The development of artificial intelligence is expected to gain traction in China in the post-pandemic era, but greater efforts are necessary on basic research and talent attraction to drive the industry’s growth, according to experts and scholars.
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated widespread application of AI that could change various industries and people’s daily lives at a faster speed.
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The mainland has an edge in developing AI for a number of reasons. Firstly, the central government attaches great importance to the industry; it has rich data resources and, thirdly, with a large market, it has various scenarios to put the technology into real practice
Jin Hai,
deputy head of the China Computer Federation
“One of the most evident features of the pandemic is that it has dealt a heavy blow to offline businesses, but has boosted online businesses significantly. But, there’re also problems with the operation of online businesses, such as in the education and medical fields, where there aren’t enough teachers and doctors. That’s where AI can help,” said Hu Yu, co-founder and rotating president of Chinese mainland AI company iFlytek.
By duplicating doctors’ and teachers’ working capabilities, AI helps to solve the bottleneck of insufficient resources on the supply side, Hu told the Global Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Summit in Shenzhen on Friday.
He said AI medical products developed by iFlytek have been used to make automatic phone calls to people to help with general investigation in the country’s fight against the coronavirus, enhancing work efficiency by 50 times.
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iFlytek will focus its resources on developing AI solutions in such areas as education, medical treatment, governance and smart city development to propel AI development in the post-pandemic era, he said.
Jin Hai, deputy head of the China Computer Federation, said the mainland has an edge in developing AI for a number of reasons. Firstly, the central government attaches great importance to the industry; it has rich data resources and, thirdly, with a large market, it has various scenarios to put the technology into real practice.
However, China still lags behind in the “foundation layer” and its ability to attract and reserve talent, he said.
China is ramping up efforts to develop AI and other advanced technologies aimed at becoming a global technology leader, as the nation strives to transform itself from an export and investment-driven economy to one powered by high tech.
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According to a report by the Shenzhen-based Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, the Chinese AI market reached 23.7 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) in 2017. The market size is projected to hit 236.4 billion yuan by 2023, representing an average annual growth of 43.7 percent from 2019 to 2023.
As to how recent moves by the United States to impose curbs on Chinese technology companies would affect iFlytek, Hu said the company is undeterred.
“All of our AI core technologies are self-developed. We’re not afraid of being held by the throat by others. Even in that situation, we can still survive,” he said.
Hu said technological race between China and the US will be a “new normal” in the coming decades and is expected to last a long time. “The best approach for us is to stick to self-reliance and independent innovation,” he said.
