(Yicai) March 27 -- Baidu’s stock price slipped after China Daily said yesterday that a source close to Apple refuted an earlier report that the US tech giant had agreed to tie up with the Chinese search engine behemoth on artificial intelligence.

Baidu [HKG: 9888] ended 4.7 percent lower at HKD99.45 (USD12.71) a share in Hong Kong today, after earlier falling by as much as 5.3 percent.

The shares jumped more than 6 percent intraday yesterday and closed nearly 3 percent higher after a Chinese media report published on March 25 said Apple will use Baidu’s AI services in products sold in China. The products mentioned were the iPhone 16, Mac operating systems, and iOS 18, expected to be released this year.

After investing in autonomous driving, Baidu ventured into generative AI by releasing Ernie Bot, a ChatGPT-like chatbot, a year ago. The Beijing-based firm has joined hands with smartphone makers Samsung Electronics and Honor on AI as Samsung equipped its latest flagship Galaxy S24 series with the large language model and Honor also linked Ernie Bot with its MagicOS.

Editor: Emmi Laine