Baidu’s Metaverse Chief Resigns as AI Overtakes the Tech Trade

Xirang, China’s metaverse platform launched by web big Baidu simply final 12 months, finds itself at a crossroads as the pinnacle of the corporate departs amidst a shifting focus towards AI-generated content material fashions. Baidu’s Vice President Ma Jie, who performed an essential function in main the metaverse operations and VR enterprise, has not too long ago resigned beneath undisclosed circumstances.

In line with SCMP, Ma Jie, who had been with Baidu since 2015, was reportedly untraceable within the firm’s inner laptop system since Friday. Baidu has reportedly deprioritized its metaverse enterprise because of the challenges of producing speedy earnings on this house. Chinese language media outlet The Paper quoted Ma on Friday, stating that he had already departed from the corporate. 

Baidu’s choice to prioritize AI comes as a shocking shift in technique, contemplating it was solely 18 months in the past that the corporate launched its XiRang app, also called “Land of Hope.”

Throughout its launch, Baidu organized digital occasions, together with a style present in collaboration with Dior and a digital job honest in partnership with the Suzhou metropolis authorities in Jiangsu province, aiming to draw customers to the metaverse idea.

XiRang aspired to determine itself as a platform encompassing leisure, social interplay, and model promotion, very like the famend international metaverse gaming platform Roblox.

In an announcement, Baidu declared the profitable execution of over 120 metaverse actions and areas by means of its platform “XiRang” final 12 months. These endeavors spanned throughout greater than 20 domains, together with tradition, tourism, artwork, vehicles, and client items.

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