It doesn’t take a deep-learning program to understand that this will be beneficial for everyone
In 2017, the potential of artificial intelligence reached a landmark in Chinese consciousness when Go board game champion Ke Jie was beaten by Google’s DeepMind AI program.
The victory of machine over man in a game played and mastered by humans over thousands of years – since at least 1046 BC – demonstrated the exciting future potential of AI not only to China but the world.
Since the possibilities of the technology are abundant, from streamlining mass production manufacturing to diagnosing serious diseases faster than doctors, the practical implications can’t be ignored by any progressive nation. It’s a journey that China is taking seriously, and bringing the rest of the world along with it.
One significant sector of AI in which China excels is national defense. Around the world, autonomous drones are being researched as a way to increase safety for military personnel. It’s an important area of development in which many smaller countries have expressed a keen interest.
For example, Finland, Latvia and Estonia are pooling resources to create AI defenses amid uncertainty over the relationship of the European Union and NATO. Bearing in mind that the future of geopolitical power will be heavily reliant on AI, Chinese startups last year raised $4.9 billion (4.3 billion euros; ￡3.8 billion) for research and development, significantly more than the United States, taking the global investment in AI to $10 billion last year.
The security and surveillance industries are also touched by the potential of AI. Last year, the Chinese video surveillance team Hikvision sold an intelligent traffic management solution to the city of Yangon in Myanmar, showcasing China’s ability to share the fruits of its AI labor around the world. The city, which was often gridlocked with vehicles, now owns an AI solution that ensures more efficient traffic flow, better security surveillance through automatic license plate recognition and more effective enforcement of traffic rules.
Retail is another area of AI in which China has excelled and shared. In August, JD.com opened its first fully automated store in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The unmanned store offers a range of grocery items and everyday necessities in a 270-square-meter area inside a shopping mall. Shoppers register on an app that generates a QR code, allowing them access to the store once facial recognition systems finish authenticating them.
The entire process takes place without any retail staff. Products for sale are equipped with radio tags that are detected as the shopper leaves the shop. The item is then paid for through the app.
JD.com follows Alibaba’s lead in sharing AI with the rest of Asia, providing smart city AI solutions to Malaysia. With AI capable of processing big data, the service has proved useful for Kuala Lumpur this year in helping the government run the capital city. The company plans to roll out the initiative in other parts of the country.
The service, dubbed City Brain, helps all sorts of municipal operations run more smoothly, similar to Myanmar, where the initial focus is on traffic congestion, but with other areas such as architecture and city design also in mind. Alibaba has stated that it plans to increase the range of services it can provide, covering AI areas that will be of interest to startups, entrepreneurs, researchers and academics alike.
China’s government is also working hand in hand with these tech companies to push the country’s universal AI agenda. In September at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, the nation’s leaders pledged to support a borderless approach to AI research. Vice-Premier Liu He said an “environment of free thinking” was needed for every nation to collectively progress.
“We’re hoping that all countries, as members of the global village, will be inclusive and support each other so that we can respond to the double-edged sword of new technologies,” Liu told attendees. “AI represents a new era. Cross-national and cross-discipline cooperation is inevitable.”
President Xi Jinping expressed similar sentiments in the past, saying in a conference letter that China is willing to share the benefits of AI with other nations.
Some US companies have also jumped on the universal AI bandwagon. Both Microsoft and Amazon have announced new laboratories in Shanghai.
The existence of Google AI research centers in China has also been lauded by Ma Huateng, chairman of Tencent, as responding to the need for a global approach to AI.
As China’s progress in the field deepens alongside other nations, it will be sharing the fruits of its labor with the rest of the world. It does not require an AI deep-learning program to understand that this will be beneficial for everyone.
The author is a London-based columnist. Contact the writer at [email protected]
(China Daily European Weekly 11/09/2018 page9)