百度 (BIDU) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and thank you for standing by for Baidu's third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

您好，感謝您出席百度 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's conference, Juan Lin, Baidu's Director of Investor Relations.

今天的會議正在錄製中。如果您有任何異議，您可以此時斷開連接。現在我想把會議交給今天會議的主持人，百度投資者關係總監林娟。

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Baidu's third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Baidu's earnings release was distributed earlier today, and you can find a copy on our website as well as on newswire services.

大家好，歡迎參加百度2024年第三季財報電話會議。百度的財報已於今天早些時候發布，您可以在我們的網站以及新聞專線服務上找到副本。

On the call today, we have Robin Li, our Co-Founder and CEO, (inaudible), our EVP in charge of Baidu Mobile Ecosystem Group, MEG; Dou Shen, our EVP in charge of Baidu AI Cloud Group ACG; and Junjie He, our interim CFO. After our prepared remarks, we will hold a Q&A session.

在今天的電話會議上，我們的共同創辦人兼執行長李彥宏（聽不清楚）、負責百度行動生態系統集團 MEG 的執行副總裁；竇深，我們的執行副總裁，負責百度AI雲集團ACG；和我們的臨時財務長何俊傑。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將舉行問答環節。

Please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Credit Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. For detailed discussions of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our latest annual reports and other documents filed with the SEC and (inaudible).

請注意，今天的討論將包含根據1995 年美國信貸證券訴訟改革法案的安全港條款做出的前瞻性陳述。重大差異。有關這些風險和不確定性的詳細討論，請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的最新年度報告和其他文件（聽不清楚）。

Baidu does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law. Our earnings press release and this call includes discussions of certain unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. Our press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited (inaudible) comparable GAAP measures and is available on our IR website at ir.baidu.com.

除適用法律要求外，百度不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。我們的收益新聞稿和本次電話會議包括對某些未經審計的非公認會計準則財務指標的討論。我們的新聞稿包含未經審計的非 GAAP 衡量標準與未經審計（聽不清楚）的可比較 GAAP 衡量標準的調整表，可在我們的 IR 網站 ir.baidu.com 上取得。

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. In addition, the webcast of this conference call will be available on Baidu's IR website.

提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。此外，本次電話會議的網路直播將在百度IR網站上播出。

I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Robin.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的執行長羅賓。

Hello, everyone. Viral core total revenue was RMB26.5 billion. That's roughly flat for the third quarter on a year-over-year basis. Revenue growth from AI cloud was 11%, continuing its double-digit growth trajectory, thanks to the sustained momentum in Gen AI-related revenue. Our non-GAAP operating profit and non-GAAP operating margin remained stable, which demonstrates the resilience of urban.

大家好。病毒核心總收入為人民幣265億元。第三季與去年同期相比大致持平。由於Gen AI相關營收的持續成長勢頭，AI雲的營收成長了11%，持續保持兩位數的成長軌跡。我們的非公認會計準則營業利潤和非公認會計準則營業利潤率保持穩定，這表明了城市的韌性。

While navigating the ongoing macroeconomic weakness we remain patient on our strategic focus of AI-driven innovation with a particular emphasis on transforming our existing products and businesses as well as fostering a new ecosystem for ERNIE. Despite near-term headwinds, we are deeply convinced that this AI focused strategy will position us well to capture significant growth opportunities in the long run.

在應對持續的宏觀經濟疲軟的同時，我們對人工智慧驅動創新的策略重點保持耐心，特別強調改造我們現有的產品和業務，並為 ERNIE 培育新的生態系統。儘管近期面臨阻力，但我們堅信，這種以人工智慧為重點的策略將使我們能夠很好地抓住長期的重大成長機會。

Underpinning our long-term strategic focus is the advancement of our AI capabilities, which serves as the cornerstone of our AI-driven transformation.

人工智慧能力的提升是我們長期策略重點的支撐，也是我們人工智慧驅動轉型的基石。

In the third quarter, we continued to improve ERNIE through pre and post training, optimizing model efficiency while tailoring to the needs of our diverse application scenarios. Our flagship model, ERNIE 4.0 Turbo has achieved notable improvements in inference efficiency with throughput increasing by compared to its debut in June. The efficiency gains were driven by the optimization of our self-developed 4-layer AI infrastructure and we expect such improvements to further reduce model inference costs going forward.

第三季度，我們透過預訓練和後訓練持續改進ERNIE，優化模型效率，同時適應我們多樣化應用場景的需求。我們的旗艦模型 ERNIE 4.0 Turbo 在推理效率方面取得了顯著的進步，吞吐量比 6 月首次亮相時有所增加。效率的提升是由我們自主開發的 4 層人工智慧基礎設施的最佳化所推動的，我們預計這種改進將進一步降低未來的模型推理成本。

We have also expanded our light weight model offerings with the introduction of Speed Pro and LifePro in the third quarter as enhanced versions of their predecessors Speed Pro and Light Pro feature lower latency, higher throughput, improved stability and superior accuracy.

我們也透過在第三季推出Speed Pro 和LifePro 來擴展我們的輕量級模型產品，因為其前身Speed Pro 和Light Pro 的增強版本具有更低的延遲、更高的吞吐量、更高的穩定性和卓越的準確性。

Over the past 24 months, we have forecast on resolving our LLM hallucinations through RAG, retrieval augmented generation. However, we observed that image generation still faces widespread hallucination issues leading to inaccurate and logically inconsistent output. Particularly in e-commerce and marketing scenarios where sellers need to generate images that precisely match their text description.

在過去的 24 個月裡，我們預測透過 RAG（檢索增強生成）來解決我們的 LLM 幻覺。然而，我們觀察到影像生成仍然面臨廣泛的幻覺問題，導致輸出不準確和邏輯不一致。特別是在電子商務和行銷場景中，賣家需要產生與其文字描述精確匹配的圖像。

Aiming at hallucinations at intact to image generation, we launched early ERNIE IRAG at Baidu World 2024 to revolutionize image generation, delivering more precise and demand-driven results with substantially enhanced accurately. These additions have made our offerings more compressive extending the reach and effectiveness of earnings across diverse scenarios.

針對影像生成過程中存在的幻覺，我們在 2024 年百度世界推出了早期的 ERNIE IRAG，徹底改變影像產生方式，提供更精確、以需求為導向的結果，並且準確度大幅提高。這些新增內容使我們的產品更具壓縮性，擴展了不同場景下收益的範圍和有效性。

Thanks to ERNIE's enhanced capabilities, wide-ranging applications and improved cost efficiencies, we've seen a substantial increase in API costs. In November, ERNIE handled approximately 1.5 billion API costs daily, a significant jump from 600 million in August. Meanwhile, over 1.7 trillion tokens were generated on a daily basis. The 13 API call volume and token generation demonstrates strong market adoption of earnings, validating its value in real-world applications.

由於 ERNIE 增強的功能、廣泛的應用以及成本效率的提高，我們看到 API 成本大幅增加。 11 月份，ERNIE 每天處理約 15 億筆 API 費用，比 8 月份的 6 億筆大幅增加。同時，每天產生超過 1.7 兆個代幣。 13 API 呼叫量和代幣產生量展示了收益的強勁市場採用度，驗證了其在實際應用中的價值。

Powered by the enhanced ERNIE models, we are achieving comprehensive penetration of AI capabilities across our entire product line, from consumer-facing products to enterprise solutions.

在增強型 ERNIE 模型的支援下，我們正在實現人工智慧能力在整個產品線（從面向消費者的產品到企業解決方案）的全面滲透。

Our continuous efforts to transform search have yielded promising progress with encouraging user-centric outcomes emerging this quarter. Currently, over 20% of all search without pages contain AI-generated content increasing from 18% in August.

我們對搜尋轉型的持續努力取得了可喜的進展，本季出現了令人鼓舞的以用戶為中心的成果。目前，超過 20% 的無頁面搜尋包含人工智慧生成的內容，而 8 月這一比例為 18%。

On Baidu app, where the majority of our search queries were conducted an increasing number of users are engaging with generated content, reaching nearly 70% of its monthly active users. Users exposed to AI-generated search results spend longer time on Baidu used more complicated queries and were more likely to return the next day. These positive changes become increasingly pronounced from quarter-to-quarter, indicating that our Gen AI-enabled search is better serving users' needs and enhancing user satisfaction.

在百度應用程式上，我們的大部分搜尋查詢都是在該應用程式上進行的，越來越多的用戶正在參與生成的內容，達到其每月活躍用戶的近 70%。接觸人工智慧產生的搜尋結果的用戶在百度上花費更長的時間，使用更複雜的查詢，並且更有可能在第二天返回。這些積極的變化逐季度變得越來越明顯，表明我們的Gen AI搜尋更好地滿足了用戶的需求，提高了用戶滿意度。

We have also observed changes in user behavior patents, suggesting Baidu is evolving beyond their traditional search in users' mind. Serving as a more complete destination for ERNIE. Users are staying longer to interact with our AI features after initial queries. They are proactively engaging in more complex multiround conversation with the growing interaction frequency, reaching tens of millions of daily interactions.

我們也觀察到用戶行為專利的變化，這表明百度正在超越用戶心目中的傳統搜尋。為 ERNIE 提供一個更完整的目的地。在初次查詢後，用戶會停留更長時間與我們的人工智慧功能進行互動。他們主動參與更複雜的多輪對話，互動頻率不斷增加，日交互量達到數千萬次。

Users are also moving beyond pure search to content creation on Baidu. For example, during this year's mid-autumn festival we saw a surge in both image creation and text generation, indicating changes in how users interact with our platform and their growing exploration of ERNIE-powered functions. These changes inspired us with new ideas for future enhancements. Going forward, we will enrich our content diversity, explore more current intensive and unified way of content presentation and promote chat-based interactions. We envisioned Agent as the most prominent form of AI native application and a transformative force in driving meaningful innovation.

用戶也從純粹的搜尋轉向在百度上進行內容創作。例如，在今年的中秋節期間，我們看到圖像創建和文字生成的數量激增，這表明用戶與我們平台互動的方式發生了變化，以及他們對 ERNIE 支援的功能的不斷探索。這些變化為我們帶來了未來增強的新想法。未來，我們將豐富內容多樣性，探索目前更密集、統一化的內容呈現方式，推廣聊天式互動。我們將 Agent 設想為人工智慧原生應用最突出的形式，以及推動有意義的創新的變革力量。

This quarter, we continued to enhance ERNIE Agents capabilities and expand their applications across various scenarios.

本季度，我們持續增強 ERNIE Agents 的能力，並擴展其在各種場景中的應用。

We have witnessed significant growth in the conversation rounds with ERNIE Agents, reaching an average volume of 15 million daily. The recently released top 100 agent list at Baidu World covers a wide array of scenarios and industries, showcasing the breadth and variety of our agents.

我們見證了與 ERNIE 代理商的對話量顯著增長，平均每天達到 1500 萬次。近日，百度世界發布的百度代理商榜單，涵蓋了廣泛的場景和行業，展示了我們代理商的廣度和多樣性。

The ERNIE agent we created for BYD demonstrates how agents can enhance brand engagement and create significant value. Rather than navigating through traditional websites, users can now discover BYD through dynamic conversations with its agent on Baidu. This innovative approach has naturally inspired users to explore the brand more proactively, leading to a higher engagement and stronger purchase intent. The effectiveness of the agent is further validated by the fact that around 70% of users who engaged with the BYD agent returned to Baidu within 7 days for BYD related searches, highlighting how the agents compelling content sparked genuine interest and motivated further brand exploration.

我們為比亞迪創建的 ERNIE 代理商展示了代理商如何增強品牌參與並創造顯著價值。用戶現在可以透過與百度代理商的動態對話來發現比亞迪，而不是透過傳統網站導航。這種創新方法自然會激發用戶更主動地探索品牌，從而帶來更高的參與度和更強烈的購買意願。大約70% 與比亞迪代理商互動的用戶在7 天內返回百度進行比亞迪相關搜索，這一事實進一步驗證了代理商的有效性，這凸顯了代理商引人注目的內容如何激發真正的興趣並推動進一步的品牌探索。

Beyond BYD, we also partnered with leading enterprises such as Samsung and Yanghe to build their own agents on Baidu.

除了比亞迪之外，我們也與三星、洋河等龍頭企業合作，在百度上建立自己的代理商。

While these examples demonstrate the versatility of ERNIE agents, we believe their transformative potential is just beginning to unfold. We envision agents, redefining information in the AI era, much like our website shifted the Internet age or apps and social media accounts transformed the mobile Internet era. We believe agents are emerging as the fundamental carrier of content, information and services. What sets agents apart is they are human-like capabilities. They can serve as your sales representative customer service agent or personal assistant, delivering content and services in a more intelligent and interactive way.

雖然這些例子證明了 ERNIE 智能體的多功能性，但我們相信它們的變革潛力才剛開始展現出來。我們設想代理在人工智慧時代重新定義訊息，就像我們的網站改變了互聯網時代，或者應用程式和社交媒體帳戶改變了行動互聯網時代一樣。我們相信代理正在成為內容、資訊和服務的基本載體。代理的與眾不同之處在於它們具有類似人類的能力。他們可以充當您的銷售代表、客戶服務代理或個人助理，以更聰明和互動的方式提供內容和服務。

As we continue to advance our AI technology, we expect agents to unlock unprecedented value for our users.

隨著我們不斷推進人工智慧技術，我們期望代理商能夠為我們的用戶釋放前所未有的價值。

Another standout in our product transformation journey is Baidu Wenku, our one-stop shop for document creation. Since the official ramp-up of Wenku's AI renovation late last year, the yield of AI-enabled features has grown rapidly, exceeding 50 million in September, representing a year-over-year increase of over 300%. Users of AI-enabled features demonstrated a stronger willingness to pay, contributing to accelerated growth in our paying user base. In the third quarter, Wenku's subscription revenue continued its robust growth trajectory, reaching a year-over-year growth of 23%. We continue to roll out new AI-powered features to facilitate users in their thinking, learning and creative process.

我們產品轉型之旅中的另一個亮點是百度文庫，這是我們的文件創建一站式商店。自去年底文庫AI改造正式啟動以來，AI功能產量快速成長，9月已突破5,000萬條，較去年同期成長超300%。使用人工智慧功能的用戶表現出更強的支付意願，有助於我們付費用戶群的加速成長。第三季度，文庫訂閱收入持續保持強勁成長勢頭，較去年同期成長23%。我們不斷推出新的人工智慧功能，以促進用戶的思考、學習和創造過程。

After enabling natural language instructions for PowerPoint slide building and editing last quarter, we introduced a new feature to transform even the most basic text slides into visually stunning, sophisticated and professional presentations, making presentation creation easier than ever and significantly boosting productivity. With a 14-year long history at massive user base, Wenku is now experiencing a remarkable transformation as AI technology rejuvenizes this product and it presented capabilities.

在上個季度為PowerPoint 幻燈片構建和編輯啟用自然語言指令後，我們推出了一項新功能，可以將最基本的文本幻燈片轉換為視覺上令人驚嘆的、複雜的和專業的演示文稿，讓簡報創建比以往任何時候都更容易，並顯著提高生產力。擁有14年悠久歷史、擁有龐大用戶基礎的文庫，如今正經歷著一場非凡的變革，人工智慧技術讓文庫煥發了新的活力，並展現了它的能力。

Building on this momentum, we expect such revolution to ripple through our entire product ecosystem unleashing extraordinary potential and creating breakthrough innovations.

在此勢頭的基礎上，我們預計這種革命將波及我們的整個產品生態系統，釋放非凡的潛力並創造突破性的創新。

Our vision extends beyond our consumer-facing products by collaborating with our clients across businesses and public sectors, we can unlock greater potential of our advanced AI technologies. This quarter, we partnered with Yum China, a leading Chinese restaurant company to deploy clear are ready-to-use customer service product powered by ERNIE. (inaudible) key advantage lies in its superior intelligence and ability to significantly reduce the need for human intervention in customer service as its AI capabilities can resolve most user inquiries independently. This implied solution has enhanced customer service efficiency and reduced operational costs, driving substantial growth in (inaudible) volume with peak API costs reaching several millions a day. The partnership serves as a strong testament to the reliability and excellence of our product.

我們的願景超越了面向消費者的產品，透過與企業和公共部門的客戶合作，我們可以釋放先進人工智慧技術的更大潛力。本季度，我們與領先的中式餐飲公司百勝中國合作，部署了由 ERNIE 提供支援的清晰即用型客戶服務產品。 （聽不清楚）主要優勢在於其卓越的智慧和能力，可以顯著減少客戶服務中的人工幹預需求，因為其人工智慧功能可以獨立解決大多數用戶查詢。這個隱含的解決方案提高了客戶服務效率並降低了營運成本，推動（聽不清楚）交易量大幅成長，API 高峰成本每天達到數百萬美元。此次合作有力地證明了我們產品的可靠性和卓越性。

Another example that highlights the expanding use scenarios of ERNIE is called (inaudible), an online exam preparation platform that leverages ERNIE 4.0 Turbo and ERNIE Speed Pro through public cloud API cost. Initially, (inaudible) question bank was limited by missing answers and explanations, ERNIE tackled despite automatically generating answers and explanations for existing questions while also creating new answer explanation pairs making the question bank far more effective. This resulted in a 150% increase in effective questions in (inaudible) question bank. Besides by replacing manual explanation in writing, the cost of creating explanations dropped by 99.8%. And Additionally, ERNIE powers real-time tutoring services where users receive instant explanations from AI tutors by simply uploading their questions.

另一個強調 ERNIE 使用場景擴展的例子是（聽不清楚），這是一個線上考試準備平台，透過公有雲 API 成本利用 ERNIE 4.0 Turbo 和 ERNIE Speed Pro。最初，（聽不清楚）問題庫因缺少答案和解釋而受到限制，儘管自動為現有問題產生答案和解釋，同時還創建新的答案解釋對，使問題庫更加有效，但ERNIE 解決了這個問題。這導致（聽不清楚）問題庫中的有效問題增加了 150%。除了以書面形式取代人工解釋外，創建解釋的成本下降了 99.8%。此外，ERNIE 還提供即時輔導服務，使用者只需上傳問題即可獲得人工智慧導師的即時解釋。

With this improvement, users showed stronger willingness to pay as the paying user ratio increased dramatically by over 100%, leading to a 246% increase in revenue. Our strategic focus on AI innovation continues to drive transformation in consumer-facing applications as well as industry-wide solutions. And we are seeing great results.

透過這項改進，用戶的付費意願更加強烈，付費用戶比例大幅提升超過100%，營收成長了246%。我們對人工智慧創新的策略重點將繼續推動面向消費者的應用程式以及全產業解決方案的轉型。我們看到了很好的成果。

Now let me review the key highlights for each business for the third quarter. AI cloud revenue reached RMB4.9 billion in the third quarter, maintaining double-digit year-over-year increase at 11% while sustaining non-GAAP operating profitability. GI-related revenue maintained strong growth momentum and remained a key growth driver, accounting for about 11% of our total AI cloud revenue in the third quarter, up from 9% in the previous quarter. This trend reflected increasing recognition of earnings value among enterprise customers. Our strong technological advantages in AI infrastructure served as a key enabler for this momentum.

現在讓我回顧一下第三季每項業務的主要亮點。第三季人工智慧雲端收入達到人民幣49億元，年增11%，維持兩位數成長，同時維持非美國通用會計準則營運獲利能力。 GI相關營收維持強勁成長勢頭，仍是主要成長動力，佔第三季人工智慧雲端總營收的約11%，高於上一季的9%。這一趨勢反映出企業客戶對獲利價值的認可度不斷提高。我們在人工智慧基礎設施方面強大的技術優勢是這一勢頭的關鍵推動因素。

During the quarter, we advanced our infrastructure management across our GP cluster that is composed of tens of thousands of GPUs, achieving 99.5% value LLM training time. Also, we further improved our capabilities in combining GPUs from different vendors for training and hosting models by minimizing throughput loss to within 5%.

本季度，我們在由數萬個 GPU 組成的 GP 叢集中推進了基礎設施管理，實現了 99.5% 的 LLM 培訓時間價值。此外，我們也進一步提升了結合不同供應商的 GPU 進行訓練和託管模型的能力，將吞吐量損失降至 5% 以內。

With this advancement, we further reinforced our position as a leading provider of the most powerful and cost-effective AI infrastructure. Our mass platform continued to evolve with a strong focus on developing comprehensive toolkits that enhance the model and app development experience for our customers and partners.

透過這一進步，我們進一步鞏固了我們作為最強大、最具成本效益的人工智慧基礎設施領先供應商的地位。我們的大眾平台不斷發展，重點是開發全面的工具包，以增強客戶和合作夥伴的模型和應用程式開發體驗。

In Q3, we improved the model builder to make lightweight model fine-tuning easier. With model builder, lightweight models can be fine-tuned into specific models, achieving performance comparable to ERNIE 4.0 while offering faster inference speed at lower cost.

在第三季度，我們改進了模型建構器，使輕量級模型微調變得更加容易。透過模型建構器，可以將輕量級模型微調為特定模型，實現與 ERNIE 4.0 相當的效能，同時以更低的成本提供更快的推理速度。

We are leveraging our AI capabilities to improve internal R&D efficiency and facilitate enterprise application divestment. Internally, we've widely adopted AI coating through (inaudible) our coding assistant for developers. AI now contributes to generating over 1/3 of our new code with our developers providing oversight and approval. We are also lowering the barrier for enterprise in AI native application development. Enterprises can build sophisticated applications through simpler approaches on our mass platform.

我們正在利用我們的人工智慧能力來提高內部研發效率並促進企業應用程式撤資。在內部，我們透過（聽不清楚）為開發人員提供的編碼助手廣泛採用了人工智慧塗層。現在，人工智慧在我們的開發人員提供監督和批准的情況下幫助產生了超過 1/3 的新程式碼。我們也正在降低企業AI原生應用開發的門檻。企業可以在我們的大眾平台上透過更簡單的方法建立複雜的應用程式。

For example, using natural language instructions with minimum coating efforts to develop the most part of a business application. We introduced (inaudible) at Baidu World 2024, marking our first step in delivering no-code capabilities. We are excited about its potential to democratize AI as we believe expanding AI accessibility beyond departments will drive innovation at the speed we never seen before.

例如，使用自然語言指令以最少的修飾工作來開發業務應用程式的大部分。我們在 2024 年百度世界上推出了（聽不清楚），這標誌著我們在提供無程式碼功能方面邁出了第一步。我們對其實現人工智慧民主化的潛力感到興奮，因為我們相信將人工智慧的可訪問性擴展到部門之外將以我們從未見過的速度推動創新。

Meanwhile, the growing recognition of ERNIE's capabilities continues to attract new clients, with notable partnerships established this quarter with Flash X, (inaudible). This partnership with leading enterprises reflects the strength and credibility of Baidu AI Cloud.

同時，ERNIE 的能力日益受到認可，並持續吸引新客戶，本季與 Flash X（聽不清楚）建立了顯著的合作關係。此次與領先企業的合作體現了百度AI雲端的實力與信譽。

We have also seen significant growth in adoption from mid-tier enterprise customers as reflected in their increasing investments in GPU public cloud service. In Q3, the incremental revenue from the mid-tier enterprise customers on our public cloud increased by 170% year quarter-over-quarter. With these positive trends and divestments, we reinforce our long-term optimism about the growth trajectory of our AI cloud revenue stream.

我們也看到中型企業客戶的採用率顯著成長，這反映在他們對 GPU 公有雲服務的投資不斷增加。第三季度，公有雲中型企業客戶增量收入較上季成長170%。憑藉這些積極的趨勢和撤資，我們增強了對人工智慧雲端收入流成長軌蹟的長期樂觀態度。

For our mobile ecosystem, Baidu Core's online marketing revenue declined by 4% year-over-year in the third quarter due to challenging macroeconomic conditions our ongoing AI-driven search renovation and an evolving Internet content ecosystem. In the third quarter, we saw continued growth in incremental ad revenue from Gen AI and LLM to our advertising system. This replan our ongoing efforts to refine our monetization system and marketing platform, particularly in improving ad targeting capabilities and scaling up real-time ad generation. We believe agents open up a lot of new possibilities for our advertising business. This quarter has seen significant improvements in earning agents for advertisers in terms of response accuracy and intent cognition capabilities.

對於我們的行動生態系統，由於宏觀經濟條件充滿挑戰，我們正在進行的人工智慧驅動的搜尋革新以及不斷發展的互聯網內容生態系統，百度核心的線上行銷收入在第三季度同比下降了4%。第三季度，我們看到 Gen AI 和 LLM 為我們的廣告系統帶來的增量廣告收入持續成長。這重新規劃了我們持續努力完善我們的貨幣化系統和行銷平台，特別是在提高廣告定位能力和擴大即時廣告生成方面。我們相信代理商為我們的廣告業務開啟了許多新的可能性。本季度，廣告主的獲利代理在回應準確性和意圖認知能力方面有了顯著改善。

This agents become increasingly sophisticated and effective. We've observed a growing recognition of their value among advertisers. As of September, approximately 20,000 advertisers have been generating ad spending through our earning agents on a daily basis.

這種代理變得越來越複雜和有效。我們發現廣告商越來越認識到它們的價值。截至 9 月份，每天約有 20,000 名廣告商透過我們的獲利代理商產生廣告支出。

A case in point is 1 of our health care lines. After building its own agent, the client was impressed with its performance, they then proactively contributed to their proprietary medical insights to further enhance the agent's capabilities. Through continuous fine-tuning the agent demonstrated good intelligence and service quality, particularly in terms of dialogue accuracy and the context comprehension. This enables the agent to deliver more professional and accurate responses to customer inquiries around the clock. Through extended conversations, the agent can better identify customers' underlying needs and provide tailored service recommendations, significantly enhancing the customer experience.

我們的醫療保健系列之一就是一個典型的例子。在建立自己的代理商後，客戶對其表現印象深刻，然後他們積極貢獻自己專有的醫療見解，以進一步增強代理商的能力。透過不斷的微調，智能體表現出了良好的智能和服務質量，特別是在對話準確性和上下文理解方面。這使得客服人員能夠全天候對客戶的詢問提供更專業、更準確的答案。透過擴展對話，座席可以更好地識別客戶的潛在需求並提供量身定制的服務建議，從而顯著提升客戶體驗。

As a result, the client has seen a normal increase in customer engagement as customers' willingness to initiate conversations rising by 13.6% and lead conversion rate increasing by 50% from July to September.

結果，7 月至 9 月，該客戶發現客戶參與度正常成長，客戶發起對話的意願提高了 13.6%，潛在客戶轉換率提高了 50%。

Overall, while our online marketing business is going through a transitional period, we remain steadfast to aggressively drive forward our AI transformation. We are confident this will deliver long-term value for our users, customers and shareholders.

總體而言，雖然我們的網路行銷業務正處於轉型期，但我們仍然堅定不移地積極推動人工智慧轉型。我們相信這將為我們的用戶、客戶和股東帶來長期價值。

Turning now to intelligent driving. We've reached another significant milestone, the sixth generation of our autonomous vehicle, RT6, is now operating on public roads in multiple cities in China. This not only expands our vehicle lineup, but also reaffirms our commitment to scaling operations and providing users with safer, more affordable and comfortable mobility experiences.

現在轉向智慧駕駛。我們已經達到了另一個重要的里程碑，我們的第六代自動駕駛汽車 RT6 現已在中國多個城市的公共道路上運行。這不僅擴大了我們的車輛陣容，還重申了我們對擴大營運規模並為用戶提供更安全、更實惠和舒適的出行體驗的承諾。

Following our achievement of 100% fully driverless operations in Wuhan last quarter, the proportion of fully driverless operations nationwide surpassed 70% in the third quarter and 80% in October. Recently, we have taken a better step forward in expanding fully driverless operations. We are delighted to share that in October, we achieved 100% fully driverless operations in Chongqing, where we currently operate a growing fleet of autonomous vehicles. We continue to scale up our services in third quarter with Apollo Go providing about 988,000 rights to the public nationwide, representing year-over-year increase of 20%. The cumulative rights provided to the public surpassed 8 million in October, further solidifying our leadership in smart mobility.

繼上季武漢實現100%無人駕駛營運後，全國無人駕駛營運比例第三季超過70%，10月份超過80%。最近，我們在拓展完全無人駕駛業務方面又邁出了更好的一步。我們很高興與大家分享，10 月份，我們在重慶實現了 100% 完全無人駕駛運營，目前我們在重慶運營著越來越多的自動駕駛車隊。第三季我們繼續擴大服務規模，Apollo Go 向全國公眾提供約 988,000 個權益，年增 20%。 10月份累計提供給大眾的權益突破800萬張，進一步鞏固了我們在智慧出行領域的領先地位。

We're fully confident that our autonomous driving technology has achieved technical maturity with proven safety and reliability through extensive testing and well wire operations.

我們完全相信，透過廣泛的測試和良好的佈線操作，我們的自動駕駛技術已達到技術成熟度，並具有經過驗證的安全性和可靠性。

While our technology is ready for wider deployment safe and responsible autonomous driving requires a solid foundation of a harmonized regulatory framework, we remain patient as we continue to work alongside the evolving regulatory framework, standing ready to rapidly scale up our operations on the timing's right.

雖然我們的技術已準備好進行更廣泛的部署，但安全和負責任的自動駕駛需要統一的監管框架奠定堅實的基礎，但我們仍保持耐心，繼續與不斷發展的監管框架合作，隨時準備在適當的時機迅速擴大我們的業務。

Meanwhile, we are also actively exploring expansion into additional cities and new operational models, such as asset-light strategies to enhance operational resilience and unlock new growth potential.

同時，我們也積極探索向更多城市擴張和新的營運模式，例如輕資產策略，以增強營運彈性並釋放新的成長潛力。

In summary, while our overall revenue growth remains measured in the near term, we have strong conviction in our strategic direction, supported by encouraging progress across multiple fronts from increased user metrics in search to the growing adoption of our large language models and cloud solutions. Looking ahead, we're confident that our strategic focus and execution will out meaningful returns.

總而言之，雖然我們的整體收入成長在短期內仍然存在，但我們對我們的策略方向有堅定的信念，這得益於從搜尋中用戶指標的增加到我們的大型語言模型和雲端解決方案的日益採用等多方面所取得的令人鼓舞的進展。展望未來，我們相信我們的策略重點和執行將帶來有意義的回報。

Before I hand over the call, I'm pleased to welcome our interim CFO, Junjie He or Jackson. With that, let me turn the call over to Jackson to go through the financial results.

在我轉交電話之前，我很高興歡迎我們的臨時財務長何俊傑（Junjie He）或傑克遜（Jackson）。接下來，讓我將電話轉給傑克遜，以查看財務業績。

Thank you, Robin. Hi, everyone. I'm honored to step into the role of interim CFO. Following my initial conference call, I look forward to engaging with analysts and shareholders in the coming period. Now let me walk through the details of our third quarter financial results.

謝謝你，羅賓。大家好。我很榮幸擔任臨時財務長。在初次電話會議之後，我期待在未來一段時間內與分析師和股東接觸。現在讓我詳細介紹一下我們第三季的財務表現。

Total revenues were RMB33.6 billion, decreasing 3% year-over-year. Revenue from Baidu Core was RMB26.5 billion, which was basically flat from last year. Baidu Core's online marketing revenue was RMB18.8 billion, decreasing 4% year-over-year. Baidu Core's non-online marketing revenue was RMB7.7 billion, up 12% year-over-year, mainly driven by AI cloud business. Revenue from IT was RMB7.2 billion, decreasing 10% year-over-year.

總收入為人民幣336億元，較去年同期下降3%。百度核心營收為人民幣265億元，與去年基本持平。百度核心網路行銷收入為人民幣188億元，較去年同期下降4%。百度核心非線上行銷收入為人民幣77億元，較去年成長12%，主要由AI雲業務推動。 IT收入為人民幣72億元，較去年同期下降10%。

Cost of revenues were RMB16.4 billion, increasing 1% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in traffic acquisition costs and costs related to AI car business, partially offset by a decrease in personnel-related expenses and the cost of goods sold. Our operating expenses were RMB11.2 billion, decreasing 5% year-over-year primarily due to a decrease in personnel-related expenses and partially offset by an increase in channel spending and promotional marketing expenses. Baidu Core's operating expenses were RMB9.9 billion, decreasing 5% year-over-year. Baidu Core SG&A expenses were RMB5 billion, increasing 4% year-over-year. SG&A accounted for 19% of Baidu Core revenue in the quarter compared to 18% in the same period last year.

收入成本為人民幣164億元，年增1%，主要是由於流量獲取成本和AI汽車業務相關成本增加，部分被人員相關費用和商品成本減少所抵銷。我們的營運費用為人民幣112億元，年減5%，主要是因為人員相關費用減少，但部分被通路支出和促銷行銷費用的增加所抵銷。百度核心營運費用為人民幣99億元，較去年同期下降5%。百度核心SG&A費用為人民幣50億元，較去年同期成長4%。 SG&A 佔本季百度核心營收的 19%，而去年同期為 18%。

Baidu Core R&D expenses were RMB4.9 billion, decreasing 13% year-over-year. R&D accounted for 19% of Baidu Core revenue in the quarter compared to 21% in the same period last year. Operating income was RMB5.9 billion. Baidu Core's operating income was RMB5.7 billion, and the Baidu Core's operating margin was 21%. Non-GAAP operating income was RMB7 billion.

百度核心研發費用為人民幣49億元，較去年同期下降13%。本季研發佔百度核心營收的 19%，去年同期為 21%。營業收入為人民幣59億元。百度核心的營業收入為人民幣57億元，百度核心的營業利益率為21%。非美國通用會計準則營業收入為人民幣 70 億元。

Non-GAAP Baidu Core operating income was RMB6.7 billion and non-GAAP Baidu Core operating margin was 25%. Total other income net was RMB2.7 billion, increasing 14% year-over-year, primarily due to an increase in fair value gains from long-term investments and disposal gain, partially offset by an increase in net foreign exchange loss arising from exchange rate fluctuation between Renminbi and U.S. dollar.

非 GAAP 百度核心營業收入為 67 億元，非 GAAP 百度核心營業利潤率為 25%。其他淨收入總額為人民幣27億元，年增14%，主要是由於長期投資公允價值收益和處置收益增加，部分被匯兌淨損失增加所抵銷人民幣與美元之間的匯率波動。

Income tax expense was RMB814 million compared to RMB1.3 billion in the same period last year. Net income attributable to Baidu was RMB7.6 billion, and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB21.6%. Net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB7.5 billion, and net margin for Baidu Core was 28%. Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu was RMB5.9 billion. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB16.6.

所得稅費用為人民幣8.14億元，去年同期為人民幣13億元。歸屬於百度的淨利為人民幣76億元，每股ADS攤薄收益為人民幣21.6%。歸屬於百度核心的淨利為人民幣75億元，百度核心淨利率為28%。非美國通用會計準則歸屬於百度的淨利為人民幣 59 億元。非美國通用會計準則攤薄後每股美國存託股收益為 16.6 元。

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Baidu Core was RMB5.7 billion, and non-GAAP net margin for Baidu Core was 21%.

非美國通用會計準則歸屬於百度核心的淨利為人民幣57億元，非美國通用會計準則淨利率為21%。

As of September 30, 2024, cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments were RMB144.5 billion, and the cash, cash equivalents, short-term cash and short-term investments, excluding ITE, were RMB140.3 billion. Free cash flow was RMB2.6 billion, and the free cash flow excluding ICE was only RMB2.4 billion.

截至2024年9月30日，現金、現金等價物、受限現金及短期投資為人民幣1,445億元，現金、現金等價物、短期現金及短期投資（不含ITE）為人民幣1,403億元。自由現金流為26億元，剔除ICE後的自由現金流僅24億元。

Finally, Baidu Core had approximately 31,000 employees as of September 30, 2024.

最後，截至2024年9月30日，百度核心約有31,000名員工。

With that, operator, let's now open the call to questions.

接線員，現在讓我們開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Alicia Yap with Citigroup.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自花旗集團的 Alicia Yap。

My question is related to AI and search. So how should we think about ramp-up pace for the generative AI results penetration rate? And what does management think of the optimal level and how long do you plan for the search product transformation period to last. And could management also give more color on the recent developments in the monetization of the AI search. So when does management expect to commercialize the AI search result?

我的問題與人工智慧和搜尋有關。那麼，我們該如何考慮生成式人工智慧結果滲透率的提升速度呢？管理階層對最佳水準的看法是什麼，以及您計劃搜尋產品轉型期持續多久。管理層是否也可以對人工智慧搜尋貨幣化的最新發展給予更多關注。那麼管理階層預計什麼時候將人工智慧搜尋結果商業化呢？

Alicia, this is (inaudible), allow me to your question. We have been continuously transforming our corporate with a technology and saying as well Robin has said just now today, over 20% of pages and over 60% of the monthly active users, they have engaged with the Gen AI content already. However, I think the number merely represents our initial progress in 1 aspect of our AI-driven transformation of search. It should not be taken as a comprehensive indicator of our AI-generated content, not be used as the only benchmark for our progress. What really matters goes beyond it.

艾莉西亞，這是（聽不清楚），請容許我回答你的問題。我們一直在用科技不斷改變我們的公司，羅賓今天也說過，超過 20% 的頁面和超過 60% 的每月活躍用戶，他們已經參與了 Gen AI 內容。然而，我認為這個數字僅僅代表了我們在人工智慧驅動的搜尋轉型的一個方面的初步進展。它不應該被視為我們人工智慧生成內容的綜合指標，也不應該被用作我們進步的唯一基準。真正重要的遠不止於此。

In fact, we aim to revolutionize the through ERNIE and transform every aspect of such experiences. Providing the users with unlimited on-demand and personalize the content through the (inaudible) of various forms whenever they need, leveraging the ERNIES, we gained deeper insights into user intent behind increasingly completed inquiries, which can enable us to customize the content generation to better fulfill the needs, while continuously enhancing the air generating content quality. We also try to diversify our content formats, such as a summary, as you can see in the top page in images and videos, agents, posts and even digital human all of these different formats can be dynamically combined to create some personalized experiences earnings, and we can tailor both the content and its presentation format, which can best match users want and how they prefer to consume this kind of information. This can allow us to optimize the user experience and drive higher engagement. The AI-driven transformation of our search has already shown initial progress across certain user metrics, which gives us some kind of confidence to keep pushing forward with our efforts.

事實上，我們的目標是透過 ERNIE 徹底改變這種體驗的各個方面。透過各種形式（聽不清楚）隨時為用戶提供無限的點播和個人化內容，利用 ERNIES，我們更深入地了解了日益完成的查詢背後的用戶意圖，這使我們能夠定制內容生成更好地滿足需求，同時不斷提升空氣生成內容品質。我們也嘗試使我們的內容格式多樣化，例如摘要，正如您在圖片和影片、代理商、貼文甚至數位人中看到的那樣，所有這些不同的格式都可以動態組合以創建一些個人化的體驗效益，我們可以自訂內容及其呈現格式，以最好地滿足用戶的需求以及他們喜歡如何消費此類資訊。這可以讓我們優化用戶體驗並提高參與度。由人工智慧驅動的搜尋轉型已經在某些用戶指標上取得了初步進展，這給了我們繼續推進努力的信心。

Through ongoing exploration, we are charging the new frontiers of possibility unlocking unprecedented potentials with the part of AI. And quarter-by-quarter, we will continue to see an update of achievement across various aspects of AI-driven transformations.

透過不斷的探索，我們正在開拓新的可能性領域，利用人工智慧釋放前所未有的潛力。每個季度，我們將繼續看到人工智慧驅動轉型各個方面的成就更新。

Specific about your question in the monetization side, we are seeing some encouraging early results in certain verticals, including legal, education and B2B services. For example, our earning agents for advertisers today have demonstrated increase in effective sales leads, which can bring the value to advertisers while enhancing the overall use experiences. As our earnings foundation models continue to evolve, we expect agents to unlock greater revenue opportunities in the future. That said, we are still in the early stage of exploring monetization opportunities for AI search, and we are taking a mature approach at our own pace.

具體到你在貨幣化方面的問題，我們在某些​​垂直領域看到了一些令人鼓舞的早期成果，包括法律、教育和 B2B 服務。例如，我們今天為廣告商提供的獲利代理商已經證明有效銷售線索的增加，這可以為廣告商帶來價值，同時增強整體使用體驗。隨著我們的獲利基礎模型不斷發展，我們預計代理商未來將釋放更大的收入機會。也就是說，我們仍處於探索人工智慧搜尋貨幣化機會的早期階段，我們正在按照自己的步調採取成熟的方法。

In the near term, we will prioritize the use experience enhancement instead of the rushing in (inaudible). In fact, our product transformation journey strongly reflects our strategy direction which is we are making a deliberate choices to priority to the long-term value creation over shorting games. It's true that we experienced some short-term pressures. But these near-term trade-offs are something we're willing to accept as we work towards our long-term vision. Beyond search, we also have a cut comprehensive mobile ecosystem with multiple consumer-facing products, that's the massive use basis such as (inaudible).

短期內，我們將優先考慮增強使用體驗，而不是匆忙投入（聽不清楚）。事實上，我們的產品轉型之旅強烈反映了我們的策略方向，即我們正在做出深思熟慮的選擇，優先考慮長期價值創造而不是做空遊戲。確實，我們經歷了一些短期壓力。但在我們努力實現長期願景時，我們願意接受這些短期的權衡。除了搜尋之外，我們還擁有一個全面的行動生態系統，其中包含多種面向消費者的產品，這是大規模的使用基礎，例如（聽不清楚）。

We're also leveraging ERNIE to revolutionize the entire product lines across our mobile ecosystem, enhancing the content production try to optimize the distribution mechanism and try to strengthen the monetization capabilities. We remain fully committed to this transformation and focusing primarily on enhancing the user experiences and engagement. This kind of encouraging early results have reinforced our confidence strategy direction. And we believe that following this period of adjustment, we expect to start seeing improvement in our advertising business next year. Thank you for the question.

我們也利用 ERNIE 徹底改變我們行動生態系統的整個產品線，加強內容生產，嘗試優化分發機制，並嘗試增強貨幣化能力。我們仍然完全致力於這項轉變，並主要專注於增強用戶體驗和參與度。這種令人鼓舞的早期成果堅定了我們策略方向的信心。我們相信，經過這段調整期，我們預計明年的廣告業務將開始改善。謝謝你的提問。

Your next question comes from Alex Yao with JPMorgan.

您的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Alex Yao。

My question is about the ERNIE's API. I think the API costs have been growing fairly rapidly in the recent months. Could you guys assume more details on the key drivers behind this growth. In addition, as any potential killer app emerged in the B2C market. Finally, what is management's outlook of earning adoption over the medium to longer term?

我的問題是關於 ERNIE 的 API。我認為最近幾個月 API 成本增長相當快。你們能否提供更多關於這項成長背後的關鍵驅動因素的細節？此外，B2C 市場中出現了任何潛在的殺手級應用程式。最後，管理階層對中長期獲利採用的前景如何？

Alex, this is Robin. Yes, we've seen remarkable growth in API costs. I think a number of factors are driving this growth. First, ERNIE gets smarter every day and to sanctions have been reduced significantly. So more and more applications can use to add value to the users.

亞歷克斯，這是羅賓。是的，我們已經看到 API 成本顯著成長。我認為有很多因素正在推動這種成長。首先，ERNIE 每天都變得更聰明，制裁也大大減少。因此越來越多的應用程式可以用來為用戶增加價值。

And second is the inference cost. It gets lower and lower, so more customers can afford it. And third, it's a tool chain we provide to our customers they can tailor the model to address their own specific needs easily in each application scenario. The substantial volume of ERNIE API costs is driven by both internal and external demand. We began our product transformation in Q2 of last year.

其次是推理成本。價格越來越低，所以更多的顧客能負擔得起。第三，它是我們向客戶提供的工具鏈，他們可以自訂模型，輕鬆滿足每個應用場景中自己的特定需求。 ERNIE API 的大量成本是由內部和外部需求所驅動的。我們從去年第二季開始進行產品轉型。

We first upgraded our monetization system, delivering higher advertiser ROI and generating hundreds of million incremental revenue each quarter. Then we extended the AI transformation across our major consumer-facing products that includes those products over 100 million MAUs to search on cool, Baidu Dry, by Baidu Keyboard and Baidu Map. We are encouraged by how AI could thoroughly revolutionized and rejuvenate with long-standing products with massive user bases. And this year, we accelerated the renovation of search showing more and more generated content or search with our page. We believe the new Baidu search has the potential and is well positioned to become a killer app in the age of Gen AI.

我們首先升級了我們的貨幣化系統，提供了更高的廣告客戶投資報酬率，並每季產生數億的增量收入。然後，我們將人工智慧轉型擴展到主要面向消費者的產品，包括每月活躍用戶數超過1億的產品，包括酷搜、百度乾貨、百度鍵盤和百度地圖。我們對人工智慧如何透過擁有龐大用戶群的長期產品進行徹底變革和復興感到鼓舞。今年，我們加快了搜尋的革新，顯示越來越多的生成內容或透過我們的頁面進行搜尋。我們相信，新的百度搜尋有潛力，並且有能力成為人工智慧時代的殺手級應用。

This is because search is by nature deeply rooted in language and text understanding, which aligns perfectly with LLM capabilities. We're fortunate to have 100 million of search users every day and the most advanced foundation models. And along this line, millions of agents are being built to answer user and customers' questions. This also contributed to the growth of earning API costs. While most API costs currently come from the renovation of our 2C products, ERNIE has gained a strong recognition in helping businesses tackle challenges effectively, external API costs have grown quite quickly, roughly like 20% quarter-over-quarter in the last week of Q3.

這是因為搜尋本質上深深植根於語言和文本理解，這與法學碩士的能力完美契合。我們很幸運每天擁有一億的搜尋用戶和最先進的基礎模型。沿著這條線，正在建立數百萬個代理商來回答用戶和客戶的問題。這也推動了賺取API成本的成長。雖然目前大部分API成本來自於我們2C產品的改造，但ERNIE在幫助企業有效應對挑戰方面獲得了廣泛認可，但外部API成本增長相當快，大約在第三季度最後一周環比增長了20% 。

We see strong adoption across sectors, including online education, social media restaurant and food services, health care, legal consultation and recruiting. The West brand adoption shows that enterprises recognize the value of our powerful model and are willing to invest in them. We grow with our progress and committed to accelerating earnings adoption across all our product lines as we transform from an Internet-centric business to an AI-first business. With Gen AI becoming central to our entire product line up, we are confident it will unlock new revenue streams and strengthen our market leadership. Thank you.

我們看到跨行業的廣泛採用，包括線上教育、社交媒體餐廳和食品服務、醫療保健、法律諮詢和招聘。西方品牌的採用表明企業認識到我們強大模式的價值並願意對其進行投資。我們隨著進步而成長，並致力於在從以互聯網為中心的業務向人工智能優先的業務轉型的過程中，加快所有產品線的盈利採用。隨著 Gen AI 成為我們整個產品線的核心，我們相信它將釋放新的收入來源並加強我們的市場領導地位。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Gary Yu with Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Gary Yu。

I have a macro-related question. Can management comment on the underlying ad demand trend. And also, have you seen any spend sentiment improvement, especially after the latest seamless policy? And what's management view on the macro outlook heading into 2025?

我有一個宏觀相關的問題。管理階層能否評論潛在的廣告需求趨勢？另外，您是否看到支出情緒有所改善，尤其是在最新的無縫政策之後？管理階層對 2025 年的宏觀前景有何看法？

Gary, let me take your question. I think our advertising business is highly correlated to the macro environment, especially with the off-line small and media enterprises across wide range of industries, which may cause the majority of our net advertisers basis. As these small and medium enterprises are both deeply connected to the domestic consumption and highly sensitive to macro acquisitions. The vitality and recovery pace suffers more relevant indicators for our business. In Q3, we have seen the continued weakness across the verticals, such as the real asset franchising and health care.

加里，讓我回答你的問題。我認為我們的廣告業務與宏觀環境高度相關，特別是與線下小媒體企業跨行業廣泛，這可能會造成我們大部分的網路廣告主的基礎。由於這些中小企業與國內消費聯繫緊密，對宏觀收購高度敏感。活力和復甦速度受到與我們業務更相關的指標的影響。在第三季度，我們看到實體資產特許經營和醫療保健等垂直行業持續疲軟。

And so far we have not observed the notable improvement in advertiser spending patterns and consumer spending remains subdued. And having said that, we are particularly encouraged by the strength and the timeliness of the recent similar policies, which continue to be low out as well as the constructive initiatives we are seeing across the market. And while we think it will still take some time for these measures to reach off-line small and media enterprises and boost their confidence in advertising spending, so we remain conservatively optimistic about the recovery in ahead. We believe that once the macro environment improves and the domestic consumption in (inaudible) small and medium enterprises confidence will quickly rebound. And Baidu has long been the primary platform of choices for these advertisers with proven effectiveness in driving the customer acquisition and growth, we expect them to return for advertisement spending, which can help us to drive a meaningful recovery in advertising business with our intensive reach and unique value propositions to off-line small and medium enterprises.

到目前為止，我們還沒有觀察到廣告商支出模式的顯著改善，消費者支出仍然低迷。話雖如此，我們對最近類似政策的力度和及時性感到特別鼓舞，這些政策的力度仍然很低，而且我們在整個市場上看到了建設性舉措。雖然我們認為這些措施還需要一段時間才能真正影響線下小型媒體企業並提振他們對廣告支出的信心，但我們對未來的復甦仍持保守樂觀態度。我們相信，一旦宏觀環境好轉，國內（聽不清楚）中小企業的消費信心將會迅速回升。百度長期以來一直是這些廣告商的主要選擇平台，在推動客戶獲取和成長方面已被證明有效，我們預計他們會回報廣告支出，這可以幫助我們憑藉廣泛的影響力和影響力推動廣告業務的有意義的復甦。

We believe that our advertising business will rebound with strong recovery momentum once the market confidence hands back. Thank you, Gary.

我們相信，一旦市場信心回升，我們的廣告業務將會以強勁的復甦勢頭反彈。謝謝你，加里。

Your next question comes from Lincoln Kong with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的林肯孔。

Given the ongoing enterprising pressure and our plan to accelerate and broaden our AI transformation. So could management share more color around our business focus at the moment. our priority in terms of our investment, resources spending and the capital allocation? And how should we think about the margin trend in 4Q as well?

鑑於持續的進取壓力以及我們加速和擴大人工智慧轉型的計劃。因此，管理層是否可以圍繞我們目前的業務重點分享更多色彩。我們在投資、資源支出和資本配置方面的優先順序是什麼？那我們該如何看待第四季的利潤率趨勢呢？

This is Jackson. I will take your call. Currently, we will remain committed to our AI focused strategy as both our near-term priority and the long-term strategic emphasis. Given our ongoing ad-driven renovation of search and the fact that we will not heavily monetize AI-generated search results soon. We expect the circumstances will remain under pressure for our online marketing business in the near term.

這是傑克遜。我會接你的電話。目前，我們將繼續致力於以人工智慧為中心的策略，將其作為我們的近期優先事項和長期戰略重點。鑑於我們正在進行的廣告驅動的搜尋革新，以及我們不會很快將人工智慧產生的搜尋結果大量貨幣化的事實。我們預計短期內我們的網路行銷業務仍將面臨壓力。

However, we remain steadfast in this strategic direction as we see strong long-term value ahead. In line with this strategy, we are going through a period of continued initiatives will further intensify our product renovations with a strong emphasis on search and continue to invest in advancing earnings capabilities while enhancing our AI car offerings to maintain a healthy margin and expanding our autonomous driving initiatives, where we view as a viable path to profitability. We believe these initiatives are essential to sustain our position as a leading technology innovator in China. As a result, the near-term margins will be in a period of adjustment, while looking to 2025, we will focus on optimal resource allocation to high growth opportunities. while staying aligned with our long-term strategy.

然而，我們仍然堅定地堅持這一戰略方向，因為我們看到了未來強大的長期價值。根據這項策略，我們正在經歷一段持續的舉措，將進一步加強我們的產品革新，重點關注搜索，並繼續投資於提高盈利能力，同時增強我們的人工智能汽車產品，以保持健康的利潤率並擴大我們的自動駕駛業務推動舉措，我們認為這是實現盈利的可行途徑。我們相信這些舉措對於維持我們作為中國領先技術創新者的地位至關重要。因此，短期利潤率將處於調整期，展望2025年，我們將專注於高成長機會的最佳化資源配置。同時與我們的長期策略保持一致。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from James Lee with Mizuho.

你的下一個問題來自瑞穗銀行的詹姆斯李。

Great. I have several follow-up questions on Cloud. In terms of revenue growth, it has moderated maybe compared to the last couple of quarters? And maybe can you unpack the performance of both personnel and enterprise cloud? And in addition, can you give an update in terms of competitive landscape in the market?

偉大的。我有幾個關於 Cloud 的後續問題。就收入成長而言，與過去幾季相比可能有所放緩？也許您可以分析人員雲端和企業雲的效能？此外，能否介紹一下市場競爭格局的最新情況？

And lastly, can you should outlook the cloud business, particularly contribution from Gen AI? And how should we think about the long-term margin assumptions?

最後，您能否展望一下雲端業務，特別是Gen AI的貢獻？我們應該如何考慮長期利潤率假設？

Thank you, James, for your question. This is Dou. Since last year, we have observed an accelerating shift in China's cloud industry towards AI computing, driven by the development of GI and foundation models. We have seen more customers choosing Baidu's AI cloud infrastructure and foundation models, the growing adoption is evidenced by our Gen AI revenue. It started at about 5% of our total AI cloud revenue.

謝謝詹姆斯的提問。這是竇。去年以來，在GI和基礎模式發展的推動下，中國雲產業加速轉向AI運算。我們看到越來越多的客戶選擇百度的AI雲端基礎設施和基礎模型，我們的Gen AI收入證明了這種採用率的不斷增長。它最初約占我們人工智慧雲端總收入的 5%。

When we first reported it in Q4 last year, and has now more than doubled, reaching 11% in the third quarter. So we are in that, this upward trend will continue. And so as you know, our AI cloud business consists of 2 main parts: personal cloud and cloud service for enterprise and public sector. This quarter, total ACA revenue growth slightly moderated, primarily due to a temporary impact on our personal cloud revenue brought by a short-term business adjustment. However, we believe ERNIE is ongoing renovation of the personal cloud will help mitigate this short-term impact and position it well for greater long-term growth opportunities.

當我們去年第四季首次報告這一數字時，現在已經增加了一倍多，第三季達到 11%。所以我們認為，這種上升趨勢將會持續下去。如您所知，我們的人工智慧雲端業務由兩個主要部分組成：個人雲端和麵向企業和公共部門的雲端服務。本季ACA總營收成長略有放緩，主要是因為短期業務調整對我們個人雲端收入帶來暫時影響。然而，我們相信 ERNIE 正在對個人雲端進行的革新將有助於減輕這種短期影響，並為更大的長期成長機會做好準備。

Meanwhile, our cloud service for enterprise and public sector, which makes up the majority of our AI cloud revenue actually maintained strong momentum this quarter, continuing to outpace our overall cloud business. So the growth in enterprise cloud revenue has been driven by a strong demand for model training and inference across various sectors, including Internet education, finance and so on. This reflects our customers' strong recognition of our AI infrastructure and mass platform capabilities. In particular, the major customers in industries like in-night, tech and automotive increased their spending on our GPU public cloud. So we are also seeing a rise in both the number and spending of mid-tier enterprises, especially in sectors like marketing software and other growing industries.

同時，占我們人工智慧雲端收入大部分的企業和公共部門雲端服務實際上在本季度保持了強勁勢頭，繼續超過我們的整體雲端業務。因此，企業雲端收入的成長是由各行業對模型訓練和推理的強勁需求推動的，包括網路教育、金融等。這體現了客戶對我們的人工智慧基礎設施和大量平台能力的強烈認可。特別是，夜間、科技和汽車等行業的主要客戶增加了在我們的 GPU 公有雲上的支出。因此，我們也看到中型企業的數量和支出都在增加，特別是在行銷軟體和其他成長產業等領域。

In today's cloud market, foundation model capabilities have become more and more so. Given the significant requirement for powerful infrastructure, specialized AI expertise and substantial capital investments, only a slight few foundation models will survive both in China and overseas. And for sure, we will be the 1 of them standing as the front runner. So we are proud that ERNIE has already demonstrated its market leadership through what spread adoption and advanced technology. So this strong position ERNIE to stay at the forefront, attracting more cloud customers and solidifying our market leadership.

在當今的雲端市場中，基礎模型能力變得越來越重要。鑑於對強大基礎設施、專業人工智慧專業知識和大量資本投資的巨大需求，只有極少數基礎模型能夠在中國和海外生存。可以肯定的是，我們將成為其中的領跑者之一。因此，我們感到自豪的是，ERNIE 已經透過廣泛採用和先進技術展示了其市場領導地位。因此，ERNIE 能夠保持領先地位，吸引更多雲端客戶並鞏固我們的市場領導地位。

So on the profit side, our AI cloud is healthier than ever with non-GAAP operating profit margin expanding year-over-year. So this improvement is driven by continued margin enhancement from our Gen AI revenue and our commitment to achieving high-quality revenue growth. So looking forward, we are confident that our AI cloud business will maintain strong revenue growth momentum over time while continuing to deliver a healthy operating profit. Thank you, James.

因此，在利潤方面，我們的人工智慧雲端比以往任何時候都更加健康，非公認會計準則營業利潤率逐年擴大。因此，這一改善是由我們的 Gen AI 收入的持續利潤率提高以及我們對實現高品質收入成長的承諾所推動的。因此，展望未來，我們有信心我們的人工智慧雲端業務將隨著時間的推移保持強勁的收入成長勢頭，同時繼續提供健康的營業利潤。謝謝你，詹姆斯。

Your next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Thomas Chong。

My question is related to robotaxi. Given the recent IPO way for autonomous driving related companies that have partnership with pet automakers and my heading platforms. What are your thoughts about how the competitive dynamic going forward. Looking ahead, how do you see the Apollo Go mobile taxi defer and business strategy development? Can management share any details about the future plans for spending and going Apollo Go.

我的問題與機器人計程車有關。鑑於最近與寵物汽車製造商和我的頭部平台合作的自動駕駛相關公司的IPO方式。您對未來競爭動態有何看法？展望未來，您如何看待Apollo Go行動計程車的延期和業務策略發展？管理層能否分享有關未來支出和 Apollo Go 計劃的任何細節？

Yes, autonomous driving has a high bar. It requires best-in-class technical expertise, top talent as well as strong commitment to long-term investment and significant capital reserve. We have built an unparalleled foundation in all these areas, giving us a strong competitive edge and setting a high bar for others to follow. As 1 of the earliest players in the market, we've consistently demonstrated our unwavering commitment through over a decade of investment. This long-term dedication has builded our technological advancements, positioning us as the global leader in automomous driving technology.

是的，自動駕駛的門檻很高。它需要一流的技術專長、頂尖人才以及對長期投資和大量資本儲備的堅定承諾。我們在所有這些領域都建立了無與倫比的基礎，賦予我們強大的競爭優勢，並為其他人樹立了高標準。作為市場上最早的參與者之一，我們透過十多年來的投資始終如一地證明了我們堅定不移的承諾。這種長期的奉獻精神造就了我們的技術進步，使我們成為自動駕駛技術的全球領導者。

As mentioned earlier, Apollo Go hit a significant milestone of 8 million total rights, making us the world's top automating service provider. In addition to our cutting-edge technology and strong operational capabilities, we've achieved significant cost effectiveness in hardware, PV stand out with a competitive price of under USD 30,000 for mass production, making it the most competitive option in the market. All the trends as mentioned above, driving us forward, paving the way to validate our business model. The overall market is still in its infancy. So competition should help accelerate the growth of the market and foster a more friendly pro-innovation regulatory environment.

如前所述，Apollo Go 達到了 800 萬總版權的重要里程碑，使我們成為全球頂級的自動化服務提供者。除了我們尖端的技術和強大的營運能力外，我們在硬體方面也取得了顯著的成本效益，光伏以低於30,000美元的批量生產價格脫穎而出，使其成為市場上最具競爭力的選擇。上述所有趨勢都在推動我們前進，為驗證我們的商業模式鋪平道路。整體市場仍處於起步階段。因此，競爭應該有助於加速市場的成長，並創造更友善的有利於創新的監管環境。

We believe such regulatory environment is essential for the healthy growth of this industry. And we remain prepared for expansion when the time is right. Meanwhile, we are actively seeking new opportunities for international expansion. We see significant potential in cities that enable large-scale fully driverless operations. similar to Wuhan, Chongqing.

我們相信這樣的監管環境對於這個產業的健康發展至關重要。我們仍準備在時機成熟時進行擴張。同時，我們正積極尋求國際擴張的新機會。我們看到城市在實現大規模完全無人駕駛營運方面具有巨大潛力。類似武漢、重慶。

Additionally, we are open to exploring different business model options, focusing on asset-light strategy, to keep our operations flexible and efficient as we grow. Thank you.

此外，我們願意探索不同的商業模式選擇，並專注於輕資產策略，以在發展過程中保持營運靈活高效。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Xiong Wei with UBS.

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀的熊偉。

My question is regarding capital allocation. I was wondering could management provide any updates on capital return plan for shareholders such as share buyback and the dividend?

我的問題是關於資本配置。我想知道管理層能否提供有關股東資本回報計劃的最新信息，例如股票回購和股息？

Wei, I will take your questions. So since becoming a public company in 2005, we have made consistent efforts to generate long-term value to our shareholders through our growth as a leading technology company in China complemented by share buyback programs. So over the past few years, we have maintained a steady peso share repurchases, averaging about USD 1 billion annually. So I'm pleased to share that through our consistent share repurchase efforts, we have seen a decline in our total ship number of shares outstanding this year. While the pace of share buybacks may vary from quarter-to-quarter according to our established execution rhythm, we remain firmly committed to our share buyback program as a key component of delivering value to our shareholders.

魏老師，我來回答你的問題。因此，自 2005 年成為上市公司以來，我們一直努力透過股票回購計畫作為中國領先科技公司的發展，為股東創造長期價值。所以過去幾年我們一直保持著穩定的比索股票回購，平均每年約10億美元。因此，我很高興地告訴大家，透過我們持續的股票回購努力，我們今年的已發行股票總數有所下降。儘管根據我們既定的執行節奏，股票回購的節奏可能會因季度而異，但我們仍然堅定地致力於股票回購計劃，將其作為為股東創造價值的關鍵組成部分。

While we are currently focused on executing our sustainable and recurrent share buyback programs, we remain open to evaluating various options for returning value to shareholders. As always, we firmly believe in Baidu's long-term and sustainable growth potential and will ensure that our shareholders will be rewarded for their trusting us. The ultimate way of service shareholders' interest is to have a solid business foundation and capitalize on growth opportunities. We are in the midst of a paradigm shifting technology transformation based on AI and the foundation models. At Baidu, we have the AI infrastructure tech expertise as well as financial and human sources to execute on our plans.

雖然我們目前專注於執行可持續和經常性的股票回購計劃，但我們仍然願意評估各種為股東回報價值的選擇。一如既往，我們堅信百度的長期可持續成長潛力，並將確保股東對我們的信任得到回報。服務股東利益的最終方式是擁有堅實的業務基礎並抓住成長機會。我們正處於基於人工智慧和基礎模型的典範轉移技術轉型之中。在百度，我們擁有人工智慧基礎設施技術專業知識以及財務和人力資源來執行我們的計劃。

So we want to have the flexibility to invest as needed to propel our new business forward and with that, bring long-term value to our shareholders. Thank you.

因此，我們希望能夠根據需要靈活地進行投資，以推動我們的新業務向前發展，從而為我們的股東帶來長期價值。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Miranda Zhuang with Bank of America Securities.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行證券的 Miranda Zhuang。

Okay, management provides an overview of ERNIE technology road map for the future development. What are the upcoming milestones for the company's AI model? And then when can we expect to achieve them? Thank you for my question about ERNIE.

好的，管理層概述了ERNIE未來發展的技術路線圖。公司的人工智慧模型即將迎來哪些里程碑？那我們什麼時候可以實現這些目標呢？謝謝你問我關於厄尼的問題。

Well, we launched ERNIE bot in March of last year. Since then, we've been continuously enhancing our foundation model capabilities, particularly our flagship models. In October last year, we introduced earnings China's first TPD 4 type model with world-leading capabilities. And then we launched ERNIE 4.0 Turbo in June of this year and delivering even greater performance. Building on these milestones, we are committed to continuously advancing our flagship models to deliver better performance, accuracy and broader support for diverse user needs.

嗯，我們在去年 3 月推出了 ERNIE 機器人。從那時起，我們一直在不斷增強我們的基礎模型能力，特別是我們的旗艦模型。去年10月，我們推出了中國首款具備世界領先能力的TPD 4型機型。然後我們在今年 6 月推出了 ERNIE 4.0 Turbo，提供了更出色的性能。在這些里程碑的基礎上，我們致力於不斷改進我們的旗艦型號，為不同的用戶需求提供更好的性能、準確性和更廣泛的支援。

We expect to launch a new version of earning early next year to further strengthen our leadership position in foundation models. Compare to overseas companies, we distinctly take an application-driven approach. We believe foundation models hold real value only when they power widely used practical applications that meet user needs. Over the past 18 months, our model development has centered on addressing real-world problems according to market demand. With this approach, we've made significant progress in resolving hallucinations and improving accuracy, while also introducing a series of models tailored to diversity to make earning models more accessible and affordable.

我們預計明年初推出新版本的收益，以進一步鞏固我們在基礎模型中的領導地位。與國外公司相比，我們明顯採取應用驅動的方式。我們相信，基礎模型只有在為廣泛使用的實際應用程式提供支援並滿足用戶需求時才具有真正的價值。在過去的 18 個月裡，我們的模型開發重點是根據市場需求解決現實問題。透過這種方法，我們在解決幻覺和提高準確性方面取得了重大進展，同時也引入了一系列針對多樣性量身定制的模型，使盈利模式更容易獲得和負擔得起。

We boosted the performance, lowered (inaudible) costs and enhanced response speed. What sets us apart is that we really have a clear sense of our strengths and where we are heading. We aren't tied those technologies that allowing most closely with our business and create the most value. Earlier this year, I mentioned that we have expanded our virtual foundation model capabilities to our autos driving business, aiming to further enhance our leading position in this space. Now we are also proactively exploring multi-model capabilities and applications based on our strengths in language model, seeking to create more synergistic value and unlock new possibilities.

我們提高了性能，降低了（聽不清楚）成本並提高了響應速度。我們的與眾不同之處在於，我們對自己的優勢和前進方向有著清晰的認知。我們不依賴那些與我們的業務最密切並創造最大價值的技術。今年早些時候，我提到我們已經將虛擬基礎模型能力擴展到了我們的自動駕駛業務中，旨在進一步增強我們在這個領域的領先地位。現在我們也基於語言模型的優勢，積極探索多模型能力和應用，尋求創造更多協同價值，釋放新的可能性。

Throughout all areas, we are very thoughtful about how we allocate our resources optimizing our foundation models in directions that maximize impact across our business and help maintain our market leadership. Thank you.

在所有領域，我們都非常深思熟慮地考慮如何分配資源，優化我們的基礎模型，以最大限度地提高對我們業務的影響並幫助保持我們的市場領先地位。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。