To halt the influx of bogus Ernie bot apps from surfacing in the App Store, Chinese tech giant Baidu has filed a lawsuit against Apple and many app developers.
Baidu is suing Apple and the creators of imitation Ernie bot apps in a lawsuit that was filed on Friday in Beijing Haidian People’s Court. It aims to compel Apple to remove the problematic bogus apps and prevent app developers from distributing them.
Similar to ChatGPT and Google Bard, the Ernie (Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration) bot is an AI chatbot. Users can request statements or ask questions, and the bot will generate an answer based on data from a knowledge graph.
Despite the fact that Ernie launched in March, Baidu has not yet created any apps for the platform, leaving a gap that other developers are attempting to fill. As of right now, Ernie lacks an official app, according to a statement from Baidu obtained by Reuters.
Any Ernie apps you see in the App Store or other shops are fraudulent, according to the statement posted on the official “Baidu AI” WeChat account.
Ernie bot doesn’t offer open access; instead, users must request access codes in order to use it. In its statement, Baidu advised users not to distribute the codes.
Regarding the legal actions taken against it and App Store developers, Apple has not yet made any public statements. At least four bogus Ernie bot apps were still accessible, according to a Reuters search of the App Store on Saturday.
