TIANJIN (Xinhua) - Including technological innovation and safe development, issues stemming from the rapidly growing generative artificial intelligence technologies have captured global attention and aroused widespread discussion.
At the ongoing seventh World Intelligence Congress held in North China’s Tianjin municipality from May 18 to 21, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs are sharing their insights on these issues and brainstorming on how to strengthen international cooperation to tackle the potential challenges posed by such fast-developing technologies.
Speaking to Xinhua, John Edwards, Britain’s HM Trade Commissioner for China, said that countries around the world need to work together and talk to each other to address the challenges and risks stemming from this new technology.
“Now, global AI development is ushering in a new era of rapid progress. The groundbreaking advancements in large-scale pre-trained models represent a historic milestone in the field of artificial intelligence,” said Wang Zhigang, China’s minister of science and technology.
Liu Liehong, chairman of China United Network Communications Group Co, Ltd, remarked that generative AI has demonstrated extensive potential for application and significant integration capabilities, resulting in notable improvements in efficiency and direct economic benefits.
“As a fundamental technology and inherent capability of the digital era, generative AI is becoming a pivotal factor in reshaping global resource allocation, restructuring the global economic landscape and transforming the dynamics of global competition,” Liu added.
For China, AI technology is a crucial tool for optimizing and upgrading industries, boosting productivity and enhancing the welfare of its people, while strategic plans and deployments have been formulated at the national level, with 18 national pilot zones established for next-generation AI innovation and development in cities like Beijing and Tianjin.
According to data released at the event, China had secured the top position globally in terms of the number of patent applications filed for AI technologies by 2022, with the scale of the core AI industry surpassing 500 billion yuan (about $71.07 billion), while more than 4,200 major enterprises operated, comprising approximately 16 percent of the global total.