China’s search engine giant Baidu has announced plans to shift its business model, from a search-oriented company to one based on artificial intelligence (AI), following investigation by the government that dampened its core business, China Daily reported.
In an internal letter released on Tuesday, May 10, Baidu CEO Li Yanhong said that the shift would enable the company to develop areas that involve automatic translation, voice search and driverless vehicles.
Li stressed that user experience would be given preference over income as the company plans to establish a department to check on behavior that would affect user experience.
"The department will have the final say to veto any behavior that is not in line with a good user experience," Li said in the letter. "Some of the measures we take may have a negative impact on the company's income. But I believe it is the right thing to do."
Although the move could lessen the short-term profitability of Baidu, analysts said the company's new businesses would gain momentum from the challenges they would give.
Baidu's pledge to put users' welfare on top of business came after a government probe that ordered the search engine giant to change its paid listing system. The investigation was conducted after the death of Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student who underwent an experimental medical treatment in a hospital advertised in Baidu.
According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, which launched a joint investigation with other authorities last week, the company had "influenced the impartiality and objectivity of its search results, making it easy to mislead users, and this must be immediately rectified."
Baidu, however, vowed to reduce the number of sponsored search results to 30 percent per Web page as it pledged to adopt a new listing system that takes into consideration the advertisers' credibility and not dependent on advertising price.
The search giant also pledged to put disclaimers on advertisements to distinguish them from natural search results, as well as putting up a 1 billion yuan ($153.4 million) fund to compensate people who suffered due to false advertisements.