Baidu Hopes to Leverage Artificial Intelligence Amid Stock Slump

Artificial Intelligence

Baidu (NASDAQ:$BIDU) shares have flopped ahead of its annual technology conference, where its push into artificial intelligence and its video streaming business, iQiyi.com, are expected to grab the spotlight.

The “Baidu World” tech conference kicks off this upcoming Thursday. In an official release, Baidu stated that its technology in Beijing will focus on the theme: “Bring AI to Life.”

Baidu is undoubtedly leveraging AI industry potential in order to fuel growth, with a special emphasis on self-driving cars. In July, the company announced that it has more than 50 partners for its self-driving-car plans already.

Founder and CEO of iQiyi, Yu Gong, is expected to make a presentation at the tech conference.

Similarly, video streaming has been a strong growth purveyor for Baidu, similar to Google’s (NASDAQ:$GOOGL) partnership with Youtube.

Baidu shares are down 14% since its third-quarter earnings release in October. The company forecast December quarter sales that will be well below estimates. China’s government restrictions on web activity and advertising during the Communist Party’s National Congress in October is undeniably a strong depressant of recent Chinese internet industry shares.

Still, Baidu is up 42% in 2017, rebounding from last year when health-care-related search advertising dried up after regulatory probes into the death of a college student.

Featured Image: depositphotos/alexeynovikov

About the author: Jennifer is a University of Western Ontario graduate with a degree in International Business. She strives to excel as a content creator in the digital sphere, working with clients in the Finance and Tech industry to leverage clickable taglines, images, and articles in driving traffic. When not writing, Jennifer enjoys photography, copywriting, and video production.