Baidu launches a new round of offensive
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Author | Zhou Zhiyu
Editor | Zhang Xiaoling
A revolution in AI applications has reached its tipping point.
Wallstreetcn has learned from sources that Baidu has officially announced the establishment of a Personal Super Intelligent Group (PSIG). People close to Baidu revealed that PSIG will consolidate core AI application assets such as Baidu Netdisk and Baidu Wenku, led by Vice President Wang Ying, reporting directly to CEO Robin Li.
Netdisk and Wenku originally belonged to the Mobile Ecosystem Group (MEG). This means that, besides MEG, the AI Cloud Group (ACG), and the Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), Baidu now has another business group. According to people close to Baidu, Netdisk and Wenku are currently showing good overall trends and have drawn significant attention from Robin Li. In terms of management, Wenku and Netdisk have long since been merged under Wang Ying’s leadership.
Previously, AI applications were often seen as “showcases” in Baidu’s business domain, meant to demonstrate technical prowess to the capital market. The market has been uncertain about when these technologies could be transformed into large-scale, real revenue. Baidu’s bold restructuring clearly signals higher expectations for the market performance of upcoming AI applications.
In a sense, PSIG could become an independent strategic pillar supporting Baidu for the next decade. It will serve as Baidu’s direct response to how AI is transforming into productivity, as reflected in the financial reports.
By merging Netdisk (personal asset management) and Wenku (intelligent content creation), Baidu aims to address the growth limitations of a single search tool and leverage its strengths in processing data from existing users.
Of course, Baidu has never lacked competitors in this trillion-yuan AI track. ByteDance’s Doubao has started an offensive at the consumer entry point; Alibaba’s Tongyi series has made deep bets in professional settings; Tencent’s Yuanbao, backed by its social ecosystem, is determined to seize the high ground in large model applications by 2026.
Industry insiders told Wallstreetcn that AI applications complement traditional search. Search’s advantages have already been built, but “if the logic of traffic suddenly flips, you have to have a strong application entry point, you can’t just let your rivals dominate it.”
Furthermore, the demand for AI-driven productivity growth is presenting Baidu with new opportunities. Computing power is not only a major cost factor but also an “efficiency engine.” Under the pressure of traditional search advertising, mere stability in traffic distribution becomes less reliable and even faces growth bottlenecks. The commercial value of AI processing capabilities based on Wenku and Netdisk far exceeds that of the traditional keyword-click model.
At the same time, users’ requirements for AI assistants are “immediate feedback.” The high stickiness of Baidu’s PSIG allows it to “catch that very second” when user demand arises, ensuring user assets don’t flow to competing platforms.
Although Baidu’s PSIG productivity has yet to be fully unleashed, products such as Wenku have already demonstrated extremely strong commercialization potential. Baidu Wenku currently possesses over 1.8 billion authoritative professional documents, with more than 97 million monthly active AI users. Baidu Netdisk serves over 1 billion users, with over 80 million monthly active AI users.
This is a bloodless hunt. Everyone is betting that 2026 will be the “first industrial year” for native AI applications. Whoever can connect user experience with business models first will hold the ticket to the next decade.
Xiong Wei, China Internet industry analyst at UBS Securities, believes that by 2026, we should see the overall enrichment of AI application scenarios on the application side. Scenarios will become more diverse, and from a business perspective, there is further acceleration potential.
From where we stand, the next upward cycle of the internet industry will be propelled by AI applications. And for applications to explode, an ultimate user experience is required. When traffic costs rebound, only “super intelligence” can serve as the “growth stabilizer.” As the urgency to transform the revenue structure surges, Baidu hopes that at this juncture, more users and investors will embrace its commitment to AI transformation.
For the past decade, search advertising has been the absolute king. Its volatility has dictated hundreds of billions in market value fluctuations. Yet Baidu’s establishment of PSIG, with Wang Ying at the helm, marks a proactive adjustment in response to the changes of the times.
As users increasingly accept AI assistants, the leap from test demos to scaled-up commercial products is only a matter of time.
This means that competition in the internet industry after 2026 will no longer be about grabbing single-dimensional traffic, but will move towards a balanced ecosystem where algorithms, data, and scenarios coexist in diversity. This will be a more resilient business system. In this system, growth will be less likely to lose control, and valuations will be less fragile.
AI native applications will solve the scarcity of traffic dividends, and organizational restructuring will provide certainty to hedge against future uncertainties. Internet giants are all making their moves to cope with AI changes.
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