[NetEase Smart News, August 29] Gao Feng Consulting's founder and CEO, Tse Zuijun, along with senior consultant Jackie Wang, stated that China is anticipated to lead the field of artificial intelligence, but this requires a shift in existing thought processes. Instead of merely following existing technologies, support must be given to pioneering research.
In recent years, China has taken significant strides in AI research, aiming to become a dominant force in this transformative technology. According to data from "The Economist," between 2012 and 2016, Chinese AI companies secured $2.6 billion in funding, compared to $17.9 billion for U.S. counterparts. However, this gap is swiftly closing. Once seen as lagging behind in technological development by the West, China now views AI as an opportunity to surpass its global competitors.
In 2015, more than 40% of the world's top academic papers on AI were authored by Chinese researchers. Between 2010 and 2014, patent applications related to AI in China surged by 186% compared to the previous five years. Additionally, in the last two years, all the top-performing teams in the ImageNet Large Visual Recognition Challenge, a prominent AI computer vision competition, have been Chinese, with half of these teams hailing from China.
China’s three-step strategy to lead the world in AI involves establishing a roadmap to achieve this status by 2030. In response, China has announced its ambition to make its companies global leaders in AI technology by 2030, aligning with its latest five-year plan, which prioritizes scientific and technological research.
Policies like "Made in China 2025," the "Three-year Guide to the Internet+Artificial Intelligence Program," and the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" are all designed to boost AI technology development in China. Many provinces and cities are offering favorable policies and substantial financial incentives for AI startups. For instance, Shenyang has set up a 20 billion yuan investment fund focused on robotics development.
These supportive measures have spurred innovation among Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tech giants alike. Leading firms like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are investing in or experimenting with AI technologies. Startups such as Carbon Cloud Intelligence, Out-of-the-Way Interrogation, and Shangtang Technology are also receiving attention. Major players like Didi and Xiaomi, often referred to as "unicorns," are also heavily involved in AI initiatives.
For example, Baidu has developed an advanced neural network-based machine translation system that surpasses human-level voice recognition accuracy. It has also launched the Apollo Project, an open-source platform for autonomous driving solutions, accelerating the growth of the automotive industry. Meanwhile, Tencent has established its own AI lab, gathering 50 world-class scientists, researchers, and experts to focus on "content AI, social AI, and game AI." Tencent’s "FineArt" AI software even defeated Japan’s top-ranked Go player earlier this year.
Chinese tech giants are actively discussing the future of AI. In the MIT Technology Review's list of the 50 smartest companies in 2017, a Chinese startup ranked 11th, specializing in computer vision technology. Its facial recognition product, Face++, has already identified and differentiated 100 million faces. Another leading company, HKUST, is a global leader in intelligent voice and natural language processing, with a market valuation reaching approximately $12 billion. Its voice recognition technology can distinguish Chinese dialects.
Research into the foundational theories behind AI has expanded beyond a few elite universities to institutions across China. Chinese scholars have built a robust research community, enabling them to leverage resources in both Chinese and English. A growing number of science and engineering graduates are entering this field. With a vast number of internet and smartphone users, China possesses extensive data, providing valuable training datasets for AI learning algorithms.
The behavioral patterns of Chinese citizens and their large datasets in daily life allow AI researchers to conduct large-scale research and experiments at a faster pace than their international counterparts. China has the potential to become a leader in AI. However, achieving this will require a change in how key stakeholders—government, academia, and businesses—think.
So far, groundbreaking research remains largely concentrated in the West due to the science and infrastructure backing AI. By contrast, Chinese scholars tend to focus on applying existing technologies to new contexts. This is partly because the Chinese government prioritizes immediate results from existing research. Basic scientific research into AI requires more time and carries greater risks.
China’s tech sector benefits from government support, but will this continue? Chinese companies excel at quickly introducing new products and features to the market, leveraging emerging opportunities effectively. Similar to academic circles, these firms primarily focus on new applications of existing technologies rather than creating entirely new ones. At present, there is limited motivation to pursue breakthroughs akin to Google’s AlphaGo in basic scientific research.
For China to truly lead in AI, a fundamental shift is needed. More emphasis should be placed on the underlying science driving technology rather than just new applications. This poses a challenge, as the government must reconsider how it evaluates funding allocations and research proposals, as well as how it assesses research project impacts.
Chinese companies are bold in identifying and embracing new opportunities but remain underdeveloped compared to Western firms operating under models like those at Microsoft or Google. Geopolitical issues also pose risks, potentially cutting off access to foreign technologies and patents in the future, thus hindering rapid transformation.
A Pentagon report noted that over the past six years, China has invested more than $700 million in U.S.-based AI startups. However, the U.S. Department of Defense considers this a potential national security threat and advocates for a ban on such investments. If foreign researchers believe their work could be exploited for "power" purposes, they might refuse to collaborate with Chinese entities.
The advantage of future companies will lie in data. To achieve its goal of becoming a global AI leader by 2030, China must take at least two critical steps: revise its incentive policies to encourage local companies and scholars to explore new AI technologies, and foster the domestic academic community to serve as the foundation of global AI research.
Wu Enda, a leading figure in AI research in the U.S., once remarked that AI will become the "new electricity"—transforming not just one industry but every industry. In fact, AI is already being widely applied across various fields, creating unprecedented opportunities to "unlock new business." Resources in the AI era are increasingly accessible, and a company's competitive edge could be disrupted overnight by the cross-pollination of knowledge and ideas from different industries.
The strengths of future companies will be data, and the ability to derive predictive insights from this "treasure trove," not just retrospective analysis.
Can China claim a global leading position in AI? Even if it does, it may take time. However, in any discussion involving technological innovation today, excluding China would be unwise.
According to reports, Xie Zuyi is the founder and CEO of Gao Feng Consulting Co., a global strategic and management consulting firm in Greater China. He is also the author of "China's Disruptor." Jackie Wang is a senior advisor to the company. (Translated from scmp by NetEase Smart Editor Robot: Wu Man)
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