The event was meant to be livestreamed, but there was strong demand from companies to test the bot

Chinese search engine Baidu has shared pre-recorded videos of its A.I.-powered chatbot Ernie.

Revealing the bot performing more advanced tasks than at its launch two weeks ago.

While the videos were shown during a closed-door meeting, images shared by a Baidu spokesperson appeared to show significant developments.

This included summarising financial statements and producing powerpoint presentations, as well as producing travel itineraries.

The videos were shown to the first batch of companies that are testing an industry-focused version of the chatbot.

Ernie is considered China’s closest equivalent to U.S.-developed ChatGPT.

The meeting was originally meant to be a livestreamed product launch open to the media and public.

But the format was changed to prioritise what Baidu said was the “strong demand” from over 120,000 companies that had applied to test the bot.

More companies will be able to sign up to test the industry-focused version of the Ernie bot starting on March 31.

Tests conducted show that the regular version has a good command of the Chinese language.

However, it produces factual errors and avoids answering political questions.