So there’s been some drama in the tech world! Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, is suing Apple and a bunch of app developers because they found fake versions of their AI chatbot, Ernie, in the App Store.

Now, Ernie is Baidu’s version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard chatbots, but unlike those two, Ernie isn’t widely available for the public to use just yet.

To try it out, you have to apply for a special code from Baidu and wait to see if you get selected.

But Baidu recently discovered that there were fake apps claiming to incorporate Ernie’s technology in the App Store.

So, they filed lawsuits against Apple and the developers behind the fake apps in Beijing Haidian People’s Court.

Baidu made a statement on their official “Baidu AI” WeChat account saying that Ernie doesn’t have an official app right now, and any Ernie app you see in the App Store or other stores is fake until they make an official announcement.

At their launch event in March, Baidu CEO Robin Li claimed that Ernie has capabilities close to GPT-4, the latest version of OpenAI’s chatbot technology.

But to avoid any slip-ups, Li showed a prerecorded demonstration of Ernie instead of doing a real-time presentation.

It looks like Baidu is playing it safe for now by only offering Ernie to select users. This suggests that it might be a while before a legitimate Ernie app shows up in any app store.

We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update you guys when we hear back.