China’s regulators approved Baidu’s plans to release its generative AI Ernie Bot to the public, giving the company a significant boost in the AI wars.

Baidu has been working on Ernie, positioning the bot as a homegrown alternative to ChatGPT. According to Fox News, Baidu has received approval from regulators to deploy Ernie, an important step for the search giant.

China has had a complicated history with its tech industry, alternating between backing it and reigning it in. Baidu is no doubt eager to stay on the right side of regulators, and prevent any regulatory backlash.