Scaling new frontiers in artificial intelligence
- By Sabena Siddiqui
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E-mailChina.org.cn, April 5, 2018
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A car with AI technology [File photo]
Marking a significant development in the field of artificial intelligence, most of the latest research papers presented at the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in 2017 were by Chinese authors. Not only that, the extent of such publications grew from 10 percent to 23 percent in just a matter of five years according to a study by economists from the University of Toronto.
Discussing the research conducted by Chinese authors, the economists agreed that China would play an important role in the field of AI and is the rising artificial intelligence power. One of the reasons for this success is that companies like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings have large amounts of data ("economies of scale") and apply the AI skills they have acquired to many types of products ("economies of scope").
Unsurprised by this development, famous venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee also predicted that technological change would be led by both the U.S. and China. Especially so after the unveiling of a new Chinese three-year plan to develop AI talent on a pattern no less advanced than Silicon Valley.
Involving as many as 19 cities to begin with, the plan is being implemented on government levels along with the support of private enterprises. Calling for "major breakthroughs in a series of landmark AI products" to "establish international competitive advantage" by 2020, the focus would be on enhancing core competencies like intelligent sensors and neural network chips.
Pioneering the AI revolution from the private sector, Baidu established the Silicon Valley AI Lab in 2014 and even suggested a "China Brain" initiative to encourage the use of AI. Developing open innovation platforms in AI, Baidu has concentrated on autonomous vehicles, while Alibaba Cloud focused on smart cities, Tencent on medical imaging and iFlytek on smart voice.
Even though the U.S. continues to lead in artificial intelligence, Chinese entrepreneurs made it the most successful field in the innovation economy in 2018. Reaching a record scale of US$40 billion in China in 2017, venture capital investment today is mostly directed towards artificial intelligence, according to the most recent KPMG analysis. No wonder that the Silicon Valley Bank's China Start-up Outlook has 36 percent of Chinese start-ups extremely optimistic regarding the future of AI.
Not only that, the usage of AI could potentially add 1.6 percentage points to the economic growth rate of China by the year 2035 according to an Accenture analysis. Illustrating AI as a new productivity factor rather than one that speeds up efficiency, the study suggests the use of intelligent automation, augmenting labor and capital capacity and even simulating innovation.
Saving costs and time at the very least, AI symbolizes a new "frontier to be conquered" in today's world, whereby many tasks can be done faster and better using this new super-technology. The latest machine learning techniques called "Deep Learning" and "Neural Networks" have even been referred to as "superpowers" of AI that are indispensable for most businesses.
Describing the technology, Professor Jason Hong from the Carnegie Mellon University explained that AI can not only "replicate" human tasks, it also has the potential to "unlock" many more prospects. Just like car inventors had never visualised how cities should be redefined to accommodate the new vehicles, in the same way we still cannot assess the long-term impact of AI technology.
However, if China continues on this trajectory, it would be spearheading a global AI revolution as well as transforming its own economy. As highlighted by the state guidelines, AI has to be used to enhance technology, social welfare, national security as well as China's economy, and work towards the goal of becoming the world's global innovation center in this field by 2030.
However, a lot depends on maintaining a steady flow of top talent that is provided with the requisite high standard of education. Contributing to a futuristic lifestyle, smart cities with AI would change the environment completely, integrating AI technology into traditional industries would be a transformative experience and add multi-dimensional possibilities.
Interestingly, the kind of services that get widely adopted would also depend on who dominates in the AI field, for example, many Chinese tech companies have made progress in face recognition and this would become more common in China first.
Sabena Siddiqui (Twitter: @sabena_siddiqi) is a foreign affairs journalist and lawyer based in Pakistan.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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