Baidu founder predicts next AI frontier: intelligent organizations as the core competitive advantage

During the Baidu World Conference 2026, Baidu founder Li Yanhong asserted that the next major evolution in artificial intelligence will be the rise of intelligent organizations. He noted that ten years prior, in 2016, he predicted AI would be the next paradigm shift, a sentiment that has since become a consensus. Li Yanhong contrasted the traditional three-layer IT stack (chips, OS, software) with the AI-era stack, which centers on GPUs, layered with cloud infrastructure, models, and applications driven by intelligent agents. He posited that if energy is the upstream for AI technology, organizational capability—a new, AI-native structure he termed intelligent organization—represents the downstream. He stated that this organizational shift is where true productivity gains will materialize. He urged enterprises to move beyond using AI merely as a personal efficiency tool, insisting that digital employees must integrate into core functions like sales, customer service, research, and operations. Furthermore, Li Yanhong emphasized that organizational intelligence constitutes the deepest moat for any company, outlining three principles for this new organizational evolution.