Baidu's revenue rose 10% to 31.14 billion yuan ($4.54 billion) in the quarter to March 31, surpassing analysts' estimates of 29.97 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data.
Revenue from Baidu Core, which includes search-based ad sales, cloud offerings and its autonomous driving initiatives, grew 8% to 23 billion yuan.
Baidu reported net income of 5.83 billion yuan, compared to net loss in the year-ago quarter.
The company's much-touted rival to ChatGPT, Ernie bot, has yet to be officially launched, despite having been partially unveiled to the public in mid-March.
"During our testing of Ernie bot, we have engaged in close discussions with the regulators," Li said.