In the past few years, you may have used Baidu search as a “temporary springboard” and left when you run out. But this time, it has undergone major surgery: the search box has become smarter, the results page has become more intimate, and the AI assistant has really begun to “help you do things”. It’s not that Baidu has turned over, but this wave of revisions does make people want to click on it again.
To be honest, I haven’t used Baidu search seriously for many years.
It’s not that “I can’t afford it”, it’s that I can’t use it – the advertisement is too heavy, the answer is too fake, the experience is too broken, and many people have long used search as a springboard and no longer a destination.
To be more realistic, in the era of mobile Internet, everyone has long been accustomed to directly searching for outfits on Xiaohongshu, tutorials on Bilibili, and experience posts on Zhihu.
Baidu search has even become synonymous with “entering the wrong app” for many people.
But in the past two days, I still couldn’t help but click in and try it – because Baidu has just “renovated” its own search, saying that it is the biggest revision in ten years. From the search box to the search results page, to the AI assistant and service platform behind it, it has basically moved.
01 Search box: From “losing keywords” to “speaking people”, this is the first step
Baidu has turned the search box into a “super input box”, which sounds like it has labeled itself as AI, but after experiencing it, it has indeed become easier in some places.
We try to type in the sentence “There’s a foreign movie about a black man taking care of the rich, what’s his name?” ——It can directly return to “Untouchable”, and also comes out with posters, plots, directors, word of mouth, and playback links.
This feeling of “asking questions in the vernacular, AI understands what you are saying” is somewhat similar to using Kimi’s way of asking questions. But here is Baidu search, can you believe this matter was put two years ago?
In addition, the multimodal input is done well: taking photos, voice, and uploading documents can be understood, especially when experiencing it on a mobile phone, finding a dish name, identifying a plant, and scanning a contract can be quickly interpreted – not that it is exclusive, but that it is “finally made up”.
Not only can you ask questions through dialogue, but it also supports voice, picture, and file input to achieve “everything can be searched”.
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For example: when traveling outdoors, encountering unfamiliar natural landscapes, wanting to name a stray cat adopted at home, what are the functions of newly purchased vitamins…… Don’t worry, take a picture and you’ll know.
Of course, it can’t reason like LLMs, and not all inputs are understood so accurately, but “being able to talk to it in human language” is indeed a good thing.
02 Search results page: From “information hodgepodge” to “problem solving”, it’s a bit interesting
We all know that the problem of Baidu search is not “no content”, but “all content”, and you have to piece together the answer yourself.
But this time it is really learning to “help you do it in one step”.
For example, if you ask “Is there a subsidy for electric vehicle replacement”, it directly pushes a set of graphic interpretation, application conditions, and mini programs directly to the entrance, and even attaches the source address of the policy document, and the processing flow chart is drawn.
Another example is “What should I do if my personal income tax is stolen”, in the past, you could only read the fragmented posts of Tianya or Zhihu, Baidu directly pushed a lawyer’s short video explanation this time, and you can also call up the agent and ask: What is your situation? Do you want to connect directly to the service?
It’s not that Baidu has turned over, but at least, it’s trying to “don’t let you do the puzzle yourself”.
This is not a small feature, it is a turn in the search logic: not “give you a bunch of links”, but “I guess you want to solve something, then I’ll organize resources around this matter”.
03 AI assistant: For the first time, I feel like a reliable “hands-on” person
We have seen too many AI assistants, to be honest, Baidu is not the first time to call “all-round AI assistant”, but this time it did make me feel a little better.
For example, I tried to “write a Tetris web version of the mini-game”, which not only lists the code, but also runs it with one click, comes with instructions, and turns it into a product demo.
Another example is a very fancy but surprising little function:
For example: when you want to interact with your pet, you can make a video call to the AI assistant, and it will chat with you like a friend about the cute pet.
It looks a bit magical, but you can feel that it really tries to be “anthropomorphic” rather than task-oriented.
There is also a hidden feature worth mentioning: its “DeepSearch” capability, which is said to simulate the human chain of thought for reasoning.
For example, if you ask “You want to work across majors, but don’t know where to start, just ask the AI assistant a simple question, and he can plan a complete set of closed-loop learning paths for your reference.” ”
It will take the initiative to pull out a complete set of path planning, from skill lists, learning materials, project templates, to job requirements, resume templates, all of which are listed, and can even remind you regularly of your progress. It’s not that it’s smart, but for the first time it made me think that “AI assistants are not chatting with you, but can do things”.
Of course, it is not so stable, sometimes the recognition will be off-topic, and the operation will occasionally lag, but compared to the past “please say what you want to query”, this is indeed a different species.
04 Underlying platform: Search is like a “distribution center”, and the taste is also deformed
An upgrade that has not been noticed by many people is that Baidu Search now has access to 18,000 MCP service providers and more than 220 AI applications.
Don’t be dazzled by these numbers, to put it bluntly: the question you search for on Baidu, it can “pull people up to take orders”.
For example, “How to arrange a two-day tour in Chongqing”, it no longer just gives you a guide link, but directly integrates transportation schedules, scenic spot reservation entrances, accommodation prices, popular Douyin routes, and even generates personalized itineraries with one click.
It’s like Siri looking for someone to work in the WeChat mini program, but this is a platform built by Baidu.
It’s not just a search engine, but like a “demand scheduling center”, and it is split into the partners behind it.
This logic is very critical in the AI era – the “answer” to search is not content, but “movable resources”.
Baidu’s wave of updates is actually a revelation of platform ideas.
05 MuseSteamer: It’s not a ticket, it’s a bargaining chip for Baidu to break the game
The desert chase video at the press conference was generated by MuseSteamer. Using only 18 pictures, a video with sound effects, lines, and expression details was made.
To be honest, I thought it was another “AI show of muscles”, but this time it really landed on the platform.
The characters are realistic and vivid, the expressions are natural and delicate, and the camera movement ability is first-class.
It can also support artistic expression under cinematic aesthetics.
and innovatively integrated generation of videos with sound effects and character lines.
You can use this model directly on Baidu’s painting platform, without knowing post-production, editing, and color grading, it automatically pulls templates, adjusts mirrors, and generates storyboards.
This is not comparing with Runway to show off skills, but to make up for Baidu’s shortcomings in “content generation”.
Search is the entrance, AI assistant is execution, and Muse is the content creation engine. Baidu fights for the entire closed loop, from questions to output, not relying on people to jump apps, but “doing it with me”.
If this system can really run smoothly, then Baidu search is not only a “starting point”, it can be a “solution entrance”.
06 Give Baidu another chance?
It’s not that it has turned over, nor is it that it is reliable, but this search revision does make people want to click on Baidu again.
If Baidu ten years ago was the “information entrance” of the golden age of the Internet, then this time it was like using AI to try to regain the qualification to “help you solve the problem”.
Yes, it still has many problems, advertising still exists, and the recommendation system is not optimal, but in some places, it has indeed moved, changed, and gone smoothly.
It’s not “amazing”, but “finally working hard in the right direction”.
Whether Baidu can turn the tables, we dare not bet.
But in this era where search is becoming more and more fragmented and AI is becoming more and more “incomprehensible”, maybe we can give it a chance to try it again.
After all, for content people, product people, and entrepreneurs, the revision of old products is also a signal: the old logic is collapsing, and the new opportunities are growing.
Baidu search this time, it is worth trying again.
