"New Search" rushes into the C-end: If you have any questions, who should you ask?
Latest update time：2024-09-04
Reads：
“
Baidu’s new search path – Wenxinyiyan upgrades to Wenxiaoyan.
”
Author | Dong Zibo
Editor | Lin Juemin
On an ordinary night, Xue Su was half lying on the sofa, and Zhang Songwen’s new drama, "The Boy Who Can’t See Shadow", was playing on the TV screen.
Suddenly, a doubt hit Xue Su, forcing him to press the pause button on the remote control:
Also starring Zhang Songwen, there seems to be a scene in "Kuangchuan" where he plays a gangster boss and confronts a policeman at the dock, but Xue Su couldn't remember the person who was acting opposite him.
So, he turned to his friend Wen Xiaoyan who was watching TV with him:
"By the way, there's a scene in Zhang Songwen's "The Storm" where a man holds a small loudspeaker like a publicist. I don't remember his name. He is trying to persuade a bad guy to surrender at the dock. Then a policeman comes out from the side. Who plays this policeman?"
After saying this, Xue Su didn't know if others could understand this vague picture in his mind, let alone whether he could find the answer he wanted.
But Wen Xiaoyan thought about it and said to Xue Su: "Is the person holding the trumpet played by Wu Gang?"
Xue Su suddenly realized: "Yes, that's right!"
My friend replied, "If it was Wu Gang, then the character he played was called Xu Zhong. In the scene with him at the dock, the policeman who was persuaded to surrender was called Yang Jian, and the actor was called Wang Xiao. There was no Zhang Songwen in this scene."
After hearing the answer, Xue Su was more shocked than happy about having his doubts solved - because this "Wen Xiaoyan" was not a "TV Tong" in the real world, but "Wen Xin Yi Yan" from Baidu.
Xue Su, Baidu's vice president and head of AI product innovation business and MEG strategic operations center, didn't even realize that Wen Xiaoyan's ability was so strong that he could answer such vague questions so clearly.
01
Hello, "Wen Xiaoyan"!
Readers who see this don’t need to worry,
because
“
Wen Xin Yi Yan
”
has been upgraded today and renamed to the more friendly
“
Wen Xiao Yan
”
.
Why the name change? Xue Su explained that a year ago, when this smart application debuted, Wenxin Yiyan APP had come of age and wanted to reach a larger number of To C users. The required quality was to be more friendly, and the name was of course a very important part of it.
This September marks the first anniversary of the launch of the New App. As Wenxin Yiyan grows from a teenager to an adult, Baidu also hopes that the large-scale model product can reach a wider audience.
"Wen Xin Yiyan became Wen Xiaoyan because we hope that Xiaoyan can enter our lives and not only be a tool, but also our senior friend, companion, think tank and confidant." Xue Su said.
However, this upgrade is not as simple as a "name change". If we only use one sentence to describe the changes that Baidu has brought to the big model To C track, we can say:
Wen Xiaoyan is more like a human than an
AI
tool.
In the era when it was still called "Wen Xin Yi Yan", this intelligent application already had the ability to answer general questions and complete multi-modal output;
But just like the previous search, document and other tools, I have "social phobia". If others don't come to me, I won't take the initiative to help others solve their problems.
The more personified Wen Xiaoyan is different:
First of all, Xiaoyan's memory ability has improved. As long as you tell Xiaoyan something about yourself - occupation, hobbies, zodiac sign, star sign, interests and hobbies, etc. - Xiaoyan can "keep it in mind", just like a real partner, knowing your preferences and understanding your joys and sorrows;
Secondly, Xiaoyan is more proactive. You can ask Xiaoyan to "send me 5 pieces of the day's current affairs news at 12 noon every Monday" or "tell me the fortune of Aquarius at 22:00 next Monday" according to your needs, or even "remember to take my medicine every night";
At the same time, Wen Xiaoyan has become more interesting. When you "see" current hot messages and news, Wen Xiaoyan will share them with you like a friend, allowing you to open up and chat with him/her.
It is more personalized and proactive, which changes the relationship between humans and AI from "AI feedback instructions" to communication between humans and AI.
And more like a human, Wen Xiaoyan has upgraded not only the "inner" but also the "outer".
Empowered by multimodal technology, Xiaoyan also supports real-time voice chat with digital people. Not only is the image realistic enough, but the voice, movements, and expressions are also quite natural.
Don’t underestimate this change. Only by seeing “ people ” interacting with themselves can users have a sense of communicating with “ people ” . Users can also upload their own personalized digital images to communicate with AI more intimately.
In terms of the ability to answer questions, Wen Xiaoyan is also transforming from a "cold" conversational robot to a "good friend" who can actually help you answer questions.
When faced with complex problems, Wen Xiaoyan can get to the heart of the matter and give precise answers in one step.
When faced with an interesting topic, Wen Xiaoyan will actively recommend it to you, "Guess what you might want to ask" or "Guess what you might want to read";
When users want to know something, Wen Xiaoyan will not only give text answers, but also provide multi-modal answers such as relevant pictures, map navigation, music, flow charts, etc., so that you don’t have to open other applications, which simplifies a lot of operations;
In addition, Wen Xiaoyan also supports the operations of "asking while watching" and "asking while shooting", allowing you to watch videos and take photos while solving problems, just like a friend accompanying you to watch videos and see the world, making the communication experience easier.
Today, the more proactive Wen Xiaoyan is making generative AI more like a "personal assistant". It not only solves the problems you want - but also
handles the ones you don't pay attention to, so that you have time to focus on more important issues.
Why do we need to make AI more human-like? The aforementioned “friendly” is only one of the reasons.
“
Ease of use
”
is the real
“
decisive factor
”
of Wen Xiaoyan
.
Today, many people’s disillusionment with generative AI is attributed to the huge gap between AGI and the current ceiling of AI technology.
But many people have not noticed that
the level of
AI
utilization in the broader market is still far from the ceiling of current technology.
In sociology, scholars have found that even in the digital age, there are still many people who do not have the conditions or ability to use mobile phones and computers, and their social skills are relatively backward compared to others.
Scholars call this phenomenon the "digital divide" and have long been analyzing the social problems caused by this divide.
In the AI era, a new "gap" is slowly opening up, separating those who cannot use AI effectively from the "trendsetters" of the AI era.
"
I found that some users don't understand
AI
. After using our
AI
products, they don't understand
how powerful
AI
is. It's like using the old search function
- the new search function is in front of them, but they don't know it." After observing many previous Wenxin Yiyan users, Xue Su concluded.
What Wen Xiaoyan is doing is to build a "bridge" across this "gap" through a more human, friendly and natural way of interaction, and to bring more advanced technology to more people in the world in the simplest way.
02
Hello, New Search!
At Baidu's press conference today, Xue Su clearly raised the banner of "new search", and Wen Xiaoyan is the pioneer of Baidu's "new search" intelligent products.
What is New Search?
Image source: DT Business Observation
If traditional search focuses on the word "search", then the new search, in addition to "search", also needs to add "create", "chat" and "new".
"
Search
"
refers to the traditional search function, which must be fast, accurate, professional, and have a wide range of fields and be well-documented.
These are the basic questions of "new search" and have been discussed and studied many times in Baidu's more than 20 years of search experience, and a systematic solution has been obtained.
Even if users search for information, they often cannot solve the "last mile" problem. For example, a writer searches for information on the Internet, but what he wants is to write a good-looking work; a graduate wants to search for how to make a resume, but what he wants is to make a beautiful resume.
For many people, searching is often a means, but the ends are varied.
"
Chuang
"
solves
the problem of the
"
last mile
"
and uses
AI
-generated capabilities to help users solve productivity problems.
Wen Xiaoyan is already familiar with writing copywriting, scripts, weekly reports, resumes, etc.; and functions such as taking pictures to write articles, taking pictures to solve problems, AI photo editing, etc., make Wen Xiaoyan a better assistant to help users achieve their goals.
The
"
chat
"
refers to the part of Wen Xiaoyan's emotional companionship;
"
new
"
refers to
a series of innovative functions such as
personalization and
AI
subscription.
Search, create, chat and innovate, Baidu combines these four points into the word "ask" - different from "search" which is to obtain information, "ask" directly obtains knowledge and results, and is more humane and friendly than "search".
Similarly, "Ask Xiaoyan any questions" has become the core slogan of Wen Xiaoyan products. Allowing users to ask questions anytime, anywhere, in any form has become the new search experience that Wen Xiaoyan hopes to bring to users.
If, as Robin Li said, we want to use AI to "redo all products", Baidu has made its attitude clear, which is to innovate in the search field, which it is best at.
In order to support the experience upgrade from
"
search
"
to
"
ask
"
, the new search
app
must have
AI
capabilities and must be generative, multi-round interactive, personalized, and intelligent.
Search and AI are both flourishing. Compared with traditional search engines, Baidu has stronger AI capabilities and can use the various capabilities of generative AI to bring more new technologies and new opportunities to the search track. Compared with other AI search engines on the market, Baidu's more solid technical accumulation has also brought them many advantages in AI capabilities.
That’s right. On August 8, the “AI Product List” was released, and Baidu’s search for “AI Smart Question and Answer” topped the list in China with an absolute advantage, taking the lead in the “new search” track; and in Baidu’s Q2 2024 financial report, it was disclosed that as of the release, 18% of Baidu’s search results were generated by AI.
Today, Wenxin Yiyan's monthly active users have exceeded 10 million and are heading towards higher standards.
03
Conclusion
During the exchange, Xue Su bluntly stated that innovation in AI business is not easy, and the difficulty lies in the team.
“Some students understand AI, and some students understand products. Students who understand AI are slower in understanding user needs, and students who understand products are also exploring the boundaries of technology. It took us a long time to integrate these two parts, and we also gained a lot of experience and lessons.”
The brand upgrade of Wen Xiaoyan this time is the fulfillment of all the Knowhows combined together.
For AI innovation businesses, it is of utmost importance to maintain a team's stronger combat effectiveness and to actively learn and strengthen shortcomings.
"
Just like our products, we also need to iterate quickly internally.
"
Xue Su was quite touched when talking about this.
If we look at Wen Xiaoyan today in an extremely strict way, then she is indeed not "perfect" enough. Knowing this, Xue Su knew that he still had a goal to pursue.
In his heart,
Wen Xiaoyan should be more like a human, with the same emotional intelligence as humans, but more perfect than humans, and possessing
"
superpowers
"
that humans do not have
.
This superpower may not only be about being able to quickly give a simple result. In many cases, the process is more important than the result.
Let's take an example. A partner of Baidu has developed an AI native application called "Shizhe AI". As the name suggests, this is an intelligent entity that focuses on the field of education. However, unlike many competing products on the market, Shizhe AI is an AI that "does not give answers", but instead guides students step by step when solving problems.
"How about thinking about Newton's first law here?" "Next, try the second law of thermodynamics?" The main idea is to guide students step by step, dismantle the thinking of doing questions, and cultivate thinking methods. This ingenuity has set it apart from similar products by several positions.
Perhaps this is the meaning of redefining search with AI:
in the era of big models, manufacturers must rethink
the position of
AI
, starting from the real needs of users and getting closer to users in order to achieve pioneering innovations.
//
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