Better Health for All

Baidu Research developed an AI algorithm (LinearDesign) that boosted COVID-19 mRNA vaccine antibody response by 128-fold, demonstrating significant health innovation.

The company has invested billions of dollars in AI healthcare ventures over the past six years, and holds a substantial AI patent portfolio, including over 100 patent applications in temperature measurement since 2016. Baidu's AI technologies were deployed to address COVID-19 challenges, including AI-based temperature measurement systems and online medical consultations. The Overseas Anti-Epidemic Philanthropic Program provided online medical and psychological consultations to over 400,000 users in more than 100 countries. Baidu Health's AI health inquiry service serves over 2 million daily active users, and its AI medication assistant has served over 20 million people. The ERNIE Bot-4.0 achieved 78.36% accuracy in surgical resident examination questions, outperforming human residents. AI systems are also used to improve operational efficiency in outpatient services, processing over 2,000 appointment requests in a pilot project with 95% model accuracy. Autonomous vehicles were used for disinfection, supporting frontline workers. However, specific R&D budget allocation for health improvement is not provided, and the reach to vulnerable populations is not quantified as a percentage of the total vulnerable population.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Baidu, Inc. divested its financial services business, Du Xiaoman Financial, in April 2018 for US$1.9 billion, retaining a 42% ownership stake.

The provided articles do not contain any specific, concrete data points regarding the performance or practices of Baidu's remaining financial services interests or its core business in relation to fair money and economic opportunity KPIs. Therefore, no KPIs can be scored based on the available evidence.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

No specific, quantitative data for Baidu (BIDU.US) regarding living wage coverage, CEO to median pay ratio, collective bargaining share, safety incident rate, pay equity ratio, worker engagement score, turnover rate, labor violation incidents, insecure contract share, or health insurance coverage was found in the provided articles.

While executive compensation figures were mentioned, the median employee compensation required to calculate the CEO to median pay ratio was explicitly stated as unavailable. General information about China's labor laws or market trends, and employee ratings from a small sample, were not considered direct evidence for scoring Baidu against the defined KPIs.

Honest & Fair Business

Baidu was fined $78,000 in November 2023 by China's market regulator for failing to declare deals.

Its transparency index score was 33% in February 2026, according to rankingdigitalrights.org. The company has a formal whistleblower policy, the Baidu Professional Ethics Reporting Management Regulations, which ensures reports are processed within 24 hours and prohibits retaliation, with no instances of retaliation reported in 2024. Sustainalytics downgraded Baidu to 'non-compliant' due to its role in China's internet censorship, deeming it non-compliant with the UN Global Compact's second principle. The median resolution time for business ethics violations is 24 hours, while general user complaints are addressed within 4-24 hours, and privacy inquiries receive a response within 30 days. Five out of six board directors are independent, meaning 83.3% are conflict-free. Baidu has a comprehensive anti-corruption policy, is ISO 37001 certified for its anti-bribery management system, and recovered RMB 13.4 million in direct economic losses from case investigations in 2024. Approximately 50% of its ethical claims are independently verified, and its annual report is verified by a third-party assurance in accordance with AA1000 standards.

Kind to Animals

Baidu is a service-oriented technology company, and there is no evidence of animal-derived products, animal testing, or animal husbandry operations, leading to N/A scores for several KPIs. For wildlife conservation, Baidu has launched biodiversity protection initiatives, partnering with organizations like China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration, China Wildlife Conservation Association, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

It has optimized search results for endangered species, cleaned up over 260,000 damaging online pieces of information, and blocked 1.4 million instances of illegal wildlife trade promotion. Its 'AI Guardian of Endangered Species' tool, jointly developed with IFAW, has a 75% accuracy rate in identifying illegal wildlife products and identified 3,348 such images during a five-month testing period. The PaddlePaddle platform's image recognition capabilities expanded from 3 to 34 species. For public policy engagement, Baidu guides public opinion by disseminating information related to biodiversity and endangered species, actively working to display relevant Chinese legal provisions that prohibit selling wildlife, and calling on users and peer companies to contribute to wildlife protection. The company also commits to complying with applicable governmental laws, rules, and regulations. Baidu's AI system for interpreting animal communication, disclosed in 2024, is in the research phase with a patent application under review and commercialization expected as late as 2028, but there is no specific percentage of R&D budget allocated to animal-free technologies.

Safe & Smart Tech

Baidu published AI governance principles in August 2024, building upon principles from 2020, and established a technology ethics committee in November 2023, indicating a comprehensive AI ethics program with dedicated oversight and efforts to address AI fairness and anti-bias.

However, privacy policies are noted as providing more 'notice' than 'choice', raising concerns about user consent and data handling practices. Insufficient user control over personal data is noted, with a suggestion for privacy dashboards, although users can change data sharing preferences and opt-out of marketing emails. The company is generally compliant with Chinese personal information protection provisions but lacks consideration for transborder data flows and ownership changes. The privacy policy mentions compliance with applicable laws but does not name specific regulations or jurisdictions. There was an incident in March 2025 involving an executive's daughter doxxing a netizen, which Baidu attributed to an overseas database of illegally obtained personal information, denying an internal breach. Baidu states employees are prohibited from unauthorized data access and stresses stringent data anonymization and access controls.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Baidu has implemented multiple waste reduction initiatives, including the 'Baidu Recycle Bin' launched in 2015, which provided e-waste recycling services in 22 cities for eight types of e-waste.

Its Baidu Recycle 1.0 initiative recycled over 4,000 items, and Baidu Recycle 2.0, launched in January 2018, expanded coverage nationwide to include smaller items like cell phones and laptops. Baidu was awarded a United Nations global target solution for its recycling efforts. The company has no reported waste disposal violations in the past three years. However, Baidu has only vague waste reduction goals, such as making e-waste processing an inherent part of e-product production, without specific targets or deadlines. While the Baidu Recycle App connects consumers with e-waste pick-up services, there is no specific data on broader customer waste education programs.