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Chinese tech firm %Baidu ($BIDU ) says that it has developed a generative %ArtificialIntelligence (A.I.) system that matches the technology used in the %ChatGPT and GPT-4 chatbots.

It’s a boastful claim from Baidu, which is seen as one of China’s A.I. leaders. Until now, the A.I. systems developed in China have paled in comparison to those produced by U.S. firms such as OpenAI and %Alphabet ($GOOGL ).

Baidu Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robin Li said at a public presentation that the company’s newly released ERNIE 4.0 chatbot “stands on par with GPT-4 in terms of overall performance.”

Baidu’s latest A.I. chatbot is currently available to invited users and companies can apply to access it.

The previous version of Baidu’s ERNIE chatbot was ranked as the best among China’s tech companies based on its algorithm, development tools, and ecosystem, according to market research firm IDC.

However, if Baidu has now caught up to U.S. artificial intelligence technology, it suggests that the Chinese firm has gotten around stricter government controls on the development of A.I. within China, as well as U.S. efforts to limit exports of the microchips and semiconductors used for training A.I. large language learning models.

This development also suggests that Baidu is further ahead than many U.S. companies in developing its A.I., including %MetaPlatforms ($META ) and %Apple ($AAPL ).

Baidu isn’t the only Chinese tech company racing ahead with A.I. technologies. Other companies, such as %Alibaba ($BABA ), are also pushing ahead with generative A.I. projects.

The stock of Baidu has risen 23% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $124.91 U.S. per share.