's new chief operating officer, overseeing all parts of the business as the search giant pushes further into AI. "To achieve our goals, especially in artificial intelligence, which is a key strategic focus for the next decade, we will need to continue attracting the best global talent," said Baidu CEO Robin Li in a statement. "With Dr. Lu on board, we are confident that our strategy will be executed smoothly and Baidu will become a world-class technology company and global leader in AI." Like Google, Baidu's primary engine for growth so far has been advertising revenue, but the company wants to diversify its interests and profit drivers -- especially as it faces growing competition in ads from rivals like Alibaba.

There's a theory that human intelligence stems from a single algorithm. The idea arises from experiments suggesting that the portion of your brain dedicated to processing sound from your ears could also handle sight for your eyes. This is possible only while your brain is in the earliest stages of development, but it implies that the brain is -- at its core -- a general-purpose machine that can be tuned to specific tasks. About seven years ago, Stanford computer science professor Andrew Ng stumbled across this theory, and it changed the course of his career, reigniting a passion for artificial intelligence, or AI. "For the first time in my life," Ng says, "it made me feel like it might be possible to make some progress on a small part of the AI dream within our lifetime."

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Baidu unveiled on Monday a medical chatbot that aims to simplify the process of collecting and sharing information between patient and doctor, VentureBeat reports. Dubbed "Melody," the bot -- which is housed within the Baidu Doctor app -- collects and aggregates medical information from users that it then passes on to doctors who use the information to make diagnoses. Melody, which is only available in China, provides a proof-of-concept that could be replicated in Western markets and lay the framework for the wider implementation of chatbots within the mobile health (mHealth) industry.

Ford will make a driverless car for ride-sharing purposes by 2021, using its Ford Fusion Hybrids (shown here) as technology test mules. CEO Mark Fields set the target at Ford's Research and Innovation facility here, which will double its staff to 300 and grow its footprint by 150,000 square feet by year's end to respond to the challenge. "This is one example of how we're thinking about expanding our business into mobility more broadly," Fields told USA TODAY. "Taking the driver out of the equation improves the economics for us as well as consumers." Currently, Ford is testing around a dozen self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrids on California, Michigan and Arizona roads.

Ford will make a driverless car for ride-sharing purposes by 2021, using its Ford Fusion Hybrids (shown here) as technology test mules. CEO Mark Fields set the target at Ford's Research and Innovation facility here, which will double its staff to 300 and grow its footprint by 150,000 square feet by year's end to respond to the challenge. "This is one example of how we're thinking about expanding our business into mobility more broadly," Fields told USA TODAY. "Taking the driver out of the equation improves the economics for us as well as consumers." Currently, Ford is testing around a dozen self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrids on California, Michigan and Arizona roads.