China’s Baidu merges key app businesses to drive consumer AI push

Baidu has merged two of its consumer app businesses into a new artificial intelligence-focused unit, stepping up its push into China’s fast-evolving and fiercely contested market for consumer AI applications.The company combined its online document-sharing business Wenku and consumer-oriented cloud storage operation Wangpan to form the Personal Super Intelligence Business Group (PSIG), according to a source familiar with the matter. The move marks one of Baidu’s largest reorganisations in the past two years.PSIG would be headed by Wang Ying, a company vice-president who oversaw the two separate businesses prior to the change, the source added. The set-up was first reported by local business and financial outlet Caijing, citing sources who said Wang would report directly to Robin Li Yanhong, company founder and CEO.Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The move comes amid intensifying competition in China’s consumer AI sector, as Big Tech and AI specialist firms race to turn their services and apps into the next “super app”.Amid a fiercely contested market for consumer AI applications, Alibaba also announced a major update to its flagship Qwen AI app, connecting it to its wider portfolio of services. Photo: Simon SongThe restructuring highlighted the new unit’s strategic role in Baidu’s AI commercialisation push, as its traditional advertising revenue declined and users increasingly turned to chatbot apps to conduct searches, according to Zhang Yi, founder and chief analyst at consultancy iiMedia.