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Baidu Unveils iRAG and No-Code Tool Miaoda to Drive AI Application Boom

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–       The new iRAG technology mitigates hallucinations in image generation, boosting the applicability of AI-generated images.
–       Miaoda is a no-code tool that enables users to build applications using simple natural language.
–       ERNIE now handles 1.5 billion daily API calls, marking an exceptional 30-fold growth over the previous year.

SHANGHAI, Nov. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU and HKEX: 9888), a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation, today hosted its annual flagship technology conference Baidu World 2024 in Shanghai. At the event, the company announced a range of new AI technologies and solutions to accelerate the boom of AI applications, featuring iRAG (Image-Based Retrieval-Augmented Generation), a new technology designed to tackle hallucinations in image generation, and Miaoda, a no-code tool that empowers businesses and individuals to create applications.

The launch comes amid surging demand for Baidu’s AI offerings, as evidenced by the ERNIE foundation model’s daily API calls reaching 1.5 billion by early November. This represents a substantial 30-fold increase from the 50 million announced a year ago.

“The growth rate exceeded my expectations,” said Robin Li, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Baidu, who described the steep increase as a reflection of the explosive growth in generative AI applications in China over the past two years.

Looking ahead, Li emphasized that agents will serve as the predominant form of AI applications and are approaching a tipping point of explosive growth. Underscoring this point, Li introduced the Top 100 Agents and Top 100 Industry Applications on the ERNIE AgentBuilder platform.

Baidu World 2024 also highlighted the latest user growth for ERNIE Bot, ERNIE’s expanding role in enterprise applications, and featured the debut of Xiaodu AI Glasses by Xiaodu Technology.

New iRAG Technology to Mitigate Hallucinations in Image Generation

Hallucinations, a phenomenon in which AI generates false or misleading information, have remained one of the most intractable barriers to the widespread adoption of generative AI. In text generation, RAG technology has largely resolved the problem of hallucinations, greatly enhancing the accuracy of generated answers. However, in the field of multimodality, hallucinations remain a key obstacle, often manifesting as inaccurate depictions of people or landmarks.

Baidu’s newly launched iRAG technology can mitigate hallucinations in text-to-image generation. Leveraging Baidu Search’s vast collection of hundreds of millions of images and the company’s strong foundation model capabilities, the new technology enables text-to-image models to deliver hyper-realistic visuals while also significantly reducing the cost of image production. The ability of the iRAG to reduce hallucinations boosts the applicability of images generated by text-to-image models across visual mediums, including comics, storyboards, posters, among others. Li described the reduction of hallucinations as laying the groundwork for the coming boom in AI applications.

Miaoda: Building Applications with Natural Language

Baidu also unveiled Miaoda, a no-code tool that makes it possible to build entire applications simply by describing them in natural language. Miaoda provides no-code programming, multi-agent collaboration, and multi-tool invocation. No-code programming allows anyone to generate code without writing a single line, lowering barriers to AI development and making it accessible to all. Its multi-agent collaboration leverages ERNIE’s thinking and planning capabilities to coordinate and manage different agents effectively, while its multi-tool invocation taps into ERNIE’s tool invocation abilities, extensively utilizing web search, iRAG, maps API, and other tools for a seamless workflow.

“Baidu isn’t aiming to launch a ‘super app’; instead, we aim to help more people and businesses create millions of ‘super useful’ applications,” Li said.

Mirroring the real-world product development process, Miaoda draws on the abilities of different agents across multiple domains such as project management and planning, content editing, programming and quality control. Miaoda can even automatically identify bugs and use a range of tools. Li called it “the most complex application case of multi-agent collaboration to date”.

Miaoda empowers everyone with the capabilities of a programmer – anyone who can speak, can create applications, greatly enhancing human productivity.

Agents as the Next Frontier in AI Application 

“Today, while all leading global tech firms are paying attention to agents, few have made them as central to their strategy as Baidu has,” Li said at the event. He likened the potential of agents to websites in the PC era and social media accounts in the mobile age.

“Agents are more human-like, more intelligent, and act like your sales, customer service representatives, or assistants. Agents will become a new vehicle for content, information and services,” Li added.

Four types of agents – company, character, tool, and industry – were highlighted at the event to demonstrate the potential of agents in the AI era. Company agents, for example, differ from traditional websites that only show static company and product information, and can instead proactively recommend products based on customer needs and respond promptly to service requests, greatly improving the efficiency of interactive marketing. After deploying an agent powered by ERNIE, automaker BYD saw a 119% increase in lead conversion.

Li also offered the example of the tool agent Free Canvas, developed in collaboration between Baidu Wenku and Baidu Drive. It allows users to drag and drop documents, audio, video, and other materials onto a canvas-like interface to quickly generate multimodal content. Similarly, the industry agent Faxingbao was specifically developed for the legal field. It has answered over 16.6 million legal questions and can also calculate compensation, draft legal documents, and recommend suitable lawyers.

To date, Baidu’s ERNIE AgentBuilder has garnered the interest of 150,000 businesses and 800,000 developers. The top 100 agents encompass character-based agents like the “Farmer Academician”, as well as agents for tools, industries, workplace, emotions, and entertainment.

Expanding ERNIE’s Reach with Growing Developer Community, Enterprise Applications and AI Glasses

Haifeng Wang, Chief Technology Officer of Baidu, announced that ERNIE Bot has amassed 430 million users, while the PaddlePaddle deep learning platform and ERNIE have a total of 18.08 million developers. Wang also mentioned that the ERNIE foundation model is still in training, with an even more powerful version worth looking forward to.

Dou Shen, Executive Vice President of Baidu and President of Baidu AI Cloud Group, highlighted that the Qianfan platform has helped customers fine-tune 33,000 models, and develop 770,000 enterprise applications. Shen noted that the explosion in new AI applications has begun on the enterprise front, supported by a new AI infrastructure comprising an enterprise-level foundation model engineering platform and a heterogeneous computing platform, poised to replace traditional cloud computing.

Ying Li, CEO of Xiaodu Technology, introduced Xiaodu AI Glasses, the first native AI glasses powered by a Chinese language foundation model. Powered by ERNIE and equipped with visual, audio, and location-based capabilities, these smart glasses serve as a versatile AI assistant across everyday scenarios. They function as a personal tour guide, offer information via Baidu Maps and Search, and excel in instant translation and content summarization from photos. Ideal for both academics and casual readers, they also assist with intelligent note-taking and can personalize music to enhance the user’s surroundings. Li revealed that Xiaodu AI Glasses will be available for sale in the first half of 2025.

About Baidu

Founded in 2000, Baidu’s mission is to make the complicated world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company with strong internet foundation, trading on the NASDAQ under “BIDU” and HKEX under “9888.” One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.

Media Contact
intlcomm@baidu.com

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SOURCE Baidu, Inc.

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Melanie Siewert, Chief Marketing Officer at LHH, Joins the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA)

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LOS ANGELES, May 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA) proudly welcomes Melanie Siewert, Chief Marketing Officer at LHH, into its distinguished community of influential women leaders. A seasoned global marketing executive, Siewert brings more than 20 years of experience transforming brands, building high-performing teams, and driving measurable growth across both B2B and B2C industries.

As Chief Marketing Officer of LHH, Siewert leads global marketing strategy across brand, demand generation, and customer experience. She plays a critical role in aligning marketing with business objectives and fostering strong collaboration with sales to enhance organizational performance and accelerate growth. Her leadership has been instrumental in shaping a modern, customer-centric brand and building a marketing function designed to deliver consistent, high-impact results across a complex global enterprise.

Throughout her career, Siewert has held senior leadership roles at prominent organizations including Truist Financial, Worldpay, Equifax, Whirlpool Corporation, and JPMorgan Chase. She is widely recognized for guiding enterprise brand strategy, leading complex mergers, scaling marketing operations, and delivering measurable gains in pipeline, revenue, and digital adoption.

Siewert’s expertise spans marketing strategy, customer engagement, brand development, sales enablement, and cross-functional leadership. Known for her empowering leadership style and strategic vision, she consistently builds high-performing teams that drive sustainable business growth while fostering collaboration and innovation.

Her accomplishments include:

Leading global marketing strategy for LHH, integrating brand, demand generation, and customer experience to drive business performance.Guiding enterprise brand transformations and go-to-market strategies across multiple global organizations.Driving measurable growth in pipeline, revenue, and digital engagement through data-driven marketing initiatives.Leading marketing efforts through complex mergers and organizational transformations.Serving as a two-time board chair and lifetime member of Strategic & Competitive Intelligence Professionals.Recognized as a Top Woman in Marketing by PRWeek.

“Melanie’s ability to translate complex market dynamics into clear, impactful strategies, combined with her commitment to building strong, collaborative teams, makes her an exceptional addition to EWA,” said Larraine Segil. “Her leadership and results-driven approach align seamlessly with the values of our sisterhood.”

Melanie shared “I’m honored to be part of the Exceptional Women’s Alliance and look forward to learning from the incredible women leaders who are dedicated to lifting other women and impacting the world at large.”

Siewert now joins a powerful and growing community of C-suite and board-level women leaders across disciplines who share a common goal: to support one another through confidential, life-long mentoring relationships and to enrich both their professional and personal lives.

About Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA)
The Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA) is an invitation-only peer mentorship organization where high-level Exceptional Women from across multiple industries are hand-selected and invested in, to grow, learn, share, and succeed. In addition to the achievement of significant success, the criteria for acceptance include character traits that are defining of the EWA Culture – Kindness, the Spirit of Generosity, Transparency, Gratitude, and Willingness to Share their knowledge. The Foundation is a powerhouse of peer-to-peer mentoring that provides guidance, deep connection, and leadership, propelling each woman to sustainable success—one woman at a time. The life-long program enables each participant to be connected as alumnae in the ever-expanding EWA global community, as their fellow women leaders continue to move into positions of significance.

Learn more at www.exceptionalwomenalliance.com

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SOURCE Exceptional Women Alliance

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Insurance Modernization at Risk as Workforce Strategies Fall Behind, Says Info-Tech Research Group

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Insurers are under pressure to modernize core systems while competing for scarce cloud, data, AI, and cybersecurity talent. Info-Tech Research Group’s new blueprint, Rebuild Your Talent Engine: Attract and Retain IT Talent in Insurance, outlines a practical framework to help insurance IT and HR leaders assess readiness, strengthen their employee value proposition, and retain the critical roles needed to accelerate transformation.

ARLINGTON, Va., May 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ – Insurance modernization is increasingly being constrained by the people and capabilities required to deliver it, according to Info-Tech Research Group. The global research and advisory firm’s newly published blueprint, Rebuild Your Talent Engine: Attract and Retain IT Talent in Insurance, provides a structured approach to help insurers attract, retain, and mobilize the IT talent required to support digital transformation.

The firm’s research indicates that many insurers are trying to advance core system modernization while facing shortages in cloud, data, AI, and cybersecurity roles. At the same time, experienced legacy system experts are retiring, creating knowledge gaps that can slow delivery, increase operational risk, and deepen dependence on external partners.

“Insurance modernization cannot succeed if the workforce strategy behind it remains outdated,” says Vidhi Trivedi, senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. “Insurers need an employee value proposition that reflects what both digital and legacy talent value today: flexibility, growth, purpose, and belonging. When organizations connect those expectations to the technology roadmap, they are better positioned to retain institutional knowledge, attract new capabilities, and move transformation forward with confidence.”

Key Workforce Risks Slowing Insurance Modernization

Info-Tech’s blueprint identifies several talent challenges that are limiting insurers’ ability to modernize effectively:

Critical digital skills remain difficult to attract and retain. Cloud engineers, data architects, cybersecurity specialists, and AI-capable technologists are essential to future-state systems, integration, and automation.Legacy expertise is leaving faster than it can be replaced. Core system knowledge remains vital to operations, compliance, and transition planning, yet many long-tenured experts are approaching retirement or feel disconnected from future-state roles.Rigid work models reduce access to high-demand talent. Digital professionals increasingly expect hybrid options, autonomy, modern delivery practices, and environments that support productivity and wellbeing.Growth pathways are not clearly connected to transformation needs. Without structured upskilling, internal mobility, and role progression, insurers risk losing employees to industries perceived as more innovative or career-accelerating.Employer branding often undersells insurance’s purpose and impact. The industry plays a critical role in protecting people, businesses, and communities, but that purpose is not always translated into a compelling technology career story.

Info-Tech’s Three-Phase Framework for Rebuilding the Insurance IT Talent Engine

To help insurers address these challenges, the Rebuild Your Talent Engine: Attract and Retain IT Talent in Insurance blueprint outlines a three-phase methodology:

Assess Talent Readiness for Modernization Success
Insurance IT and HR leaders identify modernization-critical roles, evaluate workforce pressure, assess EVP fit across key roles, and prioritize the roles that pose the greatest risk to transformation timelines.Build and Embed a Modern Employee Value Proposition
Organizations define a clear employer-employee value exchange, establish proof points across the four EVP pillars of flexibility, growth, purpose, and belonging, and activate targeted initiatives for priority roles.Develop and Present the EVP Impact Report
Leaders synthesize workforce insights, visualize progress, and present a measurable view of how EVP activation is improving retention, engagement, internal mobility, and readiness.

The resource also includes supporting tools, such as the EVP Diagnostic Tool, EVP Activation & Implementation Tool, and EVP Impact Report Template, that help insurers move from talent planning to measurable action.

“Too often, insurers view IT talent challenges as a capacity issue, when they are really a transformation risk,” explains Trivedi. ” “The insurers that move fastest will be those that know where critical capabilities are under strain, protect the expertise that increases operational resilience, and create clear pathways for employees to help shape the future of insurance from within.”

By applying Info-Tech’s framework outlined in the Rebuild Your Talent Engine: Attract and Retain IT Talent in Insurance blueprint, insurance leaders can better understand where people-related risks are highest, strengthen retention in critical roles, reduce long-term reliance on external partners, and build a more resilient technology organization. The firm’s research emphasizes that a modern EVP is not only an HR initiative but a strategic enabler of modernization success.

For exclusive and timely commentary from Info-Tech’s experts, including Vidhi Trivedi, and access to the complete Rebuild Your Talent Engine: Attract and Retain IT Talent in Insurance blueprint, please contact pr@infotech.com.

About Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group is the “get things done” partner for over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing leaders worldwide. The fastest growing research and advisory firm, Info-Tech enables leaders to make well-informed decisions and transform their organizations through AI, strategic foresight, step-by-step methodologies, practical tools, industry-leading advisory, and training programs. For nearly 30 years, tens of thousands of private and public organizations have trusted Info-Tech to lead their most important initiatives through periods of change and deliver outcomes that truly matter.

To learn more about Info-Tech’s HR research and advisory services, visit McLean & Company, and for data-driven software buying insights and vendor evaluations, visit the firm’s SoftwareReviews platform.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.

For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.

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SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group

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Caris Life Sciences Submits Application to New York State Department of Health for Caris Assure Blood‑Based Testing Authorization

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IRVING, Texas, May 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Caris Life Sciences® (NASDAQ: CAI), a leading patient-centric next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer, today announced that it has submitted an application to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program (CLEP), administered through the Wadsworth Center, seeking authorization to perform Caris Assure®, its blood‑based molecular profiling test, on specimens originating from New York State.

Caris Assure is a blood‑based molecular profiling test designed to support comprehensive biomarker analysis using a minimally invasive blood sample. Caris Assure uses circulating nucleic acids sequencing (cNAS) to analyze the whole exome (DNA) and whole transcriptome (RNA) of 22,000 genes. This comprehensive test identifies tumor alterations, clonal hematopoiesis (CH) and inherited variants, pharmacogenomic alterations, microsatellite instability (MSI) and tumor mutational burden (TMB).

The submission initiates the formal review process required by New York State for clinical laboratories seeking to perform testing on specimens collected from New York patients. Through the Wadsworth Center, CLEP conducts comprehensive reviews of laboratory permits and laboratory-developed tests to evaluate analytical validation, quality systems, personnel qualifications and compliance with applicable state regulations.

“Caris is committed to meeting the highest standards for laboratory quality, validation and regulatory compliance,” said David Spetzler, MS, PhD, MBA, President of Caris Life Sciences. “This submission of Caris Assure for review through the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center reflects our disciplined approach to expanding access to our technologies in a manner that demonstrates the rigor, responsibility and focus on the patient that define Caris Life Sciences and guide our work in the markets we serve.”

At this time, no determination has been made by NYSDOH, and Caris Assure is not authorized for use on blood-based specimens originating from New York State unless and until CLEP authorization is granted.

Caris operates a CAP-accredited, CLIA‑certified clinical laboratory and performs testing in jurisdictions where it is authorized to do so, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations. Any future availability of Caris Assure in New York State will be contingent upon completion of the CLEP review process administered by the Wadsworth Center and receipt of the appropriate authorization.

About Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences® (Caris) is a leading, patient-centric, next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer actively developing and commercializing innovative solutions to transform healthcare. Through comprehensive molecular profiling (Whole Genome, Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing), advanced AI and machine learning, Caris has created the large-scale, multimodal clinico-genomic database and computing capability needed to analyze and further unravel the molecular complexity of disease. This convergence of next-generation sequencing, AI and machine learning technologies and high-performance computing provides a differentiated platform for developing the latest generation of advanced precision medicine diagnostic solutions for early detection, diagnosis, monitoring, therapy selection and drug development.

Caris was founded with a vision to realize the potential of precision medicine to improve the human condition. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris has offices in Phoenix, New York, Cambridge (MA), Tokyo, Japan and Basel, Switzerland. Caris or its distributor partners provide services in the U.S. and other international markets.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our business, solutions, plans, objectives, goals, industry trends, financial outlook and guidance. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “potential,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” or “continue” or similar expressions.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable based on information currently available to us, we cannot guarantee that the future results, discoveries, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release include, among other things: our future financial performance, results of operations or other operational results or metrics; development, analytical and clinical validation, timing and performance of future solutions by us and our competitors; commercial market acceptance for our solutions, including acceptance of preventive as well as diagnostic testing paradigms, and our ability to meet resulting demand; the rapidly evolving competitive environment in which we operate; third-party payer reimbursement and coverage decisions related to our solutions; risks related to data management, storage, and processing capabilities and our ability to integrate and deploy artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics technologies; our ability to protect and enhance our intellectual property; regulatory requirements, decisions or approvals (including the timing and conditions thereof) related to our solutions, including our application for New York State Department of Health approval for Caris Assure; reliance on third-party suppliers; risks related to data security, patient privacy, and compliance with healthcare data protection regulations as well as potential cybersecurity threats to our data platforms; our compliance with laws and regulations; the outcome of government investigations and litigation; risks related to our indebtedness; and our ability to hire and retain key personnel as well as risks, uncertainties; and other factors described in the section titled “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 3, 2026, and in our other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in events, circumstances or our beliefs after the date of this press release, except as required by law.

Caris Life Sciences Media:
Corporate Communications
CorpComm@CarisLS.com
214.294.5606 

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