Xirang, the Chinese language metaverse platform launched by web large Baidu final yr, finds itself at a crossroads as the corporate’s chief leaves amid a shift in focus to fashions AI-generated content material. Baidu vp Ma Jie, who has performed an essential position in main metaverse operations and VR enterprise, lately resigned below undisclosed circumstances.

In response to the SCMP, Ma Jie, who had labored for Baidu since 2015, couldn’t be discovered within the firm’s inside laptop system since Friday. Baidu has reportedly deprioritized its metaverse enterprise resulting from difficulties in producing speedy income on this house. On Friday, Chinese language information outlet The Paper quoted Ma as saying he had already left the corporate.

Baidu’s resolution to prioritize AI is a stunning shift in technique, provided that solely 18 months in the past the corporate launched its XiRang app, also referred to as “Land of Hope.”

Throughout its launch, Baidu held digital occasions, together with a style present in collaboration with Dior and a digital job honest in partnership with the town authorities of Suzhou in Jiangsu province, aimed toward attracting customers in the direction of the idea of metaverse.

XiRang aspired to ascertain itself as a platform encompassing leisure, social interplay and model promotion, similar to the well-known world metaverse gaming platform Roblox.

In an announcement, Baidu mentioned final yr the profitable execution of greater than 120 metaverse actions and areas via its “XiRang” platform. These efforts coated greater than 20 areas, together with tradition, tourism, artwork, automotive and client items.

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