"This export restriction is noticeable, but it's not quite as devastating as it could have been," one expert said

"Until our company's official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Store or other stores are fake," the Chinese search engine giant said in a statement

Analysts fear the gains are distorting markets, starving other sectors of cash, as desperate investors hope to get in on the next ChatGPT

The format was changed to satisfy the 'strong demand' from 120,000 companies that had applied to test Ernie Bot, the search giant said

Ernie bot responded in a similar manner to questions about China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the treatment of Uyghur Muslims

"Ernie Bot is not a tool of confrontation between China and the United States," said Baidu CEO Robin Li.

Shares of Silicon Valley outfit C3.ai leapt 16.14% before the bell on Friday and were among the top five stocks trending on StockTwits

Competitors Alibaba and Baidu are also working on products similar to the viral chatbot, which so far remains inaccessible in China

Several Chinese tech giants including Baidu, Tencent Alibaba and JD.com are rushing to integrate AI chatbot technology into their products

Users would become more dependent on the Baidu search engine once it is embedded with the AI-powered chatbot, company CEO Robin Li told reporters

Baidu also said earlier this week it will soon finish internal testing for a ChatGPT alternative called 'Ernie Bot'