Baidu aims to pursue its augmented reality ambitions in 2017 as the company announced that it will open its brand new Augmented Reality lab in Beijing. With this step, the Chinese technology giant is looking to boost its bottom line with the help of state-of-the-art technology.

It has been reported that the lab will focus on driving revenue through the use of AR marketing. Later, the scope of the lab will be increased to embrace other areas such as education and healthcare. The lab currently employs 55 people.

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Andrew Ng, the chief scientist overseeing Baidu's artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality, and deep learning projects, said "AR marketing is taking off. There are few content formats where the content is evergreen - AR will be like that."

Baidu is reported to have invested $200 million for pushing AI and AR, a move to reportedly boost its dwindling profitability. Baidu also revealed that it is collaborating with various prominent companies such as BMW, KFC, and Lancome. It has also created a new $3 billion investment fund for mid- to late-stage startups.

The company is scheduled to report its full year earnings in February. It is expected that it will report a nearly 4.6 percent drop in its revenue as the result of government ban on medical advertising. The curb is said to have decreased its ad customers by 16 percent in the quarter ended in September.

Baidu will also need to tackle the domestic regulations in China regarding AI and AR. Chinese authorities recently refused to allow Pokémon Go in the country, due to its mapping requirements.

TagsBaidu, Andrew Ng, BMW