# China's Race for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology



## TaiShang

*Baidu gets ex-Google scientist Ng in race for AI research*

Chinese search giant Baidu - often called the Google of China - has doubled down in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race. Not only have they hired away Google's top scientist Andrew Ng in the field, but they are starting a new research center in Google's Silicon Valley backyard.

*Baidu will put $300 million into the project and Ng, and his long-time collaborator Adam Coats, are at work building a new staff there. "I feel excited about the work and I'm honored Adam has joined me," Ng said in a telephone interview with China Daily.*

Ng's specialty is an esoteric field that embraces several abstract names: machine learning, deep learning, unsupervised learning, autonomous artificial intelligence, that basically mean trying to get computers to teach themselves without being specifically programmed. The holy grail of the field is an algorithm that will mimic how the brain works.

"Most of us use algorithms dozens of times a day without realizing it," Ng said. "Every time you check your email and your spam folder saves you from going through hundreds of spam emails, every time your cell phone camera auto-focuses on your friend's face, that's machine learning."

Deep learning is the technology that specifically takes inspiration from how the brain's neural network operates, the goal being to "build software that learns from data," Ng said. "And in the past few years, I think deep learning has created substantial economic value.

*"At web search engines like Baidu it is allowing us to surf more website pages and force better ads to users. It's a technology that is taking the machine learning world by storm, and it's something we plan to build on here in our research," Ng said*.

Ng first got interested in AI as a 16-year-old intern for a professor at the National University of Singapore, where he helped implement a neural network. "Since then," he said, "I just thought what more meaningful thing could there be for me to work on than to make computers smarter so that they can help people more."

As a professor at Stanford University, Ng's access to computers limited his research to relatively small neural networks. So he looked around Silicon Valley.

"It turned out Google had a lot of computers," he said. "So I started a project to build a much larger deep learning facility, 100 times bigger than what academia previously had been able to do. "

That project, started in 2011, was dubbed "Google Brain" and one of the team's early successes came when it connected 16,000 computer processors into a "neural network" model of a brain - at the time the largest of its kind in the world.

"Imagine, if you will, it's like a little simulated baby brain and it wakes up not knowing anything and what we decided to do was make it watch YouTube for a week and after a week we would probe it to try and figure out what it had learned," Ng said.

The team expected the network to begin to recognize the most common image on YouTube - the human face - which it did, but to their complete surprise, the machine taught itself to also recognize cats.

"The remarkable thing about this was that no one had ever told it what a cat is," Ng said. "It had discovered the concept of a cat by itself."

Deep Learning is broadly broken into two categories, Ng explained. Learning from "tagged data", presorted and labeled units of information like say 50,000 pictures of cars. The state-of-the-art software out there for soaking up huge amounts of tagged data, Ng said, is pretty good.

*"This is what has driven the performance improvement in speech recognition, in web search and in identifying the most relevant ads," Ng said, noting that Baidu has a large operation in Beijing that has been doing groundbreaking work in learning from tagged data for years.*

"Those investments have paid off well over the years and we'll certainly continue to invest in that," he said.

Ng says the focus of the new Sunnyvale center will be more on learning from "untagged data", which is modeled after the way humans actually learn. "Instead of having a parent point out every object to you every moment of the day, most of what you learn is from going out and seeing and experiencing the world for yourself," Ng said.

"It is closer to how we believe humans and animals learn, and so it has more of a potential for larger breakthroughs in AI," he said.

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## TaiShang

Chinese Search Company Baidu Built a Giant Artificial-Intelligence Supercomputer | MIT Technology Review

Chinese search giant Baidu says it has invented a powerful supercomputer that brings new muscle to an artificial-intelligence technique giving software more power to understand speech, images, and written language.

The new computer, called Minwa and located in Beijing, has 72 powerful processors and 144 graphics processors, known as GPUs. Late Monday, Baidu released a paper claiming that the computer had been used to train machine-learning software that set a new record for recognizing images, beating a previous mark set by Google.

“Our company is now leading the race in computer intelligence,” said Ren Wu, a Baidu scientist working on the project, speaking at the Embedded Vision Summit on Tuesday. Minwa’s computational power would probably put it among the 300 most powerful computers in the world if it weren’t specialized for deep learning, said Wu. “I think this is the fastest supercomputer dedicated to deep learning,” he said. “We have great power in our hands—much greater than our competitors.”

Computing power matters in the world of deep learning, which has produced breakthroughs in speech, image, and face recognition and improved the image-search and speech-recognition services offered by Google and Baidu.

The technique is a souped-up version of an approach first established decades ago, in which data is processed by a network of artificial neurons that manage information in ways loosely inspired by biological brains. Deep learning involves using larger neural networks than before, arranged in hierarchical layers, and training them with significantly larger collections of data, such as photos, text documents, or recorded speech.

So far, bigger data sets and networks appear to always be better for this technology, said Wu. That’s one way it differs from previous machine-learning techniques, which had begun to produce diminishing returns with larger data sets. “Once you scaled your data beyond a certain point, you couldn’t see any improvement,” said Wu. “With deep learning, it just keeps going up.” Baidu says that Minwa makes it practical to create an artificial neural network with hundreds of billions of connections—hundreds of times more than any network built before.

A paper released Monday is intended to provide a taste of what Minwa’s extra oomph can do. It describes how the supercomputer was used to train a neural network that set a new record on a standard benchmark for image-recognition software. The ImageNet Classification Challenge, as it is called, involves training software on a collection of 1.5 million labeled images in 1,000 different categories, and then asking that software to use what it learned to label 100,000 images it has not seen before.

Software is compared on the basis of how often its top five guesses for a given image miss the correct answer. The system trained on Baidu’s new computer was wrong only 4.58 percent of the time. The previous best was 4.82 percent, reported by Google in March. One month before that, Microsoft had reported achieving 4.94 percent, becoming the first to better average human performance of 5.1 percent.

Wu said that as well as thinking about how to make Minwa even larger and use it on video and text, Baidu’s researchers are working on ways to shrink their trained neural networks so they can operate on mobile devices.

He showed a video of a prototype smartphone app that can recognize different breeds of dog, using a condensed version of a deep-learning network trained on a predecessor to Minwa. “If you know how to tap the computational power of a phone’s GPUs, you can actually recognize on the fly directly from the image sensor,” he said.

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## Raphael

Chinese search big Baidu unveils advanced AI - NY Daily News

Chinese web search giant Baidu unveiled its latest technology Monday, saying it had taken the lead in the global race for true artificial intelligence.

Minwa, the company's supercomputer, scanned more than 1 million images and taught itself to sort them into about 1,000 categories — and did so with 95.42% accuracy, the company claims, adding that no other computer has completed the task at that same level.

Google's system scored a 95.2% and Microsoft's, a 95.06%, Baidu said.

All three companies' computers, however, exceed human performance.

The concept of "deep learning," or self-learning, algorithms is not unique to Minwa. Yet Baidu seems to have the upper hand and is not slowing down: the company has announced plans to build an even faster computer in the next 2 years, one capable of 7 quadrillion calculations per second.

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## cirr

*Baidu’s Artificial-Intelligence Supercomputer Beats Google at Image Recognition*

*A supercomputer specialized for the machine-learning technique known as deep learning could help software understand us better.*

By Tom Simonite on May 13, 2015






_Chinese search company Baidu built this computer to accelerate its artificial-intelligence research._


Chinese search giant Baidu says it has invented a powerful supercomputer that brings new muscle to an artificial-intelligence technique giving software more power to understand speech, images, and written language.

The new computer, called Minwa and located in Beijing, has 72 powerful processors and 144 graphics processors, known as GPUs. Late Monday, Baidu released a paper claiming that the computer had been used to train machine-learning software that set a new record for recognizing images, beating a previous mark set by Google.

“Our company is now leading the race in computer intelligence,” said Ren Wu, a Baidu scientist working on the project, speaking at the Embedded Vision Summit on Tuesday. Minwa’s computational power would probably put it among the 300 most powerful computers in the world if it weren’t specialized for deep learning, said Wu. “I think this is the fastest supercomputer dedicated to deep learning,” he said. “We have great power in our hands—much greater than our competitors.”

Computing power matters in the world of deep learning, which has produced breakthroughs in speech, image, and face recognition and improved the image-search and speech-recognition services offered by Google and Baidu.

The technique is a souped-up version of an approach first established decades ago, in which data is processed by a network of artificial neurons that manage information in ways loosely inspired by biological brains. Deep learning involves using larger neural networks than before, arranged in hierarchical layers, and training them with significantly larger collections of data, such as photos, text documents, or recorded speech.

So far, bigger data sets and networks appear to always be better for this technology, said Wu. That’s one way it differs from previous machine-learning techniques, which had begun to produce diminishing returns with larger data sets. “Once you scaled your data beyond a certain point, you couldn’t see any improvement,” said Wu. “With deep learning, it just keeps going up.” Baidu says that Minwa makes it practical to create an artificial neural network with hundreds of billions of connections—hundreds of times more than any network built before.

A paper released Monday is intended to provide a taste of what Minwa’s extra oomph can do. It describes how the supercomputer was used to train a neural network that set a new record on a standard benchmark for image-recognition software. The ImageNet Classification Challenge, as it is called, involves training software on a collection of 1.5 million labeled images in 1,000 different categories, and then asking that software to use what it learned to label 100,000 images it has not seen before.

Software is compared on the basis of how often its top five guesses for a given image miss the correct answer. The system trained on Baidu’s new computer was wrong only 4.58 percent of the time. The previous best was 4.82 percent,reported by Google in March. One month before that, Microsoft had reportedachieving 4.94 percent, becoming the first to better average human performance of 5.1 percent.

Wu said that Minwa had made it possible to train the system on higher-resolution images. It also permitted use of a technique that turned the original 1.2 million training images into two billion by distorting them, flipping them, and altering their colors. Using that larger training set improved accuracy by preventing the system from becoming too fixated on the exact details of the training images, said Wu. The resulting system should be better at handling real-world photos, he said.

As those slim margins of victory on the ImageNet challenge might suggest, deep learning is now ready for tougher challenges than image recognition, such as interpreting video or describing images in sentences (see “Google’s Brain-Inspired Software Describes What It Sees in Complex Images”). Wu said that as well as thinking about how to make Minwa even larger and use it on video and text, Baidu’s researchers are working on ways to shrink their trained neural networks so they can operate on mobile devices.

He showed a video of a prototype smartphone app that can recognize different breeds of dog, using a condensed version of a deep-learning network trained on a predecessor to Minwa. “If you know how to tap the computational power of a phone’s GPUs, you can actually recognize on the fly directly from the image sensor,” he said.

Chinese Search Company Baidu Built a Giant Artificial-Intelligence Supercomputer | MIT Technology Review

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## Economic superpower

Well done to Baidu. Shows China's technological progression.

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## 大汉奸柳传志

Never liked Baidu，I use Bing for search

Theyhave great potentials，if put in capable hands


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## cirr

Perhaps it would be to our advantage if we simply send all rubbish the West's way。

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## qwerrty

he's a supa genius artist, the modern day picasso. they should give him citizenship and nobel prize

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## Steve781

Raphael said:


> Ai Weiwei denied six-month UK visa - BBC News
> 
> Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been refused a six-month visa by the British government amid claims he lied on his visa application form.
> 
> Ai posted a letter on Instagram stating his entry to the UK had been restricted because he failed to declare his "criminal conviction".
> 
> But Ai, though detained in China for 81 days in 2011, has never been charged or convicted of a crime in China.
> 
> The artist was granted a 20-day visa to attend the opening of his London show.
> 
> However, it may mean he cannot supervise the installation of the landmark solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts which has a private preview on 15 September.
> 
> The letter, from the visa section of the British Embassy in Beijing, stated Ai's entry to the UK "has been restricted to the requested dates of travel... because you have failed to meet the business visitor rules".
> 
> The document, signed by an entry clearance manager from the UK Visas and Immigration department, continued: "It is a matter of public record that you have previously received a criminal conviction in China, and you have not declared this.
> 
> "While an exception has been made in this instance, any future application you submit must be completed as accurately as possible," the letter concluded, adding the artist might otherwise face a 10-year ban if he did not comply.
> 
> In a separate post on Instagram, Ai stated he "has never been charged or convicted of a crime" and had "attempted to clarify this claim with the UK Visas and Immigration Department and the British Embassy in Beijing over several telephone conversations".
> 
> "But the representatives insisted on the accuracy of their sources and refused to admit any misjudgement. This decision is a denial of Ai Weiwei's rights as an ordinary citizen," he added.
> 
> Last week, Ai had his passport returned to him after it was confiscated by authorities four years ago.
> 
> It was taken when he was arrested in 2011 during a government crackdown on political activists. He was held over alleged crimes of bigamy and tax evasion, but was released without charge.
> 
> Ai was fined 15m yuan ($2.4m, £1.55m) for tax evasion in a civil case in 2012. The artist lost an appeal against the fine - which he maintains was politically motivated in retaliation for his criticism of the Chinese government.
> 
> In a statement, Britain's Home Office said visa applications were considered "on their individual merits and in line with the relevant legislation".
> 
> It added: "Mr Ai has been granted a visa for the full duration of his requested dates of travel".
> 
> Ai's 20-day visa means he will not be in the UK when China's President Xi Jinping make a high-profile state visit in October - potentially avoiding any diplomatic embarrassment at a time when Britain is trying to improve relations with China.
> 
> The BBC has contacted the British Embassy in Beijing to query its decision, but has yet to receive a response.
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------
> Lately the UK has tried very hard to please us: joining the AIIB, refusing to meddle in HK riots, shunning the Delhi Llama, and finally rejecting AWW's visa application.
> 
> What they don't realize is that we have no desire to restrict AWW's travel. Actually, we gave him a passport because we want him to GTFO of our soil as soon as possible, and Britain is as good a place to exile him as anywhere else.


China also recently refused to sell Argentina anti ship missiles which was very surprising to me.


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## Jlaw

qwerrty said:


> he's a supa genius artist, the modern day picasso. they should give citizenship and nobel prize


sure if you call taking pictures with your middle finger with buildings in the background a work of genius

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## qwerrty

Jlaw said:


> sure if you call taking pictures with your middle finger with buildings in the background a work of genius



and naked


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## Raphael

Steve781 said:


> China also recently refused to sell Argentina anti ship missiles which was very surprising to me.



It's a quid pro quo.

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## sicsheep

The UK has done something very odd: It denied a business visa to renowned Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

Ai, on Wednesday, posted the letter from the UK foreign office denying the visa on his Instagram account. It informs him that his application for a six-month business visa has been denied because he lied on his visa application when he said he had not been charged or convicted of any crime. Instead, the letter says, he'll be granted a temporary visa for a few weeks in September:

This is really strange.

The letter says that Ai's application was denied because it is a "matter of public record" that the artist had received a criminal conviction in China, and that he had failed to disclose that on his visa form. But not only is that not a matter of public record, it doesn't appear to be true at all. Although the artist has been fined, imprisoned, and persecuted by Chinese authorities, all for his artistic and political activity, he has never actually been convicted of a crime.

"Under Chinese law Ai’s case ended in the police investigation stage and has not reached the court," Chinese human rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan explained to the Guardian. "The case does not have a court sentence and hence by Chinese standard, Ai doesn’t have a criminal conviction."

Indeed, it doesn't appear that Ai has ever even been formally charged with a crime, much less convicted of one. In 2011, he was arrested and detained for 81 days. He was investigated and held on suspicion of a variety of different charges including tax evasion, but was never formally charged and was eventually released.

But more importantly, it is also a matter of "public record" that the investigation was an act of political persecution meant to pressure one of China's highest-profile dissidents into silence.

The UK immigration authorities clearly knew that, because the letter makes a big deal out of the decision to "exceptionally" grant entry clearance "outside the immigration rules" — whereas the normal response, as the letter snidely points out, is to reject the application entirely and ban the applicant from reapplying for a decade.

In other words, this isn't an official being an unreasonable stickler for the letter of the law. It's an official making up a supposed violation of the law, then bending over backward to offer an extralegal solution to that imagined problem.

Perhaps this was just a mistake. Maybe the official who processed the visa application erroneously thought that Ai had been convicted and never bothered to get the facts straight. But it would have been easy to ask for clarification, or more evidence, rather than simply rejecting the application. Surely such a high-profile visa request is an occasion for double-checking one's facts — or at least making a phone call?

Or perhaps something else is going on. One possible factor in all this is that Chinese president Xi Jinping is due to make a state visit to London in October. If the UK issued Ai a six-month business visa, that would have allowed him to stay in the country through Xi's visit. As the Financial Times reports, "Any protest or public stunt by the artist could have caused embarrassment to the British government, which has worked hard to improve relations with Beijing in recent years."

This is baffling: the UK just denied a visa to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei - Vox

@mike2000 is back

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## 21stCentury

Is that the guy who smashed cultural relics i.e. Ming dynasty vases? for "artistic expression"??

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## opruh

Britain is a good pet it seems. @mike2000 is back

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## Steve781

qwerrty said:


> and naked


My eyes!


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## opruh

qwerrty said:


> and naked


Eew.


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## TaiShang

"He is nothing but a low-life tax cheat. That the Western dilettantes and chi-chi coochie-coochie snobs from the Western art world in London, Munich, Berlin, and NYC burnished and amplified his credentials as the "designer" of the Bird's Nest Stadium in the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing is a real "stretch."

They needed a "poster boy," and Ai Wei-Wei is what they can get.

They thought they had a Lech Walesa (Gdanst, Poland) in worker Wei Jinsheng, and they burnished his image as "China's Lech Walesa.".... Once he arrived in the U.S., and stayed with his benefactor and sponsor, Prof. Andrew Nathan of Columbia University, who never got over his "trauma" railing against the "butchers of 6/04/89 Tiananmen) from his ivory tower in Columbia, Wei Jinsheng turned out to be an "eccentric and egomaniac." 

Prof. Nathan can't get rid of Wei fast enough.

Like Liu Xiaobo, who is not much of a writer, but an imitator of Vaclav Havel, who does not have much original thinking, nor can write..... the West needed desperately a "yellow face" to anchor their China-bashing and Chinese demonization.

Ai Wei-Wei is "it." At this time, the China bashers in America's neolib-neocon bandwagon are feverishly looking from the list of those "jailed lawyers" to see which one is telegenic and submissive enough to be their next "poster boy" or "poster girl."

They need a "token Chinaman" or "token Chinawoman" to validate their "human rights" spin and China-bashing chorus and orchestration."

*E. Liu*

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## mike2000 is back

opruh said:


> Britain is a good pet it seems. @mike2000 is back


http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ea9e5a0-379e-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852.html
Ai Weiwei given extended visa to visit Britain after Theresa May intervenes | Art and design | The Guardian
UK grants Chinese artist Ai Weiwei new visa in U-turn - Yahoo Maktoob News


How can we be a chinese pet when we are not just more productive than China on average, but far more developed, more advanced, have better educational facilities , militay tech, bases overseas , etc ? The U.S leads the west because its not only more advanced but has far more global reach, better living standards despite its huge size, educational facilities/universities , tech by far etc etc. Until china reaches European level of development/tech then it cant even dream of having an ally/subordinate in the west. It has to not only surpass we in Europe but the U.S as well. We all know that will take a very very long time if ever, since we can never predict the future. So lets live for today.


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## xunzi

He is as irrelevant as that blind lawyer. LOL

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## Place Of Space

What Ai Wei Wei done? Why you guys dislike him so much.


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## Ibr0kEmYrAz0r

The majority of Chinese don't even know who he is, never heard of him - hence using Baidu search, the name doesn't come up/get deleted whatever, and to those who reckon the name rings the bell, most of them don't give a toss.

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## sword1947

Place Of Space said:


> What Ai Wei Wei done? Why you guys dislike him so much.


the son of Ai qing, have a deal with anti-China groups.

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## IR-TR

Baffling? No. They want those sweet, sweet billions that China has to invest in GB. Who do you think will build their HS2 high speed line? Yeah, don't want to anger China with another fake, propped up Dalai Lama. It's 2015 now. Soon, that old Tibetan child molester won't be welcome anywhere.



mike2000 is back said:


> http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ea9e5a0-379e-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852.html
> Ai Weiwei given extended visa to visit Britain after Theresa May intervenes | Art and design | The Guardian
> UK grants Chinese artist Ai Weiwei new visa in U-turn - Yahoo Maktoob News
> 
> 
> How can we be a chinese pet when we are notjust more productive than China on average, but far more developed, more advanced, have better educational facilities , militay tech, bases overseas , etc ? The U.S leads the west because its not only more advanced but has far more global reach, better living standards despite its huge size, educational facilities/universities , tech by fr etc etc. until china reaches European level of development/tech then it cant even dream of having an ally/subordinate in the west. It has to not only surpass us in Europe but the U.S as well. We all know that will take a very very long time if ever, since we can never predict the future. So lets live for today.



You have Rolls Royce (engines) and BAE. That's about all you have. Granted, they're top of the line, but you don't produce that much. A bunch of Jaguars nobody buys and Range Rovers the millionaires buy (both Indian owned btw), and that's it.

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## JSCh

Britain flip-flops and gives Chinese artist Ai Weiwei full UK visa


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## mike2000 is back

IR-TR said:


> Baffling? No. They want those sweet, sweet billions that China has to invest in GB. Who do you think will build their HS2 high speed line? Yeah, don't want to anger China with another fake, propped up Dalai Lama. It's 2015 now. Soon, that old Tibetan child molester won't be welcome anywhere.
> 
> 
> 
> You have Rolls Royce (engines) and BAE. That's about all you have. Granted, they're top of the line, but you don't produce that much. A bunch of Jaguars nobody buys and Range Rovers the millionaires buy (both Indian owned btw), and that's it.



Lool Do you even know that we invest more in china than vice versa??? Just because we dont go around the world or on PDF(lol) bragging about any little thing we do/achieve unlike other countries shouldnt fool you into thinking we dont have much to show.lol.
Just because our media in the west likes to exaggerate every small thing China does(for political reasons) shouldnt also fool you into believing our overestimation/exaggeration of china. Lol.

Europe /west/Japan invests farrrrrrrr more in china than vice versa by a wide margin, though we seldom brag about all our investments there.

We invested almost 10billion dollar in FDI in china last year,while china managed to invest just about half of that in the U.K(that too after a double digit increase in chinese investment here,before that it was even more miniscule/smaller.lol). We in britain are still the most open/pragmatic country in Europe and the west by far, as we dont care from where investors come from unlike say the U.S,FRANCE,JAPAN,Australia etc, and mind you that 5.1 billion dollars chinese FDI in U.K is the largest in europe. In other european countries China invests even far less. Lol So you stil think we in britain and europe depend on china for investment/survival?

UK to 'quadruple' investment in China within five years - Telegraph
Britain best place to invest, says China's richest man - BBC News


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## IR-TR

mike2000 is back said:


> Lool Do you even know that we invest more in china than vice versa??? Just because we dont go around the world or on PDF(lol) bragging about any little thing we do/achieve unlike other countries shouldnt fool you into thinking we dont have much to show.lol.
> Just because our media in the west likes to exaggerate every small thing China does(for political reasons) shouldnt also fool you into believing our overestimation/exaggeration of china. Lol.
> 
> Europe /west/Japan invests farrrrrrrr more in china than vice versa by a wide margin, though we seldom brag about all our investments there.
> 
> We invested almost 10billion dollar in FDI in china last year,while china managed to invest just about half of that in the U.K(that too after a double digit increase in chinese investment here,before that it was even more miniscule/smaller.lol). We in britain are still the most open/pragmatic country in Europe and the west by far, as we dont care from where investors come from unlike say the U.S,FRANCE,JAPAN,Australia etc, and mind you that 5.1 billion dollars chinese FDI in U.K is the largest in europe. In other european countries China invests even far less. Lol So you stil think we in britain and europe depend on china for investment/survival?
> 
> UK to 'quadruple' investment in China within five years - Telegraph
> Britain best place to invest, says China's richest man - BBC News



Sure the UK is a big investor. But the UK opens factories in China and closes them in the UK. China buys houses in the UK and builds rail. See the difference? And also, trade deficits matter.


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## mike2000 is back

IR-TR said:


> Sure the UK is a big investor. But the UK opens factories in China and closes them in the UK. China buys houses in the UK and builds rail. See the difference? And also, trade deficits matter.



well, now you are talking more maturely my man. Nice one.

We build factories in China yes, but those are still british/british companies. In some ways its rather a strange WIN-WIN co-operation. Since Western/Japanese companies invest/set up/run huge factories in China for competitive reasons, China simply manufactures these western designed goods and services and exports them to the west/U.S/Japan. Its similar to vietnam in some ways, though it has more indeginious input than vietnam.
The real money is being made by our companies since this is where the high value lies, not in the low cost manufaturing china does. Reason the chinese governement is trying to move away from western designed manufactured goods in China to chinese designed and manufatured goods. Which i think is a wise decision. Since the low cost/low end manufacturing is ok/good, but not ideal for a country who wants to move up the value chain and be a global tech powerhouse, earning more bang for its buck.

So yes chinas has a huge trade surplus mainly from exporting western designed/run goods and servces with factories in China. In some way , its like our companies manufacturing their goods in china at competitive prices and simply exporting them back to us, this can happen with any developing country with good investment climate/decent infrastructure. So to be honest there is nothing special/high tech/ground breaking about that. Lol.
Since chinese exported goods are still of relatively low added value and quality, and they lack independent brands

I'm afraid to dissapoint you, but China is still behind technologically compared to the west/U.S/Japan and even S.korea.

Before you start bashing me as anti china, i will just quote from chinas own nationalistic media Global times , this is what china's own minister of commerce said/admitted, i quote:

In 2013, exports of electro-mechanical products and high-tech products accounted for 57.3 percent and 29.9 percent of the total exported goods respectively. However, the core technologies for a lot of these products are controlled by foreign companies, according to Gao.

Foreign companies in China produced 61.2 percent of China's electro-mechanical goods exported abroad and 73 percent of high-tech goods for exports, Gao said.

China becomes No.1 goods trading country - Global Times

So there you go, most of china's high tech/end production is still mainly dominated by western/japanese companies. So still a long way to go before you sart bragging.


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## XiaoYaoZi

mike2000 is back said:


> well, now you are talking more maturely my man. Nice one.
> 
> We build factories in China yes, but those are still british/british companies. In some ways its rather a strange WIN-WIN co-operation. Since Western/Japanese companies invest/set up/run huge factories in China for competitive reasons, China simply manufactures these western designed goods and services and exports them to the west/U.S/Japan. Its similar to vietnam in some ways, though it has more indeginious input than vietnam.
> The real money is being made by our companies since this is where the high value lies, not in the low cost manufaturing china does. Reason the chinese governement is trying to move away from western designed manufactured goods in China to chinese designed and manufatured goods. Which i think is a wise decision. Since the low cost/low end manufacturing is ok/good, but not ideal for a country who wants to move up the value chain and be a global tech powerhouse, earning more bang for its buck.
> 
> So yes chinas has a huge trade surplus mainly from exporting western designed/run goods and servces with factories in China. In some way , its like our companies manufacturing their goods in china at competitive prices and simply exporting them back to us, this can happen with any developing country with good investment climate/decent infrastructure. So to be honest there is nothing special/high tech/ground breaking about that. Lol.
> Since chinese exported goods are still of relatively low added value and quality, and they lack independent brands
> 
> I'm afraid to dissapoint you, but China is still behind technologically compared to the west/U.S/Japan and even S.korea.
> 
> Before you start bashing me as anti china, i will just quote from chinas own nationalistic media Global times , this is what china's own minister of commerce said/admitted, i quote:
> 
> In 2013, exports of electro-mechanical products and high-tech products accounted for 57.3 percent and 29.9 percent of the total exported goods respectively. However, the core technologies for a lot of these products are controlled by foreign companies, according to Gao.
> 
> Foreign companies in China produced 61.2 percent of China's electro-mechanical goods exported abroad and 73 percent of high-tech goods for exports, Gao said.
> 
> China becomes No.1 goods trading country - Global Times
> 
> So there you go, most of china's high tech/end production is still mainly dominated by western/japanese companies. So still a long way to go before you sart bragging.


China's R&D investment will surpass US in two years, your own Re industrialization strategy should be more quick. Foreign assets account for under 4% of the total assets of China. China is absolutely a economy developing on our own effort.

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## j20blackdragon

Manufacturing in China is a double edged sword for the West.

If you manufacture in China, you also hand over the technology.

China gets the factory.

Chinese workers get the experience.

And ultimately, the PLA becomes the gatekeeper for the product.

If we wanted to, we can single out a country and stop all your products at the port.

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## IR-TR

mike2000 is back said:


> well, now you are talking more maturely my man. Nice one.
> 
> We build factories in China yes, but those are still british/british companies. In some ways its rather a strange WIN-WIN co-operation. Since Western/Japanese companies invest/set up/run huge factories in China for competitive reasons, China simply manufactures these western designed goods and services and exports them to the west/U.S/Japan. Its similar to vietnam in some ways, though it has more indeginious input than vietnam.
> The real money is being made by our companies since this is where the high value lies, not in the low cost manufaturing china does. Reason the chinese governement is trying to move away from western designed manufactured goods in China to chinese designed and manufatured goods. Which i think is a wise decision. Since the low cost/low end manufacturing is ok/good, but not ideal for a country who wants to move up the value chain and be a global tech powerhouse, earning more bang for its buck.
> 
> So yes chinas has a huge trade surplus mainly from exporting western designed/run goods and servces with factories in China. In some way , its like our companies manufacturing their goods in china at competitive prices and simply exporting them back to us, this can happen with any developing country with good investment climate/decent infrastructure. So to be honest there is nothing special/high tech/ground breaking about that. Lol.
> Since chinese exported goods are still of relatively low added value and quality, and they lack independent brands
> 
> I'm afraid to dissapoint you, but China is still behind technologically compared to the west/U.S/Japan and even S.korea.
> 
> Before you start bashing me as anti china, i will just quote from chinas own nationalistic media Global times , this is what china's own minister of commerce said/admitted, i quote:
> 
> In 2013, exports of electro-mechanical products and high-tech products accounted for 57.3 percent and 29.9 percent of the total exported goods respectively. However, the core technologies for a lot of these products are controlled by foreign companies, according to Gao.
> 
> Foreign companies in China produced 61.2 percent of China's electro-mechanical goods exported abroad and 73 percent of high-tech goods for exports, Gao said.
> 
> China becomes No.1 goods trading country - Global Times
> 
> So there you go, most of china's high tech/end production is still mainly dominated by western/japanese companies. So still a long way to go before you sart bragging.



Well, the point is, multinationals don't have countries, they have interest, just like countries. So while it's nice to call Rolls Royce British (it's seated there), if most of the jobs were Chinese, they wouldn't really add a lot of value to the British economy (just an example, RR Plc is VERY British and most of it's jobs are there). What matters to countries, and to people, are jobs and factories. So it's a lot better for a hundred Chinese companies to built in the UK, than it is for Rolls Royce to do well, or not go bankrupt. If Chinese companies support more British jobs, that is. 

You keep mixing X-country with X-corporation. So 'China' is behind in semiconductors (even if most of them are manufactured IN China), because the companies 'aren't Chinese'. For them not to be Chinese, the governments where those companies are seated, would have to force them to close all Chinese factories. Otherwise, it doesn't matter what flag they fly, they still produce those things in China with Chinese workers. There is no world war 3 scenario where they would all just pull back, and China couldn't manufacture them anymore.

Besides, even if just for bragging rights, 'China' will catch up there as well. Whether through state owned companies or private enterprise, there will be 'Chinese' high tech electronics soon. 

Anyway, the world is globalizing. Nobody is pure anymore. Everybody feeds everybody, just the way it should be. Now as soon as possible hopefully, that intertwined economic relationship will lead to multipolar political, military and cultural balances as well.


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## TaiShang

*West unhappy when Ai softens criticism*
2015-8-8 0:28:04

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has drawn attention from the West again. But this time, the Western media is not sure how to define this figure.

After regaining his passport from authorities in July, Ai departed for Germany, where local media thronged after him. However, an interview published by Sueddeutsche Zeitung recently has drawn huge controversy.

Many German media organizations believe Ai has softened his tone toward the Chinese authorities. Ai said he was allowed to travel again with almost no restrictions, and he could also go back to China, and that the government told him he is a free person. Ai also said that he would not just criticize the government, but should also offer solutions.

When talking about lawyers recently being arrested in China, Ai said things are getting better than when he was detained years ago. "Today, when they detain you, they come with arrest orders. Courts decide what kind of treatment these people will get. They follow procedures," Ai was quoted as saying.

The Voice of America said Ai's words have drawn criticism from Chinese dissidents, who referred to this as the "collapse of an idol."

There are also reports and comments about Ai "helping the totalitarians," "betraying," "surrendering," or that the words do not seem to have come from a free person.

For a long time, Ai has been labeled by Western media as a maverick and a flag bearer who fights against the existing political system. Some Western forces bestowed various honorable titles of the "free world" upon him. Ai has been benefiting from these titles, but in the meantime, he has also been hijacked by them.

Many dissidents admit their awareness of the complex nature of their country's problems during private talks. But in public, they often act as "fighters" against the authorities. Every problem originates from the authorities' mistakes, and reflects the "evil of the system," they say.

*This time Ai seemed to have broken out of the label of his role. He opened his heart to the media. It has surprised many, because he did not complain a lot about what he has "suffered" in China, as the Western media expected. *

*China is not the dark totalitarian country that some in the West described it as. Many elements from the developed world are taking root in China. The country is also facing new problems. The theory that all problems will be resolved once China adopts Western systems does not make sense. *

History will prove that the extreme dissidents are actually day dreamers. They attempt to use Western political theories as mathematical formulas for Chinese society. They will only succeed in their dreams.

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## qwerrty

maybe they don't pay him enough

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## cirr

A brainwashed West meeting an unbridled Ai？

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## AndrewJin

He is a total humiliation to his father, Ai Qing, a respected writer.

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## cirr

*Baidu’s ‘Medical Robot’: Chinese Search Engine Reveals Its AI for Health*

*B*y Mark Bergen

August 9, 2015, 12:30 PM PDT

On a recent trip to Beijing, Wei Fan, a researcher for Baidu in Sunnyvale, Calif., had to deal with his mother’s unexpected ailment. Her knee ached. The wait to see doctors in the city is often arduous, so Wei called up an old friend who volunteered to stand in line for his mother. The friend waited for more than two hours.

Even after leaving the waiting room, Wei said, patients like his mother may wait longer to see the right physician.

His frustration with China’s overburdened health care informed Baidu’s latest product: A voice translation app akin to WebMD. Users rattle off a list of symptoms, such as achy joints, red eyes and a cough, and the Chinese search giant sends an immediate diagnostic suggestion (flu, 75% odds). Then, it links users to a nearby medical specialist.

A majority of Chinese online turn to the Web first for health information, and voice search is far less cumbersome than text, Wei said.

“From a patient’s point of view, you’d rather have something like natural language — something you can talk to, [so] you can describe multiple symptoms at the same time,” he told *Re/code*. “Our long term goal is to build a medical robot.”

Wei’s project, called AskADoctor in English, is one of the earliest to emerge from Baidu’s deep learning division since it hired Andrew Ng, a renowned data scientist and former marquee researcher at Google. And it’s an example of the unique tech interface the company can produce given its privileged access to the world’s biggest nation, which has kept Silicon Valley giants at arm’s length.

The initiative is also another sign of broader industry trend of tech firms storming into medical sciences with their artificial intelligence guns drawn. Earlier this week, IBM announced plans to acquire medical imaging company Merge Health, turning its data over to IBM’s supercomputers. Google, while not fully public about its medical programs, has similar ambitions. Apple has its wearable health strategy.

Baidu’s advantage comes with scale. Ng’s team talks of delivering research that has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line, reaching “hundreds of millions” of users. China’s tremendous Internet population makes the latter goal easier.

The team is also betting big on voice, a field where it may advance more in China than other rivals. Since February, Baidu’s deep learning stateside team, around 40 researchers, has worked on building artificial neural networks to process Mandarin. The technique allows machines to render the language — a complicated one, as it’s tonal and character-rich — with far more computing power. (See here for an explanation of neural nets and how tech giants are deploying them.)

“Just as the invention of the touch screen transformed how we all interact with technology,” Ng said, “I think there’s a potential of speech to make a huge transformation.”

With AskADoctor, the computer voice translation couples with another deep learning model that ropes in the health data owned and scrapped by Baidu across the Chinese Web. Wei said the product can assess 520 different diseases, representing upwards of 90 percent of the most common medical problems nationwide. A desktop version is now available, and Baidu plans to release the mobile app soon. Over time, Wei added, Baidu hopes to tie the product in with medical records in China, which are currently in the early stages of going digital.

The product fits with the company’s new focus on connecting online users to offline services — eventually, it will take a cut when it connects users to local doctors. It’s a necessary pivot, an attempt to re-insert the search engine’s relevancy as app usage outpaces mobile web. But it’s a costly one: Last quarter, Baidu reported revenue of $2.7 billion, below expectations, and said it plans to invest $3.2 billion in online-to-offline services.

Ng’s AI has helped counteract those costs, according to Baidu. A computer vision-driven improvement to an image product for advertisers improved click through and paid click rates, the company said on its earnings call.

The AI team has also brought a headache. In June, Baidu was barred from an international AI competition, in which companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft compete, for breaking the rules with its image-recognition tech. Ng led the prompt move to fire Ren Wu, the researcher Baidu faulted for the breach, but the incident has damaged the company’s standing in the insular research world.

Baidu did not comment much on the episode, beyond that it had let go of the staff responsible.

Asked what sets Baidu’s AI division apart, Ng returned to size, and not just China’s. Baidu is investing heavily in A.I. hardware — it has 16 graphics processing units training speech models — something that Ng may not have had at Google, which tends to favor a more dispensable approach to hardware.

“I’m pretty confident we’re building supercomputers that let us scale with these deep learning algorithms bigger, faster than anyone else,” he said.

Baidu’s ‘Medical Robot’: Chinese Search Engine Reveals Its AI for Health | Re/code

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## ahojunk

The harder the so-called dissidents squeal, the more funds they get from the west NGO's.

How I wish I could live such a life.

Looks like Ai Weiwei is rich enough not to depend on these funds.

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## Place Of Space

I guess Ai Weiwei is tired, bored with the American propaganda.

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## TaiShang

He knows he was taken for a ride. After being used, discard like garbage. Serves him right for not knowing where his roots come from.

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## XiangLong

Hey, if you are (even partly) Chinese in the west and you can't make anything out of your career, you can always make a career as some D-bag ''dissident''! 

Just make some usual remarks about human rights and oppression. And oh, don't forget to mention Tiananmen 1989 on every 4th of July every year, along with the yearly anniversary of the ''occupation'' of Tibet and Chinese oppression of muslims around the Ramadan season. They will love you for it, as a ''Chinese''!

All jokes aside though, don't even think for a second that these so-called oversea dissidents are weak and can't make a voice for themselves. These so-called dissidents here in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, are organized as hell and use very aggressive spam tactics, which are directed at the oversea Chinese communities.

Anyone know the anti-Chinese Falun Gong newspaper called the Epoch Times? Well, they have a printing company here in Holland somewhere in Delft which they actively use to print and spread copies to thousands of Dutch Chinese. *I always receive a copy in my mailbox from time to time, even though I didn't even ask for it. The only way those strangers could've done this, is by filtering the population registers, which are public here, for Chinese(-like) surnames and then write down our addresses.* Don't know about other European Chinese here like @rugering and @Keel, but do you guys also receive a copy of the Epoch Times from time to time, even though you don't have subscription or anything?

If you open it, there is, aside from the usual anti-China ranting, A LOT of pages dedicated to advertising. Lots of it of Asian restaurants, Chinese ''medicine'' stores and shady Chinese massage parlours from all over Europe and even some Asian escort services in Amsterdam. Which makes me believe that these Falun Gong guys are somewhat involved with the criminal Chinese underworld in Europe, in order to fund their activities.

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## Nan Yang

Falungong is funded by United State Congress through the Friends of FLG. They receive millions of dollars to "promote" democracy. They even have a variety show called Shenyun.

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## Raphael

qwerrty said:


> maybe they don't pay him enough



Exactly right. AWW is hooker, not really a loyal fifth column for the US. Otherwise, why would the Party ever appoint him as an artistic consultant for the 2008 Olympics? After 2008, the US bidded a high price and got his 'services'. Now, they are no longer willing to pay up. But AWW only works for clients who can pay.

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## TaiShang

Raphael said:


> Exactly right. AWW is hooker, not really a loyal fifth column for the US. Otherwise, why would the Party ever appoint him as an artistic consultant for the 2008 Olympics? After 2008, the US bidded a high price and got his 'services'. Now, they are no longer willing to pay up. But AWW only works for clients who can pay.



The guy is an artist-entrepreneur, then.

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## ahojunk

Epoch Times is complete garbage.

Each time I get one, it goes straight to the rubbish bin.

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## Speeder 2

A question: is the surname "Ai" a Chinese Jewish surname?


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## Place Of Space

Nan Yang said:


> Falungong is funded by United State Congress through the Friends of FLG. They receive millions of dollars to "promote" democracy. They even have a variety show called Shenyun.



Shenyun用汉语怎么写？我还没听说过这个东西呢。


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## LowPost

XiangLong said:


> Don't know about other European Chinese here like @rugering and @Keel, but do you guys also receive a copy of the Epoch Times from time to time, even though you don't have subscription or anything?



Fortunately I never have. Epoch Times has a German version of their website but they haven't aggressively expanded in Germany yet (and they better shouldn't, for Germany has a considerable Chinese diaspora too).

Off-topic: Since you're Stannis the Mannis I've got a slightly adapted quotation for you which applies to PDF:

_"The forum is dark and full of trolls... but the fire burns them all away"_

__

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## XiangLong

ahojunk said:


> Epoch Times is complete garbage.
> 
> Each time I get one, it goes straight to the rubbish bin.



You receive them too, bro?! I knew it! The only way they can single us out like this, is if they have access to the central population register one way or another. No way, am I ''just'' receiving these papers now and then.

I don't know about you, but this is REAL propaganda on a whole new scale! Someone should expose these so-called ''Chinese'' for what they really are!


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## XiangLong

rugering said:


> Fortunately I never have. Epoch Times has a German version of their website but they haven't aggressively expanded in Germany yet (and they better shouldn't, for Germany has a considerable Chinese diaspora too).
> 
> Off-topic: Since you're Stannis the Mannis I've got a slightly adapted quotation for you which applies to PDF:
> 
> _"The forum is dark and full of trolls... but the fire burns them all away"_
> 
> __



Good! But be aware, I know for a fact that a lot of countries in Europe, which includes both Germany and the Netherlands, have a quite open population register which can be accessed by anyone. Well... not exactly, but there are some loopholes in the law they can make use of to gain access.


*''*Gegevensverstrekking aan derden al wél toegestaan. 
De regels voor de gegevensverstrekking uit de GBA (én dus ook uit de persoons- en archiefkaarten) worden omschreven in de art. 97-100 van de Wgba. Art. 97 bepaalt dat aan derden geen rechtstreekse toegang wordt verleend tot de gemeentelijke basisadministratie. De art. 98-99 regelen de gegevensverstrekking aan zogenaamde *‘bijzondere derden’* (pensioen- en spaarfondsen; genootschappen op geestelijke grondslag, waaronder kerken; instellingen van onderwijs en maatschappelijke dienstverlening). Art. 100, lid 1, bepaalt dat de gegevensverstrekking in andere gevallen (aan zogenaamde ‘vrije derden’) bij gemeentelijke verordening moet worden geregeld. De gemeente is vrij hiervoor een eigen beleid te voeren. Dit beleid kan worden vastgelegd in een Reglement gemeentelijke bevolkingsadministratie. 
In een Reglement gemeentelijke bevolkingsadministratie kan bijvoorbeeld worden bepaald dat:
1. betreffende ‘individuele, met naam aangeduide’ personen, aan derden op hun verzoek de in art. 100, lid 2 van de Wgba genoemde gegevens mogen worden verstrekt. Het betreft: de naam, de geslachtsnaam van de (eerdere) echtgenoot of geregistreerde partner, het gebruik door de ingeschrevene van de geslachtsnaam van de (eerdere) echtgenoot of geregistreerde partner, het adres, de gemeente van inschrijving, de geboortedatum en de datum van overlijden;

2. ten behoeve van *wetenschappelijk onderzoek of statistiek* dezelfde gegevens mogen worden verstrekt aan degenen die het onderzoek verrichten (dus ook als niet naar ‘individuele, met naam aangeduide personen’ wordt gevraagd)*''*



So I just found out how they might have gained access to the population registers. There are 2 ways.


Either the Falun Gong requested access as a *''Speciale Derde Partij''*, (translated: Special Third Party), and in this particular case either on the grounds as a *church/spiritual movement*. Or under the guise of *social services*. 
Or you can gain access under some bogus excuse of *''Scientific research''* and/or *''Statistics''*. They could've simply hired some college/university student to gain access to the central registers for example, who could play the personal information through.
I don't know how attentive they are in Germany with your personal information. But in the Netherlands, every municipality are ordered by law to keep track of the following data of every person in the central registers (Which in turn can thus be accessed by anyone with the right reasons):

-Family name
-First names
-Gender
-Legal status of the person within the family
-Birthdate
-Birthplace
-Marital status
-Religion (if there is one)
-Profession
-Adress
-Date of settlement in current municipality
-Previous places of settlement
-Date of leave out of previous municipality
-Migration (If the person has decided to settle abroad)
-Eventual date of death

So yeah, quite some information that might be laying out on the streets there... We should be aware bro.


Ha! I also got an inspired quote from our last encounter at Winterfell! 

_''We all know what my brother would do. Robert would gallop up to the gates of the trolls alone, break them with his banhammer, and ride through the rubble to slay the trolls with his left hand and traitors with his right. I am not Robert. But we will march, and we will free PDF… or die in the attempt.''_

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## Nan Yang

Place Of Space said:


> Shenyun用汉语怎么写？我还没听说过这个东西呢。



Shen Yun Performing Arts

Truth on Falun Gong | Malaysia cancels Falun Gong show

他们利用这个表演来针对中国。

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## LowPost

XiangLong said:


> Good! But be aware, I know for a fact that a lot of countries in Europe, which includes both Germany and the Netherlands, have a quite open population register which can be accessed by anyone. Well... not exactly, but there are some loopholes in the law they can make use of to gain access.
> 
> 
> *''*Gegevensverstrekking aan derden al wél toegestaan.
> De regels voor de gegevensverstrekking uit de GBA (én dus ook uit de persoons- en archiefkaarten) worden omschreven in de art. 97-100 van de Wgba. Art. 97 bepaalt dat aan derden geen rechtstreekse toegang wordt verleend tot de gemeentelijke basisadministratie. De art. 98-99 regelen de gegevensverstrekking aan zogenaamde *‘bijzondere derden’* (pensioen- en spaarfondsen; genootschappen op geestelijke grondslag, waaronder kerken; instellingen van onderwijs en maatschappelijke dienstverlening). Art. 100, lid 1, bepaalt dat de gegevensverstrekking in andere gevallen (aan zogenaamde ‘vrije derden’) bij gemeentelijke verordening moet worden geregeld. De gemeente is vrij hiervoor een eigen beleid te voeren. Dit beleid kan worden vastgelegd in een Reglement gemeentelijke bevolkingsadministratie.
> In een Reglement gemeentelijke bevolkingsadministratie kan bijvoorbeeld worden bepaald dat:
> 1. betreffende ‘individuele, met naam aangeduide’ personen, aan derden op hun verzoek de in art. 100, lid 2 van de Wgba genoemde gegevens mogen worden verstrekt. Het betreft: de naam, de geslachtsnaam van de (eerdere) echtgenoot of geregistreerde partner, het gebruik door de ingeschrevene van de geslachtsnaam van de (eerdere) echtgenoot of geregistreerde partner, het adres, de gemeente van inschrijving, de geboortedatum en de datum van overlijden;
> 
> 2. ten behoeve van *wetenschappelijk onderzoek of statistiek* dezelfde gegevens mogen worden verstrekt aan degenen die het onderzoek verrichten (dus ook als niet naar ‘individuele, met naam aangeduide personen’ wordt gevraagd)*''*
> 
> 
> 
> So I just found out how they might have gained access to the population registers. There are 2 ways.
> 
> 
> Either the Falun Gong requested access as a *''Speciale Derde Partij''*, (translated: Special Third Party), and in this particular case either on the grounds as a *church/spiritual movement*. Or under the guise of *social services*.
> Or you can gain access under some bogus excuse of *''Scientific research''* and/or *''Statistics''*. They could've simply hired some college/university student to gain access to the central registers for example, who could play the personal information through.
> I don't know how attentive they are in Germany with your personal information. But in the Netherlands, every municipality are ordered by law to keep track of the following data of every person in the central registers (Which in turn can thus be accessed by anyone with the right reasons):
> 
> -Family name
> -First names
> -Gender
> -Legal status of the person within the family
> -Birthdate
> -Birthplace
> -Marital status
> -Religion (if there is one)
> -Profession
> -Adress
> -Date of settlement in current municipality
> -Previous places of settlement
> -Date of leave out of previous municipality
> -Migration (If the person has decided to settle abroad)
> -Eventual date of death
> 
> So yeah, quite some information that might be laying out on the streets there... We should be aware bro.



I'm not that familiar with Germany's Federal Data Protection Act and I'm too lazy to search for possible loopholes (  ), maybe @Götterdämmerung can explain it to you better.



XiangLong said:


> _''We all know what my brother would do. Robert would gallop up to the gates of the trolls alone, break them with his banhammer, and ride through the rubble to slay the trolls with his left hand and traitors with his right. I am not Robert. But we will march, and we will free PDF… or die in the attempt.''_



More GoT-inspired quotes incoming:



Spoiler



"_In my family we say: A naked troll has some secrets; a flayed troll, none._"

"_And even then it may not be enough, but at least we give the trolls a fight._"

"_Does it give you joy to scare trolls?_"
"_No, it gives me joy to kill trolls._"

"_He has sworn that he will not speak until all of WebMaster's enemies are dead, and the trolls have been driven from PDF._"

"_My enemies have made my forum bleed. I will not forget that. I will not forgive that. I will punish the trolls with any arms at my disposal._"

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## TaiShang

*Baidu expects AI to replace simple brainwork*
By Chen Boyuan
​

Li Yanhong (Robin), takes questions at a joint press conference on Dec. 17, during the second World Internet Conference (WIC) held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]


China's leading search engine Baidu Inc. has expressed confidence in the future of artificial intelligence (AI) as the company showcased its latest breakthroughs in auto-piloting vehicles at the second World Internet Conference (WIC) held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province.

Baidu's founder and CEO Li Yanhong (Robin), speaking at a WIC press conference on Dec. 17, said development of AI technology, especially that of computers, has elevated computer performance while bringing down cost, hence making the "previously impossible" increasingly "possible", and auto-piloting vehicles were a case in point.

One day earlier, President Xi Jinping dropped by Baidu's pavilion at the Light of the Internet Exposition at the WIC and asked about the specifics of Baidu's auto-piloting technologies, such as the car's top speed, production cost, and when it could achieve mass production.

Li said AI's application would be far wider than piloting a car, since he believed that "all simple, repetitive brainwork could be replaced by AI in the future", in the same way that machinery started to replace manual labor since the first Industrial Revolution.

*"Driving is just a simple, repetitive brainwork. I project that auto-piloted cars will be very common in 3-5 years."*

*Likewise, Baidu Translation, an automatic online translate service, is also where AI will assume a larger role. According to Li's description, Baidu's automatic online translation has started to learn on its own, rather than relying on human input to enlarge its brainpower by continually loading more information.*

Looking further on, he said his company – the same as all other companies – should always be customer-minded in trying to make innovations, and innovation is a result of competition in the market economy. However, competition does not contradict building "a community of shared future," the WIC's theme.

"A market without competition will be strange and unhealthy. Competition comes hand in hand with cooperation. The size of Chinese Internet economy is a result of effective competition and cooperation," said Li.





An BMW car installed with the Baidu autopilot system on display at the Light of the Internet Exposition at the 2nd World Internet Conference (WIC) on Dec. 17 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

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## Jlaw

Anything is good but I wish that Baidu does not perfect foreign language to Chinese translation so I can still tell the fake Chinese from the real ones

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## cirr

*China develops 'Darwin' chip for faster data processing in AI and IoT*

By Guneet Bhatia @Guneet_B

December 24 2015 3:12 PM





A microchip is pictured on a woman's finger during a presentation of the German Bundesdruckerei (German Federal Print Office) and the Fraunhofer-Institut for Reliability and Micro Integration (IZM) in Berlin July 11, 2007. The chip, which is less than 10 micrometres thick, will in future be used in paper-based security documents like passports. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann

*A team of Chinese researchers has created a type of biologically-inspired artificial neural network (ANN) called spiking neural network (SNN). The SNN comes in the form of a chip called “Darwin,” which mimics the principles of biological brain to perform faster data processing.*

The researchers from *Zhejiang University* and *Hangzhou Dianzi University* in China believe that the Darwin neural processing unit (NPU) could lead to development in Internet of Things and other artificial intelligence systems. Darwin NPU processes information based on discrete-time spikes.

According to the researchers, the Darwin chip is an SNN-based neuromorphic hardware co-processor. It has been fabricated by standard CMOS technology. The research team says that SNN is more biologically-realistic than the traditional ANNs. In addition, it can potentially achieve much better performance-power ratio.

The Darwin NPU is hardwired to provide hardware acceleration of intelligent algorithms. Adding a boon for low-power and resource-constrained small embedded devices, the Darwin NPU has been fabricated by 180nm standard CMOS process. The latter supports up to 2048 neurons, in addition to 15 possible synaptic delays and more than 4 million synapses.

The best characteristic about Darwin NPU is that its SNN topology can be reconfigured. That is, it can be modified to include different configurations of synapses and neurons. It can be configured in multiple ways by its user to include different functionalities.

The successful development of Darwin chips shows that it is very much feasible to execute SNN in resource-constrained embedded systems. The Times of India reports that “since it uses spikes for information processing and transmission, similar to biological neural networks, it may be suitable for analysis and processing of biological spiking neural signals, and building brain-computer interface systems by interfacing with animal or human brains.”

http://laoyaoba.com/ss6/html/66/n-584966.html（In Chinese）

China develops 'Darwin' chip for faster data processing in AI and IoT

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## cirr

*China develops 'Darwin' chip to process information faster*

Last Updated: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 - 18:26

Beijing: Chinese researchers have developed “Darwin” - a new age information chip that will help run complex intelligent algorithms on small devices in the era of “Internet of Things”.

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a type of information processing system based on mimicking the principles of biological brains.

It has been broadly applied in application domains such as pattern recognition, automatic control, signal processing, decision support system and artificial intelligence.

Spiking Neural Network (SNN) is a type of biologically-inspired ANN that perform information processing based on discrete-time spikes.

It is more biologically realistic than classic ANNs, and can potentially achieve much better performance-power ratio.

Now, the researchers from Zhejiang University and Hangzhou Dianzi University in Hangzhou, China, have successfully developed the “Darwin” Neural Processing Unit (NPU), a neuromorphic hardware co-processor based on Spiking Neural Networks, fabricated by standard CMOS technology.

The research group led by Dr De Ma from Hangzhou Dianzi university and Dr Xiaolei Zhu from Zhejiang university developed a co-processor named as “Darwin”.

The Darwin NPU aims to provide hardware acceleration of intelligent algorithms, with target application domain of resource-constrained, low-power small embedded devices.

The successful development of “Darwin” demonstrates the feasibility of real-time execution of Spiking Neural Networks in resource-constrained embedded systems.

It supports flexible configuration of a multitude of parameters of the neural network, hence it can be used to implement different functionalities as configured by the user.

"Since it uses spikes for information processing and transmission,similar to biological neural networks, it may be suitable for analysis and processing of biological spiking neural signals, and building brain-computer interface systems by interfacing with animal or human brains,” the authors explained.

Its potential applications include intelligent hardware systems, robotics, brain-computer interfaces and others, said a paper that appeared in the journal Science China Press.

China develops 'Darwin' chip to process information faster | Zee News

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## Unknown101

*Congratulations to China....well done! similar projects are work in progress in Vienna, Germany and US..and you guys cracked it too.. so far its built around 180nm and Memristors...but a leap forward.*

*Does anybody have insights on this ?*


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## hirobo2

Way awesome!! The Chinese term for computers literally translates to "electric brain".

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## bobsm

*AI researchers develop 'Darwin,' a neuromorphic chip based on spiking neural networks*
*December 23, 2015*



Chip and the demonstration board. Credit: ©Science China Press
Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a type of information processing system based on mimicking the principles of biological brains, and have been broadly applied in application domains such as pattern recognition, automatic control, signal processing, decision support systems and artificial intelligence. Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are a type of biologically inspired ANN that perform information processing based on discrete time spikes. They are more biologically realistic than classic ANNs, and can potentially achieve a much better performance-power ratio. Recently, researchers from Zhejiang University and Hangzhou Dianzi University in Hangzhou, China successfully developed the Darwin Neural Processing Unit (NPU), a neuromorphic hardware co-processor based on spiking neural networks, fabricated by standard CMOS technology.


With the rapid development of the "Internet of Things" and intelligent hardware systems, intelligent devices are pervasive in today's society, providing many services and conveniences to people's lives. But they also raise challenges of running complex intelligent algorithms on small devices. Sponsored by the college of Computer science of Zhejiang University, the research group led by Dr. De Ma from Hangzhou Dianzi university and Dr. Xiaolei Zhu from Zhejiang university has developed a co-processor called Darwin. The Darwin NPU aims to provide hardware acceleration of intelligent algorithms for resource-constrained, low-power embedded devices. It has been fabricated through a standard 180nm CMOS process, supporting a maximum of 2048 neurons, more than 4 million synapses and 15 different possible synaptic delays. It is highly configurable, supporting reconfiguration of SNN topology and many parameters of neurons and synapses. Figure 1 shows photos of the die and the prototype development board, which supports input/output in the form of neural spike trains via USB port.

The successful development of Darwin demonstrates the feasibility of real-time execution of spiking neural networks in resource-constrained embedded systems. It supports flexible configuration of a multitude of parameters of the neural network; it can therefore be used to implement different functionalities as configured by the user. Its potential applications include intelligent hardware systems, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, and others. Since it uses spikes for information processing and transmission, similar to biological neural networks, it may be suitable for analysis and processing of biological spiking neural signals, and building brain-computer interface systems by interfacing with animal or human brains. As a prototype application in brain-computer interfaces, Figure 2 describes an example application of recognizing the user's motor imagery intention via real-time decoding of EEG signals, i.e., whether the user is thinking of left or right, and using that information to control the movement direction of a basketball in the virtual environment. Different from conventional EEG signal analysis algorithms, the input and output to Darwin are both neural spikes: The input consists of spike trains that encode EEG signals; after processing by the neural network, the output neuron with the highest firing rate is chosen as the classification result.




EEG signal recognition. Credit: ©Science China Press

AI researchers develop 'Darwin,' a neuromorphic chip based on spiking neural networks

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## FairAndUnbiased

another example of Chinese contributing to science for human advancement.

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## beijingwalker

*China: Scaling The World’s Highest Innovation Peaks*
13 hours ago 
In a world of statistics, here’s a number that stands out: 71. That’s how many times the word “innovation” was mentioned in a communiqué issued after the Chinese Communist Party’s recent plenary meeting, which focused on China’s next five-year plan.

It’s clear why China is concentrating so many words — and so much energy and effort — on innovation. Indeed, as a recent McKinsey report points out, to keep its economic expansion on track, this nation of 1.3 billion people must generate two to three percentage points of annual GDP growth through innovation.

The return on this investment could be substantial. By 2025, these innovation opportunities could contribute as much as $1-$2.2 trillion a year to the overall Chinese economy.

After spending several weeks visiting legions of Chinese innovators — entrepreneurs, companies, educational institutions and government officials — I believe that these ambitious numbers will be reached.

And the reason is that China uses monumental scale and massive scaling to innovate, something that no region or country in the world — including the United States — can currently match or replicate.

With more than four times the population of the U.S., and more than one out of seven people on the planet, China has a tremendous advantage based on the sheer size of its rapidly urbanizing consumer market. This helps Chinese companies develop and deliver new products and services quickly and on a huge scale.

The world’s largest manufacturer, with 150 million factory workers, China also has a supplier network that is five times larger than Japan’s. This encourages and enables Chinese companies to trigger continuous cycles of widespread innovation.

China is leveraging the profound power of scale and scaling.

A good example is high-speed trains. Over the past seven years, a determined China — the private sector with help from the government — has built ever-improving next-generation technology in this vital global transportation sector. The result? A cutting-edge manufacturing product set that has accounted for nearly 90 percent of the worldwide growth in high-speed trains since 2008.

Aggressive and real breakthroughs like this contradict the long-held conventional wisdom that China is simply an innovation sponge that absorbs and re-purposes inventions and ideas from the U.S. and Europe.

The danger is that this traditional thinking is becoming increasingly outdated, obscuring the all-important fact that China is leveraging the profound power of scale and scaling to accelerate its bid for global innovation leadership.

To be sure, wherever you look in China today, there are gargantuan innovation processes and programs in progress and in place that require radically new approaches to technology product development, financing, manufacturing, marketing and logistics.

Without these groundbreaking systems, it’s impossible to grow 10x year after year, a goal that scores of Chinese companies set as the norm. And, unlike many technology enterprises in Silicon Valley, which are expanding their businesses virtually, a number of China’s fast movers are growing physically in the real world.

I’m not disparaging Silicon Valley’s innovation excellence in any way, but I am trying to putChina’s significant advances in perspective. When we innovate, we create an idea and go (using venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s definition) from zero to 1.

When scaling happens in China, the assumption is that this is not real innovation, but, instead, a scale-out of technologies, 1 to n, using that same definition. My contrary observation is that true innovation is, in fact, growing in China, and, to achieve scale on many new technologies, there’s absolutely an element of zero to 1.

That’s a big difference, and an entirely different way of viewing innovation — one that we need to acknowledge and learn from. Put another way, if we want to compete with China in the rest of the world, especially in potentially giant markets like India, Africa and China itself, which represent three of the most fertile commercial opportunities of the 21st century, we need to start innovating at scale.


Innovating on this vast and sweeping level won’t be easy — because we haven’t done it yet, and because China has a new cadre of hungry and experienced entrepreneurs who want to innovate and scale quickly on just about every continent. These world-tested entrepreneurs don’t need permission to experiment, and they aren’t afraid to adapt or fail.

Alibaba’s transactions last year totaled nearly $250 billion, more than those of Amazon and eBay combined.
Last year, for example, Baidu, the Beijing-based technology giant that was once seen as China’s Google but has since expanded into hardware and software research in areas like natural language processing and image recognition, hired a new Chief Scientist named Andrew Ng. Born in the U.K., Ng was a Stanford University professor who launched Google’s artificial intelligence program and co-founded Coursera, a high-profile online education company.

Frank Wang, the 34-year-old founder of Dajiang Innovation Technology (DJI), which accounts for 70 percent of the consumer drone market, is another strong-willed new-breed Chinese entrepreneur who is intent on taking the world by storm.

Launched out of a Hong Kong dorm room nine years ago, DJI and its global workforce is expected to generate $1 billion in sales this year. But, more importantly, the company has dominated the worldwide consumer market in aerial photography, and recently released an innovative flying platform for third-party software developers to add new functionality, like thermal scanning.

When you’re talking about Chinese entrepreneurs like Wang, who use innovation at scale to command a market, the conversation also must include Pony Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, which now presides over a mobile texting service that is actively used by 600 million people (or approximately half the population) in China.

WeChat, as it’s known, isn’t just about texting, however. Functioning more like an extended operating system, it deftly blends elements of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype and PayPal, a combination that may ultimately make it onerous for those vaunted off-shore companies to truly penetrate the large and lucrative Chinese market.

Amazon also could possibly fall victim to muscular Chinese innovation at scale. The Seattle-based company appears to have achieved victory in the e-commerce markets of North America and Europe. And its sales are growing in India. But China is a different, and more difficult, challenge, because that’s the home base of Alibaba, the world’s largest e-commerce company in the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market.

Founded by high-profile Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, Alibaba’s transactions last year totaled nearly $250 billion, more than those of Amazon and eBay combined. And on Singles’ Day — November 11 — which celebrates the unmarried, Alibaba generated more than $14 billion in sales, more than all Americans spent online and offline over the post-Thanksgiving weekend.

Uber may run into the same type of roadblock in China, as a result of innovation at scale. This time, though, a mega-merger between China’s two biggest taxi apps — Kuaidi Dache (backed by Alibaba) and Didi Dache (backed by Tencent) — has created a formidable obstacle inChina’s trillion-dollar car-sharing and taxi-hailing service market. The resulting entity, Didi Kuaidi, is currently doing 3 million rides a day in China, versus 1 million for Uber.

Looking beyond the numbers, Didi Kuaidi, led by president Jean Liu, a 12-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, is now rolling out a series of innovative new products and services designed to further distance China’s emerging transportation giant from vigorous foreign competition.

For its part, Chinese automaker BYD is innovating at global scale to thwart its rival, Tesla Motors, in the race to build the best — and most — batteries for electric vehicles around the world. Backed by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, BYD is more than tripling its capacity over the next four years.

China is creating sweeping new commerce models.

Most of the state-of-the-art production will be in China, but the company is also adding a major new factory in Brazil and will scale up manufacturing in the U.S., where Tesla is based. BYD, which has plants in Southern California that produce electric buses for public transportation, is also growing this cutting-edge investment.

In addition to developing new products and services and rolling them out at scale anywhere and everywhere in the world, China is creating sweeping new commerce models that have the potential to change the way global business is conducted. A good example is the Online-2-Offline model currently being championed by Alibaba’s Ma because it finds consumers online and brings them into real-world stores.

This is all part of an unspoken, and even free-form, emergent strategy being embraced by so many Chinese companies today. Dexterously pursuing a host of different solutions and adding many seemingly disparate pieces, these intensely innovative enterprises are pulling ahead of their foreign competition as they integrate all the complex parts and forcefully scale in an effort to reach some of the highest business peaks in the world.

The challenge for many large-growth companies in the U.S. over the next few years will be climbing the same commercial mountains as the Chinese. Regardless of whether a trans-Pacific strategy of collaboration or competition is adopted, one of the best ways to do this is by learning how to innovate rapidly and at global scale.

China: Scaling The World’s Highest Innovation Peaks | TechCrunch

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## ahojunk

beijingwalker said:


> The world’s largest manufacturer, with 150 million factory workers, *China also has a supplier network that is five times larger than Japan’s.* This encourages and enables Chinese companies to trigger continuous cycles of widespread innovation.
> 
> *China is leveraging the profound power of scale and scaling*.
> 
> A good example is high-speed trains. *Over the past seven years, a determined China — the private sector with help from the government — has built ever-improving next-generation technology in this vital global transportation sector. *The result? A cutting-edge manufacturing product set that has accounted for nearly 90 percent of the worldwide growth in high-speed trains since 2008.


.
As a fan of HSR, I can relate to this.

I am astounded by the progress China has made in HSR in the last 7 years.



beijingwalker said:


> ...*innovating at scale*


.
Ha ha. A new phrase for the 21st century, - *innovating at scale*.


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## cirr

*China: Scaling The World’s Highest Innovation Peaks*

Posted yesterday by Vikram Jandhyala (@vikramjandhyala)







In a world of statistics, here’s a number that stands out: 71. That’s how many times the word “innovation” was mentioned in a communiqué issued after the Chinese Communist Party’s recent plenary meeting, which focused on China’s next five-year plan.

It’s clear why China is concentrating so many words — and so much energy and effort — on innovation. Indeed, as a recent McKinsey report points out, to keep its economic expansion on track, this nation of 1.3 billion people must generate two to three percentage points of annual GDP growth through innovation.

The return on this investment could be substantial. By 2025, these innovation opportunities could contribute as much as $1-$2.2 trillion a year to the overall Chinese economy.

After spending several weeks visiting legions of Chinese innovators — entrepreneurs, companies, educational institutions and government officials — I believe that these ambitious numbers will be reached.

And the reason is that China uses monumental scale and massive scaling to innovate, something that no region or country in the world — including the United States — can currently match or replicate.

With more than four times the population of the U.S., and more than one out of seven people on the planet, China has a tremendous advantage based on the sheer size of its rapidly urbanizing consumer market. This helps Chinese companies develop and deliver new products and services quickly and on a huge scale.

The world’s largest manufacturer, with 150 million factory workers, China also has a supplier network that is five times larger than Japan’s. This encourages and enables Chinese companies to trigger continuous cycles of widespread innovation.

*China is leveraging the profound power of scale and scaling.*

A good example is high-speed trains. Over the past seven years, a determined China — the private sector with help from the government — has built ever-improving next-generation technology in this vital global transportation sector. The result? A cutting-edge manufacturing product set that has accounted for nearly 90 percent of the worldwide growth in high-speed trains since 2008.

Aggressive and real breakthroughs like this contradict the long-held conventional wisdom that China is simply an innovation sponge that absorbs and re-purposes inventions and ideas from the U.S. and Europe.

The danger is that this traditional thinking is becoming increasingly outdated, obscuring the all-important fact that China is leveraging the profound power of scale and scaling to accelerate its bid for global innovation leadership.

To be sure, wherever you look in China today, there are gargantuan innovation processes and programs in progress and in place that require radically new approaches to technology product development, financing, manufacturing, marketing and logistics.

Without these groundbreaking systems, it’s impossible to grow 10x year after year, a goal that scores of Chinese companies set as the norm. And, unlike many technology enterprises in Silicon Valley, which are expanding their businesses virtually, a number of China’s fast movers are growing physically in the real world.

I’m not disparaging Silicon Valley’s innovation excellence in any way, but I am trying to put China’s significant advances in perspective. When we innovate, we create an idea and go (using venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s definition) from zero to 1.

When scaling happens in China, the assumption is that this is not real innovation, but, instead, a scale-out of technologies, 1 to n, using that same definition. My contrary observation is that true innovation is, in fact, growing in China, and, to achieve scale on many new technologies, there’s absolutely an element of zero to 1.

That’s a big difference, and an entirely different way of viewing innovation — one that we need to acknowledge and learn from. Put another way, if we want to compete with China in the rest of the world, especially in potentially giant markets like India, Africa and China itself, which represent three of the most fertile commercial opportunities of the 21st century, we need to start innovating at scale.

Innovating on this vast and sweeping level won’t be easy — because we haven’t done it yet, and because China has a new cadre of hungry and experienced entrepreneurs who want to innovate and scale quickly on just about every continent. These world-tested entrepreneurs don’t need permission to experiment, and they aren’t afraid to adapt or fail.

*Alibaba’s transactions last year totaled nearly $250 billion, more than those of Amazon and eBay combined.*

Last year, for example, Baidu, the Beijing-based technology giant that was once seen as China’s Google but has since expanded into hardware and software research in areas like natural language processing and image recognition, hired a new Chief Scientist named Andrew Ng. Born in the U.K., Ng was a Stanford University professor who launched Google’s artificial intelligence program and co-founded Coursera, a high-profile online education company.

Frank Wang, the 34-year-old founder of Dajiang Innovation Technology (DJI), which accounts for 70 percent of the consumer drone market, is another strong-willed new-breed Chinese entrepreneur who is intent on taking the world by storm.

Launched out of a Hong Kong dorm room nine years ago, DJI and its global workforce is expected to generate $1 billion in sales this year. But, more importantly, the company has dominated the worldwide consumer market in aerial photography, and recently released an innovative flying platform for third-party software developers to add new functionality, like thermal scanning.

When you’re talking about Chinese entrepreneurs like Wang, who use innovation at scale to command a market, the conversation also must include Pony Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Tencent Holdings, which now presides over a mobile texting service that is actively used by 600 million people (or approximately half the population) in China.

WeChat, as it’s known, isn’t just about texting, however. Functioning more like an extended operating system, it deftly blends elements of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype and PayPal, a combination that may ultimately make it onerous for those vaunted off-shore companies to truly penetrate the large and lucrative Chinese market.

Amazon also could possibly fall victim to muscular Chinese innovation at scale. The Seattle-based company appears to have achieved victory in the e-commerce markets of North America and Europe. And its sales are growing in India. But China is a different, and more difficult, challenge, because that’s the home base of Alibaba, the world’s largest e-commerce company in the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market.

Founded by high-profile Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma, Alibaba’s transactions last year totaled nearly $250 billion, more than those of Amazon and eBay combined. And on Singles’ Day —November 11 — which celebrates the unmarried, Alibaba generated more than $14 billion in sales, more than all Americans spent online and offline over the post-Thanksgiving weekend.

Uber may run into the same type of roadblock in China, as a result of innovation at scale. This time, though, a mega-merger between China’s two biggest taxi apps — Kuaidi Dache (backed by Alibaba) and Didi Dache (backed by Tencent) — has created a formidable obstacle in China’s trillion-dollar car-sharing and taxi-hailing service market. The resulting entity, Didi Kuaidi, is currently doing 3 million rides a day in China, versus 1 million for Uber.

Looking beyond the numbers, Didi Kuaidi, led by president Jean Liu, a 12-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, is now rolling out a series of innovative new products and services designed to further distance China’s emerging transportation giant from vigorous foreign competition.

For its part, Chinese automaker BYD is innovating at global scale to thwart its rival, Tesla Motors, in the race to build the best — and most — batteries for electric vehicles around the world. Backed by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, BYD is more than tripling its capacity over the next four years.

*China is creating sweeping new commerce models.*

Most of the state-of-the-art production will be in China, but the company is also adding a major new factory in Brazil and will scale up manufacturing in the U.S., where Tesla is based. BYD, which has plants in Southern California that produce electric buses for public transportation, is also growing this cutting-edge investment.

In addition to developing new products and services and rolling them out at scale anywhere and everywhere in the world, China is creating sweeping new commerce models that have the potential to change the way global business is conducted. A good example is the Online-2-Offline model currently being championed by Alibaba’s Ma because it finds consumers online and brings them into real-world stores.

This is all part of an unspoken, and even free-form, emergent strategy being embraced by so many Chinese companies today. Dexterously pursuing a host of different solutions and adding many seemingly disparate pieces, these intensely innovative enterprises are pulling ahead of their foreign competition as they integrate all the complex parts and forcefully scale in an effort to reach some of the highest business peaks in the world.

The challenge for many large-growth companies in the U.S. over the next few years will be climbing the same commercial mountains as the Chinese. Regardless of whether a trans-Pacific strategy of collaboration or competition is adopted, one of the best ways to do this is by learning how to innovate rapidly and at global scale.

Vikram Jandhyala Crunch Network Contributor
Vikram Jandhyala is the vice provost of innovation at the University of Washington.

China: Scaling The World’s Highest Innovation Peaks | TechCrunch

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## cirr

Scale matters！

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## onebyone

Interview: China to contribute more to world's innovation: Bill Gates


 







 





Source: Xinhua | 2016-01-24 01:40:49 | Editor: huaxia






DAVOS, Jan. 23, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Qiu Yong (L), president of China's Tsinghua University, shakes hands with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), during a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2016. Tsinghua University and the BMGF signed an agreement Friday on establishing the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) 

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- With a strong ambition to promote science and research, China is going to contribute more and more to the world's innovation, Microsoft's founder Bill Gates has said.

In an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2016, Gates said China would probably become a huge participant in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is already under way and bringing a fast and disruptive change for most industries.

Talking about the new revolution, Gates believed the digital revolution, something he spent most of his life working on, was a huge factor.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution refers to the ongoing transformation of our society and economy, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology and other areas of science.

A key enabler of much of these new technologies is the Internet where Microsoft and Gates has been a leading contributor to the progress.

"An industrial revolution is coming to increase productivity very dramatically," Gates said, "It creates opportunities, and it creates challenges."

New technology changes would free some labor, so that people can do more in culture sector, according to Gates.

He said China had built some advantages in science and technology through its educational system, and the country had a strong will to promote its contribution in different sciences sectors.

"China obviously has a lot of people and a lot of smart people," Gates said, "Not only a lot of people college-educated, but also a lot of engineers with the quality of engineering skills. "

"With the recognition that people have done something that they can be rewarded for that, many experts have been leaded to have new companies, in IT sector, biology, robots and other those things."

"China is going to carry its weight," he said.

In recent years, the former internet elite has been dedicating to driving innovation in global health and development. As the Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates decided to join force with China's Tsinghua University to establish the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute(GHDDI) in Beijing during his Davos visit.

"China has made incredible progress in reducing poverty and shares the foundation's commitment to harnessing advances in science and technology to address the critical health challenges affecting the world's poorest people," Gates said.

"We are excited about GHDDI's potential to drive innovation in global health research and development, and look forward to partnering with Tsinghua University on our continued work to address the world's most pressing global health challenges."

In an article released during WEF, Gates pledged his foundation would invest more in innovation in the coming years. He told Xinhua that the investment that went to China's innovation was expected to increase gradually.

Asked whether he worried about China's economic slowdown, which may hinder innovation progress, Gates said he was quite optimistic about China's economic outlook.

"I have a lot of confidence in China, partly because they take a long-term view, and partly because they look what other countries are doing," he said.

Faced with a challenge of turning the economy into new directions, Gates said China had great talent to achieve its goal.

"Most countries would envy a 6.9 percent growth, I think China has a bright future,"he said, adding "China is going to be contributing more and more to the world's innovation."

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## onebyone

DAVOS, Jan. 23, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Qiu Yong (L Back), president of China's Tsinghua University, and Bill Gates (R Back), co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), attend a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2016. Tsinghua University and the BMGF signed an agreement Friday on establishing the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-01/24/c_135039008_2.htm

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## Pangu

China missed the first three industrial revolution, we will not miss this one. Bill Gates doesn't look like he aged much in these photos.


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## Pangu

*Go champion Lee Se-dol strikes back to beat Google's DeepMind AI for first time *

*Intuition beats ingenuity at last*


By Sam Byford
on March 13, 2016 04:44 am
Email
@345triangle







AlphaGo wrapped up victory for Google in the DeepMind Challenge Match by winning its third straight game against Go champion Lee Se-dol yesterday, but the 33-year-old South Korean has got at least some level of revenge — he's just defeated AlphaGo, the AI program developed by Google's DeepMind unit, in the fourth game of a five-game match in Seoul.

AlphaGo is now 3-1 up in the series with a professional record, if you can call it that, of 9-1 including the 5-0 win against European champion Fan Hui last year. Lee's first win came after an engrossing game where AlphaGo played some baffling moves, prompting commentators to wonder whether they were mistakes or — as we've often seen this week — just unusual strategies that would come good in the end despite the inscrutable approach. (To humans, at least.)

According to tweets from DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, however, this time AlphaGo really did make mistakes. The AI "thought it was doing well, but got confused on move 87," Hassabis said, later clarifying that it made a mistake on move 79 but only realized its error by 87. AlphaGo adjusts its playing style based on its evaluation of how the game is progressing.

Lee entered the post-game press conference to rapturous applause, remarking "I've never been congratulated so much just because I won one game!" Lee referred back to his post-match prediction that he would win the series 5-0 or 4-1, saying that this one win feels even more valuable after losing the first three games.

"Lee Se-dol is an incredible player and he was too strong for AlphaGo today," said Hassabis, adding that the defeat would help DeepMind test the limits of its AI. "For us this loss is very valuable. We're not sure what happened yet."

*Read more: Why Google's Go win is such a big deal*

DeepMind's AlphaGo program has beaten 18-time world champion Lee three times so far with its advanced system based on deep neural networks and machine learning. The series is the first time a computer program has taken on a professional 9-dan player of Go, the ancient Chinese board game long considered impossible for computers to play at a world-class level due to the high level of intuition required to master its intricate strategies. Lee was competing for a $1 million prize put up by Google, but DeepMind's victory means the sum will be donated to charity.

Go champion Lee Se-dol strikes back to beat Google's DeepMind AI for first time | The Verge

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## greenwood

Pangu said:


> *Go champion Lee Se-dol strikes back to beat Google's DeepMind AI for first time *
> 
> *Intuition beats ingenuity at last*
> 
> 
> By Sam Byford
> on March 13, 2016 04:44 am
> Email
> @345triangle
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> AlphaGo wrapped up victory for Google in the DeepMind Challenge Match by winning its third straight game against Go champion Lee Se-dol yesterday, but the 33-year-old South Korean has got at least some level of revenge — he's just defeated AlphaGo, the AI program developed by Google's DeepMind unit, in the fourth game of a five-game match in Seoul.
> 
> AlphaGo is now 3-1 up in the series with a professional record, if you can call it that, of 9-1 including the 5-0 win against European champion Fan Hui last year. Lee's first win came after an engrossing game where AlphaGo played some baffling moves, prompting commentators to wonder whether they were mistakes or — as we've often seen this week — just unusual strategies that would come good in the end despite the inscrutable approach. (To humans, at least.)
> 
> According to tweets from DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, however, this time AlphaGo really did make mistakes. The AI "thought it was doing well, but got confused on move 87," Hassabis said, later clarifying that it made a mistake on move 79 but only realized its error by 87. AlphaGo adjusts its playing style based on its evaluation of how the game is progressing.
> 
> Lee entered the post-game press conference to rapturous applause, remarking "I've never been congratulated so much just because I won one game!" Lee referred back to his post-match prediction that he would win the series 5-0 or 4-1, saying that this one win feels even more valuable after losing the first three games.
> 
> "Lee Se-dol is an incredible player and he was too strong for AlphaGo today," said Hassabis, adding that the defeat would help DeepMind test the limits of its AI. "For us this loss is very valuable. We're not sure what happened yet."
> 
> *Read more: Why Google's Go win is such a big deal*
> 
> DeepMind's AlphaGo program has beaten 18-time world champion Lee three times so far with its advanced system based on deep neural networks and machine learning. The series is the first time a computer program has taken on a professional 9-dan player of Go, the ancient Chinese board game long considered impossible for computers to play at a world-class level due to the high level of intuition required to master its intricate strategies. Lee was competing for a $1 million prize put up by Google, but DeepMind's victory means the sum will be donated to charity.
> 
> Go champion Lee Se-dol strikes back to beat Google's DeepMind AI for first time | The Verge




beat artificial intelligence. Great big V

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## LittleFish

AlphaGo made a serious mistake even I would not make in the fighting in right side......I think Lee played very well but I doubt that maybe there were some tricks behind that play. Anyway, Google is the biggest winner.


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## Pangu

* AlphaGo seals 4-1 victory over Go grandmaster Lee Sedol *

DeepMind’s artificial intelligence astonishes fans to defeat human opponent and offers evidence computer software has mastered a major challenge



The world’s top Go player, Lee Sedol, lost the final game of the Google DeepMind challenge match. Photograph: Yonhap/Reuters
Steven Borowiec

Tuesday 15 March 2016 10.12 GMT Last modified on Tuesday 15 March 2016 12.51 GMT

Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program triumphed in its final game against South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol to win the series 4-1, providing further evidence of the landmark achievement for an artificial intelligence program.

Lee started Tuesday’s game strongly, taking advantage of an early mistake by AlphaGo. But in the end, Lee was unable to hold off a comeback by his opponent, which won a narrow victory.

* Analysis AlphaGo: its creator on the computer that learns by thinking *

Inventor Demis Hassabis says AlphaGo improved its game after playing itself millions of times – but how can this technological marvel be harnessed?
Read more
After the results were in, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis called today’s contest “One of the most incredible games ever,” saying AlphaGo mounted a “mind-blowing” comeback after an early mistake.

This was the fifth game in seven days, in what was a draining, emotional battle for Lee. AlphaGo had won the first three, but Lee took the fourth game on Sunday.

He remained in his seat as the game’s results were announced, his eyes swelling with tears. In a post-game press conference, he expressed regret over his defeat. “I failed,” he said. “I feel sorry that the match is over and it ended like this. I wanted it to end well.”

Throughout the match, Lee won praise from observers for a determined, creative approach to AlphaGo, an opponent that is invulnerable to stress and fatigue. In Tuesday’s press conference, Chris Garlock, one of the live commentators said the match was composed of “five beautiful and historic games,” adding, “I think we’ll be studying these for years to come.”

Advertisement
Due to Go’s complexity and the importance of reaction and intuition, it has proved harder for computers to master than simpler games such as checkers or chess. Go has too many moves for a machine to win by brute-force calculations, which is how IBM’s Deep Blue famously beat former world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

AlphaGo’s win over Lee is significant because it marks the first time an artificial intelligence program has beaten a top-ranked Go professional, a victory experts had predicted was still years away. AlphaGo beat European Go champion Fan Hui in October, but Lee was expected to be a tougher challenge.

The match has brought an unusual level of attention to Go, a game that is popular in east Asia but not widely played in the west. Go insiders say they are not used to being in the spotlight. “I’ve never seen this much attention for Go, ever,” Lee Ha-jin, secretary general at the International Go Federation and guest commentator on Tuesday’s live broadcast, said.

Google DeepMind has talked about applying the deep neural networks and machine learning techniques that AlphaGo used to master Go to more pressing areas such as healthcare and robotics. But with AlphaGo’s victory in the books, Hassabis was tightlipped, saying his team will need to return to the UK and spend “weeks or months” going over the results of the match before announcing their next moves.

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## Hamartia Antidote

DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis on how AI will shape the future | The Verge

DeepMind’s stunning victories over Go legend Lee Se-dol have stoked excitement over artificial intelligence’s potential more than any event in recent memory. But the Google subsidiary’s AlphaGo program is far from its only project — it’s not even the main one. As co-founder Demis Hassabis said earlier in the week, DeepMind wants to “solve intelligence,” and he has more than a few ideas about how to get there.

Hassabis himself has had an unusual path to this point, but one that makes perfect sense in retrospect. A child chess prodigy who won the Pentamind championship at the Mind Sports Olympiad five times, he rose to fame at a young age with UK computer games developers Bullfrog and Lionhead, working on AI-heavy games like _Theme Park_ and _Black & White_, and later forming his own studio, Elixir. Hassabis then left the games industry in the mid-2000s to complete a PhD in neuroscience before co-founding DeepMind in 2010.

Sitting down with _The Verge_ early in the morning after AlphaGo’s first triumph over Lee Se-dol, Hassabis could have been forgiven if media engagements were the last thing on his mind. But he was warm and convivial as he entered the room, commenting on the Four Seasons Seoul’s gleaming decor and looking visibly amazed when a Google representative told him that over 3,300 articles had been written about him in Korean overnight. “It’s just unbelievable, right?” he said. “It’s quite fun to see something that’s a bit esoteric being that popular.”

Beyond AlphaGo, our conversation touched on video games, next-gen smartphone assistants, DeepMind’s role within Google, robotics, how AI could help scientific research, and more. Dive in – it’s deep.

_This interview has been lightly edited for clarity._

"Go has always been a holy grail for AI research."
*Sam Byford: So for someone who doesn’t know a lot about AI or Go, how would you characterize the cultural resonance of what happened yesterday?*

Demis Hassabis: There are several things I’d say about that. Go has always been the pinnacle of perfect information games. It’s way more complicated than chess in terms of possibility, so it’s always been a bit of a holy grail or grand challenge for AI research, especially since Deep Blue. And you know, we hadn’t got that far with it, even though there’d been a lot of efforts. Monte Carlo tree search was a big innovation ten years ago, but I think what we’ve done with AlphaGo is introduce with the neural networks this aspect of intuition, if you want to call it that, and that’s really the thing that separates out top Go players: their intuition. I was quite surprised that even on the live commentary Michael Redmond was having difficulty counting out the game, and he’s a 9-dan pro! And that just shows you how hard it is to write a valuation function for Go.

*Were you surprised by any of the specific moves that you saw AlphaGo play?*

Yeah. We were pretty shocked — and I think Lee Se-dol was too, from his facial expression — by the one where AlphaGo waded into the left deep into Lee’s territory. I think that was quite an unexpected move.

*Because of the aggression?*

Well, the aggression and the audacity! Also, it played Lee Se-dol at his own game. He’s famed for creative fighting and that’s what he delivered, and we were sort of expecting something like that. The beginning of the game he just started fights across the whole board with nothing really settled. And traditionally Go programs are very poor at that kind of game. They’re not bad at local calculations but they’re quite poor when you need whole board vision.

*A big reason for holding these matches in the first place was to evaluate AlphaGo’s capabilities, win or lose. What did you learn from last night?*

Well, I guess we learned that we’re further along the line than — well, not than we expected, but as far as we’d hoped, let’s say. We were telling people that we thought the match was 50-50. I think that’s still probably right; anything could still happen from here and I know Lee’s going to come back with a different strategy today. So I think it’s going to be really interesting to find out.

Just talking about the significance for AI, to finish your first question, the other big thing you’ve heard me talk about is the difference between this and Deep Blue. So Deep Blue is a hand-crafted program where the programmers distilled the information from chess grandmasters into specific rules and heuristics, whereas we’ve imbued AlphaGo with the ability to learn and then it’s learnt it through practice and study, which is much more human-like.

*If the series continues this way with AlphaGo winning, what’s next — is there potential for another AI-vs-game showdown in the future?*

"Ultimately we want to apply this to big real-world problems."
I think for perfect information games, Go is the pinnacle. Certainly there are still other top Go players to play. There are other games — no-limit poker is very difficult, multiplayer has its challenges because it’s an imperfect information game. And then there are obviously all sorts of video games that humans play way better than computers, like _StarCraft_ is another big game in Korea as well. Strategy games require a high level of strategic capability in an imperfect information world — "partially observed," it’s called. The thing about Go is obviously you can see everything on the board, so that makes it slightly easier for computers.

*Is beating StarCraft something that you would personally be interested in?*

Maybe. We’re only interested in things to the extent that they are on the main track of our research program. So the aim of DeepMind is not just to beat games, fun and exciting though that is. And personally you know, I love games, I used to write computer games. But it’s to the extent that they’re useful as a testbed, a platform for trying to write our algorithmic ideas and testing out how far they scale and how well they do and it’s just a very efficient way of doing that. Ultimately we want to apply this to big real-world problems.

*I grew up in the UK in the late ‘90s and would see your name in PC magazines, associated with very ambitious games. And when I first started hearing about DeepMind and saw your name there I thought, "That kind of fits." Can you draw a line from your previous career in the games industry to what you do now?*

Yeah, so something like DeepMind was always my ultimate goal. I’d been planning it for more than 20 years, in a way. If you view all the things I’ve done through a prism of eventually starting an AI effort, then it kind of makes sense what I chose to do. If you’re familiar with my stuff at Bullfrog and so on, you’ll know that AI was a core part of everything I wrote and was involved with, and obviously Peter Molyneux’s games are all AI games as well. Working on _Theme Park_ when I was 16 or 17 years old was quite a seminal moment for me in terms of realizing how powerful AI could be if we really tried to extend it. We sold millions of copies, and so many people enjoyed playing that game, and it was because of the AI that adapted to the way you played. We took that forward and I tried to extend that for the rest of my games career, and then I switched out of that back to academia and neuroscience because I felt around the mid-2000s that we’d gone as far as we could trying to sneak in AI research through the back door while you’re actually supposed to be making a game. And that’s hard to do, because publishers just want the game, right?

*Was it just that games of the era were the most obvious application of AI? *

Yeah, I think so, and I actually think we were doing unbelievably cutting-edge AI. I would say at that stage academia was on hold in the 90s, and all these new techniques hadn’t really been popularized or scaled yet — neural networking, deep learning, reinforcement learning. So actually the best AI was going on in games. It wasn’t this kind of learning AI we work on now, it was more finite-state machines, but they were pretty complex and they did adapt. Games like _Black & White_ had reinforcement learning — I think it’s still the most complex example of that in a game. But then around 2004-5 it was clear that the games industry was going a different way from the '90s when it was really fun and creative and you could just think up any idea and build it. It became more about graphics and franchises and _FIFA_ games and this kind of thing, so it wasn’t that interesting any more — I’d done everything I could in games and it was time to gather different information ready for the launch of DeepMind. And that was neuroscience; I wanted to get inspiration from how the brain solves problems, so what better way than doing a neuroscience PhD? ?

*This may be fruit so low-hanging as to already be on the ground, but if you were to take AI advances and apply them to games today?*

"I think you could go to a whole other level of video games if you had this learning AI."
Oh yeah, I think it’d be amazing, actually. I was contacted recently by someone from EA and... [wistfully] we should do that. It’s just that there’s so many things to do! [laughs] It really is pretty general, using these techniques, and I would love to do that. But it’s just having the bandwidth to do it, and we’re concentrating on the moment on things like healthcare and recommendation systems, these kinds of things. But probably at some point we’ll do that, because it’d close the loop for me. And I think it would be a huge market, actually, having smart adaptable AI opponents, and I think games developers would love it instead of having to build a new AI each time for every game, maybe they could just train an AI on their game.

*I just imagine you playing video games at home, getting so much more frustrated by non-player characters than I might.*

Sure [laughs] Yes, that always used to frustrate me incredibly about massively multiplayer games and things like that. I never really got into that because the non-player characters were just so dumb. They didn’t have any memory, they didn’t change, they didn’t have any context. I think you could go to a whole other level of games if you had this learning AI.

*The main future uses of AI that you’ve brought up this week have been healthcare, smartphone assistants, and robotics. Let’s unpack some of those. To bring up healthcare, IBM with Watson has done some things with cancer diagnosis for example — what can DeepMind bring to the table?*

Well, it’s early days in that. We announced a partnership with the NHS a couple of weeks ago but that was really just to start building a platform that machine learning can be used in. I think Watson’s very different than what we do, from what I understand of it — it’s more like an expert system, so it’s a very different style of AI. I think the sort of things you’ll see this kind of AI do is medical diagnosis of images and then maybe longitudinal tracking of vital signs or quantified self over time, and helping people have healthier lifestyles. I think that’ll be quite suitable for reinforcement learning.

*With the NHS partnership, you’ve announced an app which doesn’t seem to use much in the way of AI or machine learning. What’s the thought behind that? Why is the NHS using this rather than software from anybody else?*

Well, NHS software as I understand it is pretty terrible, so I think the first step is trying to bring that into the 21st century. They’re not mobile, they’re not all the things we take for granted as consumers today. And it’s very frustrating, I think, for doctors and clinicians and nurses and it slows them down. So I think the first stage is to help them with more useful tools, like visualizations and basic stats. We thought we’ll just build that, we’ll see where we are, and then more sophisticated machine learning techniques could then come into play.

*How easy a sell is all of this? Obviously funding for healthcare in the UK can be a contentious topic.*

Yeah, uh, well, we’re just doing it all for free [laughs] which makes it an easier sell! And this is very different from most software companies. It’s mostly big multinational corporations that are doing this software so they don’t really pay attention to the users, whereas we’re designing it more in a startup sort of way where you really listen to the feedback from your users and you’re kind of co-designing it with them.

*So let’s move onto smartphone assistants. I saw you put up a slide from Her in your presentation on the opening day — is that really the endgame here?*

"I just think we would like smartphone assistants to actually be smart."
No, I mean _Her_ is just an easy popular mainstream view of what that sort of thing is. I just think we would like these smartphone assistant things to actually be smart and contextual and have a deeper understanding of what you’re trying to do. At the moment most of these systems are extremely brittle — once you go off the templates that have been pre-programmed then they’re pretty useless. So it’s about making that actually adaptable and flexible and more robust.

*What’s the breakthrough that’s needed to improve these? Why couldn’t we work on it tomorrow?*

Well, we can — I just think you need a different approach. Again, it’s this dichotomy between pre-programmed and learnt. At the moment pretty much all smartphone assistants are special-cased and pre-programmed and that means they’re brittle because they can only do the things they were pre-programmed for. And the real world’s very messy and complicated and users do all sorts of unpredictable things that you can’t know ahead of time. Our belief at DeepMind, certainly this was the founding principle, is that the only way to do intelligence is to do learning from the ground up and be general.

*AlphaGo got off the ground by being taught a lot of game patterns — how is that applicable to smartphones where the input is so much more varied?*

Yeah, so there’s tons of data on that, you could learn from that. Actually, the AlphaGo algorithm, this is something we’re going to try in the next few months — we think we could get rid of the supervised learning starting point and just do it completely from self-play, literally starting from nothing. It’d take longer, because the trial and error when you’re playing randomly would take longer to train, maybe a few months. But we think it’s possible to ground it all the way to pure learning.

*Is that possible because of where the algorithm has reached now?*

No, no, we could have done that before. It wouldn’t have made the program stronger, it just would have been pure learning. so there would’ve been no supervised part. We think this algorithm can work without any supervision. The Atari games that we did last year, playing from the pixels — that didn’t bootstrap from any human knowledge, that started literally from doing random things on screen.

*Is it easier for that because the fail states are more obvious, and so on?*

It’s easier for that because the scores are more regular. In Go, you really only get one score, whether you’ve won or lost at the end of the game. It’s called the credit assignment problem; the problem is you’ve made a hundred actions or moves in Go, and you don’t know exactly which ones were responsible for winning or losing, so the signal’s quite weak. Whereas in most Atari games most of the things you’re doing give you some score, so you’ve got more breadcrumbs to follow.

*Could you give a timeframe for when some of these things might start making a noticeable difference to the phones that people use?*

I think in the next two to three years you’ll start seeing it. I mean, it’ll be quite subtle to begin with, certain aspects will just work better. Maybe looking four to five, five-plus years away you’ll start seeing a big step change in capabilities.

*Of all the future possibilities you’ve identified, this is the one that’s most obviously connected to Google as a whole.*

Yep.

*Have you been given any indication as to how all of this is expected to fit into Google’s product roadmap or business model in general?*

No, we have a pretty free rein over what we want to do to optimize the research progress. That’s our mission, and that’s why we joined Google, so that we could turbocharge that. And that’s happened over the last couple of years. Of course, we actually work on a lot of internal Google product things, but they’re all quite early stage, so they’re not ready to be talked about. Certainly a smartphone assistant is something I think is very core — I think Sundar [Pichai] has talked a lot about that as very core to Google’s future.

Google's support was "very important" to AlphaGo
*Google has other initiatives like Google Brain, and it’s rolled out machine learning features like Google Photos and in search and a whole bunch of user-facing things.*

Everywhere.

*Do you find yourselves interacting with Google Brain and is there any overlap?*

Sure, so we’re very complementary, actually. We talk every week. Brain focuses mainly on deep learning, and it’s got incredible engineers like Jeff Dean, so they’ve rolled that out to every corner of the company, and that’s why we get amazing things like Google Photos search. And they’re doing a phenomenal job of that. Also they’re based in Mountain View, so they’re closer to the product groups and they have more like 12 to 18 month research cycles, whereas we’re more about algorithmic development and we tend to go for things that are two to three years long and don’t necessarily have a direct product focus at the start.

*How important was Google’s support to AlphaGo — could you have done it without them?*

It was very important. AlphaGo doesn’t actually use that much hardware in play, but we needed a lot of hardware to train it and do all the different versions and have them play each other in tournaments on the cloud. That takes quite a lot of hardware to do efficiently, so we couldn’t have done it in this time frame without those resources.


*Moving onto robotics. I’m based in Japan, which would like to think of itself as the spiritual home of robots. I see robots now in the country being used in two ways. You have companies like Fanuc making industrial robots that do amazing things for a very fixed purpose, and then you have these concierge-style robots like SoftBank’s Pepper and so on, and in some ways they’re kind of ambitious but the use cases are limited. What are your thoughts on the state of this space?*

Yeah, I think as you say with Fanuc they’re pretty capable physically, what they’re missing is intelligence. And concierge robots are a little like smartphone assistants — the ones I’ve seen, anyway, are pre-programmed with template responses, and if you do something that goes off-piste they get confused.

*So I guess the obvious question is how machine learning and so on will boost robots’ capabilities.*

Well, it’s just a completely different approach. You’re building in from the ground up the ability to learn new things and deal with the unexpected, and I think that’s what you need for any robot or software application in the real world interacting with real users — they’re going to need to have that kind of capability to be properly useful. I think the learning route ultimately has to be the right way.

*What are the most immediate use cases for learning robots that you can see?*

We haven’t thought much about that, actually. Obviously the self-driving cars are kind of robots but they’re mostly narrow AI currently, although they use aspects of learning AI for the computer vision — Tesla uses pretty much standard off-the-shelf computer vision technology which is based on deep learning. I’m sure Japan’s thinking a lot about things like elderly care bots, or household cleaning bots, I think, would be extremely useful for society. Especially in demographics with an aging population, which I think is quite a pressing problem.

*Why is this the sort of use case that a more learning-based approach is so dramatically better for?*

"I think it’d be cool if one day an AI was involved in finding a new particle."
Well, you just have to think "Why don’t we have those things yet?" Why don’t we have a robot that can clean up your house after you? The reason is, everyone’s house is very different in terms of layout, furniture, and so on, and even within your own house, the house state is different from day to day — sometimes it’ll be messy, sometimes it’ll be clean. So there’s no way you can pre-program a robot with the solution for sorting out your house, right? And you also might want to take into account your personal preferences about how you want your clothes folded. That’s actually a very complicated problem. We think of these things as really easy for people to do, but actually we’re dealing with hugely complex things.

*Just as a matter of personal interest, do you have a robot vacuum cleaner?*

Uh... we did have one, but it wasn’t very useful so... [laughs]

*Because I do, and it is not super useful, but I find myself kind of learning its quirks and working around it, because I am lazy and the benefits are worth it. So I wonder about when we get to more advanced robots, where the tipping point of "good enough" is going to be. Are we going to stop before meaningful human-level interaction and work around the quirks?*

Yeah, I mean, probably. I think everyone would buy a reasonably priced robot that could stack the dishes and clean up after you — these pretty dumb vacuum cleaners are quite popular anyway, and they don’t have any intelligence really. So yeah, I think every step of the way, incrementally, there’ll be useful things.

*So what are your far-off expectations for how humans, robots, and AIs will interact in the future? Obviously people’s heads go to pretty wild sci-fi places.*

I don’t think much about robotics myself personally. What I’m really excited to use this kind of AI for is science, and advancing that faster. I’d like to see AI-assisted science where you have effectively AI research assistants that do a lot of the drudgery work and surface interesting articles, find structure in vast amounts of data, and then surface that to the human experts and scientists who can make quicker breakthroughs. I was giving a talk at CERN a few months ago; obviously they create more data than pretty much anyone on the planet, and for all we know there could be new particles sitting on their massive hard drives somewhere and no-one’s got around to analyzing that because there’s just so much data. So I think it’d be cool if one day an AI was involved in finding a new particle.

*I think that’s a pretty dramatic way to end.*

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## TaiShang

*Baidu to further expand mapping service abroad *
Xinhua, April 20, 2016






Baidu's headquarters in Beijing [File photo] 

Chinese Internet giant Baidu announced Tuesday that it will expand its mapping service to over 150 countries and regions by the end of 2016 as part of its strategy to go global.

*Baidu's desktop and mobile mapping service have established footholds in 18 Asia Pacific countries including Japan, India and New Zealand. They are expected to see about half of its users from overseas markets by 2020, according to Li Dongmin at a press conference.*

Baidu currently holds a whopping 70 percent share of China's mapping service market, with 500 million active users. Google Maps is the current leader in the global mapping service market.

*The search engine giant aims to first offer Chinese mapping service to tap into the growing mapping service demand from Chinese tourists traveling overseas*, which reached over 100 million last year, before offering foreign language mapping services for local users.

In addition to helping plan appropriate routes and navigation, the company will also integrate online hotel and restaurant reservations and group buying services in overseas markets through cooperation with local online travel agencies and e-commerce platforms, Li added.

Going global is one of Baidu's key strategies as the company aspired to be a global brand.* Baidu's services have covered over 200 countries with over one billion overseas users by 2015.*

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## cirr

*AI-powered selfie drone takes 13MP photos and 4K video, wows GMIC Beijing 2016*

Hover Camera was the biggest hit of GMIC Beijing 2016, the 'CES of China.' For the Chinese startup launched by American students, it's the first in a line of personal robotics products.




By Jason Hiner | May 2, 2016 -- 01:30 GMT (09:30 GMT+08:00) | Topic: Innovation





CEO MQ Wang shows off the Hover Camera at GMIC Beijing 2016
Image: Raul Gerard Gomez (for ZDNet)

MQ Wang is an outlier in the tech industry. He prefers to be spend as much time outside as possible.

A few years ago while he was finishing his PhD at Stanford, Wang fell for adocumentary of Jon Muir, who walked 1600 miles alone across Australia and filmed the whole experience by himself. The problem was that Muir had to keep walking ahead and setting up the camera and then retracing his steps. Wang, who focused his doctorate on machine learning and natural language processing, thought there had to be a way to automate the camera.

That was the initial inspiration for what became Hover Camera--an AI-powered self-flying drone that was the biggest hit of the GMIC Beijing 2016 trade show.

The event, sometimes called "The CES of China," is taking place April 28 to May 2 at the China National Convention Center, just steps away from where the 2008 Beijing Olympics wowed the world.

Hover Camera supplied the wow factor for GMIC. After Wang, the CEO and co-founder, did a short on-stage demo early in the show, he had tech industry executives, VCs, and attendees tugging at him all week to talk about the product. No booth was more crowded or had more buzz than the black Hover Camera stall where demos of the product whirled around all day.

That's not bad for a product and a company that quietly announced themselves to the public just two days before GMIC started.

*SEE: With Cheetah Robotics launch, software giant wants to create China's first global tech brand*

Here's what the Hover Camera can do:
*Takes 13MP photos and 4K video*: It has 32GB of storage, so there's room to store plenty of files.
*Hovers automatically*: You simply toss Hover Camera into the air and it flies nearby.
*Uses AI face tracking*: Automatically locks onto a face and body using artificial intelligence.
*Does auto-steadying*: On the bottom of Hover Camera, it has a sonar sensor and an extra camera that it uses to steady itself, even against the wind.
*Has light, durable casing*: The carbon fiber body has a soft rubberized coating, making it strong, light, and safe.
*Automatically stabilizes images*: Intelligently and digitally does image stabilization for both photos and video.
*Offers 360 videos*: Can spin and take 360-degree panoramic videos.
*Does not require FAA registration*: Only weighs 238 grams, so it's below the 250 grams where the United States FAA requires drone registration for hobbyists.



This three-minute video shows Hover Camera in action:


The final version of the product will be released this summer, according to Francis Bea, Hover's PR lead. Pricing was not announced at GMIC.

Several others have tried this selfie drone concept. Most notably, Zano became Europe's most lucrative Kickstarter campaign in 2014, raising $3.5 million for an autonomous quadcopter camera that fit in the palm of your hand. Unfortunately, Zano went bankrupt a year later and didn't deliver to its backers.

Like Zano, Lily Camera is another selfie-taking quadcopter--albeit a much more viable one. Lily has sold $34 million in pre-orders at $799/each since mid-2015. It does 1080p video and 12MP photos and saves them to a 4GB microSD card, which is upgradeable.

Since Hover Camera is offering stronger specs, you'd have to expect that its price tag will be equal to or higher than Lily's--although it may be helped by the fact that hardware costs decrease over time and Hover's product cycle is a year later.

The other thing Hover has going for it is its team. Both of the co-founders graduated with PhDs from Stanford. Wang did his in computer science and his business partner, Tony Zhang, did his in mechanical engineering. Both Wang and Zhang were formerly software engineers at Twitter and Wang also served a stint at Alibaba as a data scientist.





The Hover Camera booth at GMIC Beijing 2016 won the show based on buzz and crowds.

Image: Jason Hiner/TechRepublic
They launched the company behind Hover Camera, Zero Zero Robotics, two years ago and had been in stealth mode until April 26. They have grown the team to 80 people, with offices in Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and San Francisco, and have raised $25 million in funding, including a $23 million Series A round backed by IDG, GSR Ventures, ZhenFund, ZUIG and others.

In an interview with ZDNet, Wang made it clear that this is not a one product company.

"We want to build personal robotics for everyone," said Wang, "and this is just a first step."

While the Zero Zero Robotics team is aiming Hover Camera at consumers, a lot of businesses have emailed to inquire about the product, said Bea. It's easy to imagine SMBs that can't afford a full-time or contract camera operator to use the Hover Camera for filming promo videos or social media clips.

The Hover Camera sports a much more elegant design than its competitors. Just keep an eye on the price tag when it's revealed later this year.

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## cirr

See video inside:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU1MTAzNzA0OA==.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2

and/or

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-selfie-drone-takes-13mp-photos-and-4k-video-wows-gmic-beijing-2016

and/or

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU0ODE1MDMzNg==.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2

and/or

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTU2ODMxNzMyOA==.html?from=s1.8-1-1.2

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## BuddhaPalm

Like Tinkerbell has a photography hobby.

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## dy1022



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## Jlaw

created in America


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## cirr

*China drone makers receive more investments than U.S. counterparts*

2016-05-13 10:25

People's Daily Online _Editor: Wang Fan
_





DJI drone is sold in an apple store in Shenzhen. (File Photo)

China has more unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturers than the U.S., and Chinese drone companies receive more investment capital than U.S. companies, according to an iResearch report.

Presently, there are over 500 UAV companies around the world, and competition between suppliers is only intensifying. Fewer than 50 companies receive financing, and only four are valued at more than $1 billion. Two of the companies are publically listed.

Since 2015, the number Chinese UAV companies that receive financing has surged, and the amount of the investments has increased rapidly as well. In the U.S., since 2012, UAV companies have maintained a steady growth rate. Chinese UAV companies tend to focus mainly on development and manufacturing, while U.S. companies have more innovation in their service.

*The report predicts that by 2025, China aerial UAV market will be worth over $75 billion, including $30 billion for aerial shooting, $20 billion for agriculture, forestry and plant protection, $15 billion for the security industry and $5 billion for electrical inspections*.

The report also says that the civilian UAV market is growing. Chinese drone manufacturer DJI Technology Co. dominated China's online drone sales with a market share of 77.4 percent in January and February 2016.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2016/05-13/210366.shtml

*China's first goods transporting drone completes maiden flight*

2016-05-13 13:22

People's Daily Online _Editor: Wang Fan
_




(Photo/PLA Daily Weibo)

China's first mid-long range emergency supplies transporting drone successfully completed its maiden flight on Tuesday.

The fixed-wing drone can carry 15 kilograms of goods on flight of up to 80 kilometers and make accurate delivery within a range of 15 meters, marking a breakthrough in terms of mileage, load, and short distance of take-off and landing compared with other drones available at the moment.

http://www.ecns.cn/2016/05-13/210395.shtml


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## AndrewJin

cirr said:


> *The report predicts that by 2025, China aerial UAV market will be worth over $75 billion, including $30 billion for aerial shooting, $20 billion for agriculture, forestry and plant protection, $15 billion for the security industry and $5 billion for electrical inspections*.


That's a huge market!
DJI and likes can really make a fortune in China.


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## Hamartia Antidote

http://gethover.com/


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## BoQ77

*It discovered a rare illness that doctors had missed.*



Jon Fingas , @jonfingas
08.07.16 in Medicine

IBM's Watson has done everything from winning at _Jeopardy_ to cooking exotic meals, but it appears to have accomplished its greatest feat yet: saving a life. University of Tokyo doctors report that the artificial intelligence diagnosed a 60-year-old woman's rare form of leukemia that had been incorrectly identified months earlier. The analytical machine took just 10 minutes to compare the patient's genetic changes with a database of 20 million cancer research papers, delivering an accurate diagnosis and leading to proper treatment that had proven elusive. Watson has also identified another rare form of leukemia in another patient, the university says.

It'll likely take a long while before Watson and other AI systems are regularly providing advice at hospitals, and it won't be all that useful in situations without readily comparable data. We've asked the school for more details of what happened. However, the diagnoses show just how useful the technology could be in the medical world. Human doctors wouldn't have to spend ages sifting through research to identify an obscure disease, or hope that another hospital can offer insights -- they'd just plug in the right data and start the healing process.

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## Hamartia Antidote

Watson using voice recognition as the input source playing Jeopardy against humans.

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## S10

Computers are starting to replace jobs that not only replace simple manual labor, but highly complex and sophisticated technical fields too. We as a society need to start brainstorming strategies to cope with this trend.

What happens when a significant portion of the population becomes unemployed due to automation? We will still be able to mass produce goods, but who has the money to purchase those goods/services without an income source?


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## cirr

*China says 'aye' to AI*

China Daily, September 29, 2016





Every year, about 9 million students in China sit for the gaokao, the national college entrance test. Intensive preparations for a year mark the run-up to the annual test, arguably the world's toughest, that determines which university a student will go to eventually.

In four years, all this will likely change. Not just students, even robots, powered by artificial intelligence, may ace the test.

Such is the pervasiveness of the technology that large investments are pouring into AI firms in China.

*iFlytek* Co Ltd, a Shenzhen-listed AI company, is developing a robot that will seek to beat 80 percent of Chinese students and become eligible, theoretically, for admission into a top-level university in 2020.

Hu Yu, the rotating president of iFlytek, said the scholarly robot project, unveiled in December, is making brisk progress.

"Our artificial intelligence system enables robots to accomplish tasks like reading and comprehension as intelligently as a 6-year-old," Hu said.



Students watch intelligent robots developed by a Beijing company for use in education, elderly care, household chores and security purposes. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For example, when a computer "reads" out a story about a duck catching fish, with some words removed and others replaced with names of other animals like pig and cow, the scholarly robot can fill in the blanks with the right words.

It can also recognize that the main character of the story is a duck, not a pig.

iFlytek's efforts are part of a broader AI wave sweeping China. Since supercomputer AlphaGo defeated a world champion in the ancient strategy game Go earlier this year, AI has become one of the most popular fields for investments.

"This boom in AI is chiefly driven by advances in big data technology," said Luo Jun, CEO of the Asian Manufacturing Association.

"The massive consumer base and 650 million internet users in China, which means a huge volume of online data, presents the most promising opportunities for local enterprises to compete head to head with international giants."

Baidu Inc, the Chinese internet search giant that has obtained a permit to test its self-driving cars in California earlier this month, said it would double down on its bet on a venture capital firm focusing on AI. Its initial investment fund will be $200 million.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd are also eyeing the sector. Both of them have cloud computing units. They have also invested in AI startups.

For its part, iFlytek has set up a 1-billion-yuan investment fund, to boost the overseas presence of its voice-recognition technology.

According to a report by Beijing-based research firm iResearch Consulting Group, there are roughly 100 AI startups in China. As of December 2015, 65 of them had received 2.9 billion yuan ($434 million) from venture capitalists.

Fueling the trend is the Chinese government's three-year initiative to discover and nurture potential global leaders in AI through financial support. Priority has been accorded to application of cutting-edge technologies in smart home appliances, self-driving vehicles, robots and security products.

"By 2025, most consumer electronics products will be AI-enabled, and have 'eyes' and 'brains' to interact with the environment and make decisions," Yu Kai, CEO and founder of *Horizon Robotics*, a Beijing-based startup focused on building chips to power AI, said at a conference earlier this year.

The firm, set up by the former Baidu veteran, has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from Yuri Milner, the well-known Russian investor behind internet giants such as Facebook Inc and Alibaba.

Zhao Ziming, an analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys, said though AI is still nascent, Chinese firms have demonstrated strong capabilities in voice- and image-recognition technologies.

iFlytek, for instance, prevailed in the 2016 Winograd Schema Challenge, a well-recognized global competition to test machine intelligence.

"But the relatively poor technology infrastructure among Chinese traditional industries may be an obstacle for rapid application of AI. It is important to remain sober-minded amid the tide," Zhao said.

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2016-09/29/content_39398546.htm

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## onebyone

Humanity may still be years if not decades away from producing sentient artificial intelligence. But with the rise of machine-learning services in our smartphones and other devices, one type of narrow, specialized AI has become all the rage. And the research on this branch of AI is only accelerating.

In fact, as more industries and policymakers awaken to the benefits of machine learning, two countries appear to be pulling away in the research race. The results will probably have significant implications for the future of AI.






a new strategic plan aimed at spurring U.S. development of artificial intelligence. What's striking about it is that although the United States was an early leader on deep-learning research, China has effectively eclipsed it in terms of the number of papers published annually on the subject. The rate of increase is remarkably steep, reflecting how quickly China's research priorities have shifted.


The quality of China's research is also striking. The chart below narrows the research to include only those papers that were cited at least once by other researchers, an indication that the papers were influential in the field.





(Office of Science and Technology Policy/The White House)
Compared with other countries, the United States and China are spending tremendous research attention on deep learning. But, according to the White House, the United States is not investing nearly enough in basic research.

“Current levels of R&D spending are half to one-quarter of the level of R&D investment that would produce the optimal level of economic growth,” a companion report published this week by the Obama administration finds.

The government is pushing for a major role for itself in AI research, and here's why: Becoming a leader in artificial-intelligence research and development puts the United States in a better position to establish global norms on how AI should be used safely. When AI stands to transform virtually everything including labor, the environment, and the future of warfare and cyberconflict, the United States could be put at a disadvantage if other countries, such as China, get to dictate terms instead.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../13/china-has-now-eclipsed-us-in-ai-research/

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## cirr

Where is that Indian guy @Bussard Ramjet?

*Chinese AI Startup TuSimple Breaks Ten Records in Autonomous-driving Technology*

Oct 12, 2016, 07:00 ET

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- *TuSimple*, a Chinese computer vision and artificial intelligence startup, announced that it ranked No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes, the most influential public leaderboard in autonomous driving.

For KITTI, TuSimple swept three records in object detection, two in object tracking and four in road segmentation. In total, TuSimple achieved world-leading results in 10 records.

KITTI/CityScapes dataset has been a popular arena for many years. Its players include many world-class research institutes, such as Baidu, Samsung, NVidia, and NEC, and top universities, such as Stanford, andUniversity of California.

An authoritative public benchmark dataset is important to evaluate the technical competence of a team. The KITTI Vision Benchmark Suite, established by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, is the world's first and largest benchmark for vision based autonomous driving. KITTI includes real images collected from a variety of road scenes, from urban streets to country roads to highways. Each image contains a sophisticated scenario involving, for instance, a crowded vehicle and pedestrians, with various levels of occlusion.

KITTI object detection includes vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle detection. KITTI target tracking includes vehicle and pedestrian tracking. KITTI road segmentation includes four individual scenarios, including urban unmarked, urban marked, urban multiple marked and the average of former named urban road.

TuSimple swept KITTI's nine individual tests, ranking first in the world for all of them, while other well-known institutes had previously had only one or two individual top ranks.

Cityscapes Dataset is published by Mercedes-Benz and provides a segmentation data set in anonymous driving. It is used to evaluate algorithms' performance of semantic understanding in an urban setting. Cityscapes have 50 cities with different scenes, backgrounds and seasons. It has 5,000 fine annotation images, 20,000 roughly annotation images and 30 class objects.

Cityscapes benchmark has two subsets: fine and coarse. The former provides 5,000 very detailed, pixel-level labeling and the latter provides an extra 20,000 coarse level labeling. TuSimple's algorithm triumphed under each sets of criteria.

In addition to TuSimple's success in the self-driving benchmark for KITTI and Cityscapes, TuSimple also achieved first place in facial landmark localization benchmark, 300W and AFLW by a landslide. This technique is mainly used for driver monitoring systems and positioning driver facial landmarks to detect fatigue or distracted driving.

The same technologies have been used in TuSimple's product and demo.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...-autonomous-driving-technology-300343337.html

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## onebyone

cirr said:


> Where is that Indian guy @Bussard Ramjet?
> 
> *Chinese AI Startup TuSimple Breaks Ten Records in Autonomous-driving Technology*
> 
> Oct 12, 2016, 07:00 ET
> 
> SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- *TuSimple*, a Chinese computer vision and artificial intelligence startup, announced that it ranked No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes, the most influential public leaderboard in autonomous driving.
> 
> For KITTI, TuSimple swept three records in object detection, two in object tracking and four in road segmentation. In total, TuSimple achieved world-leading results in 10 records.
> 
> KITTI/CityScapes dataset has been a popular arena for many years. Its players include many world-class research institutes, such as Baidu, Samsung, NVidia, and NEC, and top universities, such as Stanford, andUniversity of California.
> 
> An authoritative public benchmark dataset is important to evaluate the technical competence of a team. The KITTI Vision Benchmark Suite, established by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, is the world's first and largest benchmark for vision based autonomous driving. KITTI includes real images collected from a variety of road scenes, from urban streets to country roads to highways. Each image contains a sophisticated scenario involving, for instance, a crowded vehicle and pedestrians, with various levels of occlusion.
> 
> KITTI object detection includes vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle detection. KITTI target tracking includes vehicle and pedestrian tracking. KITTI road segmentation includes four individual scenarios, including urban unmarked, urban marked, urban multiple marked and the average of former named urban road.
> 
> TuSimple swept KITTI's nine individual tests, ranking first in the world for all of them, while other well-known institutes had previously had only one or two individual top ranks.
> 
> Cityscapes Dataset is published by Mercedes-Benz and provides a segmentation data set in anonymous driving. It is used to evaluate algorithms' performance of semantic understanding in an urban setting. Cityscapes have 50 cities with different scenes, backgrounds and seasons. It has 5,000 fine annotation images, 20,000 roughly annotation images and 30 class objects.
> 
> Cityscapes benchmark has two subsets: fine and coarse. The former provides 5,000 very detailed, pixel-level labeling and the latter provides an extra 20,000 coarse level labeling. TuSimple's algorithm triumphed under each sets of criteria.
> 
> In addition to TuSimple's success in the self-driving benchmark for KITTI and Cityscapes, TuSimple also achieved first place in facial landmark localization benchmark, 300W and AFLW by a landslide. This technique is mainly used for driver monitoring systems and positioning driver facial landmarks to detect fatigue or distracted driving.
> 
> The same technologies have been used in TuSimple's product and demo.
> 
> http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...-autonomous-driving-technology-300343337.html

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## GS Zhou

*We are in the status of "Sustainable Collapse"!!*
(可持续性崩溃，中或最输)

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## Bussard Ramjet

onebyone said:


> Humanity may still be years if not decades away from producing sentient artificial intelligence. But with the rise of machine-learning services in our smartphones and other devices, one type of narrow, specialized AI has become all the rage. And the research on this branch of AI is only accelerating.
> 
> In fact, as more industries and policymakers awaken to the benefits of machine learning, two countries appear to be pulling away in the research race. The results will probably have significant implications for the future of AI.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> a new strategic plan aimed at spurring U.S. development of artificial intelligence. What's striking about it is that although the United States was an early leader on deep-learning research, China has effectively eclipsed it in terms of the number of papers published annually on the subject. The rate of increase is remarkably steep, reflecting how quickly China's research priorities have shifted.
> 
> 
> The quality of China's research is also striking. The chart below narrows the research to include only those papers that were cited at least once by other researchers, an indication that the papers were influential in the field.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (Office of Science and Technology Policy/The White House)
> Compared with other countries, the United States and China are spending tremendous research attention on deep learning. But, according to the White House, the United States is not investing nearly enough in basic research.
> 
> “Current levels of R&D spending are half to one-quarter of the level of R&D investment that would produce the optimal level of economic growth,” a companion report published this week by the Obama administration finds.
> 
> The government is pushing for a major role for itself in AI research, and here's why: Becoming a leader in artificial-intelligence research and development puts the United States in a better position to establish global norms on how AI should be used safely. When AI stands to transform virtually everything including labor, the environment, and the future of warfare and cyberconflict, the United States could be put at a disadvantage if other countries, such as China, get to dictate terms instead.
> 
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.../13/china-has-now-eclipsed-us-in-ai-research/




This is research based on numbers, not quality. Both the graphs here signify numbers. 

It would have been better if we would have compared papers by their total citations.


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## GCTom

Publishing research paper is one thing, publishing quality research paper is another thing, and publishing quality, innovative, and ground breaking research paper is another big thing.

While it is somewhat an indication that China is publishing good amount of research papers on AI, but we have not seen any groundbreaking products came out of China results of these. 

Currently I doubt China's research on AI is at the same level and sophistication as the Americans, maybe in the future China will catch up.

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## Bussard Ramjet

cirr said:


> Where is that Indian guy @Bussard Ramjet?
> 
> *Chinese AI Startup TuSimple Breaks Ten Records in Autonomous-driving Technology*
> 
> Oct 12, 2016, 07:00 ET
> 
> SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- *TuSimple*, a Chinese computer vision and artificial intelligence startup, announced that it ranked No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes, the most influential public leaderboard in autonomous driving.
> 
> For KITTI, TuSimple swept three records in object detection, two in object tracking and four in road segmentation. In total, TuSimple achieved world-leading results in 10 records.
> 
> KITTI/CityScapes dataset has been a popular arena for many years. Its players include many world-class research institutes, such as Baidu, Samsung, NVidia, and NEC, and top universities, such as Stanford, andUniversity of California.
> 
> An authoritative public benchmark dataset is important to evaluate the technical competence of a team. The KITTI Vision Benchmark Suite, established by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, is the world's first and largest benchmark for vision based autonomous driving. KITTI includes real images collected from a variety of road scenes, from urban streets to country roads to highways. Each image contains a sophisticated scenario involving, for instance, a crowded vehicle and pedestrians, with various levels of occlusion.
> 
> KITTI object detection includes vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle detection. KITTI target tracking includes vehicle and pedestrian tracking. KITTI road segmentation includes four individual scenarios, including urban unmarked, urban marked, urban multiple marked and the average of former named urban road.
> 
> TuSimple swept KITTI's nine individual tests, ranking first in the world for all of them, while other well-known institutes had previously had only one or two individual top ranks.
> 
> Cityscapes Dataset is published by Mercedes-Benz and provides a segmentation data set in anonymous driving. It is used to evaluate algorithms' performance of semantic understanding in an urban setting. Cityscapes have 50 cities with different scenes, backgrounds and seasons. It has 5,000 fine annotation images, 20,000 roughly annotation images and 30 class objects.
> 
> Cityscapes benchmark has two subsets: fine and coarse. The former provides 5,000 very detailed, pixel-level labeling and the latter provides an extra 20,000 coarse level labeling. TuSimple's algorithm triumphed under each sets of criteria.
> 
> In addition to TuSimple's success in the self-driving benchmark for KITTI and Cityscapes, TuSimple also achieved first place in facial landmark localization benchmark, 300W and AFLW by a landslide. This technique is mainly used for driver monitoring systems and positioning driver facial landmarks to detect fatigue or distracted driving.
> 
> The same technologies have been used in TuSimple's product and demo.
> 
> http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...-autonomous-driving-technology-300343337.html




What other AI centric companies does China has? 

How does China's companies compare to US on AI? 

A lot of questions, the answers to which aren't clear.


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## Götterdämmerung

So, how is the so called IT super power ranked?

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## Echo_419

Götterdämmerung said:


> So, how is the so called IT super power ranked?



I respect your country far to much troll you


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## Götterdämmerung

Echo_419 said:


> I respect your country far to much troll you



Our once fabulous IT industry has gone down the gutter thanks to the Transatlantic sycophants. We are not even able to create a rival to Google, Facebook or YouTube within the EU with over 500 m potential customers.

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## Echo_419

Götterdämmerung said:


> Our once fabulous IT industry has gone down the gutter thanks to the Transatlantic sycophants. We are not even able to create a rival to Google, Facebook or YouTube within the EU with over 500 m potential customers.



If only we could 'elp' you in IT 
On a more serious note
I don't know why you guys don't have world class IT giants, even we have big domestic alternatives to American and Chinese It companies. Any idea where you messed things up?


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## Götterdämmerung

Echo_419 said:


> If only we could 'elp' you in IT
> On a more serious note
> I don't know why you guys don't have world class IT giants, even we have big domestic alternatives to American and Chinese It companies. Any idea where you messed things up?



Because of the Transatlantic sycophants in politics and business who think relying on our great friend and partner on the other side of the pond can't go wrong. It's not that we don't have great IT people in Germany or the EU, we just don't have an environment to foster the startups into successful MNC. 

When the IT industry stated to get into the web, we had all the rivaling companies that the US also had, but step by step, they all got crushed or bought by google and Co. The only one we have that is still very competitive is SAP, Nixdorf, Siemens etc. all have given up.

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## S10

I don't think we should dig too deep into AI. A self-learning and self-aware AI could spell doom for humanity. This is the same view shared by some of the brightest people on earth, including Hawking, Gates and Musk. Once we cross that technological singularity, there is no going back.

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## Lure

S10 said:


> I don't think we should dig too deep into AI. A self-learning and self-aware AI could spell doom for humanity. This is the same view shared by some of the brightest people on earth, including Hawking, Gates and Musk. Once we cross that technological singularity, there is no going back.



Yeah but it's gonna be like another nuclear arms race. You will know that what you are doing might have potential consequences, but you will also know that not doing will have much worse consequences. So you will do it anyway. 

By the way I'm working in this field. I can clearly confirm that the most impact comes from China and US. The rest of the world combined doesn't even makes up for China or USA.

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## AndrewJin

Lure said:


> Yeah but it's gonna be like another nuclear arms race. You will know that what you are doing might have potential consequences, but you will also know that not doing will have much worse consequences. So you will do it anyway.
> 
> By the way I'm working in this field. I can clearly confirm that the most impact comes from China and US. The rest of the world combined doesn't even makes up for China or USA.


wow, you AI expert?

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## mingle

Its all about money that all .


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## Lure

AndrewJin said:


> wow, you AI expert?



Can't say I'm an AI expert, I've made my MSc thesis in Machine Learning field. I've also developed a few applications mainly using Machine Learning techniques. Deep Learning is a quite new area with lots of new opportunities. As far as I can see Chinese people are doing everything they can to seize this opportunity. 

Andrew Ng has a lot of contributions to Deep Learning. While everybody was championing for SVM, he was still insisting on Neural Networks and it turned out he was right. 

Of course I can't forget two prodigies : Alex Keizevsky and Ilya Sutskever. They are most porbably of Russian origin. Both of them are in their early thirties right now and both of them are among inventors of Deep Learning. Hell there is even an Algorithm called Alexnet.

As far as I can see Russians have a lot of talent for mathematics but they lack the organization. Russian people are sparking in certain fields but they can't create a robust school of thought and tradition in most fields. Chinese people are very talented. Much more organized then Russians. Today they only suffer because of language barrier. Other then that, they do just fine.


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## cirr

Bussard Ramjet said:


> What other AI centric companies does China has?
> 
> How does China's companies compare to US on AI?
> 
> A lot of questions, the answers to which aren't clear.



Dude, time to learn Chinese, for English doesn't get you very far knowing about China

*懂大数据的人工智能在云栖大会上唱主角*

2016-10-15

*核心提示：*脑补一下这样的场景：你打开家门收快递，发现敲门的不是快递小哥，而且长得很萌的机器人。这不是科幻片中的场景，这款名叫“*小G*”的*送货机器人*今年就可能出现在你家门口。在这两天举行的2016杭州·云栖大会上，很多只有在实验室才看得到的神秘人工智能纷纷亮相。而且，它们将很快进入我们的生活。






脑补一下这样的场景：你打开家门收快递，发现敲门的不是快递小哥，而且长得很萌的机器人。

这不是科幻片中的场景，这款名叫“小G”的送货机器人今年就可能出现在你家门口。在这两天举行的2016杭州·云栖大会上，很多只有在实验室才看得到的神秘人工智能纷纷亮相。而且，它们将很快进入我们的生活。

*会自己坐电梯会送快递上门的机器人*

小G是昨天在云栖大会上首次亮相的菜鸟网络“E.T.物流实验室”开发的一个可以在陆地上行走的末端配送机器人，它身高1米左右，一次能装10-20个包裹。只要通过手机向小G发出服务需求，它便会规划最优配送路径，全自动将包裹送到指定位置，用户可通过电子扫描签收。

强大的算法让小G拥有像人类一样的思考能力，它会观察周边的复杂环境，并在系统中建立自己所看到的多维世界。走在路上，小G也能动态识别环境的变化，它不仅能识别路上的行人、车辆，还可以自己乘坐电梯，甚至能够感知到电梯的拥挤程度，不跟人抢电梯。

菜鸟小G总设计师陈俊波希望，未来小G能帮助快递员缓解末端配送压力。

除了小G，云栖大会第一天马云上台发言时，一个叫*ET*的人工智能，不仅可以将马云的发言实时速录，而且会模仿马云的声音，可以预测交通和天气、情感分析，甚至讲笑话。

“现在的机器人和以前的机器人有本质的区别，”阿里巴巴集团技术委员会主席王坚说，1997年电脑“深蓝”首次战胜国际象棋大师卡斯帕罗夫，是人类教机器人打败象棋手，不过在今年战胜世界冠军李世石的人工智能“阿尔法狗”，实际上是用大数据打败了李世石。

而在马云看来，过去人工智能是人类的工具，今后，人工智能将是人类的合作伙伴。

*未来你的生活将被彻底数字化*

大数据到底是什么？大数据和强大的计算能力，对我们未来的生活产生怎样的影响？

在昨天的云栖大会上，阿里巴巴集团CTO张建锋说：“随着数据处理能力的提升，整个世界一定会被数字化，数字化之后这个世界才更有机会被智能化。”

在张建锋看来，数字化会沿着两个围度发展，一是通过计算机视觉等技术不停地进行聚类，比如通过支付宝的扫脸识别就能确定人的身份，通过手机淘宝的拍立淘就可以了解商品详情；二是不断通过前沿技术寻找新的观察角度，例如蚂蚁金服在这次云栖大会上亮相的两项黑科技——基于虚拟模拟现实技术和现实增强技术的VR Pay和AR技术“蚂上”。

有了VR Pay之后，用户不管在购物、直播还是玩游戏，当涉及支付时，不用取下VR，而是可以通过凝视、触控、点头等交互方式直接在虚拟环境中完成支付。VR Pay研发团队的负责人说，VR Pay最快将在年内实现运用。

而数字化对于电商的影响，则是更多个性化产品和服务的出现。以一根高尔夫球杆为例，随着人工智能引擎“电商大脑”的不断进化，在不久的将来，一位高尔夫玩家在淘宝下单，就能够获得根据自己的体形、习惯等定制的专属球杆。智能球杆所沉淀的用户使用数据，又能够帮助工厂不断改善生产制造，同时还能帮助高尔夫教练更好地开展训练。

这样的场景在追求标准化的工业生产时代很难想象，但随着互联网成为基础设施、计算能力呈几何级数爆发以及所有的线下信息孤岛被打破，计算机人工智能将有能力支撑这一复杂的系统，“这正是阿里未来30年的技术布局重点。”

*浙江探索“互联网+教育”新模式*

9月份开学后，在浙江，一些中学的同学发现，只要有网络，就可以登录到一个学习系统，在这个系统里除了学习课程、下载资料，还可以和老师互动。

这是浙江省教育厅与阿里巴巴集团在教育云领域合作的初步成果，借助于云计算，将优质教育资源进行覆盖。也就是说，今后，农村的孩子也可以跟城里的孩子上“同一堂课”。

今年9月，浙江省教育厅发布《浙江省教育信息化“十三五”发展规划》，计划在“十三五”期间组织实施“浙江省智慧教育工程”，全面推进智慧教育，预计到2020年实现国际先进水平的教育信息化。

此外，昨天，阿里巴巴和英特尔、惠普这两个计算机巨头联合发布了YunOS BooK，它是YunOS专门为教育行业定制的全新品类，可以替代学校里的台式机和笨重的书本。

http://n.cztv.com/news/12259552.html



Bussard Ramjet said:


> This is research based on numbers, not quality. Both the graphs here signify numbers.
> 
> It would have been better if we would have compared papers by their total citations.



Want to see some great great great AI products by Chinese firms? Visit this 4-day conference:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2016-10/13/c_135751969.htm

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## qwerrty

some news...

Baidu Releases AI Benchmark
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330521

Baidu's AI system composes music





Baidu's Deep Speech system









Baidu Uses Map Searches to Predict When Crowds Will Get Out of Control
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...-predict-when-crowds-will-get-out-of-control/

Baidu launches medical chatbot to help Chinese doctors diagnose patients
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/11/13240434/baidu-medical-chatbot-china-melody

$1 billion Chinese Startup iCarbonX gets Funding Boost for Predictive Medicine Technology
http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/...nx-gets-funding-boost-predictive-medicine.htm

Alibaba’s AI predicts 100% of winners in Chinese TV singing contest
https://www.techinasia.com/alibaba-ai-predicts-china-reality-show

Alibaba to supply AI and data tech to Chinese deep space exploration and smart city projects
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/10...chinese-deep-space-exploration-and-smart-city

Audi works with Chinese technology companies to develop intelligent cars
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/0...nology_companies_to_develop_intelligent_cars/

*Huawei's AI Research Lab*


Code:


http://www.noahlab.com.hk/

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## Götterdämmerung

Lure said:


> Yeah but it's gonna be like another nuclear arms race. You will know that what you are doing might have potential consequences, but you will also know that not doing will have much worse consequences. So you will do it anyway.



Is it only me who thinks that ever since the discovery of atomic fission, science progress became a race to the bottom of human development?

For a bit of comfort, many are willing to give up freedom till we all become slaves of a neo-feudal oligarchy.

Smart city sounds cool, but it also means 100% supervision. Cashless shopping makes shopping more comfortable, but with the data in the wrong hands or a tyrannical regime (nobody knows who will rule in the future) can used as a weapon against you, e.g. "look, he bought a sex toy at that store, although he was a single or he is a pervert with some kinky phantasy". Or, "He bought that book with forbidden thoughts", although that book was at that time legal and became illegal after the dictator came to power.

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## Jlaw

cirr said:


> Where is that Indian guy @Bussard Ramjet?
> 
> *Chinese AI Startup TuSimple Breaks Ten Records in Autonomous-driving Technology*
> 
> Oct 12, 2016, 07:00 ET
> 
> SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- *TuSimple*, a Chinese computer vision and artificial intelligence startup, announced that it ranked No. 1 in KITTI and Cityscapes, the most influential public leaderboard in autonomous driving.
> 
> For KITTI, TuSimple swept three records in object detection, two in object tracking and four in road segmentation. In total, TuSimple achieved world-leading results in 10 records.
> 
> KITTI/CityScapes dataset has been a popular arena for many years. Its players include many world-class research institutes, such as Baidu, Samsung, NVidia, and NEC, and top universities, such as Stanford, andUniversity of California.
> 
> An authoritative public benchmark dataset is important to evaluate the technical competence of a team. The KITTI Vision Benchmark Suite, established by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, is the world's first and largest benchmark for vision based autonomous driving. KITTI includes real images collected from a variety of road scenes, from urban streets to country roads to highways. Each image contains a sophisticated scenario involving, for instance, a crowded vehicle and pedestrians, with various levels of occlusion.
> 
> KITTI object detection includes vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle detection. KITTI target tracking includes vehicle and pedestrian tracking. KITTI road segmentation includes four individual scenarios, including urban unmarked, urban marked, urban multiple marked and the average of former named urban road.
> 
> TuSimple swept KITTI's nine individual tests, ranking first in the world for all of them, while other well-known institutes had previously had only one or two individual top ranks.
> 
> Cityscapes Dataset is published by Mercedes-Benz and provides a segmentation data set in anonymous driving. It is used to evaluate algorithms' performance of semantic understanding in an urban setting. Cityscapes have 50 cities with different scenes, backgrounds and seasons. It has 5,000 fine annotation images, 20,000 roughly annotation images and 30 class objects.
> 
> Cityscapes benchmark has two subsets: fine and coarse. The former provides 5,000 very detailed, pixel-level labeling and the latter provides an extra 20,000 coarse level labeling. TuSimple's algorithm triumphed under each sets of criteria.
> 
> In addition to TuSimple's success in the self-driving benchmark for KITTI and Cityscapes, TuSimple also achieved first place in facial landmark localization benchmark, 300W and AFLW by a landslide. This technique is mainly used for driver monitoring systems and positioning driver facial landmarks to detect fatigue or distracted driving.
> 
> The same technologies have been used in TuSimple's product and demo.
> 
> http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...-autonomous-driving-technology-300343337.html





GCTom said:


> Publishing research paper is one thing, publishing quality research paper is another thing, and publishing quality, innovative, and ground breaking research paper is another big thing.
> 
> While it is somewhat an indication that China is publishing good amount of research papers on AI, but we have not seen any groundbreaking products came out of China results of these.
> 
> Currently I doubt China's research on AI is at the same level and sophistication as the Americans, maybe in the future China will catch up.



US was in the lead with low quality research paper for a long time. That we can all agree.



S10 said:


> I don't think we should dig too deep into AI. A self-learning and self-aware AI could spell doom for humanity. This is the same view shared by some of the brightest people on earth, including Hawking, Gates and Musk. Once we cross that technological singularity, there is no going back.


You been watching too many Hollywood shit . Save your money and do other things

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## AndrewJin

Götterdämmerung said:


> e.g. "look, he bought a sex toy at that store, although he was a single or he is a pervert with some kinky phantasy"


Is this the reason your avatar changed from Alte Mutter?


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## Götterdämmerung

AndrewJin said:


> Is this the reason your avatar changed from Alte Mutter?
> 
> View attachment 343717



No, I thought the way the calligrapher wrote the words was so poetic.

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## AndrewJin

Götterdämmerung said:


> No, I thought the way the calligrapher wrote the words was so poetic.


I think the Alte Frau looks better.....


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## wiseone2

Götterdämmerung said:


> Because of the Transatlantic sycophants in politics and business who think relying on our great friend and partner on the other side of the pond can't go wrong. It's not that we don't have great IT people in Germany or the EU, we just don't have an environment to foster the startups into successful MNC.
> 
> When the IT industry stated to get into the web, we had all the rivaling companies that the US also had, but step by step, they all got crushed or bought by google and Co. The only one we have that is still very competitive is SAP, Nixdorf, Siemens etc. all have given up.


what does Nixsdorf do these days ?


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## Mangus Ortus Novem

Götterdämmerung said:


> No, I thought the way the calligrapher wrote the words was so poetic.



Ah my valued frined, 

You dare them! 

I can see the poetic elements as well... the depth of your rejection to the fake illusions around us...brave. Quite brave.

_*Alles van waarde is weerloos!*_

Arcadia was written before our good ShakeSpear did his magic acts...yet Kant never really left his town.

You keep doing what is right...

Fun.

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## Götterdämmerung

AndrewJin said:


> I think the Alte Frau looks better.....



She is not that old, just 47. Besides that, she is a real opportunistic system biatch. Not much symphathy from my side.



wiseone2 said:


> what does Nixsdorf do these days ?



http://www.wincor-nixdorf.com/inter...AEE1F/EN/Home/homepage_node_EN.html?__site=EN

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## pts_m_h_2016

GCTom said:


> Publishing research paper is one thing, publishing quality research paper is another thing, and publishing quality, innovative, and ground breaking research paper is another big thing.
> 
> While it is somewhat an indication that China is publishing good amount of research papers on AI, but we have not seen any groundbreaking products came out of China results of these.
> 
> Currently I doubt China's research on AI is at the same level and sophistication as the Americans, maybe in the future China will catch up.




According to Thomson Reuters Web of Science index, we find PRC leading the world in highly cited publications of AI research. 

Courtesy of Web of Science

For period 2006-2016, countries 





For period 2006-2016, institutes





For period 2011-2016, countries





For period 2011-2016, institutes

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## Lure

Götterdämmerung said:


> Is it only me who thinks that ever since the discovery of atomic fission, science progress became a race to the bottom of human development?
> 
> For a bit of comfort, many are willing to give up freedom till we all become slaves of a *neo-feudal oligarchy*.
> 
> Smart city sounds cool, but it also means 100% supervision. Cashless shopping makes shopping more comfortable, but with the data in the wrong hands or a tyrannical regime (nobody knows who will rule in the future) can used as a weapon against you, e.g. "look, he bought a sex toy at that store, although he was a single or he is a pervert with some kinky phantasy". Or, "He bought that book with forbidden thoughts", although that book was at that time legal and became illegal after the dictator came to power.



Tought about the exact same bolded expression recently. 

Social structure had changed rapidly since the end of Feudalism in Europe. In fact ideas like individualism or nationalism or modern state wouldn't even be imagined in a feudally organised territories. Back then there was a rigid hierarchy in society and where you "belonged" determined even before you was born. It was rigid structure because it was coming from a certain social preassure.

After the end of feudalism and with the emergence of national identites, people were belong their national identity. You didn't "belong" to any serf that ruled your region. You had no regional identity. You had a national identity. And that national identity was completely earthly and secular. You can't change your religion and hate it, change where you live and hate it, even hate the serf that rules you. But you can't change your national identity that's who you are. That's your mother's tongue. In all your life you want be able to talk any language better then your mother tongue. 

But somehow we changed that beautiful and weel tought out identity again. Right now we are again feeling a "belonging" to our occupation, the company that we work, the social class that we're in, the store that we shop etc. We are forming little feudal serfdoms in the name of companies or NGO's. People not only spend their time in there for money professionally but feel some form of "attachment". If you're gay you're not Turk anymore. You're a gay and you belong to LGBT community. If you're minority you belong to that community. If you're religious then you're from the religious community. If you insist that you define yourself with your national identity, then you're ostracized and "pejoratively" called as nationalist. 

In that micro-identities that we invented we are seeing much heavier social preassure to adapt. To become something that we quite not feel right. From the brand we wear to where the hell we go for holiday we simply share them willingly on social media. Because we need to feel that belonging. We need that approval. There is no privacy anymore. We are in the age of sharing. Oversharing in fact. 

I'm a computer scientist and spend quite sometime in front of a computer but I never used social media. I don't have any "facebook" or "twitter". I don't take selfies and share on the internet. I don't announce my holidays or where I shop. People can't believe this when I say that. In Turkey if you don't have a facebook people simply assume you don't know how to use a computer and can't find any other reason not to have a social media account. 

In that age of social preassure, nothing stays private and with the internet of things coming up the accumulated data of each individual will rise exponentially. And the next dictator won't be a guy who will force us to use these technologies. The next dictator will sell these technologies to us and we will buy them blindly like idiots. We will be watched, categorized, predicted and will be known to other entities so well that probably we don't know ourselves that well. 

Even Turkish government with it's very limited technological capabilities and let's say an ideology and state of mind that belongs to 7th century, looks social media accounts of government employees and fire them if they drink alcohol and share that photo on facebook. I don't want to blame the victim here but he shared those pictures willingly. Shared his private life on internet where billions of people use each day. And what could go wrong right?

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## AndrewJin

Götterdämmerung said:


> She is not that old, just 47. Besides that, she is a real opportunistic system biatch. Not much symphathy from my side.
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.wincor-nixdorf.com/inter...AEE1F/EN/Home/homepage_node_EN.html?__site=EN


Who is she?


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## Götterdämmerung

Lure said:


> Tought about the exact same bolded expression recently.
> 
> Social structure had changed rapidly since the end of Feudalism in Europe. In fact ideas like individualism or nationalism or modern state wouldn't even be imagined in a feudally organised territories. Back then there was a rigid hierarchy in society and where you "belonged" determined even before you was born. It was rigid structure because it was coming from a certain social preassure.
> 
> After the end of feudalism and with the emergence of national identites, people were belong their national identity. You didn't "belong" to any serf that ruled your region. You had no regional identity. You had a national identity. And that national identity was completely earthly and secular. You can't change your religion and hate it, change where you live and hate it, even hate the serf that rules you. But you can't change your national identity that's who you are. That's your mother's tongue. In all your life you want be able to talk any language better then your mother tongue.
> 
> But somehow we changed that beautiful and weel tought out identity again. Right now we are again feeling a "belonging" to our occupation, the company that we work, the social class that we're in, the store that we shop etc. We are forming little feudal serfdoms in the name of companies or NGO's. People not only spend their time in there for money professionally but feel some form of "attachment". If you're gay you're not Turk anymore. You're a gay and you belong to LGBT community. If you're minority you belong to that community. If you're religious then you're from the religious community. If you insist that you define yourself with your national identity, then you're ostracized and "pejoratively" called as nationalist.
> 
> In that micro-identities that we invented we are seeing much heavier social preassure to adapt. To become something that we quite not feel right. From the brand we wear to where the hell we go for holiday we simply share them willingly on social media. Because we need to feel that belonging. We need that approval. There is no privacy anymore. We are in the age of sharing. Oversharing in fact.
> 
> I'm a computer scientist and spend quite sometime in front of a computer but I never used social media. I don't have any "facebook" or "twitter". I don't take selfies and share on the internet. I don't announce my holidays or where I shop. People can't believe this when I say that. In Turkey if you don't have a facebook people simply assume you don't know how to use a computer and can't find any other reason not to have a social media account.
> 
> In that age of social preassure, nothing stays private and with the internet of things coming up the accumulated data of each individual will rise exponentially. And the next dictator won't be a guy who will force us to use these technologies. The next dictator will sell these technologies to us and we will buy them blindly like idiots. We will be watched, categorized, predicted and will be known to other entities so well that probably we don't know ourselves that well.
> 
> Even Turkish government with it's very limited technological capabilities and let's say an ideology and state of mind that belongs to 7th century, looks social media accounts of government employees and fire them if they drink alcohol and share that photo on facebook. I don't want to blame the victim here but he shared those pictures willingly. Shared his private life on internet where billions of people use each day. And what could go wrong right?



Very well written! What you call little feudal serfdom can be regarded as neo-tribalism, where each and every interests groups form their respective tribes. The tribes can be split into tiny fractions till society cannot function as an entity anymore. But that's the ruling class goal, isn't it? A fractured society has no power to counter tyranny. Western modern society is regressing into the pre-Westphalian era plus fascism and modern IT technology where 100% surveillance is possible and sheeples blindlingly embrace this new "comfort" and "security".

Imagine a cashless society run by a tyrannical system with 100% surveillance. Not even Orwell could have conceived this nightmare. How about switch off your bankcard for a month for saying the wrong thing or posting a non-PC pic on facebook or having contact with the "wrong" person? It goes deeper, even your family and good friends will be on the watchlist once your bankcard got switched off as to observe whether they have increased their grocery purchase to help you out for the time being. They, too, will be punished for helping you and then you can think who in the future will dare to lend a helping hand to family members or friends.

*Beware of anything that has the prefix "smart" in it!*



AndrewJin said:


> Who is she?



https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Jones

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## j20blackdragon

Bussard Ramjet said:


> This is research based on numbers, not quality. Both the graphs here signify numbers.
> 
> It would have been better if we would have compared papers by their total citations.







pts_m_h_2016 said:


> According to Thomson Reuters Web of Science index, we find PRC leading the world in highly cited publications of AI research.
> 
> Courtesy of Web of Science
> 
> For period 2011-2016, countries

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## kuge

S10 said:


> I don't think we should dig too deep into AI. A self-learning and self-aware AI could spell doom for humanity. This is the same view shared by some of the brightest people on earth, including Hawking, Gates and Musk. Once we cross that technological singularity, there is no going back.


i dont think AI bots wil come close to human being as a whole for non-living elements have no life in themselves.


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## Bussard Ramjet

*Artificial intelligence won’t replace humans anytime soon, say China’s tech leaders*

dd

While there’s no doubt artificial intelligence (AI) is the new frontier, AI applications won’t be able to perform complicated jobs or replace humans anytime soon, China’s tech leaders said on Thursday.

Technology companies in China and the rest of the world are exploring opportunities in AI, but the foundation for the technology is still not mature, said Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and chief executive of Chinese internet powerhouse Tencent Holdings.

“Cloud computing driven by AI and big data are absolutely the new frontier but... I think we still need a lot of effort in building the foundation, for example we need better algorithms,” Ma said at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen.

It is possible for AI technology to be used in various industries with different applications but because current technology development is too preliminary AI is unable to perform complicated tasks, he added.

“We have been discussing AI for a decade, but only saw a breakthrough over the past year after [Google’s] Alpha Go beat a human [playing Go]. However, applying AI technology in various industries is not that simple. We are still far away from achieving this,” Ma said.

Tencent and China’s two other technology giants Baidu and Alibaba Group – collectively known as BAT – have all been investing in developing AI technologies.

There is still a long way to go to create human-like AI applications. So AI can only do some simple tasks in the near future
YANG YUANQING, LENOVO CHAIRMAN
Starting in 2013, Baidu began developing its AI system, Baidu Brain, which is now powering applications in image recognition, voice recognition and its autonomous cars. Alibaba, which owns the _South China Morning Post_, has expanded its AI applications into areas such as traffic control, customer services, and real-time voice recognition.

Among BAT, Tencent was the latest to join the AI frenzy. Yet Ma said: “Every technology company will explore opportunities in AI and integrate it with the company’s advantages. In the past, when one company seized the opportunity in the mobile internet sector, it didn’t mean that other companies had lost the chance.”

Speaking at the same conference, Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive of computer maker Lenovo Group, said the development of AI technology is still at a very early stage.

“There is still a long way to go to create human-like AI applications. So AI can only do some simple tasks in the near future,” he said.

But AI will become an important element in developing smart devices, Yang said. “We may not care about the shape of a smart device in the future, but will focus on how to integrate AI with the smart device which will be able to help people solve more problems.”


http://www.scmp.com/business/compan...lligence-wont-replace-humans-anytime-soon-say


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## Reashot Xigwin

It will just replace people on the bottom of the labor pool.


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## Hamartia Antidote

Reashot Xigwin said:


> It will just replace people on the bottom of the labor pool.



I can see a day coming where you go into a room in a hospital/clinic/mall where a device gives you a complete body scan and does some other blood/pressure tests, runs a diagnosis algorithm, and tells you the outcome.

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## Beast

Hamartia Antidote said:


> I can see a day coming where you go into a room in a hospital/clinic/mall where a device gives you a complete body scan and does some other blood/pressure tests, runs a diagnosis algorithm, and tell you the outcome.


Tailor made medicine specifically design only for you but I predict this kind of service is only for rich.

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## Hamartia Antidote

Beast said:


> Tailor made medicine specifically design only for you but I predict this kind of service is only for rich.



oh very good call. Yes, it could develop a designer drug just for you. Gene adjustment therapy too.


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## nang2

anytime soon? I would say never.


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## Hareeb

The day when AI robots like siri and google assistant will be able to write complex algorithms themselves, it will be the end of human race. They will take-over humans soon.


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## Jlaw

Hamartia Antidote said:


> I can see a day coming where you go into a room in a hospital/clinic/mall where a device gives you a complete body scan and does some other blood/pressure tests, runs a diagnosis algorithm, and tells you the outcome.


Not going to happen. Any tech that make overpaid GP obsolete will be shot down


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## 艹艹艹

http://gbtimes.com/business/new-chinese-owner-plans-enhance-opera-browser-ai
*New Chinese owner plans to enhance Opera browser with AI*
JANNE SUOKAS


China’s Kunlun Tech announced on Friday that it has completed the acquisition of the web browser Opera. (Photo: Screenshot - Kunlun.com)

China’s Kunlun Tech announced on Friday that it has completed the acquisition of the web browser Opera and plans to build it around a content platform driven by artificial intelligence.

Kunlun Tech, a Beijing-based online game company, and five other Chinese internet companies including cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360, jointly acquired the Norwegian online browser firm Opera Software ASA at a final price of US$575 million.

The Chinese consortium – Golden Brick Silk Road fund – now owns Opera’s consumer business, including its flagship mobile and desktop browsers, performance and privacy apps, technology licensing outside Opera TV and a stake in a Chinese joint venture.

Kunlun will get a 33.3 percent stake in the business, and its chairman Zhou Yahui will serve as Opera’s chairman while sharing CEO duties with the company’s original CEO Lars Boilesen, according to Sina Finance (link in Chinese).

Opera’s Mediaworks, Apps & Games, Opera TV, as well as Skyfire video compression technology and Surfeasy VPN software were left out of the deal after the Chinese bidders failed to get regulatory approval for buying the Norwegian company’s whole business earlier this year, due to US authorities’ concerns about user privacy. 

Kunlun Tech said today that they plan to fully exploit the potential of the Opera mobile browser which will be built around a content platform driven by artificial intelligence, but did not specify how and when this would happen.

The Chinese company announced in March that it had invested US$3 million for a 15 percent stake in Kunlun AI, a startup jointly established by Kunlun Tech’s Hong Kong subsidiary and a few undisclosed partners.

Based in Palo Alto, California, Kunlun AI will develop big data and AI-driven corporate solutions in advertising, content recommendations, security and others fields, the company said, describing its work on artificial intelligence "long-term investment".

Opera says its web browser has 277 million mobile users and 51 million desktop users around the world.

Last month it had an 8.6 percent share of mobile users globally, ranking fourth behind Google’s Chrome (40.6 percent), UC Browser (17.9 percent) and Apple’s Safari (17.7 percent), according to StatCounter. 

Kunlun Tech plans to generate U$1 billion in net profit by 2020 by using Opera, social networking apps, financial services and the online video and gaming businesses, according to China Daily.

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## Shotgunner51

*China Chases Silicon Valley Talent Who Are Worried About Trump Presidency*
by Eric Baculinao 
Dec 4 2016, 10:02 am ET

*BEIJING* — China is trying to capitalize on President-elect Donald Trump's hardline immigration stance and vow to clamp down on a foreign worker visa program that has been used to recruit thousands from overseas to Silicon Valley. Leading tech entrepreneurs, including Robin Li, the billionaire CEO of Baidu, China's largest search engine, see Trump's plans as a huge potential opportunity to lure tech talent away from the United States.

The country already offers incentives of up to * $1 million as signing bonuses* for those deemed "outstanding" and *generous subsidies* for start-ups.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post last month reported on comments made by Steve Bannon, who is now the president-elect's chief strategist, during a radio conversation with Trump in Nov. 2015. Bannon, the former Breitbart.com publisher, indicated that he didn't necessarily agree with the idea that foreign talent that goes to school in America should stay in America.

_"When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from South Asia or from Asia, I think ...," _Bannon said, trailing off. _ "A country is more than an economy. We're a civic society." _​




Baidu CEO Robin Li. Imaginechina​
Comments like Bannon's and the president-elect's campaign pledges are music to the ears of tech leaders like Li.

_"I read that an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump openly complained that three-quarters of CEOs in Silicon Valley are Asian immigrants,"_ the influential entrepreneur said in a recent keynote speech at a state-sponsored conference, a copy of which was provided to NBC News by Baidu.​
_"Many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley have expressed worries, especially after Trump's election, about the harm to the United States' capabilities in innovation,"_ Li told the audience at *China's third annual World Internet Conference*.

_"I truly hope that these excellent talents from various countries will migrate to China and help China play a more important role on the stage of global innovation." _​
He added: _"I hope everybody will come to China, let's innovate together." _​




​ 
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tours a Carrier factory with Vice President-elect Mike Pence in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.,​ 
December 1, 2016. MIKE SEGAR / Reuters​
As part of the plan for his first 100 days in office, Trump has vowed to prioritize immigration issues and "direct the Department of Labor to investigate all abuses of visa programs that undercut the American worker."

On the campaign trail, he denounced the H-1B visa program, which admits 85,000 foreign skilled workers and graduate students annually — many of whom work in the tech industry and eventually become legal U.S. residents or citizens.

_"It's very bad for business … and it's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers. And we should end it,"_ he said.​
He sparked more uncertainty by naming Sen. Jeff Sessions, a long-time critic of the skilled-worker visa program, as his pick for attorney general. Sessions has accused tech firms in Silicon Valley of exploiting the program to pass over American labor for foreign workers to cut technology costs.

China's efforts to attract foreign workers has traditionally been hurt by Beijing's web censorship and strict government control of the internet. China has around 700 million internet users — who type a mind-boggling 35 billion words every day, according to the latest survey examining the behavior of the country's netizens.

But Li argued that the "global center of innovation is shifting," describing the world's second-largest economy as the "biggest and fastest growing internet market."

A Baidu spokesperson told NBC News that the company has a program to attract "top-tier talent" in China and abroad, to advance "Baidu's technological leadership in areas including artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning and autonomous diving."





A Baidu sign is seen during the third annual World Internet Conference in Jiaxing, China. ALY SONG / Reuters

Hugo Barra, a Brazilian computer scientist, stunned the technology world in 2013 by leaving his post as Google's vice-president in charge of its Android division to join a private Chinese startup called Xiaomi.

As Xiaomi's international vice-president, Barra has taken charge of global expansion for the smartphone company that has been compared to Apple for its slick marketing and management.

The Beijing-based firm has now become the world's fourth-biggest smartphone maker and is broadening its businesses to mobile apps, laptops and Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics.

Analysts have also noted China's emergence as the world's biggest e-commerce market and a leading innovator in mobile services, on the strength of the country's estimated 600 million smartphone users, which is expected to reach 700 million by 2019.

WeChat, China's smash-hit messaging app owned by Tencent, the country's most valuable tech company, has also become a mobile payment giant that is chasing market leader Alipay. The two companies had the lion's share of last year's mobile transactions of $235 billion, pushing China ahead of the U.S. where the market was $231 billion, according to data provider Euromonitor International.

China is also leading the global innovation race. Of the 2.9 million patent applications worldwide in 2015, about 1 million of them came from China. In comparison, 526,000 applications came from the U.S., according to data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Success stories include Dajiang Innovations (DJI) — the world's biggest maker of consumer and small commercial drones. The Chinese start-up boasts three factories in the booming city of Shenzhen, a marketing office in Los Angeles that works with filmmakers, and a Frankfurt office which deals with content partners.





Drones on display at the headquarters of DJI in Shenzhen, China, in April. Stringer / Imaginechina

Paul Pan, DJI's product manager, saw the potential of the company and moved to Shenzhen from Silicon Valley in 2013. During a factory visit last year, he demonstrated to NBC News why DJI was an industry leader. From humble beginnings in a dorm room in 2006, the private company is now valued at over $10 billion.

Shenzhen itself is now widely considered "China's Silicon Valley" and has taken the lead in rolling out a massive subsidy program to attract high-tech talent. The southern city is currently led by Communist Party boss Ma Xingrui, a space scientist and former chief of China's moon mission. His ambition is to make the city a leading innovation hub as it sheds its image as a manufacturer of cheap goods for export.

Shenzhen's recruitment program has attracted 1219 "high-level talents" as of last year, according to Shenzhen Daily newspaper, of which 74 are "foreign experts."

Under a multi-category scheme updated in October last year, the highest incentive for so-called "Outstanding Talent" — a designation open for foreigners from 24 countries, including the United States, if the individual won a Nobel Prize in economics or physics — is an outright *lump sum allowance of close to $1 million* or *10 years free housing in a 2,200-square-foot apartment*.

A lower category, an "Overseas Talent" who starts a business in the city, can receive a subsidy of up to $150,000.

In the past, Chinese companies could only attract Chinese engineers who studied abroad, Baidu's Li lamented.

But he pointed out that Trump's plans have created hope for China to attract _"more and more talents from various countries and various nationalities."_


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/c...ey-talent-who-are-worried-about-trump-n688271

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## TaiShang

*China has unique advantages in creating leading AI companies: Kai-Fu Lee*
By Ma Danning (People's Daily Online) December 06, 2016






_Kai-Fu Lee, founder and CEO of Innovation Works, addresses a seminar headed by Chinese entrepreneurship service platform 36Kr._

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the best entrepreneurial opportunity in human history, and China has bountiful advantages in creating world-class AI companies, said Kai-Fu Lee, founder and CEO of technology incubator Innovation Works, venture capitalist and former Google China chief.

"In the next 10 years, most unicorns --- start-up companies valued at over $1 billion --- are bound to be AI companies. The technology will spawn huge market values once incorporated into financial, banking and securities services. Its application in the medical industry, like gene-based treatment and cancer diagnosis, are of great value to humanity,” Lee said on Dec. 6 at a seminar headed by 36Kr, a Chinese entrepreneurship service platform.

At the seminar,* he commented that China’s excellent math and science education will provide bountiful brain power to AI development around the country.*

“Among all the existing theses in the AI field,* 43 percent are written by Chinese people.* And we can rapidly train young talents to work in AI—that’s what our entrepreneurial platform, Innovation Works, is doing,” he said.

He noted that *many traditional industries in China, including banking systems, still use backward algorithms that lag behind those of Western countries. The adoption of AI algorithms will improve the efficiency of such platforms.*

Another reason Lee cited is that all Chinese Internet start-ups valued at over $1 billion, such as Chinese Q&A website Zhihu and leading photo app Meitu, are hiring artificial intelligence experts to update their operations.

* “China has more such Internet start-ups than the U.S.,* and its large Internet user base means huge market potential,” he said. In 2015, the number of Internet users in China reached 780 million, which is 57 percent of the country’s population and twice the U.S. population.

“A few days ago I read an article about a letter a U.S. AI company wrote to President-elect Donald Trump, and it notes that the U.S. must face China’s rise in AI. It calls for more funds to be injected into the AI field in the U.S.,” Lee added.

@Shotgunner51 , @AndrewJin , @terranMarine , @cirr

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## ahojunk

*Ex-Microsoft exec gets top Baidu post*
2017-01-18 08:27 | China Daily | _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





_Lu Qi (left), president and chief operating officer of Baidu Inc and Robin Li, chairman of Baidu Inc.
(Photo/China Daily)_

Search engine giant Baidu Inc has appointed former Microsoft Corp executive Lu Qi its president and chief operating officer, a major push to help the company gain an edge in its latest profit driver－artificial intelligence.

The appointment of the software industry veteran, who was among the few Chinese to hold a senior position in a leading US tech company, also *suggested that Chinese tech giants are becoming increasingly attractive to top-notch talent with an international background*, an analyst said.

Calling Lu "a leading authority in the area of AI", Baidu Chairman Robin Li said the firm will continue to attract the best global talent as it strives to achieve its goal of becoming the global leader in AI.

Lu will oversee all of Baidu's business units from products, technology to sales and marketing, and report to Li, the company said on Tuesday.

"*Lu is likely to attract a number of like-minded talent globally to join the company, which will assist Baidu's further growth,*" said Zhang Mengmeng, an analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research.

*Born in Shanghai, Lu holds a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University and has more than 40 US patents to his name. He most recently ran Microsoft's applications and services business following an 11-year stint with Yahoo*.

Chinese tech companies are becoming a major draw for high-caliber international talent. For example, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd appointed Michael Evans, a former top Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive, president to fulfill its international expansion strategy.

Lu will lend his expertise to the company's AI push, including self-driving cars, after the company launched an augmented reality lab in Beijing in January.

In addition to Lu, *Baidu had hired Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng, who specializes in AI, as its chief scientist*. It also beefed up its AI talent by building a research center in Silicon Valley.

The search engine provider is looking for new sources of income, after a scandal involving online medical advertisement last year hampered its ad business. Third quarter revenue from online commercials slumped 6.7 percent year-on-year, the first-ever drop since its Nasdaq listing in 2005.

.

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## Shotgunner51

ahojunk said:


> Born in Shanghai, Lu holds a PhD in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University and has more than 40 US patents to his name




40 US patents in his name, he's a super innovative American scientist!






Source: https://defence.pk/threads/un-world...-2016-global-ranking-of-171-countries.462744/​
Great addition to Baidu's talent pool, in fact Robin Li has embarked program to attract talents regardless of their background/passport, that's the way to go.

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## TaiShang

Shotgunner51 said:


> 40 US patents in his name, he's a super innovative American scientist!
> 
> View attachment 369322
> 
> 
> Source: https://defence.pk/threads/un-world...-2016-global-ranking-of-171-countries.462744/​
> Great addition to Baidu's talent pool, in fact Robin Li has embarked program to attract talents regardless of their background/passport, that's the way to go.



A great case of brain regain. Hope more talent lost to the US and others will eventually come home to contribute.

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## 艹艹艹

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/technology/artificial-intelligence-china-united-states.html?rref=collection/byline/matthew-rosenberg&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection
*China Gains on the U.S. in the Artificial Intelligence Arms Race*
By JOHN MARKOFF and MATTHEW ROSENBERGFEB. 3, 2017





The Chinese-designed multicore processor of the Sunway TaihuLight, the world’s fastest supercomputer. The new supercomputer is thought to be part of a broader Chinese push to begin driving innovation.CreditLi Xiang/Xinhua, via Associated Press

Robert O. Work, the veteran defense official retained as deputy secretary by President Trump, calls them his “A.I. dudes.” The breezy moniker belies their serious task: The dudes have been a kitchen cabinet of sorts, and have advised Mr. Work as he has sought to reshape warfare by bringing artificial intelligence to the battlefield.

Last spring, he asked, “O.K., you guys are the smartest guys in A.I., right?”

No, the dudes told him, “the smartest guys are at Facebook and Google,” Mr. Work recalled in an interview.

Now, increasingly, they’re also in China. The United States no longer has a strategic monopoly on the technology, which is widely seen as the key factor in the next generation of warfare.

The Pentagon’s plan to bring A.I. to the military is taking shape as Chinese researchers assert themselves in the nascent technology field. And that shift is reflected in surprising commercial advances in artificial intelligence among Chinese companies.

Last year, for example, Microsoft researchers proclaimed that the company had created software capable of matching human skills in understanding speech.

Although they boasted that they had outperformed their United States competitors, a well-known A.I. researcher who leads a Silicon Valley laboratory for the Chinese web services company Baidu gently tauntedMicrosoft, noting that Baidu had achieved similar accuracy with the Chinese language two years earlier.

That, in a nutshell, is the challenge the United States faces as it embarks on a new military strategy founded on the assumption of its continued superiority in technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

First announced last year by Ashton B. Carter, President Barack Obama’s defense secretary, the “Third Offset” strategy provides a formula for maintaining a military advantage in the face of a renewed rivalry with China and Russia.

Well into the 1960s, the United States held a military advantage based on technological leadership in nuclear weapons. In the 1970s, that perceived lead shifted to smart weapons, based on brand-new Silicon Valley technologies like computer chips. Now, the nation’s leaders plan on retaining that military advantage with a significant commitment to artificial intelligence and robotic weapons.

But the global technology balance of power is shifting. From the 1950s through the 1980s, the United States carefully guarded its advantage. It led the world in computer and material science technology, and it jealously hoarded its leadership with military secrecy and export controls.

In the late 1980s, the emergence of the inexpensive and universally available microchip upended the Pentagon’s ability to control technological progress. Now, rather than trickling down from military and advanced corporate laboratories, today’s new technologies increasingly come from consumer electronics firms. Put simply, the companies that make the fastest computers are the same ones that put things under our Christmas trees.

As consumer electronics manufacturing has moved to Asia, both Chinese companies and the nation’s government laboratories are making major investments in artificial intelligence.

The advance of the Chinese was underscored last month when Qi Lu, a veteran Microsoft artificial intelligence specialist, left the company to become chief operating officer at Baidu, where he will oversee the company’s ambitious plan to become a global leader in A.I.

And last year, Tencent, developer of the mobile app WeChat, a Facebook competitor, created an artificial intelligence research laboratory and began investing in United States-based A.I. companies.

Rapid Chinese progress has touched off a debate in the United States between military strategists and technologists over whether the Chinese are merely imitating advances or are engaged in independent innovation that will soon overtake the United States in the field.

“The Chinese leadership is increasingly thinking about how to ensure they are competitive in the next wave of technologies,” said Adam Segal, a specialist in emerging technologies and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In August, the state-run China Daily reported that the country had embarked on the development of a cruise missile system with a “high level” of artificial intelligence. The new system appears to be a response to a missile the United States Navy is expected to deploy in 2018 to counter growing Chinese military influence in the Pacific.

Known as the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, or L.R.A.S.M., it is described as a “semiautonomous” weapon. According to the Pentagon, this means that though targets are chosen by human soldiers, the missile uses artificial intelligence technology to avoid defenses and make final targeting decisions.

The new Chinese weapon typifies a strategy known as “remote warfare,” said John Arquilla, a military strategist at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, Calif. The idea is to build large fleets of small ships that deploy missiles, to attack an enemy with larger ships, like aircraft carriers.

“They are making their machines more creative,” he said. “A little bit of automation gives the machines a tremendous boost.”

Whether or not the Chinese will quickly catch the United States in artificial intelligence and robotics technologies is a matter of intense discussion and disagreement in the United States.

Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu, said the United States may be too myopic and self-confident to understand the speed of the Chinese competition.

“There are many occasions of something being simultaneously invented in China and elsewhere, or being invented first in China and then later making it overseas,” he said. “But then U.S. media reports only on the U.S. version. This leads to a misperception of those ideas having been first invented in the U.S.”

Photo




Robert O. Work, left, the deputy secretary of defense, with James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence, center, and Marcel Lettre, under secretary of defense for intelligence, in November. Mr. Work is trying to bring artificial intelligence to the battlefield. CreditAl Drago/The New York Times

A key example of Chinese progress that goes largely unreported in the United States is Iflytek, an artificial intelligence company that has focused on speech recognition and understanding natural language. The company has won international competitions both in speech synthesis and in translation between Chinese- and English-language texts.

The company, which Chinese technologists said has a close relationship with the government for development of surveillance technology, said it is working with the Ministry of Science and Technology on a “Humanoid Answering Robot.”

“Our goal is to send the machine to attend the college entrance examination, and to be admitted by key national universities in the near future,” said Qingfeng Liu, Iflytek’s chief executive.

The speed of the Chinese technologists, compared to United States and European artificial intelligence developers, is noteworthy. Last April, Gansha Wu, then the director of Intel’s laboratory in China, left his post and began assembling a team of researchers from Intel and Google to build a self-driving car company. Last month, the company, Uisee Technology, met its goal — taking a demonstration to the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas — after just nine months of work.

“The A.I. technologies, including machine vision, sensor fusion, planning and control, on our car are completely home-brewed,” Mr. Wu said. “We wrote every line by ourselves.”

Their first vehicle is intended for controlled environments like college and corporate campuses, with the ultimate goal of designing a shared fleet of autonomous taxis.

The United States’ view of China’s advance may be starting to change. Last October, a White House report on artificial intelligence included several footnotes suggesting that China is now publishing more research than scholars here.

Still, some scientists say the quantity of academic papers does not tell us much about innovation. And there are indications that China has only recently begun to make A.I. a priority in its military systems.

“I think while China is definitely making progress in A.I. systems, it is nowhere close to matching the U.S.,” said Abhijit Singh, a former Indian military officer who is now a naval weapons analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

Chinese researchers who are directly involved in artificial intelligence work in China have a very different view.

“It is indisputable that Chinese authors are a significant force in A.I., and their position has been increasing drastically in the past five years,” said Kai-Fu Lee, a Taiwanese-born artificial intelligence researcher who played a key role in establishing both Microsoft’s and Google’s China-based research laboratories.

Mr. Lee, now a venture capitalist who invests in both China and the United States, acknowledged that the United States is still the global leader but believes that the gap has drastically narrowed. His firm, Sinovation Ventures, has recently raised $675 million to invest in A.I. both in the United States and in China.

“Using a chess analogy,” he said, “we might say that grandmasters are still largely North American, but Chinese occupy increasingly greater portions of the master-level A.I. scientists.”

What is not in dispute is that the close ties between Silicon Valley and China both in terms of investment and research, and the open nature of much of the American A.I. research community, has made the most advanced technology easily available to China.

In addition to setting up research outposts such as Baidu’s Silicon Valley A.I. Laboratory, Chinese citizens, including government employees, routinely audit Stanford University artificial intelligence courses.

One Stanford professor, Richard Socher, said it was easy to spot the Chinese nationals because after the first few weeks, his students would often skip class, choosing instead to view videos of the lectures. The Chinese auditors, on the other hand, would continue to attend, taking their seats at the front of the classroom.

Artificial intelligence is only one part of the tech frontier where China is advancing rapidly.

Last year, China also brought the world’s fastest supercomputer, theSunway TaihuLight, online, supplanting another Chinese model that had been the world’s fastest. The new supercomputer is thought to be part of a broader Chinese push to begin driving innovation, a shift from its role as a manufacturing hub for components and devices designed in the United States and elsewhere.

In a reflection of the desire to become a center of innovation, the processors in the new computer are of a native Chinese design. The earlier supercomputer, the Tianhe 2, was powered by Intel’s Xeon processors; after it came online, the United States banned further export of the chips to China, in hopes of limiting the Chinese push into supercomputing.

The new supercomputer, like similar machines anywhere in the world, has a variety of uses, and does not by itself represent a direct military challenge. It can be used to model climate change situations, for instance, or to perform analysis of large data sets.

But similar advances in high-performance computing being made by the Chinese could be used to push ahead with machine-learning research, which would have military applications, along with more typical defense functions, such as simulating nuclear weapons tests or breaking the encryption used by adversaries.

Moreover, while there appear to be relatively cozy relationships between the Chinese government and commercial technology efforts, the same cannot be said about the United States. The Pentagon recently restarted its beachhead in Silicon Valley, known as the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental facility, or DIUx. It is an attempt to rethink bureaucratic United States government contracting practices in terms of the faster and more fluid style of Silicon Valley.

The government has not yet undone the damage to its relationship with the Valley brought about by Edward J. Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices. Many Silicon Valley firms remain hesitant to be seen as working too closely with the Pentagon out of fear of losing access to China’s market.

“There are smaller companies, the companies who sort of decided that they’re going to be in the defense business, like a Palantir,” said Peter W. Singer, an expert in the future of war at New America, a think tank in Washington, referring to the Palo Alto, Calif., start-up founded in part by the venture capitalist Peter Thiel. “But if you’re thinking about the big, iconic tech companies, they can’t become defense contractors and still expect to get access to the Chinese market.”

Those concerns are real for Silicon Valley.

“No one sort of overtly says that, because the Pentagon can’t say it’s about China, and the tech companies can’t,” Mr. Singer said. “But it’s there in the background.”


A version of this article appears in print on February 5, 2017, on Page BU1 of the New York edition with the headline: China’s Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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## pzfz

*China’s Intelligent Weaponry Gets Smarter*

Excellent read in NYT about China's growing know-how. Of particular interest is the amusing quote from an indian "expert". He so wants to believe in the backwardness of China with respects to the USA.

_“I think while China is definitely making progress in A.I. systems, it is nowhere close to matching the U.S.,” said Abhijit Singh, a former Indian military officer who is now a naval weapons analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi._


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## ahojunk

FEB 13, 2017 @ 12:02 AM
*How Chinese Internet Giant Baidu Uses AI And Machine Learning*
Bernard Marr , CONTRIBUTOR
_I write about big data, analytics and enterprise performance 
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own._


Baidu is currently considered to be pack leader amongst the Chinese internet giants as they race to develop and deploy machine and deep learning technology. Much like their US-based counterparts such as Google and Amazon, self-teaching, neural net technology is being integrated into both their core services and used to innovate in new ways.

Cutting edge artificial intelligence (AI) methods such as machine learning and deep learning are being used to reap huge benefits across industries as diverse as finance and healthcare. The basic idea is that once we teach computers to learn in the same way we do, they can absorb and process Big Data at a tremendous rate, soon becoming at least, if not more, reliable than humans when it comes to making decisions.

The work of the Chinese giants – most prominently Baidu but also online retailer Ali Baba and chat provider Tencent - in the AI field has received relatively little coverage in western media compared to that afforded to the US giants. This is starting to change as Chinese service providers increasingly look overseas for new customers, and will increasingly spend money to market themselves as global entities. Chinese internet companies are also increasingly physically locating themselves in western markets – particularly Silicon Valley – primarily to take advantage of the local analytics and data talent. So, I thought it would be interesting to focus on one of them for this piece.

Baidu’s work in the field of machine learning and AI is coordinated by Baidu Research, which is headed by chief scientist Andrew Ng. Before he joined Baidu, Ng was a director of Stanford University’s AI lab, and then founder of the team which developed Google Brain.

Like Google, the US giant which it is most frequently compared to, Baidu has invested in research and development across just about every currently fashionable arm of AI – from automated personal assistants, to autonomous cars and healthcare.





_Baidu logo at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing (Photo GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images)_

Before I go over some of their use cases, though, one thing that is worth considering is one potential advantage that Baidu has over its competitors. China’s stricter rules on use of the internet means that most citizens don’t have (legal) access to Google or many western online services – meaning Google knows very little about them. Chinese firms such as Baudu and Alibaba, on the other hand – as well as a monopoly on gathering personal data in their home market - can collect data of US and EU consumers in the overseas markets in which they operate. Given China’s huge population, it’s clear that Baidu is in an advantageous position here, when it comes to Big Data projects involving huge scale behavioural datasets. On top of this, China’s rules and regulations around transferring and selling personal data are generally considered to be less robust than those of the US or EU. This means huge amounts of “grey market” data is available to Chinese countries for very little cost.

*AI as a service*

Like Google, Baidu’s core service is also search – Baidu is said to account for 75% of search traffic in its homeland. Here, it has rolled out machine learning algorithms for voice and image recognition, as well as natural language processing, to help it return smarter, more useful and more personalized results.

Baidu also makes its technology available to third parties such as other companies which want to benefit from the AI revolution but don’t have the resources to develop their own algorithms and applications. Much of its software and systems have been made open source and it also provides access to its technology on an “as-a-service” basis. Businesses and organizations can use Baidu’s systems to host their own data and run their own analytics projects in the cloud, paying only for the storage and computing resources which they use.

Another recently unveiled initiative at Baidu is the integration of its machine learning with its ongoing innovation in augmented reality (AR). Mostly it seems this work is currently focused on marketing, such as AR advertising campaigns created for Baidu customers such as KFC and L’Oreal. However, it has also begun the process of using AR to restore, virtually, important historic monuments (specifically, Beijing’s nine ancient city gates). As well as allowing visitors to the sites to see the structures as they would have looked before time and the modern age took their toll, the technology is being built into Baidu’s search functionality, much as Google has done with its Google Maps services, to make it available anywhere.

In healthcare, the Baidu Doctor project is focused around applying machine and deep learning to building a chat program that can reliably diagnose illness just like a human doctor, simply from the patient’s voice input. The company has stated that it’s long term goal is to create a “medical robot” – a concept familiar to science fiction fans which is now, thanks to advances in machine learning, tantalisingly close to becoming a reality.

It’s current application is known as Melody, and is designed to act as a “medical assistant”, rather than a replacement for a doctor. So a doctor will rely on it to provide advice and assistance (and hopefully not spend too much time worrying that it is going to steal his or her job.) Ng has stated that the AI will continue to learn more and become a more efficient medical practitioner as it gains more and more real-world experience.

In the home, Baidu is attempting to tackle Amazon’s Alexa head on with its Xiaoyu Zaikia (Little Fish) home robot – which unlike Amazon’s system is capable of turning its “head” to listen to whoever is speaking to it. Users can control smart home equipment and order goods online using its natural language processing interface.

*Autonomous vehicles*

In another strategy heavily mirroring its US competitors, Baidu has put significant work into developing autonomous and self-driving vehicles for the consumer market. The company has said that it is planning to begin mass production of driverless cars by 2021. Testing began last year in China and the US. Unlike models showcased by competitors, which include tech and auto industry giants such as Google, Uber, BMW and Ford, the current Baidu cars use a rotating roof-mounted sensor array. This constantly-spinning device builds a digital model of what is going on in the car’s immediate environment. This model is then analyzed in-car by machine learning algorithms to determine the best and safest route to its destination

Overall Baidu has shown itself to be a real innovator when it comes to AI and machine learning, and has been willing to invest serious money, as well as give back to the field through open sourcing the fruits of its labor. This forward-thinking approach is likely to be a crucial advantage as the company continues to seek greater recognition outside of its home country, and establish itself as a truly global leader.


Bernard Marr is a best-selling author & keynote speaker on business, technology and the effective use of data.

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## AndrewJin

It is happening


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## cirr

*China’s Artificial-Intelligence Boom*

The country’s universities and tech giants are starting to surpass American ones when it comes to researching and implementing AI.






Chinese tech company Baidu has invested heavily in artificial intelligence research.Aly Song / Reuters

SARAH ZHANG

FEB 16, 2017

*Each winter, hundreds of AI researchers from around the world convene at the annual meeting of the Association of the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Last year, a minor crisis erupted over the schedule, when AAAI announced that 2017’s meeting would take place in New Orleans in late January. The location was fine. The dates happened to conflict with Chinese New Year.*

The holiday might not have been a deal breaker in the past, but Chinese researchers have become so integral to the meeting, it could not go on without them. They had to reschedule. “Nobody would have put AAAI on Christmas day,” says current AAAI president Subbarao Kambhampati. “Our organization had to almost turn on a dime and change the conference venue to hold it a week later.”

The 2017 AAAI meeting—which ultimately relocated to San Francisco—wrapped up just last week. And as expected, Chinese researchers had a strong showing in the historically U.S.-dominated conference. A nearly equal number of accepted papers came from researchers based in China and the U.S. “This is pretty surprising and impressive given how different it was even three, four years back,” says Rao.

China’s rapid rise up the ranks of AI research has people taking notice. In October, the Obama White House released a “strategic plan” for AI research, which noted that the U.S. no longer leads the world in journal articles on “deep learning,” a particularly hot subset of AI research right now. The country that had overtaken the U.S.? China, of course.

It’s not just academic research. Chinese tech companies are betting on AI, too. Baidu (a Chinese search-engine company often likened to Google), Didi (often likened to Uber), and Tencent (maker of the mega-popular messaging app WeChat) have all set up their own AI research labs. With millions of customers, these companies have access to the huge amount of data that training AI to detect patterns requires.

Like the Microsofts and Googles of the world, Chinese tech companies see enormous potential in AI. It could undergird a whole set of transformative technologies in the coming decades, from facial recognition to autonomous cars.“I have a hard time thinking of an industry we cannot transform with AI,” says Andrew Ng, chief scientist at Baidu. Ng previously cofounded Coursera and Google Brain, the company’s deep learning project. Now he directs Baidu’s AI research out of Sunnyvale, California, right in Silicon Valley.

* * *

China’s success in AI has been partly fueled by the government’s overall investment in scientific research at its universities. Over the past decade, government spending on research has grown by double digits on average every year. Funding of science and technology research continues to be a major priority, as outlined by the the Five-Year Plan unveiled this past March.

When Rao first started seeing Chinese researchers at international AI meetings, he recalls they were usually from Tsinghua and Peking University, considered the MIT and Harvard of China. Now, he sees papers from researchers all over the country, not just the most elite schools. Machine learning—which includes deep learning—has been an especially popular topic lately. “The number of people who got interested in applied machine learning has tremendously increased across China,” says Rao. This is the same uptick that the White House noticed in its report on a strategic plan for AI research.

*“I have a hard time thinking of an industry we cannot transform with AI.”*

Chinese tech companies are part of the infusion of research dollars to universities, too. At Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, computer scientist Qiang Yang collaborates with Tencent, which sponsors scholarships for students in his lab.

The students get access to mountains of data from WeChat, the messaging app from Tencent that is akin to Facebook, iMessage, and Venmo all rolled into one. (“With AI, they can’t do it without a lot of data and a platform to test it on,” says Yang, which is why industry collaboration is so key.) In return, Tencent gets a direct line to some of the most innovative research coming out of academic labs. And of course, some of these students end up working at Tencent when they graduate.

The quantity of Chinese AI research has grown dramatically, but researchers in the U.S. are still responsible for a lot of the most fundamental groundbreaking work. “The very clever ideas on changing network architecture, I see those in the U.S.,” says Ng. What Chinese researchers have been very good at doing is seizing on an idea—like machine learning—and cranking out papers on its different applications.

Yet as the research matures in China, Ng says, it is also becoming its own distinct community. After a recent international meeting in Barcelona, he recalls seeing Chinese language write-ups of the talks circulate right way. He never found any in English. The language issue creates a kind of asymmetry: Chinese researchers usually speak English so they have the benefit of access to all the work disseminated in English. The English-speaking community, on the other hand, is much less likely to have access to work within the Chinese AI community.

“China has a fairly deep awareness of what’s happening in the English-speaking world, but the opposite is not true,” says Ng. He points out that Baidu has rolled out machine translation and voice recognition services powered by AI—but when Google and Microsoft, respectively, did so later, the American companies got a lot more publicity.

*“The velocity of work is much faster in China than in most of Silicon Valley.”*

And when it comes to actually shipping new features, China companies can move more quickly. “The velocity of work is much faster in China than in most of Silicon Valley,” says Ng. “When you spot a business opportunity in China, the window of time you have to respond usually very short—shorter in China than the United States.”

Yang chalks it up to China’s highly competitive ecosystem. WeChat, for example, has built a set of features around QR codes (yes, really), chat, payments, and friend discovery that make it indispensable to daily life in China. American social media companies only wish they had that kind of loyalty. “Product managers at Tencent have good sense of what customers want, and they can can quickly turn technology into reality,” says Yang. “This cycle is very short.” And to stay competitive, they’re primed to integrate AI to improve their products. Whether Chinese tech companies use the AI wave to break into the international market remains to be seen—but they’re already using AI to compete for customers in China.

In the academic world, AAAI has now taken steps to make sure Chinese researchers have input on the meetings. The exact date of Chinese New Year changes every year, but it’s always in January or February, when the AAAI meeting usually takes place. Can’t have them conflicting again.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/china-artificial-intelligence/516615/

@Bussard Ramjet

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> And as expected, Chinese researchers had a strong showing in the historically U.S.-dominated conference. A nearly equal number of accepted papers came from researchers based in China and the U.S. “This is pretty surprising and impressive given how different it was even three, four years back,” says Rao.



Hopefully, Trump will likely shoo away some of those foreign-born researchers back to where they came from, which will include lots of compatriots from Mainland and Taiwan.

It is also obvious that China's companies offer a better development prospects for young talents because the explosive boom and disruptive creativity will continue to shift to China.

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## ahojunk

*Chinese companies aim to take lead in development of world-changing technology*
By Zhang Ye Source: Global Times Published: 2017/2/15 19:38:40

*AI achievements*
_With artificial intelligence (AI) widely perceived to be a technology that will shape the future of how people live and work, companies in China have been beefing up investment in the sector in recent years. Scientists believe that the odds favor Chinese companies to be able to match their US counterparts in the AI technology race._

_*




A man introduces "city brain" technology in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, 
in October 2016. The technology was designed to ease traffic congestion in cities. Photo: CFP*_​
While US tech giants like Google and Microsoft are racing to infuse artificial intelligence into their core products, tech companies in China are keen to ready their artificial neutral network to solve complicated problems of city governance and healthcare. 

Traffic congestion, a global problem that troubles urban residents, is an area that has long been a focus of the artificial intelligence (AI) team of Aliyun, Alibaba Group Holding's cloud computing unit.

The AI team of Aliyun told the Global Times on Monday that it has made progress in fixing the problem over the past year as its self-developed AI system, dubbed ET, is breaking new ground in areas like video recognition and traffic prediction.

In Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, at the intersection of Nanhua Middle Road and Baogang Avenue, one of the busiest crossings in the city, the average traffic jam index monitored by local authorities between 9 am and 1 pm fell 25.75 percent after using ET in September in 2016, the team disclosed in a statement. 

*How does this work?* 

Hua Xiansheng, a visual computing scientist with Aliyun, explained to the press in a meeting in October 2016 that after consistently learning and analyzing large amounts of the city's transportation data, ET built a virtual model of the city that is able to predict how many vehicles will be on the roads at any given time. 

Based on those predictions, the computer will then come up "smart" measures such as intelligently controlling traffic lights to help traffic flow better, Hua said.

Reshaping city governance is just a part of Aliyun's AI empire. 

Led by Zhou Jingren, who was part of the research group on Microsoft's Bing search infrastructure, the AI team vowed to train ET into the successor of Jack Ma Yun after 20 years.

*Betting on AI 
*
Alibaba has already shown its ambition to develop AI. 

Another tech giant, Tencent Holdings, led a group that made a $10 million investment in February 2016 to fund the AI start-up Diffbot in the US.

Baidu Inc, which some consider the Chinese equivalent of Google, has also been devoted to AI for a long time, with Andrew Ng, the former leader of Google's Brain project, leading its research. Ng joined Baidu in 2014, the same year the company reportedly invested nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.08 billion) in cutting-edge technologies such as AI.

Unlike Alibaba, Baidu is keen to use AI to improve the healthcare industry.

China's healthcare has massive potential that can be fulfilled with AI, Baidu founder Robin Li Yanhong said in a meeting on February 8. 

In October 2016, the company has released an app known as Melody, designed to act like a medical assistant. The app has an AI-powered chat program that can help collect a patient's symptoms and then provide advice to a doctor. It is not a replacement for doctors yet. 

Li predicted a future in which AI is used to diagnose illnesses and recommend treatment based on a gene database.

Baidu's advances were underscored in January when Lu Qi, a veteran AI expert, left Microsoft to join the Chinese company as its COO. 

The Chinese search engine powerhouse is now considered to be the leader of the pack among Chinese Internet giants in the race to develop AI technology, Forbes reported on Monday.

What's interesting about AI at this point in its development is that leading technology companies are not the only players.

"As long as your innovative capabilities are strong enough to stay on the cutting edge, you don't have to worry about competition or copycatting from big rivals," Xu Li, CEO of Beijing-based AI start-up SenseTime Group, told the Global Times. 

With more than 50 researchers and more than 80 engineers who used to work for Microsoft and Google, Xu's team have made notable achievements in image recognition that have been widely applied in surveillance by governments and companies. 

He said that SenseTime's supercomputer DeepLink, which employs 200 graphic processing units (GPU), can recognize 4 million faces in six hours, calculating faster than AlphaGo's 170 GPU-powered computer. 

*Odds in China's favor
*
Scientists believe that Chinese companies will have a chance to match or surpass their US competitors in the AI era. 

"China [with the world's largest online population] can provide larger amounts of behavioral data than the US, which will put Chinese firms in an advantageous position in the AI battle," Chu Min, a scientist with the Aliyun AI team, told the Global Times on Monday. 

As everyone knows, AI needs data to learn. 

As of December 2016, China has 731 million Internet users, equal to the population of the European Union, with an Internet penetration rate of 53.2 percent, according to a report issued by the China Internet Network Center in late January. 

In 2016, 496 million Internet users made payments with their smartphones, 168 million hailed rides and 239 million received government services via mobile apps.

In addition, the Chinese government has moved toward a quick adoption of new technologies, which will bring about new opportunities, Xu said, referring to China's "Made In China 2025" plan. 

"Another thing in China's favor is that top AI talent, at least those who are Chinese, will return to China, as Trump administration's immigration policy has already sparked fear among immigrants," Yang Jing, an industry expert and the founder of Ai Era, which focuses on AI technology, told the Global Times on Monday. 

In the US, AI professors expressed concern over the future of the technology's development, with some worrying that the Trump administration will "dramatically" cut funding for research in the area, according to an article published by the US IT trade publication TechRepublic in November in 2016. 

China's AI market is expected to grow to 38 billion yuan in 2018, up from 23.9 billion yuan in 2016, according to a report issued by Beijing-based CCID Consulting in late January. 

Experts like Xiang Yang, an AI analyst with CCID, believes there are still some obstacles ahead. 

"We have indeed achieved some world-class cutting-edge technologies in the areas like speech and image recognition. But when it comes to core hardware, such as the GPUs we use to run those AI technologies, they are all originally designed by US companies," Xiang told the Global Times on Monday.

Xiang called on the central government to issue more detailed policy support and guidance for the AI industry to attract sufficient private funding to speed up the development of the technology.

.

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## TaiShang

*Chinese companies aim to take lead in development of world-changing technology *
By Zhang Ye Source:Global Times Published: 2017/2/15

* AI achievements *
_
With artificial intelligence (AI) widely perceived to be a technology that will shape the future of how people live and work, companies in China have been beefing up investment in the sector in recent years. Scientists believe that the odds favor Chinese companies to be able to match their US counterparts in the AI technology race._






A man introduces "city brain" technology in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, in October 2016. The technology was designed to ease traffic congestion in cities. Photo: CFP

*While US tech giants like Google and Microsoft are racing to infuse artificial intelligence into their core products, tech companies in China are keen to ready their artificial neutral network to solve complicated problems of city governance and healthcare. *

*Traffic congestion, a global problem that troubles urban residents, is an area that has long been a focus of the artificial intelligence (AI) team of Aliyun, Alibaba Group Holding's cloud computing unit.*

The AI team of Aliyun told the Global Times on Monday that it has made progress in fixing the problem over the past year as its self-developed AI system, dubbed ET, is breaking new ground in areas like video recognition and traffic prediction.

In Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, at the intersection of Nanhua Middle Road and Baogang Avenue, one of the busiest crossings in the city, the average traffic jam index monitored by local authorities between 9 am and 1 pm fell 25.75 percent after using ET in September in 2016, the team disclosed in a statement. 

*How does this work?* 

Hua Xiansheng, a visual computing scientist with Aliyun, explained to the press in a meeting in October 2016 that after consistently learning and analyzing large amounts of the city's transportation data, ET built a virtual model of the city that is able to predict how many vehicles will be on the roads at any given time. 

Based on those predictions, the computer will then come up "smart" measures such as intelligently controlling traffic lights to help traffic flow better, Hua said.

Reshaping city governance is just a part of Aliyun's AI empire. 

Led by Zhou Jingren, who was part of the research group on Microsoft's Bing search infrastructure, the AI team vowed to train ET into the successor of Jack Ma Yun after 20 years.

*Betting on AI 
*
Alibaba has already shown its ambition to develop AI. 

*Another tech giant, Tencent Holdings, led a group that made a $10 million investment in February 2016 to fund the AI start-up Diffbot in the US.*

Baidu Inc, which some consider the Chinese equivalent of Google, has also been devoted to AI for a long time, with Andrew Ng, the former leader of Google's Brain project, leading its research. Ng joined Baidu in 2014, the same year the company reportedly invested nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.08 billion) in cutting-edge technologies such as AI.

*Unlike Alibaba, Baidu is keen to use AI to improve the healthcare industry.*

China's healthcare has massive potential that can be fulfilled with AI, Baidu founder Robin Li Yanhong said in a meeting on February 8. 

In October 2016,* the company has released an app known as Melody, designed to act like a medical assistant. The app has an AI-powered chat program that can help collect a patient's symptoms and then provide advice to a doctor. It is not a replacement for doctors yet. *

Li predicted a future in which AI is used to diagnose illnesses and recommend treatment based on a gene database.

*Baidu's advances were underscored in January when Lu Qi, a veteran AI expert, left Microsoft to join the Chinese company as its COO. *

The Chinese search engine powerhouse is now considered to be the leader of the pack among Chinese Internet giants in the race to develop AI technology, Forbes reported on Monday.

What's interesting about AI at this point in its development is that leading technology companies are not the only players.

*"As long as your innovative capabilities are strong enough to stay on the cutting edge, you don't have to worry about competition or copycatting from big rivals,"* Xu Li, CEO of Beijing-based AI start-up SenseTime Group, told the Global Times. 

*With more than 50 researchers and more than 80 engineers who used to work for Microsoft and Google, Xu's team have made notable achievements in image recognition that have been widely applied in surveillance by governments and companies. *

He said that SenseTime's supercomputer DeepLink, which employs 200 graphic processing units (GPU), can recognize 4 million faces in six hours, calculating faster than AlphaGo's 170 GPU-powered computer. 

*Odds in China's favor
*
Scientists believe that Chinese companies will have a chance to match or surpass their US competitors in the AI era. 

*"China [with the world's largest online population] can provide larger amounts of behavioral data than the US, which will put Chinese firms in an advantageous position in the AI battle,"* Chu Min, a scientist with the Aliyun AI team, told the Global Times on Monday. 

As everyone knows, AI needs data to learn. 

As of December 2016, China has 731 million Internet users, equal to the population of the European Union, with an Internet penetration rate of 53.2 percent, according to a report issued by the China Internet Network Center in late January. 

*In 2016, 496 million Internet users made payments with their smartphones, 168 million hailed rides and 239 million received government services via mobile apps.*

In addition, *the Chinese government has moved toward a quick adoption of new technologies*, which will bring about new opportunities, Xu said, referring to China's "Made In China 2025" plan. 

*"Another thing in China's favor is that top AI talent, at least those who are Chinese, will return to China, as Trump administration's immigration policy has already sparked fear among immigrants," *Yang Jing, an industry expert and the founder of Ai Era, which focuses on AI technology, told the Global Times on Monday. 

In the US, AI professors expressed concern over the future of the technology's development, with some worrying that the Trump administration will "dramatically" cut funding for research in the area, according to an article published by the US IT trade publication TechRepublic in November in 2016. 

China's AI market is expected to grow to 38 billion yuan in 2018, up from 23.9 billion yuan in 2016, according to a report issued by Beijing-based CCID Consulting in late January. 

Experts like Xiang Yang, an AI analyst with CCID, believes there are still some obstacles ahead. 

"We have indeed achieved some world-class cutting-edge technologies in the areas like speech and image recognition. But when it comes to core hardware, such as the GPUs we use to run those AI technologies, they are all originally designed by US companies," Xiang told the Global Times on Monday.

Xiang called on the central government to issue more detailed policy support and guidance for the AI industry to attract sufficient private funding to speed up the development of the technology.

***


----------



## qwerrty

*Chinese Smart Robot Maker CloudMinds Creates CI-based Robots by Upgrading from AI to CI *

Feb 15, 2017, 00:59 ET

BEIJING, Feb. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The top-notch R&D team at CloudMinds, a China-based firm specialized in the research, development and manufacturing of cloud intelligence (CI)-based applications, has created a CI ecosystem thanks to investments from several investors, including SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet firm. SoftBank has completed a series A investment in CloudMinds and appointed CloudMinds CEO Bill Huang to the technical committee of its technology fund. CloudMinds, the world's first CI-based robot operator, is committed to the exploration of how to move from Artificial intelligence (AI) to CI.

*Upgrading from AI to CI*

The difference between AI and machine intelligence is that AI combines machines with human beings rather than treating them as wholly separate entities. AI-based robots, to some extent, have the ability to think and to reason logically, as well as to deliver stronger computing capability than the human brain. To cite an example, Google's computer program AlphaGo defeated its human opponent, South Korean Go champion Lee Sedo, last year. In addition to delivering superior computing capability in much the same way as AI-based robots do, CI-based robots have a rebuilt "cloud brain" which has the same neural network as human beings. Additionally, a CI-based robot can accomplish more complicated and precise tasks based on instructions as a result of the separation between the "cloud brain" and the machine itself.

A researcher from CloudMinds said, "Human beings have always been working on how to automate day-to-day activities. This is reflected by their efforts to replace stoneware with knife tools and the horse-drawn buggy with the automobile. The next goal for automation is the robot."

The greatest contribution by CloudMinds to innovation in robotics is enabling robot intelligence to be controlled by human beings. This needs HARI (a framework that combines human intelligence with AI) and a platform for controlling CI robots. The combination of the two platforms provides the most important distinction between CloudMinds and other robotics R&D firms.

With the development of cloud computing and 4G and 5G network technologies, it becomes viable to position the brain on the cloud and simulate the action of nerves transferring signals and data through networks. "The differences between mechanical intelligence, AI and CI reflect qualitative changes rather than quantitative changes, as do the differences between buggies, automobiles and the transmission of electronic information."

*A pioneer's vision of the future *

CloudMinds is a pioneer in the area of cloud intelligence for three reasons. Firstly, it is the first to propose the concept of "cloud intelligence", opening the door to the next step in artificial intelligence. Secondly, it has summarized the "cloud intelligence" concept as innovations in and integration of the cloud, networks and terminals. Thirdly, it has made many achievements in the application of cloud intelligence, including launching hardware such as the A1 and a guide helmet based on the cloud intelligent robot architecture.

CloudMinds' vision is to create an industry chain and ecosystem that consists of the cloud, networks and terminals, to promote worldwide adoption of its products and to provide enterprise services, in a safer and more efficient cloud intelligent robot era.



Code:


http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinese-smart-robot-maker-cloudminds-creates-ci-based-robots-by-upgrading-from-ai-to-ci-300407702.html

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## Foxtrot Delta

*China May Soon Surpass America on the Artificial Intelligence Battlefield*





unmanned aircraft could target high-value U.S. weapons platforms such as THAAD, Patriot PAC 3 and or any other forms of high value platforms beyond human reach, deep inside enemy territory very well protected, under extreme danger and attrition conditions.

Elsa Kania
February 21, 2017

The rapidity of recent Chinese advances in artificial intelligence indicates that the country is capable of keeping pace with, or perhaps even overtaking, the United States in this critical emerging technology. The successes of major Chinese technology companies, notably Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group and Tencent Holding Ltd.—and even a number of start-ups—have demonstrated the dynamism of these private-sector efforts in artificial intelligence. From speech recognition to self-driving cars, Chinese research is cutting edge. Although the military dimension of China’s progress in artificial intelligence has remained relatively opaque, there is also relevant research occurring in the People’s Liberation Army research institutes and the Chinese defense industry. Evidently, the PLA recognizes the disruptive potential of the varied military applications of artificial intelligence, from unmanned weapons systems to command and control. Looking forward,the PLA anticipates that the advent of artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the character of warfare,ultimately resulting in a transformation from today’s “informationized” (信息化) ways of warfare to future “intelligentized” (智能化) warfare.

The Chinese leadership has prioritized artificial intelligence at the highest levels, recognizing its expansive applications and strategic implications. The initial foundation for China’s progress in artificial intelligence was established through long-term research funded by national science and technology plans, such as the 863 Program. Notably, China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–20) called for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, which was also highlighted in the 13th Five-Year National Science and Technology Innovation Plan. The new initiatives focus on artificial intelligence and have been characterized as the “China Brain Plan” (中国脑计划), which seeks to enhance understandings of human and artificial intelligence alike. In addition, the Internet Plus and Artificial Intelligence, a three-year implementation plan for artificial intelligence (2016–18), emphasizes the development of artificial intelligence and its expansive applications, including in unmanned systems, in cyber security and for social governance. Beyond these current initiatives, the Chinese Academy of Engineering has proposed an “Artificial Intelligence 2.0 Plan,” and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China has reportedly tasked a team of experts to draft a plan for the development of artificial intelligence through 2030. The apparent intensity of this support and funding will likely enable continued, rapid advances in artificial intelligence with dual-use applications.

China’s significant progress in artificial intelligence must be contextualized by the national strategy of civil-military integration or “military-civil fusion” (军民融合) that has become a high-level priority under President Xi Jinping’s leadership. Consequently, it is not unlikely that nominally civilian technological capabilities will eventually be utilized in a military context. For instance, An Weiping (安卫平), deputy chief of staff of the PLA’s Northern Theater Command, has highlighted the importance of deepening civil-military integration, especially for such “strategic frontier technologies” as artificial intelligence. Given this strategic approach, the boundaries between civilian and military research and development tend to blur. In a notable case, Li Deyi (李德毅) acts as the director of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, and he is affiliated with Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Concurrently, Li Deyi is a major general in the PLA who serves as deputy director of the Sixty-First Research Institute, under the aegis of the Central Military Commission (CMC) Equipment Development Department.

How might China’s progress in artificial intelligence translate into capabilities for the PLA? At the CMC level, the PLA has seemingly established an Intelligent Unmanned Systems and Systems of Systems Science and Technology Domain Expert Group (军委智能无人系统及体系科学技术领域专家组), which may reflect a redoubled focus on intelligent systems. To date, the PLA has started to experiment with intelligent unmanned systems and evaluate their utility in peacetime and wartime contingencies. For instance, multiple versions of an intelligent unmanned boat, the _Jinghai_(精海), which has the capability to navigate autonomously and intelligently avoid obstacles, have been tested. Reportedly, the _Jinghai_ was evaluated by the PLA’s former General Armaments Department and the PLA Navy’s Equipment Department, perhaps an indication of the navy’s intentions to acquire such a system, which could be utilized for sensing and reconnaissance missions and to reinforce its presence in disputed waters. Recently, there also appear to have been significant breakthroughs in UAV swarming. At the 2016 Zhuhai Airshow, the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a prominent state-owned defense industry conglomerate, in partnership with Tsinghua University, demonstrated its progress in swarm intelligence (集群智能) with a formation of nearly seventy UAVs that operated autonomously. Future UAV swarms could serve as an asymmetric means through which to target high-value U.S. weapons platforms, including aircraft carriers. Although recent claims of progress in the incorporation of artificial intelligence into cruise missiles cannot be verified, the Chinese defense industry may have achieved at least initial progress in the “intelligentization” of missiles and evidently aspires to enhance these capabilities in the future.

Looking forward, the PLA recognizes that the realization of the myriad military applications of artificial intelligence could revolutionize warfare. Given technological trends—and especially since the third offset strategy and the success of Google’s AlphaGo—PLA strategists have predicted the advent of the “military revolution of intelligentization.” Thus far, the PLA’s initial approach to artificial intelligence has been informed by its careful examination of U.S. military initiatives, but that approach may gradually diverge as a function of the PLA’s distinctive strategic culture. Based on recent writings, PLA officers and academics recognize that artificial intelligence will cause disruptive changes to the dynamics of military operations, from intelligent weapons systems to the intelligentization of C4ISR capabilities. Notably, the CMC’s Joint Staff Department has called for the PLA to take advantage of artificial intelligence and related technologies to progress towards intelligentized command and decision making in its construction of a joint operations command system. Already, an experimental project to integrate artificial intelligence into the PLA’s command and control systems has achieved initial success.

Ultimately, China’s advances in artificial intelligence could have immense strategic implications for the United States. Initially, the U.S. military possessed an undisputed advantage in the technologies associated with the second offset strategy. However, the uncertain trajectory of current U.S. defense innovation initiatives will be inherently complicated by the reality that today’s technological trends, especially in artificial intelligence, are not conducive to the preservation of such a decisive edge. The rapidity of technological diffusion has increased dramatically, and it is difficult to control, since cutting-edge research with dual-use applications increasingly occurs within the private sector. At this point, the future prospects for the PLA’s progress in intelligentization remain uncertain. Nonetheless, China evidently possesses the potential to compete with—or even leapfrog—the United States in artificial intelligence, among other critical emerging technologies. China’s rise as a major power in artificial intelligence could thus become a critical force multiplier for the PLA’s future capabilities.

Source:
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/china-may-soon-surpass-america-the-artificial-intelligence-19524

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## MarcsPakistan

Best of luck

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## ahojunk

Not good luck my friend, it's all "elbow grease".

Hard work and focus will get you there.

Daydreaming and boasting will get you nowhere.

Nothing happens by chance and money don't grow on trees.

You have to make it happen.


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## qwerrty

*Baidu's Deep Voice can quickly synthesize realistic human speech*
The text-to-speech system can also change the emotions the words convey.

by Emerging Technology from the arXiv
March 8, 2017

Baidu has been quietly working on other projects besides self-driving cars at its AI center in Silicon Valley, and now it has revealed one of them to _MIT's Technology Review_. Apparently, the Chinese tech titan has created a text-to-speech system called Deep Voice that's faster and more efficient than Google's WaveNet. The company says Deep Voice can be trained to speak in just a few hours with little to no human interaction. And since Baidu can control how it speaks to convey different emotions, it can (quickly) synthesize speech that sounds pretty natural and realistic.

Google's WaveNet can also synthesize realistic human speech, but it's quite computationally demanding and hard to use for real-world applications at this point. Baidu says it solved WaveNet's problem by using deep-learning techniques to convert text to phenomes, the smallest unit of speech. It then turns those phonemes into sounds using its speech synthesis network. The system converts the word "hello," for instance, into "(silence HH), (HH, EH), (EH, L), (L, OW), (OW, silence)" before the speech network pronounces it.

Both steps rely on deep learning and don't need human input. However, the system doesn't control which phonemes or syllables are stressed and how long they're pronounced. That's where Baidu steps in -- it switches them around to change the emotions it wants to convey.

While the company says Deep Voice has solved WaveNet's problem, it still requires a ton of computing power. A computer has to generate words to say in 20 microseconds to mimic human-like interaction. Baidu's researchers explain:

"To perform inference at real-time, we must take great care to never recompute any results, store the entire model in the processor cache (as opposed to main memory), and optimally utilize the available computational units."

Still, the researchers believe real-time speech synthesis is possible. They've already created quickly generated samples and collected feedback through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. They asked a large number of people through the service to rate the quality of their samples, and the results indicate that they're of excellent quality.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/09/baidu-deep-voice-natural-sounding-speec/
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...lligence-lab-unveils-synthetic-speech-system/




===================================================




*5 must-know Chinese computer vision startups*

Mar 7, 2017
Emma Lee





Vision plays a central role in human cognition. While we use eyes to see things and the brain to interpret and coordinate, it is difficult for computers or robots to duplicate the way human perceive and visually sense the world around them.

Computer vision is the science that aims to give a similar capability to a machine. As the supporting technologies surround this multi-disciplinary field moves forward, computer vision is making great leaps to transform a variety of industries from face recognition and healthcare to security, agriculture, and more.

The rising market has give rise to a gold rush of startups all trying to capitalize on the trend. Here’s some of the most prominent players coming from China.

*Megvii*




Formed in 2012 by Tsinghua University alumni, Megvii is a Beijing-based startup focused on computer vision and artificial intelligence. Its core product Face++ is a cloud-based face recognition technology platform that helps developers and companies to embed advanced face detection, analysis and recognition, and large-scale search techs in their apps and websites. It provides face-related API and offline software development kits as well as customized cloud services to both developers and enterprises.

As one of the earliest entrants to the sector, the company’s face recognition has been widely applied in various industries. Through a partnership with Ant Financial, Face++ has been integrated into Alipay to support facial scan logging in and Smile to Pay, a payment method that allows users to make purchase by scanning their faces. Its Face++ API has been used by over 50,000 developers include Alipay, Meitu, Lenovo, Didi and Jiayuan.

The company reportedly finished a US$ 100 million fundraising in December last year from investors includin CCB International Holdings and Foxconn.

*DeepGlint*








DeepGlint is a computer vision startup providing 3D image analysis and deep learning technologies. With the goal of creating a search engine for the physical world, DeepGlint helps computers capture what is happening in real time, and understand the physical world like humans do. Its clients include banks, government, museums,

As one of the leading players in China’s computer vision sector, the company has recorded a major management reshuffle recently. Co-founder and CEO He Bofei resigned in January this year. Zhao Yong, former CTO of the company, is reported to be named as CEO.

*SenseTime*





Company CEO Xu Li

Founded in 2014, SenseTime focuses on face recognition technology that can be applied to payment and picture analysis, for bank card verification and security systems. In addition, SenseTime is also developing security technology focused on text and characters, body shapes and vehicles.

Its customers include companies like China Mobile, HNA Group, Huawei, Xiaomi, Sina and JD.com

*Yitu Technology*






Yitu Technology operates a cloud-based visual recognition engine that enables computers to detect and recognize faces and cars. The system was first applied to security surveillance to help authorities identify persons of interest in criminal investigations and to track traffic violations.

With surveillance and crowd-tracking as the primary focus, the company’s clients include some state authorities like China Customs, China Immigration Inspection as well as cooperate clients like Wanda Group, Huawei and AliCloud.

Leo Zhu, who gained a post-doctoral fellowship on computer vision at MIT, founded the company with high school friend Chenxi Lin, a former cloud computing technology director at Alibaba.

*TuPu*






TuPu is a computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms technology provider that primarily helps domestic enterprises to customize the image recognition, autonomous driving, advanced driver assistance system and driver monitoring system technologies using computer vision and deep learning algorithms.

The company primarily collaborates with auto transportation operators customizing camera and LiDAR-based low-cost autonomous driving algorithms and solutions.

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## cirr

*Tencent's Fine Art wins Computer Go UEC Cup*

Mar 20, 2017

Sheila Yu






Tencent’s artificial intelligence (AI) Fine Art (绝艺 in Chinese) stole the limelight after its stunning 11-game winning streak, at the 10th Computer Go UEC Cup, which ended on March 19 in Tokyo, local media is reporting (in Chinese).

Fine Art is an AI system designed by a team of 13 researchers at Tencent’s AI Lab, which was established less than one year ago. Its research focuses on machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition and computer vision.

The news has caused another stir in the internet industry, following Google AlphaGo’s overwhelming victory last year, which has achieved a feat of 60 wins and 0 losses as of Jan. 5, 2017.

Unlike ordinary Go matches with all human contestants beings, the Computer Go UEC Cup held at the University of Electro-Communications (UEC) in Japan every year only has artificial intelligence competitors. The runner-up went to Japan’s DeepZenGo this year.

The Go tournament invited Google’s AlphaGo, but was declined.

According to Tencent, Fine Art adopts an algorithm similar to that of AlphaGo, mainly including human match database and the machine’s own match processing. In addition, the algorithm is based on strategic and value networks.

Not to be outdone, China’s two other internet giants Alibaba and Baidu have been ramping up efforts on AI research as well. Alibaba has launched AI programs such as the city brain project and ET Robot project.

Baidu has spent more than RMB 10 billion on its three AI research labs in recent years, and the recent public appearance of its AI “Baidu Brain” on a popular mental athletics show has won wide acclaim for its excellent face, voice, and fuzzy recognition.

When asked whether Fine Art has plans to play a match with AlphaGo in the future, the research team said they have no plans currently. 

http://technode.com/2017/03/20/tencents-fine-art-wins-computer-go-uec-cup/

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## cirr

*腾讯围棋AI“绝艺”11连胜夺冠UEC杯 将公开技术细节*

来源:博客园 

时间:2017/3/19 19:01:13






腾讯科技讯，第 10 届 UEC 杯计算机围棋大赛 3 月 19 日在东京落幕，腾讯 AI Lab（腾讯人工智能实验室）研发的围棋人工智能程序“绝艺”（Fine Art）首次参加比赛便一路过关斩将，继 18 日的积分赛七连胜进入 16 强后，今天决赛又四连胜战绩夺得本届 UEC 杯冠军，日本“DeepZenGo”获亚军。3 月 26 日，“绝艺”还将在东京与日本先锋棋手一力辽在“电圣战”中进行人机对弈。






绝艺决胜局

UEC 杯 2007 年始于日本，是最具传统和权威的计算机围棋大赛，每年邀请各国高水平 AI 齐聚东京比赛，促进相关学术及科技的交流。日本的 DeepZenGo、法国的“疯石”（Crazy Stone）、美国 Facebook 公司的“黑暗森林”（Dark Forest）等世界著名计算机围棋程序先后在 UEC 杯折桂获奖，今年共有 30 支软件参赛。本次大赛还请到曾获日本围棋四大家之首“本因坊”头衔的王铭琬九段进行现场解说，也体现了日本棋院方面对于此次赛事的重视。

“很高兴‘绝艺’能够在 UEC 杯夺冠，这是非常难得的宝贵经验。‘绝艺’不同于其他实验室 AI，它得益于世界超一流棋手的指导，通过不断与高手交流及学习，一步步成长起来。我们希望，通过‘绝艺’能够让更多人关注、喜爱进而传承围棋这一传统文化。”腾讯公司副总裁、腾讯 AI Lab 负责人姚星表示，“‘绝艺’在研究价值上也不止于围棋 AI 本身，我们在深度学习和强化学习上进行了非常有价值的探索与创新，之后将通过论文公开这些技术创新和数据库的细节，为推动围棋 AI 的技术进步出一份力。腾讯 AI Lab 的发展愿景是，让 AI 未来无处不在（Make AI Everywhere），因此我们将以开放合作的态度，与业界一起共同推进全球 AI 技术的发展。”

“绝艺”名字，源自唐代杜牧的送别诗“绝艺如君天下少，闲人似我世间无”。“绝艺”曾先后使用多个 ID，在腾讯围棋（野狐围棋）平台与业余和职业高手切磋，多次战胜中日韩三国一众顶尖棋手，成为腾讯围棋首个晋级“十段”的棋手。截至 3 月 9 日，“绝艺”对局数量达 534 盘，战绩是 406 胜 128 负，胜率 76%，与柯洁、古力、常昊、范蕴若、范廷钰、朴廷桓等超过 100 位知名人类棋手有过交锋。

“绝艺”由腾讯 AI Lab 一个 13 人团队花了近一年时间自主研发，涵盖了人工智能最热门的研究领域——深度学习和强化学习。“绝艺”的学习主要包括人类棋谱数据库和机器自对弈，它的算法基于策略网络与价值网络两大核心，并创新性地大幅提升了价值网络的精度，使其大局观表现更好。通俗的说，“策略”指每一步博弈时，各种选择的取舍，选好棋弃差棋，这是偏微观评估；而“价值”则指能看懂棋局，判断给定棋局是不是能赢，这是偏宏观的评估。“‘绝艺’背后‘精准决策’的 AI 能力，应用前景非常广阔，如无人驾驶、量化金融、辅助医疗等。如果 AI 从围棋 AI 进化到不完美对称博弈系统，也就是能处理现实中更常见的不确定性问题时，想象空间非常巨大。”腾讯公司副总裁、AI Lab 负责人姚星表示。

腾讯 AI Lab 于 2016 年成立，专注于人工智能的基础研究及应用探索，不断提升 AI 的决策、理解及创造能力，同时为腾讯各产品业务提供 AI 技术支撑。腾讯 AI Lab 的基础研究包括计算机视觉、语音识别、自然语言处理和机器学习，其应用探索包括游戏 AI、内容 AI、社交 AI 及平台 AI，产品已应用在微信、QQ 及天天快报等上百个产品。目前实验室有超过 50 余位世界知名学院的 AI 科学家（90% 为博士）、及 200 多位经验丰富的工程师，力求做到“学术有影响，工业有产出”。

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> Not to be outdone, China’s two other internet giants Alibaba and Baidu have been ramping up efforts on AI research as well. Alibaba has launched AI programs such as the city brain project and ET Robot project.
> 
> Baidu has spent more than RMB 10 billion on its three AI research labs in recent years, and the recent public appearance of its AI “Baidu Brain” on a popular mental athletics show has won wide acclaim for its excellent face, voice, and fuzzy recognition.



Good to have national champions.

***

*Incubator sharpens focus on innovation*
By Chen Meiling | China Daily | Updated: 2017-03-20

Three Chinese incubators and two foreign companies agreed to establish an international business incubator in Beijing, as part of their effort to transform existing technologies and effect technology transfers.

Their new venture, Beijing International Co-Incubation, aims to provide monetary and technical support, as well as international market opportunities, for companies from Canada, South Korea and China.

It was jointly established by China International Economic Cooperation and Investment Inc, Beijing Zoom Technology Incubator Co Ltd, 898 InnoSpace, the Ontario Science Center and Zeta Plan Investment Co Ltd.

"Universities and research institutes generate innovation while the market brings entrepreneurship. Technology transfer is the integration of scientific achievements and entrepreneurial resources," said Chen Dongmin, former director of the Office of Science and Technology Development at Peking University. He was speaking at a seminar.

"Since innovative ideas can be introduced, there is no national boundary for this integration," Chen said. "Incubators play an important role in the process since they provide a space to reach consensus on the commercial environment, culture, protection of IP (intellectual property) and the enterprise's credit in different countries."

Beijing Zoom Technology Incubator Co Ltd, one of the founders of Beijing International Co-Incubation, introduced overseas technologies and applied them in different industries, which Chen believes is a good example for incubators to follow.

The company had three incubators in China, 10 overseas offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Tel Aviv, and Berlin, and hardware accelerators to serve Sino-US and Sino-Italian technology transfers, according to Sang Chunhua, CEO of Zoom Technology Incubator.

"We need to find new growth points to pursue further development, while lack of innovation is one of the biggest challenges we may face in the next five years," Zhou Tianyong, an economics researcher at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in his remarks while launching the book The Revolution of Growth.

The State Council released a plan to promote the commercialization of research findings in May 2016. According to the plan, it expects to build 100 national technology transfer institutes and 10 demonstration regions for the commercialization of research findings, and cultivate 10,000 professional intermediary agents for technology transfers.

Chris Cheung, director of the EUSME Center, said European small and medium-sized enterprises show great interest in China.

Cheung said: "A Chinese company invested 10 million euros ($10.63 million) to found a joint venture with a Slovenian company that focuses on technological innovation in electric automobile engines. A Spanish company asked about the price of technology transfer for its controlling software for wind power generation factories. And a Germany enterprise is looking for customers in Chinese coal and electricity plants to apply their emission reduction technology."

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## onebyone

Tencent’s artificial intelligence (AI) Fine Art (绝艺 in Chinese) stole the limelight after its stunning 11-game winning streak, at the 10th Computer Go UEC Cup, which ended on March 19 in Tokyo, local media is reporting (in Chinese).

Fine Art is an AI system designed by a team of 13 researchers at Tencent’s AI Lab, which was established less than one year ago. Its research focuses on machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition and computer vision.

The news has caused another stir in the internet industry, following Google AlphaGo’s overwhelming victory last year, which has achieved a feat of 60 wins and 0 losses as of Jan. 5, 2017.

Unlike ordinary Go matches with all human contestants beings, the Computer Go UEC Cup held at the University of Electro-Communications (UEC) in Japan every year only has artificial intelligence competitors. The runner-up went to Japan’s DeepZenGo this year.

The Go tournament invited Google’s AlphaGo, but was declined.

According to Tencent, Fine Art adopts an algorithm similar to that of AlphaGo, mainly including human match database and the machine’s own match processing. In addition, the algorithm is based on strategic and value networks.

Not to be outdone, China’s two other internet giants Alibaba and Baidu have been ramping up efforts on AI research as well. Alibaba has launched AI programs such as the city brain project and ET Robot project.

Baidu has spent more than RMB 10 billion on its three AI research labs in recent years, and the recent public appearance of its AI “Baidu Brain” on a popular mental athletics show has won wide acclaim for its excellent face, voice, and fuzzy recognition.

When asked whether Fine Art has plans to play a match with AlphaGo in the future, the research team said they have no plans currently. 
http://technode.com/2017/03/20/tencents-fine-art-wins-computer-go-uec-cup/

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## qwerrty

onebyone said:


> Tencent’s artificial intelligence (AI) Fine Art (绝艺 in Chinese) *stole the limelight after its stunning 11-game winning streak*, at the 10th Computer Go UEC Cup, which ended on March 19 in Tokyo
> 
> Unlike ordinary Go matches with all human contestants beings, the Computer Go UEC Cup held at the University of Electro-Communications (UEC) in Japan every year *only has artificial intelligence competitors*. The runner-up went to Japan’s DeepZenGo this year.
> 
> The Go tournament invited Google’s AlphaGo, but was declined.



chinese software powah

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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> chinese software powah



Not. This is some obscure tournament. 

There was no Google deep mind. 

Hark on your glory when you manage to beat Google.


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## qwerrty

Bussard Ramjet said:


> Not. This is some obscure tournament.
> 
> There was no Google deep mind.
> 
> Hark on your glory when you manage to beat Google.


 google already lost when they declined to compete in this event

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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> google already lost when they declined to compete in this event



Well, does Lin Dan play in every small hook and nook tournament in the world? 

Does Roger Federer play in every small tournament across the world? 

The fact remains that by most industry estimates, Google is the leader in almost everything AI.


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## Götterdämmerung

Bussard Ramjet said:


> Not. This is some obscure tournament.
> 
> There was no Google deep mind.
> 
> Hark on your glory when you manage to beat Google.



The question is, where is the IT super power India?

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## Bussard Ramjet

Götterdämmerung said:


> The question is, where is the IT super power India?



In artificial intelligence, largely no where. 

But, interesting fact is also that traditional technology players like Germany and Japan are also lagging in this area.


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## Götterdämmerung

Bussard Ramjet said:


> In artificial intelligence, largely no where.
> 
> But, interesting fact is also that traditional technology players like Germany and Japan are also lagging in this area.



Thanks to our visionary policies in promoting and funding dying industries such as the coal mining industry and thinking that relying on the US for anything related to IT, we have become pretty much obsolete in this important sector. 

Not only that, we are going to lose more pillars of our economy such as automobile and machinery if we don't change our mindset and cut the umbilical cord to the parasitic US.

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## qwerrty

Bussard Ramjet said:


> Well, does Lin Dan play in every small hook and nook tournament in the world?
> 
> Does Roger Federer play in every small tournament across the world?


 that excuse doesn't work here. china, korea and japan are the best in this game and are competing with each others. there's no other higher level completion out there that know the game better than those three countries. if you dont compete there? who are you gonna do compete with? usa, spain, kuwait? this is no tennis lolz


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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> that excuse doesn't work here. china, korea and japan are the best in this game and are competing with each others. there's no other higher level completion out there that know the game better than those three countries. if you dont compete there? who are you gonna do compete with? usa, spain, kuwait? this is no tennis lolz



Firstly, Korea and Japan are NOT good at AI, or AI software. 

Secondly, as I say, this is an obscure competition hidden somewhere. 

I am sure there will be an opportunity in the near future to test both AIs. I am waiting for that, but Google is the supremo maestro in AI.


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## qwerrty

Bussard Ramjet said:


> Firstly, Korea and Japan are NOT good at AI, or AI software.



japan is the definition of ai and korea is not bad either. korean team smashed everyone not long ago in darpa robotics competition where google also took part in.


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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> japan is the definition of ai and korea is not bad either. they beat everyone not long ago in darpa robotics completion where google also took part in.



My friend. 

AI is not limited to darpa, or some puny competitions. 

AI is very broad. 

Please trust me. 

Those robots in Darpa competitions are children infront of the real stuff, which no body usually show cases. Even Indian teams went there in there Underwater Autonomous Competition. 

What I'm talking about is path-breaking AI. 

Japan is very far behind in AI in most areas. It has some traditional strength in computer vision and sensors. But even that is being eroded. Japan is not well placed for the coming AI season.


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## qwerrty

Bussard Ramjet said:


> My friend.
> 
> AI is not limited to darpa, or some puny competitions.
> 
> AI is very broad.
> 
> Please trust me.
> 
> Those robots in Darpa competitions are children infront of the real stuff, which no body usually show cases. Even Indian teams went there in there Underwater Autonomous Competition.
> 
> What I'm talking about is path-breaking AI.
> 
> Japan is very far behind in AI in most areas. It has some traditional strength in computer vision and sensors. But even that is being eroded. Japan is not well placed for the coming AI season.



im not talking toy robot competition where your indian team went to compete here. the competition i'm talking bout involved advanced robots from boston dynamics, nasa, japan and many others. keep making excuses.. lolz

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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> im not talking toy robot competition where your indian team went to compete here. the competition i'm talking bout involved advanced robots from boston dynamics, nasa, japan and many others. keep making excuses.. lolz



So if you are talking about robotics, a lot of AI, has only tangential application and overlap with robotics. 

For robotics, it is really only vision that matters most.


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## TaiShang

*Chinese Go player beats Japanese AI challenger *
China Plus, March 23, 2017





Chinese Go player Mi Yuting (right) in the match of the World Go Championship 2017 in Japan on March 21, 2017 [Photo: Xinhua]

Chinese Go player, Mi Yuting, beat the Japanese artificial intelligence "DeepZenGo" in the World Go Championship 2017 in Japan *in a nail-biting seven hour match*, held Tuesday.

"The situation was competitive and for a moment I felt that I may lose," said Mi Yuting.

"I didn't sense much difference from having a match with a person, *but I felt uneasy because I couldn't talk about the match with AI "DeepZenGo" afterwards,"* added Mi.

Mi also said that he gave himself 70 marks for his performance in the match.

Yu Bin, chief coach of China's Go team, said that "DeepZenGo" had a good command of overall judgment in the Go game, and that he hadn't expected such competence from a machine.

Hideki Kato, Japanese Go programmer who developed "DeepZenGo", said that he will further improve his creation and has high hopes for AI.

At another recent Go tournament on March 19, FineArt, *developed by Chinese internet giant Tencent, beat "DeepZenGo" to win the 10th Computer Go UEC Cup.*

The ancient Chinese game of Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which *the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent.* With 4,000 years of history, it was regarded as one of the four most refined skills that an ancient Chinese intellectual could possess.
_
@AndrewJin , @samsara , can we find a recap of the game on Youku-Tudou-iQiyi? I have looked for it could not locate._

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## samsara

I can play chess and Chinese chess (xiangqi 象棋) but not Go, so I can't help, TaiShang.

Btw, I won't surprise that sooner or later the machine (AI) will beat human in mind games like this as it already happened in chess. The machine can just calculate faster and more steps ahead as well as retain much better memory than human's brain.

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## AndrewJin

samsara said:


> I can play chess and Chinese chess (xiangqi 象棋) but not Go, so I can't help, TaiShang.
> 
> Btw, I won't surprise that sooner or later the machine (AI) will beat human in mind games like this as it already happened in chess. The machine can just calculate faster and more steps ahead as well as retain much better memory than human's brain.


I can only play Chinese chess.
Go is too hard....It's about Chinese philosophy.

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## kris

samsara said:


> I can play chess and Chinese chess (xiangqi 象棋) but not Go, so I can't help, TaiShang.
> 
> Btw, I won't surprise that sooner or later the machine (AI) will beat human in mind games like this as it already happened in chess. The machine can just calculate faster and more steps ahead as well as retain much better memory than human's brain.


It's assumed that by 2047 machines computing ability will cross humans.


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## DoTell

kris said:


> It's assumed that by 2047 machines computing ability will cross humans.



Interesting. Not 2047, not 2048, but precisely 2047. Is it going to be 00:00:00 of 01/01/2047 Greenwich time? And what the heck is "computing ability"?

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## kris

DoTell said:


> Interesting. Not 2047, not 2048, but precisely 2047. Is it going to be 00:00:00 of 01/01/2047 Greenwich time? And what the heck is "computing ability"?


https://futurism.com/softbank-ceo-the-singularity-will-happen-by-2047/


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## qwerrty

*The Chinese government is funding a new lab from China's most powerful AI company*
2017

Baidu, a Chinese tech giant making rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), has received funding from the Chinese government for a new research project, Quartz reports.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/...funded-by-chinese-government-2017-2?r=US&IR=T
========================================================================

*The Mobile Internet Is Over. Baidu Goes All In on AI*
2017-03-16

The Chinese company has more than 1,300 people working on tech like deep learning.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...bile-internet-is-over-baidu-goes-all-in-on-ai
=======================================================================

*Baidu Set to Open Second AI Lab in Silicon Valley*
Mar 27, 2017 11:01 PM

Baidu’s new facility, called the Artificial Learning and Autonomous Driving Unit, will have 150 personnel and will be located less than a kilometer from its current research center in Sunnyvale, California, which has nearly 200 employees.

http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-03-27/101071002.html
========================================================================

*Tencent increases its focus on artificial intelligence*
Posted Mar 27, 2017

Tencent, best known for WeChat, China’s top messaging app, announced the lab last April. It said today that it has 50 AI specialists housed there. Aside from that development facility, Zhang — who received a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford and has worked at IBM and Yahoo — will lead a team of 200 product engineers..

https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/27/tencent-ai/
========================================================================

*Alibaba Cloud takes artificial intelligence to the masses*
March 29, 2017

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba Group, is making artificial intelligence (AI) technology more accessible to businesses and organizations with the debut of an upgraded machine-learning platform.

Called PAI 2.0, the platform, which launched in 2015, will “help customers easily deploy large-scale data mining and modeling,” Alibaba Cloud said in a statement. Machine learning is a branch of AI that gives computers the ability to absorb information, discern patterns in data and adapt to new input without explicit programming.

http://www.alizila.com/alibaba-cloud-wants-to-democratize-artificial-intelligence-technology/
========================================================================

*Baidu’s AI team taught a virtual agent just like a human would their baby*
Posted 11 hours ago

Baidu’s artificial intelligence research team has achieved a significant milestone: teaching a virtual agent “living” in a 2D environment how to navigate its world using natural language commands, by first teaching it language through positive and negative reinforcement. The especially exciting thing, according to the scientists, is that the agent ended up developing a “zero-shot learning ability,” which essentially means that the AI agent developed a basic sense of grammar.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/30/b...ual-agent-just-like-a-human-would-their-baby/
========================================================================

*Audio transcription is finally being automated*
Powered by artificial intelligence

Baidu (BIDU) has launched a transcription tool called SwiftScribe. The tool uses artificial intelligence to convert audio files into text, and it does this work incredibly quickly.

http://marketrealist.com/2017/03/what-value-can-swiftscribe-bring-to-baidu/
========================================================================

*Ford and Baidu invest $150 million into self-driving technology company Velodyne*

Ford has teamed up with Chinese search giant — and Uber China investor — Baidu to lead a $150 million investment in lidar company Velodyne. Lidar — which uses laser technology to measure distance — is used to help autonomous vehicles navigate without a human

https://www.recode.net/2016/8/16/12500336/ford-baidu-investment-velodyne-self-driving-cars
========================================================================

*Baidu Buys Into NextEV NIO Electric Supercars And Autonomous Vehicles*
March 21, 2017

Chinese search engine giant Baidu is jumping into the electric hypercar race after investing about $600 million in NextEV.

http://www.hybridcars.com/baidu-buys-into-nextev-nio-electric-supercars-and-autonomous-vehicles/

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## TaiShang

qwerrty said:


> *The Chinese government is funding a new lab from China's most powerful AI company*
> 2017
> 
> Baidu, a Chinese tech giant making rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), has received funding from the Chinese government for a new research project, Quartz reports.
> 
> https://www.businessinsider.com.au/...funded-by-chinese-government-2017-2?r=US&IR=T
> ========================================================================
> 
> *The Mobile Internet Is Over. Baidu Goes All In on AI*
> 2017-03-16
> 
> The Chinese company has more than 1,300 people working on tech like deep learning.
> 
> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...bile-internet-is-over-baidu-goes-all-in-on-ai
> =======================================================================
> 
> *Baidu Set to Open Second AI Lab in Silicon Valley*
> Mar 27, 2017 11:01 PM
> 
> Baidu’s new facility, called the Artificial Learning and Autonomous Driving Unit, will have 150 personnel and will be located less than a kilometer from its current research center in Sunnyvale, California, which has nearly 200 employees.
> 
> http://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-03-27/101071002.html
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Tencent increases its focus on artificial intelligence*
> Posted Mar 27, 2017
> 
> Tencent, best known for WeChat, China’s top messaging app, announced the lab last April. It said today that it has 50 AI specialists housed there. Aside from that development facility, Zhang — who received a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford and has worked at IBM and Yahoo — will lead a team of 200 product engineers..
> 
> https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/27/tencent-ai/
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Alibaba Cloud takes artificial intelligence to the masses*
> March 29, 2017
> 
> Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba Group, is making artificial intelligence (AI) technology more accessible to businesses and organizations with the debut of an upgraded machine-learning platform.
> 
> Called PAI 2.0, the platform, which launched in 2015, will “help customers easily deploy large-scale data mining and modeling,” Alibaba Cloud said in a statement. Machine learning is a branch of AI that gives computers the ability to absorb information, discern patterns in data and adapt to new input without explicit programming.
> 
> http://www.alizila.com/alibaba-cloud-wants-to-democratize-artificial-intelligence-technology/
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Baidu’s AI team taught a virtual agent just like a human would their baby*
> Posted 11 hours ago
> 
> Baidu’s artificial intelligence research team has achieved a significant milestone: teaching a virtual agent “living” in a 2D environment how to navigate its world using natural language commands, by first teaching it language through positive and negative reinforcement. The especially exciting thing, according to the scientists, is that the agent ended up developing a “zero-shot learning ability,” which essentially means that the AI agent developed a basic sense of grammar.
> 
> https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/30/b...ual-agent-just-like-a-human-would-their-baby/
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Audio transcription is finally being automated*
> Powered by artificial intelligence
> 
> Baidu (BIDU) has launched a transcription tool called SwiftScribe. The tool uses artificial intelligence to convert audio files into text, and it does this work incredibly quickly.
> 
> http://marketrealist.com/2017/03/what-value-can-swiftscribe-bring-to-baidu/
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Ford and Baidu invest $150 million into self-driving technology company Velodyne*
> 
> Ford has teamed up with Chinese search giant — and Uber China investor — Baidu to lead a $150 million investment in lidar company Velodyne. Lidar — which uses laser technology to measure distance — is used to help autonomous vehicles navigate without a human
> 
> https://www.recode.net/2016/8/16/12500336/ford-baidu-investment-velodyne-self-driving-cars
> ========================================================================
> 
> *Baidu Buys Into NextEV NIO Electric Supercars And Autonomous Vehicles*
> March 21, 2017
> 
> Chinese search engine giant Baidu is jumping into the electric hypercar race after investing about $600 million in NextEV.
> 
> http://www.hybridcars.com/baidu-buys-into-nextev-nio-electric-supercars-and-autonomous-vehicles/



Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, the triopoly of future AI and IoT research.

Now it makes more sense why China protected these industries in their infancy.

There is still lots of room for development and others won't be sitting idle. Keep the Long March.

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## cirr

*Inspur to Unveil 2U 8-GPU AI Supercomputer at GTC 2017*

NEWS PROVIDED BY

*Inspur Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd* 

08 May, 2017, 12:00 ET

SAN JOSE, May 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspur will unveil a new ultra-high density AI computing server, AGX-2, to accelerate Artificial Intelligence at the upcoming 2017 GPU Technology Conference (GTC2017). It is designed to provide maximum throughput for superior application performance for science and engineering computing, taking AI computing to the next level.

The AGX-2 will be unveiled at Inspur booth# 911 on May 10. It supports up to 8 NVIDIA® Tesla® P100 GPUs in a 2U form factor with NVIDIA® NVLink™ 2.0 enabled, providing faster, more efficient computing performance for a wide range of demanding applications and environments. The unique air cooling or air-liquid hybrid cooling design enables deployment of Green Datacenters with lower PUE.

Inspur keeps track of all the emerging intelligent computing technologies and applications, and is able to provide customers with the most complete GPU server product solutions that can support 2\4\8 GPU accelerators for a standalone system. Inspur and Baidu are also working together to develop an extendable SR-AI Rack Scale System designed to support 16 NVIDIA Tesla GPU Accelerators in a box. This powerful system can immediately shorten data processing time, visualize more data, accelerate deep learning frameworks, and design more sophisticated neural networks.

Inspur has been working with partners and customers around the world to help them accelerate solutions, automate operations, and gather better insights to make smarter decisions. *In China, Inspur accounts for more than 60% of AI computing server market, and works closely with leading AI companies, such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, iFLYTEK, Qihoo 360, Sogou, Toutiao, and Face++*, to achieve significant performance improvements for voice, image, video, search, networking and other applications.

Please visit us and attend our new product announcements and technical sessions to learn more about our cutting-edge AI computing hardware design and extensive product solutions.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...u-ai-supercomputer-at-gtc-2017-300452943.html

@Bussard Ramjet India?

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## cirr

*China sets up national lab developing AI technology*

Xinhua, May 15, 2017




China's first national laboratory for brain-like artificial intelligence (AI) technology is inaugurated Saturday in Hefei. [Photo/cnr.cn]

China's first national laboratory for brain-like artificial intelligence (AI) technology was inaugurated Saturday in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province, to pool the country's top research talent and boost the technology.

Approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in January, the lab, based in China University of Science and Technology (USTC), aims to develop a brain-like computing paradigm and applications.

The university, known for its leading role in developing quantum communication technology, hosts the national lab in collaboration with a number of the country's top research bodies such as Fudan University, Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as Baidu, operator of China's biggest online search engine.

Wan Lijun, president of USTC and chairman of the national lab, said the ability to mimic the human brain's ability in sorting out information will help build a complete AI technology development paradigm.

The lab will carry out research to guide machine learning such as recognizing messages and using visual neural networks to solve problems. It will also focus on developing new applications with technological achievements.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2017-05/15/content_40814490.htm

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## Han Patriot

@Bussard Ramjet 

China to Develop Cambrian AI Chip That Simulates Human Brain

Read more: http://www.telegiz.com/articles/204...fineart-tencent-deep-zen-go.htm#ixzz4hA2NRDNk


> The Cambrian chip "is expected to be the world's first processor that simulates human nerve cells and synapses to conduct deep learning,"





qwerrty said:


> japan is the definition of ai and korea is not bad either. korean team smashed everyone not long ago in darpa robotics competition where google also took part in.


Bussards knows everything. From quantum computing to AI.... even China respects Japan is terms of robotics AI.

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## TaiShang

*Baofeng bets on AI for the future of TV industry*
By Zhao Tingting | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-05-11





Liu Yaoping, CEO of Baofeng TV, speaks at the launch ceremony for the new X5 ECHO in Beijing on May 10, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]


Baofeng TV, the TV arm of Baofeng Group Co Ltd, a Beijing-based internet entertainment and video company, *launched an artificial intelligence (AI) TV in Beijing on Wednesday.*

"We have always insisted on combining the technology and human insight, and offering the best products and services," said Liu Yaoping, CEO of Baofeng TV, which was established two years ago.

The Baofeng AI TV, dubbed X5 ECHO,* is the first device to provide far-field voice interaction between human and machine.*

"We hope TV sets can change people's lifestyle and business model like what the smartphone did. The newly released product is not only a TV with interactive functions, but *also a household AI assistant, providing services actively," Liu added.*

Differentiating from normal TV sets, *X5 ECHO can be turned on immediately when the user calls the name of the AI assistant - Baofeng Big Ears - instead of using the remote control.*

The new product *allows the AI assistant to handle users' behavioral data through cloud computing and algorithms.*

X5 ECHO provides a variety of AI services, such as video content services, life services, TV video chat, as well as an entertainment and education platform for children.

Equipped with 4k ultra HD large screen and 4K HDR technology, Baofeng AI TV can support MEMC dynamic compensation technology, *as well as Baofeng's patented left eye engine technology, increasing video clarity by 30 percent.*

Presale of X5 ECHO started on the official website of Baofeng TV, JD.com, Tmall's flagship store and Suning's flagship store, at 7,999 yuan for the 65-inch model, 5,999 yuan for the 58-inch model, 4,999 yuan for the 55-inch model and 3,999 yuan for the 50-inch model.


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## onebyone

Artificial intelligence viewed as next big thing in tech but also an ethical challenge


PUBLISHED : Friday, 19 May, 2017, 8:36am
UPDATED : Friday, 19 May, 2017, 9:02am

The all-seeing God’s Eye, a system that can hack into any camera and locate anyone, anywhere in less than four minutes is one of the stars of the two latest instalments of the _Fast and Furious_ blockbuster movie franchise.

In China’s most innovative city, Shenzhen, two US-educated Chinese scientists have found a way to turn part of God’s Eye into reality – if the authorities allow them to insert a tiny chip into surveillance cameras.

With the chip, a surveillance camera can greatly speed up human facial recognition and spot a criminal suspect in a crowd in just a few seconds. It has proved effective in at least in one district in Shenzhen and, according to publicly disclosed information, has helped police crack hundreds of cases and find a number of lost children.

The firm, Intellifusion, is just one of the fruits of China’s efforts to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that may profoundly change everyday life and that promises massive financial pay-offs.

China’s AI ambitions were emphasised at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in March and the message was not lost on the country’s biggest tech companies.

Beijing’s efforts to close the innovation gap with the United States have since been given a big boost, with billions of dollars invested in AI laboratories and projects.
Beijing to release national artificial intelligence development plan

Baidu president Zhang Yaqin says his company, China’s equivalent of Google, invests more than 15 per cent of its revenue in research and development every year, much of it on AI. It set up a national deep-learning technology lab in Beijing in March, drawing on the talents of its own AI experts and others from Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Messaging and gaming behemoth Tencent recruited the former head of Baidu’s Big Data Lab, Zhang Tong, last month to lead a team of more than 50 AI scientists and 200 engineers at its AI lab, which focuses on computer vision, voice recognition, natural language processing and machine learning. Its AI Go program Yueyi won the Computer Go UEC Cup in Japan in March.










AI’s potential was demonstrated in January when DeepMind’s AlphaGo, playing under the name “Master”, won 51 online Go matches against some of the world’s best players. Go, a game at least 300 times more difficult than chess, is viewed as a good test of artificial intelligence because of its many permutations and combinations of moves. AlphaGo will be taking on the world’s top-ranked player, China’s Ke Jie, in a best-of-three series in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, next week.

According to recent research by UBS, AI could produce economic value of between US$1.8 trillion and US$3 trillion a year by 2030 in Asia─by introducing new product services and categories, cost savings arising from better products, lower overall prices and improvements in lifestyles.

Data provider i-Research predicts China’s AI market will be worth US$ 9.1 billion in 2020 after growing at an annual compound rate of 50 per cent.

Artificial intelligence given priority development status

That’s been encouraging growing numbers of overseas-trained Chinese researchers to flock back to the mainland to explore AI opportunities and industrialise their technologies.

China, with US$2.6 billion, ranked second globally in terms of investment in AI enterprises and start-ups last year, sandwiched between the US on US$17.9 billion and Britain on US$ 800 million, according to data from China’s WuZhen Institute think tank.

Intellifusion, a start-up founded in Shenzhen three years ago by two Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) experts – Chen Ning and Tian Dihong – who returned to the mainland from the United States, is one of the firms breaking new ground.

“The mainland market is the best choice in the world for talented research scientists to bring their AI technology from lab to life and make it possible for scalable AI products,” Chen said, while acknowledging there were more developed AI technologies and more experienced AI talent in the US.

“While there’s no doubt artificial intelligence is the new frontier, the foundation for the technology is still not mature.”










The winner would not be the one with the best algorithm, Chen said, but the one with the most data.

“In the AI sector, China is a fast starter,” he said. “The mainland market, with its huge population, means you can launch AI products quicker, collect more data and upgrade your algorithm faster, and then lower your cost to compete for bigger market share.”

US-based GPU maker Nvidia predicts there will be a billion surveillance cameras watching people around the world by 2020, presenting the massive challenge of working out exactly how to deal with that giant deluge of data.

That’s where an “intelligent chip” designed by Chen and Tian’s company, Intellifusion, stands to cash in.

Artificial intelligence could put as many as 50m Asian jobs at risk over next 15-20 years: UBS study

The authorities in Shenzhen, dubbed China’s Silicon Valley, have invested in the start-up and given it other support. But some people have expressed concern about the privacy implications of the technology.

Around 100,000 public surveillance cameras across the city will be using Intellifusion’s chips by the end of this year. They enable police to identify an individual in just a second or two from a database of about 300 million people and most surveillance cameras in Shenzhen will be fitted with them by next year.










Chen and Tian worked together at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Centre for Signal and Image Processing 15 to 16 years ago. Their company now employs around 100 people.

Chief executive Chen, 42, said Intellifusion’s chip was much more effective than the traditional CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) chips.

“An effective front-end AI-powered chip for visual intelligence is a must in future, to make the machines not only see the world, but also understand the world and conduct local real-time processing,” Chen said. “Our chips in cameras can preprocess video data, detect and extract targeted facial characteristics, and translate them into arrays of binary data, which are uploaded to the cloud for final processing.”

Chinese firms fight to lure top artificial intelligence talent from Silicon Valley

Chen and Tian, who specialises in visual computing and led tech teams at Samsung and Cisco, decided in 2014 to resign from American tech giant employers and return to Shenzhen to start their own AI business.

Their decision, reached after two days of conversation, paid off the next year when they won an innovation competition for international talent under Shenzhen’s Peacock Plan, an ambitious city government programme to recruit and support top hi-tech researchers. They attracted more than 40 million yuan (US$6.3 million) in funding and subsidies from the Shenzhen authorities in 2015.










That success boosted their national profile and Intellifusion’s products are now used in more than 10 Chinese provinces and also in Malaysia.

In its A-round financing in March last year the start-up attracted US dollar investment in the eight-figure range from Chinese venture capital funds.

“Top-level Chinese AI experts are rich in advantageous resources in the mainland market,” said eSight Technology founder Dr Huang Bufu. With a PhD in mechanical design and automation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he’s founded a start-up in Shenzhen focusing on machine vision development for industrial robots in Pearl River Delta factories.

China’s artificial intelligence sector in danger of becoming a ‘bubble’, experts warn

Huang said his company, with about 20 staff, had completed its first round of financing, with investment from several mainland venture capital funds.

“Based in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, AI start-ups can reach various venture funds across the country and benefit from preferential policies from local government, not only for the projects and start-ups, but also for the human resources,” he said.

Huang said several friends who had earned PhDs in Hong Kong had decided to follow him across the border to explore the opportunities for AI start-ups on the mainland.










The flood of investment into AI on the mainland has spurred calls for public debate on the ethical and moral implications of technology such as robots, cameras with “brains” and autonomous cars.

“While governments make Intellifusion’s chips a hi-tech showcase in the cities, arming public surveillance cameras to make the cities safer, the rights to privacy of the citizens they track must not be forgotten,” said Wang Cairong, secretary general of the China Artificial Intelligence Robot Industry Alliance.

China’s first ‘deep learning lab’ intensifies challenge to US in artificial intelligence race

Chen said the AI tide could not be turned back, but better rules were needed.

“The governments and scientists need to sit down together to think carefully about how to revise current rules and laws for AI development,” he said. “In the future, the laws and the ethical rules will not just be for human beings, but also for human-computer interaction.”

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## onebyone

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...ig-brother-gets-gods-eye-china-tries-catch-ai


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## onebyone

Alex Konrad , 

FORBES STAFF 

Staff writer for venture capital, startups and enterprise tech. 


This story appears in the June 2017 issue of Forbes Asia. Subscribe




David Yellen for Forbes

Kai-Fu Lee sees America as destined to lose to China in the race for leadership in AI.

Kai-Fu Lee watched the U.S. beat China to global internet leadership during the dot-com bubble from the inside. Now with what he sees as an even greater technological revolution taking place in the fast-growing field of artificial intelligence, Lee doesn't expect China to take a backseat a second time. "China started slow, and American companies went international," Lee says during a May visit to Forbes Media's headquarters. "But simple math says China has a larger GDP. The market will be bigger."

When Lee talks about AI, he speaks from firsthand experience. The Taiwan native developed the first speaker-independent phone recognition program as a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon in the late 1980s, before stints at Apple and as an executive at Microsoft and Google in China--in fact, he was founding president of Google China.

Google and its peers were ultimately thwarted in their ambitions to carve out leadership stakes in the Chinese market, in part due to cultural differences among consumers as well as privacy clashes with the Chinese government. When Lee returned from working at Google's Mountain View, California, headquarters to launch his own VC fund, Sinovation Ventures, he came back to a China firmly entrenched in what he now describes as a duopolistic global tech economy. U.S. internet software continued to lead the English-speaking world, while a group of ?Chinese companies, famously led by Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (B-A-T), controlled their domestic market and exerted increasing influence in Southeast Asia and developing markets.

With companies on both sides of the Pacific racing to develop applications of AI, China's scale can prove a decisive advantage, Lee believes. The country boasts perhaps 43% of the world's trained AI scientists, Lee says, with Microsoft alone training about 50,000 Chinese scientists in processes critical to the field starting in 1998. Overall, this doesn't represent the cream of talent in the field--that is still found in the U.S., Canada and Britain, he says--but China's legions are good.

China's political leadership continues to invest heavily in research and technology. And developers may not face the same regulation when it comes to pushing real-world trials, such as with autonomous vehicles, or in mass data collection that would be viewed as intrusive or a privacy violation in the West.

In driverless cars, the U.S. has about a two-year head start, according to Lee. But each minute American tech companies find themselves mired in a regulatory battle or hobbled by objections from transportation incumbents, the Chinese can close that gap.
What's more, he says, top-down rule in China will countenance a long stretch of data-gathering experience in which the casualty rates from autonomous-vehicle use steadily drop--by orders of magnitude, Lee hypothesizes. Even relatively safe records may not pass muster in democracies.

Not only do Chinese companies have the advantage of a hyper-competitive market in which the leading players typically compete across a range of applications and use cases (compared with more specialized leaders in the U.S.), the Chinese government continues to invest in R&D while unstable visa policies could encourage more academics to return to China after attending universities in the U.S. Even a language barrier can work in China's favor: Baidu's recently departed AI chief Andrew Ng told The Atlantic in February: "China has a fairly deep awareness of what's happening in the English-speaking world, but the opposite is not true."

Lee's odds on China are contested by at least one top American voice in the field. "The leading AI researchers, university departments and research labs are still in the U.S.," says Oren Etzioni, CEO of Seattle's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. "However, China is moving fast. As long as we continue to have an open society and strong immigration, we will remain ahead."

The race to AI leadership is crucial because what we know as AI will greatly exceed direct technological applications, Lee argues. Industries ranging from banking to insurance, health care and media will all face massive transformations from automation. Lee is fond of telling the story of how he pitted his personal banker against computer-run trading algorithms. The machines produced a return that was eight times better. "Anything with a feedback loop will give way to AI," Lee says. That could include scanning hundreds of insurance claims or mortgage applications, shipping orders and even evaluating patient X-rays. "In most cases it's okay to be mostly accurate," says Lee.

The small comfort for logistics managers, doctors and mortgage officers: a tiny percentage--Lee guesses about 10%--of decisions will remain so mission-critical or life-and-death that a company can't take the chance the machine is wrong or its communications are off. "Robotics can fake some empathy, but compassion isn't there," Lee says. "With 10% wrong, you can still lose all trust."

Even near accuracy would still mean a massive displacement of workers, pushing the jobs to managerial or quality-control roles or putting a "last mile" human face on interactions. Lee and his team frequently invoke a 2013 Oxford research paper by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne that predicted that 47% of jobs in the U.S. economy would be threatened by automation. Lee is not impressed by recent developments such as Facebook's announcement that it would hire 3,000 moderators to help its systems flag and take down inappropriate videos. "That's a tiny number," he says. "Look at what percent of global internet users Facebook is reaching" relative to the number of people who will be paid to monitor them, he says. "It's noise."

The rising AI economy, meanwhile, won't look like the B-A-T companies or the de facto American hegemony of Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google. Lee believes the AI economy will be spread out across practices within tech companies and large corporations as well as sold as a contract service by specialists. Through his $1.2 billion fund--building to $2 billion--Lee is investing in applications that can benefit from AI, including, in America, SuperFlex, a company building exosuits for disabled and elderly people, and Wonder Workshop, which makes robots to teach children computer science. (He's skeptical about humanistic service robots like Softbank's Pepper, however.)

Lee says he's investing about 95% in China and only 5% in the U.S. One brutal reality of training any machine-learning program, he notes, is that the more the system processes information, the better trained it gets, meaning the more it's used the smarter and more accurate it gets. And no research hub has more users at its fingertips than China. Says Lee: "Whoever has the most data wins."

_Follow Alex on Forbes, Twitter and Facebook for more coverage of startups, enterprise software and venture capital.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2017/05/30/kai-fu-lee-sees-china-ai-advantage/#3525da351969_

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## onebyone

*Metrics Stack Up To Prove China's Tech Innovation Progress*
If current trends continue, China is on track to become the world's latest filer for patent applications, surpassing the U.S., which still leads by a good but diminishing margin. So concludes a recent report from the World Intellectual Property Organization, which tracks patent statistics globally each year.

Indeed, China has posted double-digit gains in patent filings each year since 2012 -- and last year was a record increase of 45% to 43,168 applications for patents. It wasn't long ago that China barely showed up on the patent charts. But last year, two of China's tech titans were the top filers in the world -- ZTE and Huawei.

This is hardly the only indicator of China's progress as a tech innovator, from made in China to invented in China, over the past decade.

By several metrics, China is gaining. China has the world's largest number of mobile and Internet users. At last count Internet users stack up to 688 million or about one-half the population while smart phone users climbed to 422 million or one-third the populace.

Moreover, China's venture capital now stands as the world's second-largest. In 2016, VC investment in China amounted to $32 billion -- up from $27.5 billion in 2015 -- or almost half as much as the U.S. at 69 billion last year.
Additionally, China has its fair share of unicorn-valued startups. China claims 23% share of the world's unicorns (compared with the U.S. at 54% and India at 4%). Chinese ride sharing service Didi, which acquired Uber's China's business, is ranked second among the world's top unicorns.

As further signs, China's leading tech brands Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are going global and bringing their innovations and capital to the West.

Areas where China is gaining an advantage are artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics, fintech and mobile communications and payments. This is a long way from low-cost manufacturer.

Things that are popular and more advanced in China include shared bicycles, VR cafes, mobile payment and mobile commerce.

Turning to the highest valuations for companies in the world, China counts four among the top 10: Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and Ant Financial.

China's leading mobile messaging service WeChat is used now by nearly 900 million globally, and it's starting to catch on among those outside China. One-third of the users of WeChat also used WeChat payment to make purchases. Who carries a wallet today in China?

Finally, on a score of the most innovative nations in the world, China has just joined the list of top 25, as measured by a Global Innovation Index compiled by the WIPO, Cornell University and INSEAD.

Despite a slowing economy, debt issues, an aging population and pollution problems, China's tech scene is clearly maintaining its vibrancy in urban areas, tech parks, co-working spaces and college campuses.



Rebecca A. Fannin is founder/editor of news and events group Silicon Dragon, author of three books on innovation trends, and a contributor to Forbes, CNBC and special reports.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebecc...chinas-tech-innovation-progress/#21fb4d05536d

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## qwerrty

The 2017 China Big Data Expo attracts attention from the whole world
https://globenewswire.com/news-rele...-attracts-attention-from-the-whole-world.html

China Creates National Lab to Lead World in Brain-Like Artificial Intelligence
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...uman-brain-like-artificial-intelligence-.html

Baidu in self-driving car tech tie-ups with Bosch, Continental
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-baidu-autonomous-idUSKBN18S68Q

Baidu’s new text-to-speech system can master hundreds of accents
And it can do it with just half an hour of audio training
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/25/15690578/baidu-deep-voice-2-text-to-speech

Baidu is acquiring xPerception, a US startup focused on computer vision
https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/13/b...ion-a-u-s-startup-focused-on-computer-vision/

Leading Facial Recognition Platform Tencent YouTu Lab Smashes Records in MegaFace Facial Recognition Challenge
Chinese Massive Facial Recognition Algorithm Tops Rivals in Worldwide Competition
http://www.itbusinessnet.com/articl...MegaFace-Facial-Recognition-Challenge-4910216

Volkswagen invests $180m in Google-backed Chinese startup Mobvoi Inc
https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stor...-180m-in-google-backed-chinese-startup-69775/

Hillhouse Capital led a US$55 million series C financing round in Yitu Technology, a Shanghai-based artificial intelligence start-up specialized in the field of machine vision
https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...-55m-round-in-chinese-ai-firm-yitu-technology

China Invests US$1.4 Million To Develop Cambricon Deep Learning Chips
https://www.asianscientist.com/2017/04/topnews/china-cas-1-4-million-cambricon-chips/

Jin Jiang International Joins $43M Round In Chinese AI Chip Maker Canaan
https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...ins-43m-round-in-chinese-ai-chip-maker-canaan

AI is the future of everything at i-Lab demo day
http://technode.com/2017/05/24/i-lab-demo-day-may-2017-ai/

AI robot to sit China's college entrance exam
http://www.ecns.cn/2017/06-02/259858.shtml

AI Technology from China Helps Radiologists Detect Lung Cancer
https://insidehpc.com/2017/05/ai-technology-china-helps-radiologists-detect-lung-cancer/

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## cirr

*AI robot to sit China's college entrance exam*

017-06-02 08:44

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

Are artificial intelligence robots smart enough to sit the gaokao, China's national college entrance exam?

This year, an AI robot will take the math test of the gaokao, the country's famously difficult college entrance exam, which will kick off on June 7.

The robot AI-MATHS was developed by an AI company in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu.

AI-MATHS will answer different paper versions of the math test over two hours on the test day.

In February, the robot scored 93 on one math test, slightly higher than the passing grade of 90.

"We have been working to improve its performance in logical reasoning and computer algorithms in the past year," said Lin Hui, CEO of the AI firm Chengdu Zhunxingyunxue Technology.

*China's Ministry of Science and Technology has announced a plan to develop gaokao robots. Under the plan, by 2020, AI robots will be smart enough to gain admission to leading universities through the entrance exam.*

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/06-02/259858.shtml

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## AndrewJin

It is happening!
21st century, AI and robot century


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## onebyone

Tomohiro Ohsumi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Visitors sit on sofas below the Baidu logo in the reception area of the company's headquarters in Beijing, China.
The Chinese internet giant Baidu has signed two contracts in Germany aimed at developing autonomous driving options.

"AI (artificial intelligence) technology has huge potential to promote social development, and one of AI's biggest opportunities lies in intelligent vehicles," said Qi Lu, chief operating officer of Baidu said in a statement on Thursday.

The company has announced collaborations with Continental and Bosh, but has not disclosed any amounts involved.


"Through this agreement with Continental, we expect to upgrade the intelligent systems of the automobile industry and energize many existing and emerging industries," Qi Lu said.

The collaboration with Bosh specifically will firstly involve an in-depth technical cooperation and in the future, Bosh will be able to work in Baidu's Apollo Project, an open platform for automated driving.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attended the signing ceremony with Bosh. The leader is in Europe for a summit with the European Union, where he aims to boost business between Chinese and European firms. He is also set to support a common response to climate change marking a different position from U.S. President Donald Trump who is reportedly expected to pull the country out of the historic Paris agreement.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/01/chinese-tech-giant-baidu-chooses-europe-for-driverless-car-push.html

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## qwerrty

Baidu's AI-glasses











Tencent's QQ alert











-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Chinese VCs Are Loving Autonomous Driving Tech*
Pan Yue
June 7, 2017 — 09:33 HKT


Baidu, the most active of the three, established its autonomous driving business in 2013. Alibaba established a US$161 million Internet of Cars Fund with SAIC Motor Co Ltd. two years later, and also set up its own autonomous driving unit that same year.

June 2017: Shunwei Capital joined a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series A round in *AI-Drive*, a Chinese autonomous driving solutions provider focused on unmanned logistics and unmanned aerial lift vehicles.

May 2017: GSR Ventures joined a US$25 million series A round in *DeepMap Inc*, a U.S.-based start-up co-founded by a Chinese engineer, developing high-definition maps for autonomous cars to navigate in complex and unpredictable conditions.

May 2017: Pagoda Investment led a RMB110 million (US$16 million) series A round in *Hesai*, a Shanghai-based company developing smart sensing solutions for autonomous cars and natural gas leak detection systems.

May 2017: Hangzhou-based chip maker *Canaan* raised RMB300 million (US$43 million) in a series A round from a number of investors including Chinese hotel operator Jin Jiang International Group Co., Ltd., Chinese investment firms Baopu Asset Management Co. Ltd. and Tunlan Investment.

April 2017: Baidu acquired* xPerception*, a U.S. technology company, providing visual perception software and hardware solutions for a range of applications, including robotics, virtual reality (VR), and devices for people who are visually impaired, in order to push the development of augmented reality (AR), autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence-based products.

March 2017: Alibaba invested US$18 million in *WayRay*, a Swiss holographic augmented reality company developing AR-enabled car navigation systems for Internet-connected vehicles.

February 2017: Legend Capital led a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series B round in Chinese self-driving tech firm *Zongmu Technology*, which develops advanced driver assistance systems, including 2D and 3D panoramic vision system, self-parking solutions, and driving recording systems.

August 2016: Baidu Inc. and Ford Motor Company invested a combined US$150 million in *Velodyne LiDAR*, Inc., a supplier of technology that lets self-driving cars see and avoid what’s around them.

December 2016: An incubator under JD Finance backed Hangzhou-based bike and self-driving car start-up *Notebike* to jointly develop an autonomous vehicle specifically designed for goods delivery.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/06/07/chinese-vcs-are-loving-autonomous-driving-tech

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## cirr

*Baidu to integrate AI technologies into financial services*

2017-06-22 16:14

People's Daily Online _Editor: Li Yan_

China's internet leviathan Baidu has announced its plan to upgrade the company's financial services by using artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that the technology can help to avoid investment blunders.

According to Zhu Guang, Baidu's senior vice president, the company will cooperate with the Agricultural Bank of China to launch a financial brain project, as well as to develop applications related to evaluations of clients' credit and supervision of their financial risks.

"Based on Baidu's big data and algorithms, we can [deduce] our clients' ages and educational backgrounds with an accuracy rate of 90 and 85 percent respectively. By generating a financial portrait of our clients, we can attract more customers, which is crucial for our future plans," Zhu was quoted as saying by Thepaper.cn on June 20. Zhu also noted that AI technologies can be used for identity recognition and data collection, which are vital elements for the development of the financial industry.

"Compared to humans, AI is more accurate in determining the authenticity of cachet and bills. At the same time, by analyzing and studying clients' behavior and irregular trade events, AI can establish anti-phishing modes to avoid risk," said Zhu.

Introducing AI technologies into the financial sector is not Baidu's initiative alone. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, is building an artificial intelligence engine to automate management of the company. Rebellion Research, a New York-based investment adviser, also uses AI technologies to make investment decisions.

Following in the steps of its foreign counterparts, Baidu, China's largest search engine, will build two AI-based financial platforms, helping clients to manage their personal wealth and consumption.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/06-22/262554.shtml

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## AndrewJin

qwerrty said:


> Baidu's AI-glasses
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tencent's QQ alert
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *Chinese VCs Are Loving Autonomous Driving Tech*
> Pan Yue
> June 7, 2017 — 09:33 HKT
> 
> 
> Baidu, the most active of the three, established its autonomous driving business in 2013. Alibaba established a US$161 million Internet of Cars Fund with SAIC Motor Co Ltd. two years later, and also set up its own autonomous driving unit that same year.
> 
> June 2017: Shunwei Capital joined a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series A round in *AI-Drive*, a Chinese autonomous driving solutions provider focused on unmanned logistics and unmanned aerial lift vehicles.
> 
> May 2017: GSR Ventures joined a US$25 million series A round in *DeepMap Inc*, a U.S.-based start-up co-founded by a Chinese engineer, developing high-definition maps for autonomous cars to navigate in complex and unpredictable conditions.
> 
> May 2017: Pagoda Investment led a RMB110 million (US$16 million) series A round in *Hesai*, a Shanghai-based company developing smart sensing solutions for autonomous cars and natural gas leak detection systems.
> 
> May 2017: Hangzhou-based chip maker *Canaan* raised RMB300 million (US$43 million) in a series A round from a number of investors including Chinese hotel operator Jin Jiang International Group Co., Ltd., Chinese investment firms Baopu Asset Management Co. Ltd. and Tunlan Investment.
> 
> April 2017: Baidu acquired* xPerception*, a U.S. technology company, providing visual perception software and hardware solutions for a range of applications, including robotics, virtual reality (VR), and devices for people who are visually impaired, in order to push the development of augmented reality (AR), autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence-based products.
> 
> March 2017: Alibaba invested US$18 million in *WayRay*, a Swiss holographic augmented reality company developing AR-enabled car navigation systems for Internet-connected vehicles.
> 
> February 2017: Legend Capital led a RMB100 million (US$14 million) series B round in Chinese self-driving tech firm *Zongmu Technology*, which develops advanced driver assistance systems, including 2D and 3D panoramic vision system, self-parking solutions, and driving recording systems.
> 
> August 2016: Baidu Inc. and Ford Motor Company invested a combined US$150 million in *Velodyne LiDAR*, Inc., a supplier of technology that lets self-driving cars see and avoid what’s around them.
> 
> December 2016: An incubator under JD Finance backed Hangzhou-based bike and self-driving car start-up *Notebike* to jointly develop an autonomous vehicle specifically designed for goods delivery.
> https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/06/07/chinese-vcs-are-loving-autonomous-driving-tech

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## Shotgunner51

*These 20 Leading Technologists Are Driving China's AI Revolution*
Jun 21, 2017 @ 01:57 PM
Adelyn Zhou  , Contributor

China’s leading technology companies are on fire, heavily investing in artificial intelligence and building true global presences. *McKinsey recently reported that academic and research institutions in the country publish more cited research papers than the US, UK or any other global leader in AI, producing nearly 10,000 papers in 2015 alone*.

Backed by strong government mandates and billions of dollars in both private and public investments, China is challenging the US for position of global AI leader. Fearful of competition, the US government is considering placing restrictions on Chinese investments in AI and technology in the United States. In many sectors, such as healthcare, China may already be ahead of America in applying AI to critical public issues.

You might recognize names like Andrew Ng, Sebastian Thrun, Geoffrey Hinton, or Yann LeCun as important figures in AI, but few Westerners can name the key leaders driving AI innovation in China and at Chinese companies globally. These executives, entrepreneurs, professors, and researchers helm the most important Chinese tech companies and research labs and are respected widely for their technical expertise and accomplishments.

We’ve researched and curated 20 of the most important figures in the Chinese AI landscape that you should know:

































Read rest of the article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/adelyn...ders-in-artificial-intelligence/#34394f81674d

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## Shotgunner51

Shotgunner51 said:


> You might recognize names like *Andrew Ng*, Sebastian Thrun, Geoffrey Hinton, or Yann LeCun as important figures in AI, but few Westerners can name the key leaders driving AI innovation in China and at Chinese companies globally.


Recent news about *Andrew Ng*, prominent American AI figure, former Baidu chief scientist.

*Artificial intelligence genius Andrew Ng has another AI project in the works*
By Lulu Chang — Posted on June 25, 2017 6:27 am




He’s been called one of the “foremost thinkers on the topic of artificial intelligence,” so it’s no surprise that Andrew Ng — the cofounder of Coursera, the lead developer of Stanford University’s main Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform, and the founder of the Google Brain project — is starting another AI company of his own now that he’s left Baidu. The resume of this impressive entrepreneur reads like a laundry list of some of the most impressive achievements in AI technology, and it seems safe to assume that Ng’s newest venture, known only as deeplearning.ai, won’t disappoint.

_Launching my new project! Hope will help many of you: deeplearning.ai More announcements soon. #deeplearniNgAI pic.twitter.com/EsZecJfbrf_

_&mdash; Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) June 23, 2017_​
While Ng has founded and led many of his own projects in the past, he was most recently attached to another behemoth of a company — Chinese web giant Baidu. There, Ng was chief scientist and headed the company’s (what else) Artificial Intelligence Group, turning the Beijing-based giant into one of only a handful of companies in the world with expertise in each of the major AI categories: speech, natural language processing, computer vision, machine learning, and knowledge graph. Ng’s team was also responsible for bringing two new business groups into the company — autonomous driving and the DuerOS Conversational Computing platform.

Three months ago, Ng announced his departure from the company, noting in a Medium post, “Baidu’s AI is incredibly strong, and the team is stacked up and down with talent; I am confident AI at Baidu will continue to flourish. After Baidu, I am excited to continue working toward the AI transformation of our society and the use of AI to make life better for everyone.”

At the time, he told Forbes that his future plans were still in flux: _“I am looking into quite a few ideas in parallel, and exploring new AI businesses that I can build. One thing that excites me is finding ways to support the global AI community so that people everywhere can access the knowledge and tools that they need to make AI transformations.”_​
And that may just be what deeplearning.ai is all about. In his Twitter announcement, Ng said only that he hoped the company would help “many of you,” and promised more announcements soon. Until then, we’ll wait with bated breath.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/andrew-ng-deeplearningai/
____________________________________________________________________

*Andrew Ng has started a new AI company: DeepLearning.ai*
Intelligence and the Senses 26th June 2017 Matthew Griffin 






WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

*Andrew Ng is one of the world’s leading Deep Learning experts and now he’s resurfaced it’s likely that the boundaries of AI are going to get pushed faster and harder than ever before *​
Former *Baidu* chief scientist Andrew Ng, who used to head up Baidu’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) division but left a couple of months ago in March, today announced that he’s launching a new business called Deeplearning.ai.

While the company launched with little information about what to expect beyond an exploration of the “frontiers of AI” Ng says that he’ll share more details on the new company’s plans in August. Given Ng’s world class status as one of the world’s foremost deep learning experts it’s likely that the company will quickly establish itself as a world leader in AI.

_Launching my new project! Hope will help many of you: deeplearning.ai More announcements soon. #deeplearniNgAI pic.twitter.com/EsZecJfbrf_
_— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) June 23, 2017_​
Considered one of the top minds in deep learning today he has an enviable career – he started at Baidu in 2014 after helping to co-create Google’s “Google Brain” AI lab, and also worked as director of Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) while at the same time co-founding Coursera where his machine learning course remains on of the most popular courses on the platforms to this day.

http://www.globalfuturist.org/2017/06/andrew-ng-has-started-a-new-ai-company-deeplearning-ai/

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## JSCh

*AI: soon in a store near you*
By Zhu Shenshen | 00:01 UTC+8 June 27, 2017

FIVE stores with artificial intelligence machines instead of human cashiers and check-out lines will open in a beta test in Shanghai next month as part of the AI revolution transforming China’s retail industry.

The Take Go stores will be the Chinese version of the partially automated Amazon Go and will be opened in shopping centers and near tourist attractions.

DeepBlue Technology, the owner of the Take Go brand, will be the first to launch a system without cashiers in Shanghai, with wireless payment, fingerprint and facial recognition, and product recommendations.

The system, supported by Ailbaba’s services and Nvidia’s AI, is at the forefront of smart retailing, integrating online and offline networks and the latest technologies.

Beverage giant Wahaha also reportedly plans to soon open 100,000 shops with no human staff in China.

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## JSCh

*China is betting big on AI - and here’s why it’s going to pay off*
_China’s economy may expand 26 per cent by 2030, as artificial intelligence accelerates worldwide increases in productivity, PwC said._

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 27 June, 2017, 12:33pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 27 June, 2017, 12:33pm
Meng Jing
China will see the greatest economic gains from artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030 as the technology accelerates global GDP growth by increasing productivity and boosting consumption, says PwC in a new research report released Tuesday.

Dubbed the fourth industrial revolution, AI technologies are expected to boost global GDP by a further 14 per cent by 2030 – the equivalent of an additional US$15.7 trillion – and China, as the world’s second largest economy, will see an estimated 26 per cent boost to GDP by that time, the PwC report said.

Launched at the World Economic Forum’s annual June meeting in northeast China’s Dalian city, often known as the Summer Davos, the report said labour productivity improvements would account for over half of the US$15.7 trillion in economic gains from AI between 2016 and 2030 – more than the current output of China and India combined – while increased consumer demand resulting from AI-enabled product enhancements will account for the rest.

“The analysis demonstrates how big a game changer AI is likely to be – transforming our lives as individuals, enterprises and as a society,” said Anand Rao, global leader of artificial intelligence at PwC.

The technology behind an array of advanced applications, from facial recognition to self-driving vehicles, is the centre of attention for almost every tech company in China as they bet big on AI to gain a competitive edge before it begins to have a more profound impact on people’s lives.

Since the start of this year, Chinese internet heavyweights Baidu, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group have been competing harder than ever to lure top AI talent from Silicon Valley in order to accelerate their own AI development. Alibaba owns the _South China Morning Post._

PwC predicts that North America will experience productivity gains earlier than China due to its first mover advantage in AI but China is expected to pull ahead of the United States in terms of AI productivity gains within 10 years after it catches up to the technology.

According to the PwC research, AI is projected to boost China’s GDP by 26 per cent by 2030, while for North America the number is 14.5 per cent. For developing countries in Latin America and Africa, the expected GDP gain will only be about 6 per cent due to the much lower rates of AI technology adoption.

“China has already made great leaps in the development of AI and our research shows that [AI] has the potential to be a powerful remedy for slowing growth,” said Chuan Neo Chong, chairwoman of Greater China operations for global consultancy Accenture.

In separate research done by Accenture, AI is expected to accelerate China’s annual growth rate from 6.3 per cent to 7.9 per cent by 2035. The Accenture research, published on Monday, shows that AI could boost China’s gross value added (GVA) by US$7.11 trillion by 2035 and has the potential to boost China’s labour productivity by 27 per cent by the same year.

Minimising the economic imbalances brought about by AI will be an important challenge, said Lee Kai-fu, the former Greater China president of Google and founder of venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures.

Those developing countries which will experience rapid population growth in coming decades are expected to be hardest hit by AI in terms job losses, he added.

“Most of the wealth created by AI will go into the US and China because of their big pool of talent and [high levels of data generation], as well as the size of their markets,” said Li, who is one of the most prominent advocates of AI in China.


China is betting big on AI - and here’s why it’s going to pay off | South China Morning Post

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## JSCh

*Alibaba hires top scientist to mastermind AI drive*
By He Wei in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-27 07:06



Two men chat beside a logo of Alibaba at its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Agencies]

Internet powerhouse Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has appointed a seasoned scientist at Amazon.com Inc to spearhead its efforts in artificial intelligence, a move that will propel its so-called "NASA plan" to double up on technology research.

Alibaba in March announced a major project at its first technical meeting in Hangzhou, to galvanize the group's technological capabilities, code-named NASA.

Since June, Ren Xiaofeng, former senior principal scientist at Amazon and a Chinese citizen, has taken on the role as chief scientist and deputy dean at Alibaba's Institute of Data Science and Technologies, its global research and development center, the company confirmed on Monday.

Ren is recruiting a world-class computer vision team at a fast-expanding site in Bellevue, in the United States.



Ren Xiaofeng, former senior principal scientist at Amazon and a Chinese citizen, has taken on the role as chief scientist and deputy dean at Alibaba's Institute of Data Science and Technologies, its global research and development center.[Photo/cs.com.cn]

That's according to Ren's updated resume on the website of the University of Washington, where he also serves as an affiliate assistant professor of computer science and engineering.

In his four years at Amazon, Ren was the lead scientist at Amazon Go, using computer vision and machine learning, to transform retailing. The research led to the launch of an automatic check-out system that eliminates unnecessary and annoying customer waiting.

Prior to Amazon, Ren also had deep experience in vision-related projects at Intel Lab, working on computer vision and its applications in activity recognition and monitoring, robotics, and human-computer interaction. Ren holds a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Alibaba said that Ren's coming onboard indicated an accelerated pace to carry out the NASA project, proposed by founder Jack Ma in March, to boost the firm's technological capacity in 20 years.

Ma said at the time that to meet the group's strategic goal of serving 2 billion customers, creating 100 million jobs and enabling 10 million businesses to become profitable, Alibaba should invest in technological infrastructure featuring machine learning, chips, the internet of things and biometric identification, among others.

As a new entrant to the international cloud market, Alibaba is off to a good start, being included for the first time in a Gartner Inc report this month as being "well-positioned to take on bigger players such as Amazon and Microsoft Corp".

Since the start of the year China's tech majors have been plowing in billions of dollars into consolidating a technical arsenal and talent pool to outgun their rivals.

Search engine Baidu Inc hired former Microsoft executive Lu Qi as group president and rolled out its Apollo Project to help drive the development of autonomous cars.

Tencent Holdings Ltd is also betting on cloud technologies and AI, doubling its offshore data centers this year and identifying AI as being synonymous with its services.

Shanghai-based Gartner Research Director Sandy Shen said that Chinese tech firms were becoming a hot draw for talent globally, given the market fluidity, fast pace and the receptive attitude toward new technologies among Chinese consumers.

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## Shotgunner51

*AI technology already used in China helps radiologists read CT scans, X-rays*
May 08, 2017






San Jose, CA–May 8, 2017 - *Infervision*, a tech company using big data and artificial intelligence to assist and improve medical diagnoses, is introducing its innovative, deep learning solution to help radiologists identify suspicious lesions and nodules in lung cancer patients faster than ever before. *The Infervision AI platform is the world’s first to reshape the workflow of radiologists* and it is already showing dramatic results at several top hospitals in China. The company founder, Chen Kuan, will present a talk on the company and its use of AI for medical diagnoses at the NVIDIA GPU Tech Conference in San Jose. (Monday, May 8, 9-9:50AM PT) 

Infervision’s AI-aided CT diagnosis, with its high-performance parallel computing power, effectively learns the core characteristics of lung cancer and efficiently detects suspected cancer features in different CT image sequences, helping with early diagnosis and consequently early treatment. The technology is also used to assist in X-ray diagnosis and has achieved extremely high accuracy so that it is close to that of a deputy chief physician in the diagnosis of cardiothoracic diseases at one of the top Chinese hospitals where the software is now in use.

For the past six months, the technology has been in use at several top hospitals in China, a country experiencing hundreds of thousands of new lung cancer patients annually, while it has too few radiologists. After rigorous testing and integrating the software with the standard PACS (picture archiving and communication system), Infervision’s technology is proving to be extremely effective and is enhancing the work of Chinese doctors by acting as a second pair of eyes. The Infervision solution improves the workflow of radiologists, delivering a faster reading of hundreds of images for each patient, and bringing to the doctor’s attention those scans that may have malignant lesions or nodules so radiologists will thoroughly review them.






_“Our goal at Infervision is to build a stronger medical industry and help accelerate diagnoses which is so important for patients,” _said Chen Kuan, founder and CEO of Infervision. _“In China we have a severe shortage of radiologists, particularly in lower-level hospitals all over the country. There are 80,000 radiologists who must diagnose 1.4 billion radiology scans a year. By using artificial intelligence and deep learning, the Infervision platform augments the work of these doctors so they can get through scans quickly. A process that used to take 15 minutes can be dramatically reduced so detection and treatment of lung cancer is faster. This could be life changing for many.”_​
Additionally, Infervision’s technology and a group of radiologists recently went head-to-head in a report reading experiment with different types and sizes of nodules. Infervision’s AI-CT predicted more accurately than radiologists in every category.

_“In no way will this technology ever replace doctors. It is intended to eliminate much of the highly repetitive work. Infervision empowers doctors and helps them deliver more accurate reports and do it much faster,” _continued Kuan.​
The Infervision artificial intelligence continues to learn as more data becomes available and also analyzes past results. Lung cancer is particularly rampant in China due to both air pollution and smoking with between 600,000 and 700,000 new lung cancer cases are diagnosed annually. While this is an unfortunate statistic, it provides a huge trove of medical data that can make the Infervision technology stronger and even more effective.

About Infervision

Infervision specializes in assisted medical image diagnosis, using artificial intelligence and deep learning to help improve the workflow and efficiency of radiologists for diagnosing various types of cancer and other diseases. The company has raised a Series A round of 50M RMB ($7.2M USD) led by Sequoia Capital and established cooperative business partnerships with close to 20 Tertiary Grade A hospitals including Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. It also has relationships with online and offline medical image platforms including Ali Cloud Computing and has entered into strategic partnerships with GE Healthcare, Cisco and NVIDIA. Founders and scientists with Infervision studied at top universities and research institutions around the world. For more information visit www.infervision.com.


https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/37147

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## Shotgunner51

*Artificial Intelligence Poised to Accelerate China’s Annual Growth Rate from 6.3 percent to 7.9 percent by 2035, Finds New Research from Accenture*
June 26, 2017 02:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time 





AI is poised to boost China's GVA by USD $7,111 billion by 2035 (Graphic: Business Wire)

DALIAN, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research from Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reveals that artificial intelligence (AI) could accelerate China’s economic growth rate from 6.3 percent to 7.9 percent by 2035, by transforming the nature of work and opening new sources of value and growth.

The report, titled “How Artificial Intelligence Can Drive China’s Growth,” explores new insights into AI and its impact on China’s economy. Based on analysis and modeling by Accenture Research, in collaboration with Frontier Economics, there is dramatic impact on China’s growth when AI is added as a completely new factor of production to the economic growth model.

 _“China has already made great leaps in the development of AI and our research shows that it has the potential to be a powerful remedy for slowing growth,”_ said Chuan Neo Chong, Accenture Greater China Chairwoman.

_“However, as with any catalyst, it is important to remember the challenges and the risk of unintended consequences. Stakeholders must prepare themselves intellectually, technologically, politically, ethically and socially for the promise of AI.” _​
The research compared the size of China’s economy in 2035 in a baseline scenario, which shows expected economic growth under current assumptions, and an AI scenario, which shows expected growth once the impact of AI has been absorbed into the economy. As a new factor of production, Accenture finds that AI is poised to boost China’s gross value added (GVA) by USD $7,111 billion by 2035.

The report also finds that AI has the potential to boost China’s labor productivity by 27 percent by 2035 - driven by innovative AI technologies that enable people to make more efficient use of their time.

These effects occur because, as a capital-labor hybrid, AI can drive growth in three different ways via intelligent automation, which creates growth through a set of features unlike those of traditional automation solutions; labor and capital augmentation, which results from enhancing the skills and abilities of existing workforces and physical capital; and innovation diffusion, which trickles down throughout the economy in the form of increased total factor productivity (TFP).

Accenture’s findings also reveal that Manufacturing, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, and Wholesale and Retail are the three industry sectors that will benefit most from the application of AI in China, with boosts in their annual GVA growth rates by 2 percentage points, 1.8 percentage points and 1.7 percentage points respectively by 2035.

 _“AI could be a game changer for China’s industries,”_ said Frank Chen, Head of Accenture Greater China Technology Practice.

_“To harness its potential, industry leaders will need to synthesize AI into their strategies and create a new playbook for AI. This means adapting traditional company structures to AI, and more innovative thinking when it comes to both operations and business models. Industries will need to shift from doing things differently, to doing different things.” _​
To fulfill the promise of AI as a new factor of production that can reignite growth, Accenture recommends the following steps be taken by policymakers and business leaders: 

*Prepare the next generation* – integrate human intelligence with machine intelligence so they can successfully co-exist in a two-way learning relationship and reevaluate the type of knowledge and skills required for the future. 
*Advocate a code of ethics for AI* – enterprises should design responsible AI systems with built-in accountability. This should be supplemented by tangible standards and best practices in the development and use of intelligent machines. 
*Address the redistribution effects* – policymakers should highlight how AI can result in tangible benefits and preemptively address any perceived downsides of AI, helping groups disproportionately affected by changes of employment and income. 
*Step beyond automation, and towards new innovations* - business leaders should actively embrace AI-driven disruptions and synthesize AI into their own business strategies. With recent strides in AI, companies need to take a step beyond automation to harness the intelligence of dynamic, self-learning and self-governing machines. 
*Invent new business capabilities for an AI-powered organization* - To achieve the full potential of AI, human and machine intelligence must be tightly interwoven. For Chinese businesses, creating a culture of inclusion and diversity should also be high on the agenda. 
 
The research report, ‘How Artificial Intelligence Can Drive China’s Growth,’ can be accessed at https://www.accenture.com/cn-en/insight-artificial-intelligence-china. 

*About Accenture*

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 411,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

For more information about Accenture, please visit its corporate homepage www.accenture.com and its Greater China homepage www.accenture.cn. 

*Contacts* 
Accenture
Irene Han, + 86 13564020046
Irene.ying.han@accenture.com

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170625005010/en/Artificial-Intelligence-Poised-Accelerate-China’s-Annual-Growth

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## JSCh

Who Is Winning the AI Race? - MIT Technology Review

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## cirr

*AI will boost economy and create demand*

2017-06-28 14:27

China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_





A man playing with a robot during the World Economic Forum, June 27. (Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily)

China will be among the biggest beneficiaries of "artificial intelligence" technology, a new report revealed on Tuesday.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the multinational consultancy company, forecasts that AI development will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030.

The PwC report predicted that global GDP will be 14 percent higher in 2030 as AI is widely used to boost labor productivity and increase consumer demand for technology-inspired products.

*"The greatest economic gains from AI will be in China, with 26 percent boost to its GDP in 2030, and North America, with 14.5 percent boost,"* the report said.

According to PwC, AI-enabled growth from the two economies will be the equivalent of $10.7 trillion in 2030 and accounts for almost 70 percent of the global total.

Anand Rao, an AI consultant at PwC, stressed that initially North America would experience productivity gains faster than China.

But that would eventually change. Rao pointed out that China will begin to pull ahead of the US in AI in 10 years "after it catches up on both relevant technologies and expertise".

"AI will empower a slate of applications such as the internet of things, augmented reality and robots, which will significantly enhance productivity," Rao said.

China's high-tech giants have been pouring billions of dollars into setting up AI laboratories and poaching talent from foreign rivals.

Earlier this month, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd appointed Ren Xiaofeng, a former senior principal scientist at Amazon.com Inc, to spearhead its research and development in computer vision.

The move came shortly after Tencent Holdings Ltd set up its first US-based AI research lab in Seattle. The project is led by former Microsoft Corp scientist Yu Dong and focuses on voice recognition technology.

Baidu Inc has also increased its AI spending and brought in former Microsoft executive Lu Qi as group president. He will play a key role in rolling out Baidu's Apollo Project to help drive the development of autonomous cars.

Their efforts are roughly in accordance with the business areas PwC identified as having the greatest AI potential.

The report, for instance, pinpointed autonomous fleets for ride-sharing and smart cars as the key areas for growth in the automotive sector .

Overall, the biggest sector gains will be in retail, financial services and healthcare, as AI increases productivity, product value, and consumption, PwC reported.

"But more robust governance and new operating models will be needed to realize AI's full potential and underpin all the opportunities it brings," said Jim Woods, an consultant for global risk assurance at PwC.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/06-28/263289.shtml

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## qwerrty

*iCarbonX Joins Series B Round In US Doctor-Patient Data Firm HealthLoop*
Jillian Yue
June 26, 2017 — 16:31 HKT

iCarbonX, an artificial intelligence-enabled health data mining start-up in China, has participated in a US$8.4 million series B financing round in U.S. healthcare company HealthLoop, with an eye to integrate the American firm's patient-generated data to its own data mining efforts.

Other investors including NextEquity, Lafayette General Hospital, Canvas Ventures and Summation Health Ventures also participated in the round, which will be used to support HealthLoop's expansion of its market share.

"The investment in HealthLoop is in line with our strategic planning. The big data era of life sciences has just been launched, whereas a lot of previously dismissed healthcare data has just begun to show its significance," said Jun Wang, founder of iCarbonX and previously CEO of Chinese genetic testing company BGI. "The HealthLoop platform has done an excellent job in connecting patients and doctors, tracking patients’ recovery process and mining patients’ data. All of these are essential components of iCarbonX’s digital life ecosystem."

iCarbonX plans to integrate HealthLoop’s patients-generated data to its own data mining technology, in order to build an ecosystem of digital life. In January, the Shenzhen-based company said that it had invested a total of US$400 million in seven companies to form a Digital Life Alliance, acquiring stakes in fives U.S. companies: SomaLogic, HealthTell, PatientsLikeMe, AOBiome, GALT; one Israeli company Imagu Vision and Chinese firm Tianjin Robustnique Corporation Ltd.

HealthLoop was established by Dr. John Shlain in 2009 and helps to digitally connect patients with their doctors and care-givers. It enables automated patient care coordination by providing its users with clinical information and post-hospitalization follow-up care plans.

HealthLoop’s platform is designed to keep track of patients’ illness. It uses analytics engine to provide real-time analysis of all sets of patients-generated data, so as to allow the medical and nursing team to commit their time to those patients and medical issues most in need. In this way, the platform pushes the doctor-patient relation to go beyond the clinic, and facilitates boundary crossing between different groups.

"When patients return from hospitals to the real world, they will be confronted with a whole series of problems that influence their post-hospital recovery in ways that are difficult to predict," explained John Shlain, founder of HealthLoop. "But if we build a relationship with them, we can be there throughout the process to support them. And the further we can take that, the better it will be for patients’ lives and the better the outcome will be."

Established in October 2015, iCarbonX achieved a US$1 billion valuation in a short six-months, after Tencent Holdings led a RMB1 billion (US$155 million) series A funding round in April 2016 in the company, making it the fastest technology unicorn in the world.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...und-in-us-doctor-patient-data-firm-healthloop

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*Terark, A Chinese Startup, May Have Just Revolutionized How Data Is Stored, Accessed & Analyzed*
Gwyn D'Mello June 26, 2017

A Chinese startup may have found the solution to big data's biggest problem. Reducing all that 'big data' into smaller file formats. Sounds eerily similar to Pied Piper from Silicon Valley, right? Only this is real life, and it's actually happening.

Before that, a quick perspective as to why this discovery is so important. According to Intel, by 2020, the average internet user will generate approximately 1.5GB of data per day. Smart cars, meanwhile, will generate 4,000 GB each daily, not to mention connected hospitals, flights, factories and more. In short, tech companies are going to have huge amounts of data to sift through for ads, logistics and resource management services, and artificial intelligence. So how do these companies deal with Big Data?

Technology experts believe we’re approaching a culmination of data influx, coupled with a lack of purging of old data. They foresee cloud storage shortages in the future that could hamper how our smartphones, apps, and computers operate, as well as longer processing times for IoT devices and services. Data compression is not yet effective enough to counter this problem, and even then this technique hinders how AI can access these stores to learn.

Now, a Beijing-based startup called Terark believes it has the solution. Far from Silicon Valley, founder and CTO Lei Peng says they’ve created an algorithm that could tackle the coming data crisis, beating out other competitors in the process.

"Our technology allows us to make big data smaller," Terark VP Remy Tricard told Tech in Asia. Basically, while working on a pet project, Peng managed to develop a highly efficient data compression algorithm. TerarkDB – the company’s database storage engine that uses the algorithm – claims to be able to read data over 230 times faster than the likes of Facebook’s own system RocksDB.

Not only is Terark’s compression ratio better (large amounts of data compressed into smaller archives), it also exhibits lower latency. Most importantly though, is that Terark’s system keeps the data searchable without needing to unpack it, meaning machine learning systems and others can easily access its stores without overloading their own servers.

The best part? Terark is composed of a team of just 10 people, and the startup itself is only about two years old. In that short time, it’s even managed to attract high profile investors like Alibaba, which has signed a $1 million contract with the startup to use its compression system for the Alibaba Cloud. Peng also says Terark is currently negotiating deals with other big names in tech from both China and the US, though he declined to name any.



Code:


https://www.techinasia.com/real-pied-piper-silicon-valley
http://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/terark-a-chinese-startup-may-have-just-revolutionized-how-data-is-stored-accessed-analyzed-324651.html

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## Shotgunner51

*China Sets Up National Laboratory To Develop Brain-Like Artificial Intelligence*
Pan Yue May 15, 2017 — 11:32 HKT






China has set up its *first national laboratory* dedicated to advancing brain-like artificial intelligence technology with the aim of developing world-leading computing paradigms and applications that mimic the human brain's ability to sort and quantify information.

The AI lab, located at the *China University of Science and Technology (USTC)* in Hefei city in Eastern Anhui province, will carry out research to develop brain-like AI chips, operating systems and neutral network-based brain-like robots, as well as accelerate the industrialization of AI technologies including video surveillance, interactive voice response and autonomous driving, China's official media organization Xinhua News Agency said.

_“Brain-like technology is an important part of the development of AI technology. The development of brain-like AI can reveal how the human brain processes information, and boost the deep-learning industry in China,_” said Wan Lijun, president of USTC, who will serve as chairman of the lab.​
A number of the country's top universities and research institutions will join with USTC to develop the technology, including *Fudan University*, *Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences*, the * Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences*, and *Baidu Inc*.

This February, Baidu announced that it had gained approval to establish a national deep learning lab to conduct research in seven areas, including deep learning, computer vision, machine hearing, biometric identification, human-computer interaction, standardized services and intellectual property in deep learning.

Some of the country's top AI scientists, including Lin Yunqing, director of *Baidu's Institute of Deep Learning*, *Institute of Deep Learning* scientist Xu Wei, *Tsinghua University* professor Zhang Bo and *Bei Hang University*'s professor Li Wei have joined Baidu's new lab.


https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...to-develop-brain-like-artificial-intelligence

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## onebyone

Global GDP will be 14 percent higher in 2030 as a result of artificial intelligence (AI) technology’s development, which is dubbed “the fourth industrial revolution”, according to a new research report released by consultancy firm PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC). AI technology will contribute 15.7 trillion U.S. dollars to the global economy by 2030, PwC said in the report.






Source: PwC

China will be one of the biggest countries benefiting from the rapid development of AI, with a 26 percent boost of the GDP in 2030, according to PwC. Meanwhile, North America will expect a 14.5 percent increase in GDP, worth 3.7 trillion US dollars.





By 2030, global GDP is expected to increase by 14 percent, or 15.7 trillion US dollars, because of AI. /VCG Photo

Labor productivity improvements are expected to account for over half of all economic gains from AI between 2016 and 2030, said PwC. The firm added that increased consumer demand resulting from AI-enabled product enhancements will account for the rest.

North America is expected to experience a faster economic boost due to AI than China in the next few years, as its market and consumers have already been more ready to incorporate the new technology. However, China will begin to pull ahead of the North America in ten years, according to PwC. As one of the most important emerging markets in the world, China has great potential for AI technology to boost its productivity.





The digital medicine market in China develops rapidly due to AI. /VCG Photo 

AI technology is already playing an important role in China’s economic development especially in some emerging industries.

According to HC3i, the first website concentrating on analyses and research of digital medicine development in China, the market of China’s digital medicine industry in 2016 reached 9.661 billion yuan due to AI technology application, with a 37.9 percent boost. In the latest report, HC3i predicts that it is expected to climb up to over 13 billion yuan by an increase of 40.7 percent in 2017.

(With input from Xinhua)
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d6b444e7855444e/share_p.html


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## cirr

*World Intelligence Congress focuses on AI*

2017-06-29 17:03

Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

A new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) was discussed at the World Intelligence Congress which opened Thursday in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

The inaugural congress includes 16 forums and a 6,000-square-meter exhibition area displaying high-tech achievements in AI technology.

A series of cooperation agreements will be inked at the expo, including one between the Tianjin municipal government and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, which will map out a development strategy for a new generation of AI technology.

Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said that the new generation of AI technology will have a "significant effect" on society, and will become a driving force behind a new industrial revolution.

The municipal government will also sign an agreement with Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Financial to push forward the building of a "cash-free city" in Tianjin, where electronic payments will be used in areas such as transportation, medical care, education, and social security.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/06-29/263482.shtml

*Smart cars a hit at expo in China*

2017-06-29 13:38

Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

Smart cars have proved to be popular exhibits at an ongoing expo in north China's Tianjin Municipality.

At the first World Intelligence Congress, which opened Thursday, 63 teams took part in a competition that tested China's intelligent driving systems.

The competition was divided into three categories -- autopilot, intelligent assist and information security.

The cars went through a series of tests in each category, to "provide authoritative information for national policy, product enhancement and societal awareness" about China's intelligent driving industry, according to Yu Kai, an executive with China Automotive Technology and Research Center.

An award ceremony will be held Friday.

Li Deyi, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that artificial intelligence is changing the landscape of the auto industry, and that the competitions and forums at the expo will help improve the intelligent driving industry.

The expo will conclude on Friday.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/06-29/263456.shtml

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## cirr

*China intending to take lead with national AI plan*

2017-06-30 10:49

China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_





Delighted children and adults watch the performance of a robot at the 2017 China Beijing International High-Tech Expo on June 8. (Photo/China Daily)

*China will roll out a slate of important artificial intelligence projects and step up efforts to cultivate AI talent as part of the country's upcoming national plan to gain a lead in the cutting-edge technology*, a senior official said on Thursday.

Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said the country will soon release a national strategy to detail how to boost the development of AI through 2030.

China will launch a series of core AI research and development projects, devote more resources to nurturing talent, and accelerate the application of AI in education, healthcare, security and other sectors, Wang said at the World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin.

The plan is ready and will soon be released for public review, Wan said.

He also said more steps will be taken to build closer cooperation with international AI organizations and encourage foreign AI companies to set up R&D centers in China.

Thomas Jakob, Asia Pacific regional president at Bosch Software Innovations, which is the software and systems division of Germany's Bosch Group, said the new AI plan will have roughly the same impact on the industry as the government's Made in China 2025 initiative has had on the manufacturing sector.

"At the moment, 62 percent of investment into the AI industry is going to the US and Europe. This will change as what Wan said this morning will help China better nurture AI talent and improve in other areas," Jakob said.

China attaches high importance to AI, which is widely seen as an effective tool to boost industrial productivity and empower employees.

A report from consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030 and China will be among the biggest beneficiaries of that, with a 26 percent boost to its GDP in 2030.

Robin Li, known as Li Yanhong in Chinese, CEO of Baidu Inc, said: "China will lead the world in AI development, since the country has about 700 million internet users who are highly responsive to new technologies. This is an edge no other countries can rival."

The internet titan has increased its AI spending and brought in former Microsoft executive Lu Qi to spearhead its plan of mass-producing driverless vehicles within four years.

Liu Qingfeng, chairman of the leading voice-recognition technology company iFlytek, said AI is highly technology-intensive and the upcoming national plan will motivate companies to emphasize basic science, the source of innovation.

"It will help domestic enterprises better access overseas resources and invest in foreign companies, and give China a bigger say in the global technology arena," Liu said.

The company is developing an AI-enabled robot capable of outscoring 80 percent of Chinese students in the national college admission exams to become eligible, theoretically, for admission to a top-level university in 2020.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/06-30/263580.shtml

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## AndrewJin

cirr said:


> *China intending to take lead with national AI plan*
> 
> 2017-06-30 10:49
> 
> China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Delighted children and adults watch the performance of a robot at the 2017 China Beijing International High-Tech Expo on June 8. (Photo/China Daily)
> 
> *China will roll out a slate of important artificial intelligence projects and step up efforts to cultivate AI talent as part of the country's upcoming national plan to gain a lead in the cutting-edge technology*, a senior official said on Thursday.
> 
> Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said the country will soon release a national strategy to detail how to boost the development of AI through 2030.
> 
> China will launch a series of core AI research and development projects, devote more resources to nurturing talent, and accelerate the application of AI in education, healthcare, security and other sectors, Wang said at the World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin.
> 
> The plan is ready and will soon be released for public review, Wan said.
> 
> He also said more steps will be taken to build closer cooperation with international AI organizations and encourage foreign AI companies to set up R&D centers in China.
> 
> Thomas Jakob, Asia Pacific regional president at Bosch Software Innovations, which is the software and systems division of Germany's Bosch Group, said the new AI plan will have roughly the same impact on the industry as the government's Made in China 2025 initiative has had on the manufacturing sector.
> 
> "At the moment, 62 percent of investment into the AI industry is going to the US and Europe. This will change as what Wan said this morning will help China better nurture AI talent and improve in other areas," Jakob said.
> 
> China attaches high importance to AI, which is widely seen as an effective tool to boost industrial productivity and empower employees.
> 
> A report from consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that AI will contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy in 2030 and China will be among the biggest beneficiaries of that, with a 26 percent boost to its GDP in 2030.
> 
> Robin Li, known as Li Yanhong in Chinese, CEO of Baidu Inc, said: "China will lead the world in AI development, since the country has about 700 million internet users who are highly responsive to new technologies. This is an edge no other countries can rival."
> 
> The internet titan has increased its AI spending and brought in former Microsoft executive Lu Qi to spearhead its plan of mass-producing driverless vehicles within four years.
> 
> Liu Qingfeng, chairman of the leading voice-recognition technology company iFlytek, said AI is highly technology-intensive and the upcoming national plan will motivate companies to emphasize basic science, the source of innovation.
> 
> "It will help domestic enterprises better access overseas resources and invest in foreign companies, and give China a bigger say in the global technology arena," Liu said.
> 
> The company is developing an AI-enabled robot capable of outscoring 80 percent of Chinese students in the national college admission exams to become eligible, theoretically, for admission to a top-level university in 2020.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/06-30/263580.shtml


Awesome!
It's happening!


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## Jlaw

AI is fascinating. Some people fear AI but I embrace it


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## onebyone

HANGZHOU, CHINA - JANUARY 16: Alibaba employees watch an artificial intelligence robot named ET writing Spring Festival couplets at Alibaba's Xixi District on January 16, 2017 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. The robot named ET writes exclusive Spring Festival couplets for each Alibaba employee after using face recognition technology and speech recognition technology. (VCG via Getty Images)

The buzzword among the business and tech communities in China for the past year has been ‘AI’, or artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, which allows software to “learn” human ways of thinking, is being incorporated into the largest e-commerce platforms, including Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, as well as into data-intensive traditional sectors. With strong government backing and concentrated research in this area, AI is poised to drive China’s economy forward toward higher levels of growth.

Big plans for AI

China is developing artificial intelligence in improving the capabilities of robotics, developing driverless cars, divining consumer preferences, inventory forecasting, selling enhanced products, and marketing goods and services. According to Liu Lihua, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, China has thus far applied for 15,745 AI patents.

Wan Gang, the Minister of Science and Technology, stated this past Friday that China plans to launch a national AI plan, which will strengthen AI development and application, introduce policies to contain risks associated with AI, and work toward international cooperation. The plan will also provide funds to back these endeavors. Some municipalities also support AI research programs. Beijing, for example, is home to the CAS Institute of Automation, a consortium of universities and firms that provides venture capital funding of 1 billion RMB ($150 million) to AI development. Zhejiang province has also embraced AI programs. Already, Geely Automobile in Zhejiang is using intelligent manufacturing and internet marketing services based on AI to boost sales.

BAT leading the way

China’s BAT, or Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, is leading the way for AI in China. Baidu was the first Chinese company to embark upon research in AI, using a system known as Duer to be used in home devices and driverless cars. Driverless auto software provided by Baidu will be made available to car manufacturers under the Apollo Project. Alibaba is using AI to forecast regional order quantities and to improve logistics efficiency, while Tencent has released a platform for deep learning using social data.
Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have been vying for top talent in AI in order to become leaders in this area. Making headlines several days ago, Alibaba lured Ren Xiaofeng from Amazon.com to lead its own technology lab, which aims to make headway in artificial intelligence. Tencent brought Baidu’s AI expert Zhang Tong on board in March. In 2014, Baidu poached Andrew Ng from the Google Brain project to lead the Baidu Research Institute (though he recently stepped down).

Offline companies integrating AI

Some companies have used online data to drive offline gains. Xiaomi, for example, incorporated new smartphone features proposed on its fan website to gain market share. AI is also being incorporated into the education, medical, and transportation industries.

Intelligent software embedded in manufactured products is also getting underway. Huawei, the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world, has introduced its AI self-learning system MoKA. In its Noah’s Ark Lab, Huawei has developed AI for network optimization, speech recognition, and search recognition on mobile devices. Haier has developed a smart home system that incorporates a learning process, called the Haier U+ platform. Data on how Haier products are used in the home can be transmitted to the smart home industry, allowing firms to improve the products over time.

No stopping AI now

There is no shortage of interest in AI in China. Two weeks ago, China set up its first AI alliance, the China Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Alliance. This alliance is led by the China Center for Information Industry Development and includes the largest tech companies, like iFlytek and Intel China. The group aims to incubate 50 AI-enabled products and 40 firms, as well as to embark upon 20 pilot projects and create a general technology platform within three years.


Much has been made recently about the fact that China appears to be catching up to the largest producer of AI technology, the United States. Even though China started its research and development from a much lower base, its strong government support in the face of waning endorsement in the U.S. under the Trump administration will allow China’s AI technology to catch up to the U.S. more rapidly. The top-down structure of China's government appears to also boost the ease of promoting a pro-AI tech development plan, especially as government bodies increasingly favor information sharing. It seems likely that 'AI' will remain a buzzword in China for the foreseeable future.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahs...-could-soon-catch-up-to-the-u-s/#7387f7455384

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## JSCh

*Baidu acquires natural language startup Kitt.ai, maker of chatbot engine ChatFlow*
Posted 15 minutes ago by Ingrid Lunden (@ingridlunden) 

China’s search giant Baidu has made another acquisition to continue its push into artificial intelligence, and specifically carving out a place for itself as a platform for developers who want to create chatbots and other services based on natural language technology. It has acquired Kitt.ai, a profitable startup based out of Seattle that has developed a framework to build and power chatbots and voice-based applications across multiple platforms and devices. Terms of the deal — which was announced on stage at Baidu’s developer event in Beijing, and also confirmed in a blog post from Kitt.ai — are not being disclosed.


_---> _Baidu acquires natural language startup Kitt.ai, maker of chatbot engine ChatFlow | TechCrunch


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## cirr

*Baidu claims its AI technology can 'read' videos*

2017-07-07 11:17

China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_





Yin Shiming, vice-president of Baidu, presides over a cloud computing sub-forum at the Baidu Create 2017 conference on July 5, 2017. (Photo by Song Jingli/chinadaily.com.cn)

Baidu's artificial intelligence not only makes driving hands-free possible, but could also let machines analyze video footages much better than humans, the company's executives shared on a developers' conference in Beijing Wednesday.

"It might be impossible for you to figure out whether your son said 'Daddy, I love you' when he was two-year-old in videos, but it is possible now," Yin Shiming, vice-president of Baidu, told audience at a cloud computing sub-forum of the Baidu Create 2017 conference.

Huang Jingbo, a research manager at Baidu Cloud's multimedia department, said that Baidu has rolled out video processing services such as video content analysis (VCA) and smart selection of video covers.

When the VCA service, enabled by deep learning, is applied on a footage, it will be tagged automatically and elements of the footage, including voice, characters, scenarios, faces will all be analyzed and displayed, Huang told the audience.

He added that the smart cover selection function, partly enabled by machines' understanding of human feelings, could recommend a video to its possible viewers in the best way, rather than always the first frame of the video.

Yin, also the general manger of Baidu Cloud, said Baidu's advancement in visual sector will impact many sectors, with entertainment and education as the most possible.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-07/264476.shtml

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## onebyone

Darrell Etherington
TechCrunchJuly 5, 2017
Baidu and Nvidia announced a far-reaching agreement to work together on artificial intelligence today, spanning applications in cloud computing, autonomous driving, education and research, and domestic uses via consumer devices. It may be the most comprehensive partnership yet for Nvidia in its bourgeoning artificial intelligence business, and it's likely to provide a big boost for Nvidia's GPU business for years to come.






nvidia-shield147a0243.jpg?w=1024&h=683
On the consumer front, Baidu will also add DuerOS to its Nvidia Shield TV, the Android TV-based set-top streaming box that got a hardware upgrade earlier this year. DuerOS is a virtual assistant similar to Siri or Google Assistant, and was previously announced for smart home speakers and devices. Shield TV is set to get Google Assistant support via a forthcoming update, and Nvidia is also set to eventually launch expandable smart home mics to make it accessible throughout a home, a feature which could conceivably work with DuerOS, too.

This is a big win for Nvidia, and potentially the emergence of one of the most important partnerships in modern AI computing. These two have worked together before, but this represents a broadening of their cooperation that makes them partners in virtually all potential areas of AI's future growth.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-baidu-team-ai-across-073530421.html

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## JSCh

* China enlists AI to diagnose breast cancer *
_ Source: Xinhua_|_ 2017-07-07 20:08:34_|_Editor: Yang Yi_





TIANJIN, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Doctors in China will soon read patient breast scans with the help of machines.

The National Clinical Research Center for Cancer (NCRCC) said Friday that it has signed a deal with the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to use artificial intelligence in medical imaging.

Their first cooperation focus lies in reading ultrasound breast scans and mammograms, two common methods used in breast screening.

The aim is to improve diagnosis accuracy and encourage breast cancer screening in regions of high prevalence and rural areas where experienced medical professionals are in short supply, according to the agreement.

"Medical imaging is where artificial intelligence can play a big role," said Zhao Yi, a CAS computer professor. "We use deep learning technology to build models based on the experience of radiologitsts."

He said the machine would have read hundreds of thousands of breast scan reports before it assumes the post of a doctor's assistant. When it is called on to read the scans, the machine can produce a highly-accurate report in just a few seconds.

It is not immediately clear when clinical use will begin and how many hospitals will benefit..

Chinese scientists with state institutions or leading tech firms are racing to achieve breakthroughs in use of artificial intelligence. Health care has been identified as a promising area for the technology.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among Chinese women, with about 272,000 new cases reported in China in 2015. More than 71,000 people died of breast cancer that year.

NCRCC director Hao Xishan said that if found early, 95 percent of breast cancer patients could be cured. However, challenges remain in rural and remote areas where patients often do not get tested until it is too late.


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## onebyone

*Confidence in US innovation falling; China leads way on AI*
*In recent years, a tilt in China’s favour has become a landslide when it comes to innovation, says the founder of Web Summit, the organization behind the RISE conference in Hong Kong. In terms of AI, he adds, the US is being left for dust*
By PADDY COSGROVE JULY 8, 2017 9:00 AM (UTC+8)




Remember, lads, we're going to play in a binary formation. Programers ready their robots for a robot soccer match at the World Robot Conference 2016 in Beijing, China. Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter

Anumber of months ago, I wrote about the direction of American innovation and discovered something incredible: China has eclipsed the US in terms of the creation of intellectual property.

This revelation alone may not sound earth-shattering, but when you consider what is happening in more detail you begin to discover some truly significant trends.
In recent years, a tilt in China’s favour has become a landslide when it comes to innovation. In 2010, for example, Chinese companies had registered in the region of 380,000 patents compared to 470,000 in the US. Five years later, China has completely overtaken the US, registering in excess of 1,000,000 patents compared to 600,000 in the US. The gap between the two is now accelerating at an historically unprecedented pace. In fact, last year alone China increased its number of registered patents by 45%, while the number of registered patents in the US actually declined.

It doesn’t look like the US will be catching up soon either.

The top 1,000 US companies are investing less in research and development (R&D) than at any point over the last 50 years. US federal spending on R&D, as a percentage of GDP, is also at its lowest level in 40 years. Add to that a persistent decline in the number of startups being created in the US economy and it is unsurprising that some are saying America face a burgeoning innovation problem.

*AI: the frontline of innovation*
This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed in the US. In the final months of the Obama administration, the US government published two separate reports which noted that the US is no longer the undisputed world leader in AI research and innovation, and expressed concerns about China’s emergence as a major player in the field. The reports recommended increased expenditure on machine learning research, and enhanced collaboration between the US government and tech industry leaders to unlock the potentials of AI. But despite these efforts, 91% of the 1,268 top US and international tech founders, CEOs, investors and developers surveyed in May 2017 said they believe the US government is “fatally underprepared” for the impact of AI on the US ecosystem.

AI appears to be the frontline to this battle of innovation between East and West at the moment and China’s influence is growing.

China has shown increasing interest in the American start-up world, notably in the field of AI. Research firm CB Insights found that Chinese participation in funding rounds for American startups came close to US$10bn in value last year, while recent figures indicate that Chinese companies have invested in 51 US artificial intelligence companies to the tune of US$700m.

*China’s dominance and US attitudes*
China’s newfound dominance in AI isn’t a huge surprise. The country has invested massively in AI research output since 2013, and so far these efforts are yielding incredible results.

The three Chinese tech giants – Baidu, Didi, and Tencent – have all set up their own AI research labs, with Baidu, in particular, taking several steps to cement itself among the world’s leading lights in the field. At its AI lab in Silicon Valley, 200 Baidu developers are pioneering driverless car technology, visual dictionaries, and facial- and speech-recognition software to rival the offerings of American competitors. Similarly, Tencent is sponsoring scholarships in some of China’s leading science and technology universities, giving students access to WeChat’s enormous databases, while at the same time allowing Tencent to tap the best research and talent coming out of these institutions. 





Reuters/Aly Song
Even at a government level, spending on research is growing at a double-digit rate annually. It is said that China is preparing a multi-billion dollar initiative to further domestic AI advances with moonshot projects, startup funding and academic research. From a US$2bn AI expenditure pledge in the little-known city of Xiangtan, to matching AI subsidies worth up to of US$1 million in Suzhou and Shenzhen, billions are being spent to incentivise the development of AI. 

In comparison, the Trump administration’s proposed 2018 budget includes a 10% cut to the National Science Foundation’s funding for US AI development programs, despite the previous administration’s commitment to increase spending. 

Attitudes of US investors appear to reflect growing concern. Twenty-eight percent of investors we surveyed ahead of our RISE event in Hong Kong cited China as the main threat to the US tech industry. It’s a significant figure as China’s influence continues to grow, but of further surprise was the 50% of all respondents who believed the US would lose its predominant position in the tech world to China within five years.

Confidence in the US dominance of the tech world is failing.
*RISE: Where east meets west*
Four years ago, I wanted to create a conference that could bridge the gap between East and West and showcase the innovation taking place across both marketplaces. RISE is now the leading tech event in Asia, welcoming 15,000 attendees this year. We recognize the truly global nature of technology. I think RISE is as important as ever so we explore the real world possibilities from the level of innovation we’re seeing from both China, the US and all over the world.

I think medium term it’s prudent to be at the very least cautious on American innovation. Historically what has set the United States apart has been its capacity to course-correct. I’ve no doubt the US will find a new course. But as it stands, China is in the driving seat.

_Paddy Cosgrove is the CEO and founder of Web Summit, which has become Europe’s largest tech conference, attracting 53,000 attendees from 136 countries last year. Paddy also runs a number of other innovation events around the world – including the __RISE__ conference, has been staged in Hong Kong since 2015. This year’s RISE will take place in Hong Kong between July 11-13 and will bring together 15,000 tech leaders and attendees from Asia and the rest of the world. RISE is produced by the team behind Web Summit._

http://www.atimes.com/article/confidence-us-innovation-falling-china-leads-way-ai/

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## Tom99

Another shallow FUD article.

Yes, there is no doubt China is investing and growing its AI development. However, the American development in this sphere is not falling at all. Google, IBM, Amazon , Microsoft,..etc is spending tons of money spearheading AI innovations. China still have a long way to just catch up.

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## Kiss_of_the_Dragon

Nowadays, US technology are developed by imported immigrants, the only pride for immigrants to work for US is moneys and better living life and not for the glory of USA: when US is playing up proxie and stir up trouble for these immigrant's respective nation, which immigrant willing to dedicate his life and do extra hard work for US?

A nation strength is relied on their own population but US is relied on immigrants for their scientific and innovation, for immigrant helping US innovation is like add insult to injury: when US is hostile to their nation and expect them to help innovate USA? ...what a big joke of 21st century.

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## Beast

Tom99 said:


> Another shallow FUD article.
> 
> Yes, there is no doubt China is investing and growing its AI development. However, the American development in this sphere is not falling at all. Google, IBM, Amazon , Microsoft,..etc is spending tons of money spearheading AI innovations. China still have a long way to just catch up.


I will not used the word long way. I will say US AI and China AI are on par.



Kiss_of_the_Dragon said:


> Nowadays, US technology are developed by imported immigrants, the only pride for immigrants to work for US is moneys and better living life and not for the glory of USA: when US is playing up proxie and stir up trouble for these immigrant's respective nation, which immigrant willing to dedicate his life and do extra hard work for US?


The yellow peril also play into China card. Many smart overseas Chinese in US are bar or treated shabbily due to prejudice. Many of these smart ABC seek their fortune in China. They feel right at home. All look the same no prejudice.

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## Kiss_of_the_Dragon

Beast said:


> View attachment 409981
> 
> I will not used the word long way. I will say US AI and China AI are on par.
> 
> The yellow peril also play into China card. Many smart overseas Chinese in US are bar or treated shabbily due to prejudice. Many of these smart ABC seek their fortune in China. They feel right at home. All look the same no prejudice.



Qian Xuesen had already set a path and example for oversea Chineses, and thanks US for having prejudice on Chinese scientific people then China will have no need to spend effort to welcome them back.

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## cloud4000

Kiss_of_the_Dragon said:


> Nowadays, US technology are developed by imported immigrants, the only pride for immigrants to work for US is moneys and better living life and not for the glory of USA: when US is playing up proxie and stir up trouble for these immigrant's respective nation, which immigrant willing to dedicate his life and do extra hard work for US?
> 
> A nation strength is relied on their own population but US is relied on immigrants for their scientific and innovation, for immigrant helping US innovation is like add insult to injury: US is hostile to their nation and expect them to help innovate USA? ...what a big joke of 21st century.



I can't believe an 'Elite Member' wrote this. 

Immigrants always played a part in America's leadership and will continue to do so because they are still coming, even from countries, that you claim, US is stirring up trouble. Regardless, they work hard and are succeeding. And long as there are opportunities, they will come to the US. 

Those Chinese who are remaining or returning in China are doing so because they are seeing better opportunities there. But there are also many Chinese who continue to leave and go elsewhere, especially scientists and engineers. 

I blame globalization for this.


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## LeGenD

Kiss_of_the_Dragon said:


> Nowadays, US technology are developed by imported immigrants, the only pride for immigrants to work for US is moneys and better living life and not for the glory of USA: when US is playing up proxie and stir up trouble for these immigrant's respective nation, which immigrant willing to dedicate his life and do extra hard work for US?
> 
> A nation strength is relied on their own population but US is relied on immigrants for their scientific and innovation, for immigrant helping US innovation is like add insult to injury: US is hostile to their nation and expect them to help innovate USA? ...what a big joke of 21st century.


US is a nation of immigrants, my friend.

_In 2015, 1.38 million foreign-born individuals moved to the United States, a 2 percent increase from 1.36 million in 2014. India was the leading country of origin for recent immigrants, with 179,800 arriving in 2015, followed by 143,200 from China, 139,400 from Mexico, 47,500 from the Philippines, and 46,800 from Canada. In 2013, India and China overtook Mexico as the top origin countries for recent arrivals._

You can find ample information here: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/arti...tics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states

American natives are relatively few in number at present. The bulk of population is comprised of European settlers since 14th century. Here: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_subj.html

Donald Trump suspended immigration from seven states such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - Iraq was dropped from the list recently. And this suspension is temporary - 120 days in duration. Here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...travel-ban-muslim-majority-countries-refugees

This suspension plan doesn't make much difference on the ground since Indians and Chinese are major contributors of talent from among the immigrants.

---

Anyhow, US is powerful due to its institutions - they really work as intended. Nationality of workforce means little.

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## Kiss_of_the_Dragon

cloud4000 said:


> I can't believe an 'Elite Member' wrote this.
> 
> Immigrants always played a part in America's leadership and will continue to do so because they are still coming, even from countries, that you claim, US is stirring up trouble. Regardless, they work hard and are succeeding. And long as there are opportunities, they will come to the US.
> 
> Those Chinese who are remaining or returning in China are doing so because they are seeing better opportunities there. But there are also many Chinese who continue to leave and go elsewhere, especially scientists and engineers.
> 
> I blame globalization for this.



US like paint itself as wonderland for Immigrant people but deep inside the hearts of immigrants people said otherwise, sure they will have to continue to work for living in US but don't expect them to do extra effort just for the sake or glory of USA. And people feel resentful toward US for supporting other nations against their native homeland or directly attack their countries.

I don't think you will be difference: if US decide helping Pakistan to wage war against India, are Indian immigrants will still in love with US ? or vice-versa Pakistanis people wont appreciate neither if US did the same to them.


Sure China is not perfect, otherwise we wouldn't have over 50+ millions immigrants outside of China and Taiwan, but with all Chinese around the world + Taiwan +Mainland, we form a "*realm*" just for ourself in which we call "*the Chinese connection*"...and China's prosperity today is all thanks to Chinese connection.

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## Clutch

If it wasn't for all the foreign and Asians influx into America and American universities... American innovation and lead in advanced technologies including AI would have long fallen off. Trump's hopefully 8 years may completely reverse that trend.


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## wiseone2

non-Chinese will flock to USA. 
American companies - Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple are rich, well-run and powerful


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## Beast

wiseone2 said:


> non-Chinese will flock to USA.
> American companies - Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple are rich, well-run and powerful


Fact is Chinese is an important source of contribution to American innovation which they can't touch now since they created the yellow peril to shoot their own foot.

China innovation hardly involved foreigner or non Chinese. The world fastest super computer. Quantum computer and satellite. And yet, China still managed to produce world beating items with just their own pool of race.

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## wiseone2

Beast said:


> Fact is Chinese is an important source of contribution to American innovation which they can't touch now since they created the yellow peril to shoot their own foot.
> 
> China innovation hardly involved foreigner or non Chinese. The world fastest super computer. Quantum computer and satellite. And yet, China still managed to produce world beating items with just their own pool of race.



USA is a world class power because of skilled immigrants


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## F-22Raptor

Clutch said:


> If it wasn't for all the foreign and Asians influx into America and American universities... American innovation and lead in advanced technologies including AI would have long fallen off. Trump's hopefully 8 years may completely reverse that trend.



Oh really? Is that why US born Americans have won over 200 Nobel Prizes in the Sciences? How many Nobel Prizes has your people won?


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## kuge

of course you would hire someone smarter than you are, wouldnt you?

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## Beast

F-22Raptor said:


> Oh really? Is that why US born Americans have won over 200 Nobel Prizes in the Sciences? How many Nobel Prizes has your people won?



Then why US cant beat China supercomputer for so many years with so many Nobel prize winner? 



kuge said:


> of course you would hire someone smarter than you are, wouldnt you?


Smart people will not be easy under control.

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## Nan Yang

F-22Raptor said:


> Oh really? Is that why US born Americans have won over 200 Nobel Prizes in the Sciences? How many Nobel Prizes has your people won?


What? Awarding a communist ? What message would that send ?

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## F-22Raptor

Beast said:


> Then why US cant beat China supercomputer for so many years with so many Nobel prize winner?
> 
> 
> Smart people will not be easy under control.



The US didn't lack the technological capability, but the investment necessary to build such computers. This is why in 2014 the US invested several hundred million in the CORAL initiative to develop next gen supercomputers. Two of those, Sierra(120-150 petaflops) and Summit(150-300 petaflops), are expected to be delivered within the next 6-12 months.

The US DOE also just awarded $258 million to AMD, Cray, HP, IBM, Intel, and NVidia to develop an exascale supercomputer with a further $150 million in their own money. The first US exascale supercomputer is expected in 2021.

Also in the field of quantum computing, Google has announced they expect to achieve "quantum supremacy" with a 49 qubit chip by the end of the year. They are currently testing a 20 qubit chip. This will be a huge breakthrough in quantum computing.


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## Beast

F-22Raptor said:


> The US didn't lack the technological capability, but the investment necessary to build such computers. This is why in 2014 the US invested several hundred million in the CORAL initiative to develop next gen supercomputers. Two of those, Sierra(120-150 petaflops) and Summit(150-300 petaflops), are expected to be delivered within the next 6-12 months.
> 
> The US DOE also just awarded $258 million to AMD, Cray, HP, IBM, Intel, and NVidia to develop an exascale supercomputer with a further $150 million in their own money. The first US exascale supercomputer is expected in 2021.
> 
> Also in the field of quantum computing, Google has announced they expect to achieve "quantum supremacy" with a 49 qubit chip by the end of the year. They are currently testing a 20 qubit chip. This will be a huge breakthrough in quantum computing.


Once again. US are slow. China exascale computer will debut in 2018. It does not matter, we dont have nobel prize. Cos most of the judges are prejudice against China. Fact is we beat you anytime, anywhere.

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## F-22Raptor

Beast said:


> Once again. US are slow. China exascale computer will debut in 2018. It does not matter, we dont have nobel prize. Cos most of the judges are prejudice against China. Fact is we beat you anytime, anywhere.



The judges are prejudice? Is this the best excuse you can come up with for a lack of scientific breakthroughs relative to the US? The CCP sure seemed happy when Tu Youyou won her Nobel Prize.

Isn't that supercomputer expected to be a pre-exascale/prototype in 2018? Regardless, the US is greatly expanding its supercomputing capabilities over the next several years. 

You beat us "anytime, anywhere." Did you beat us to the Moon? Venus, Mercury? How about Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn? Or Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto? Oh that's right, China has never even been to another planet.

Did you create the Internet, or jumpstart the Information Age? Did you whip us in Rio last year? How about the smartphone revolution?

Once again Beast, your stuck in your own alternate reality.


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## Beast

F-22Raptor said:


> The judges are prejudice? Is this the best excuse you can come up with for a lack of scientific breakthroughs relative to the US? The CCP sure seemed happy when Tu Youyou won her Nobel Prize.
> 
> Isn't that supercomputer expected to be a pre-exascale/prototype in 2018? Regardless, the US is greatly expanding its supercomputing capabilities over the next several years.
> 
> You beat us "anytime, anywhere." Did you beat us to the Moon? Venus, Mercury? How about Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn? Or Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto? Oh that's right, China has never even been to another planet.
> 
> Did you create the Internet, or jumpstart the Information Age? Did you whip us in Rio last year? How about the smartphone revolution?
> 
> Once again Beast, your stuck in your own alternate reality.


LOL. Looks like some get angry? That is not an excuse but facts. When is you last time go to moon? 1972? Can US go to moon in few years time? No. You US even need Russia permission to go to ISS. What a shame. If I am Putin, I will use space to force US to submit. Too bad, he is too soft heart to use this option. If China and US goes on same technology timeline. I am sure China will beat US hands down. US is lucky after WWII not to have any political turmoil. China technology advances really start only in 1980. The one who refused to accept the reality is you.

You have to accept US technology is in decline. While China technology break thru is happening everyday. You shall ask your federal to cut down on overseas misadventure. US shall go back to its days of isolation and better make use of the sacred money to better invest in technology advancement.

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## F-22Raptor

Beast said:


> LOL. Looks like some get angry? That is not an excuse but facts. When is you last time go to moon? 1972? Can US go to moon in few years time? No. You US even need Russia permission to go to ISS. What a shame. If I am Putin, I will use space to force US to submit. Too bad, he is too soft heart to use this option. If China and US goes on same technology timeline. I am sure China will beat US hands down. US is lucky after WWII not to have any political turmoil. China technology advances really start only in 1980. The one who refused to accept the reality is you.
> 
> You have to accept US technology is in decline. While China technology break thru is happening everyday. You shall ask your federal to cut down on overseas misadventure. US shall go back to its days of isolation and better make use of the sacred money to better invest in technology advancement.


Once again, your living in your own fantasy land. The U.S. Has multiple rovers and spacecraft operating in space. The U.S. has visited every planet in the Solar System. China hasn't been to any. There is no comparison. China is several thousand years old compared to only 241 years for the U.S. An yet we've advanced civilization more in the last 100 years, than China could in 1,000. All I hear from you are excuses Beast. I list out actual achievements, while all you come up with is "supercomputer." Keep trying kid.


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## Beast

F-22Raptor said:


> Once again, your living in your own fantasy land. The U.S. Has multiple rovers and spacecraft operating in space. The U.S. has visited every planet in the Solar System. China hasn't been to any. There is no comparison. China is several thousand years old compared to only 241 years for the U.S. An yet we've advanced civilization more in the last 100 years, than China could in 1,000. All I hear from you are excuses Beast. I list out actual achievements, while all you come up with is "supercomputer." Keep trying kid.



Yes yes, China advances for all mankind while US dwell on history.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/07-10/264666.shtml

The future world energy and China leads for the world.  Looks like excuse is from you.

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## F-22Raptor

Beast said:


> Yes yes, China advances for all mankind while US dwell on history.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/2017/07-10/264666.shtml
> 
> The future world energy and China leads for the world.  Looks like excuse is from you.



How is that dwelling on history? Did you not comprehend that the US has multiple spacecraft and rovers operating right now?

You say we "dwell on history" and yet the greatest scientific discovery last year was the confirmation of gravitational waves at LIGO, a discovery that took a century of advancement to achieve. This was an American lead effort.

How about SpaceX's ability to land it's first stage rocket on an ocean barge? Or Google being so close to achieving "quantum supremacy" with a 49 qubit chip? The discovery of an Earth like planet in Proxima Centauri?

It's clear whose still at the forefront of scientific and technological advancement. Your lies and misleading statements won't change that Beast.


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## cirr

*AI to create over 100,000 jobs in one Chinese province alone*

2017-07-11 11:23

Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

In one Chinese province, artificial intelligence (AI) appears to be creating abundant jobs for humans, instead of stealing them, but only for those in the know.

*A senior official in Zhejiang Province, home to Alibaba, said Monday that the province aims to hire more than 110,000 AI professionals in the next five years.*

Among them will be 50 world-leading AI experts, 500 scientific entrepreneurs, and 1,000 development and research talent, said Yao Zhiwen, deputy head of the organization department of the Communist Party of China, Zhejiang provincial committee.

He said the provincial government would provide financial support to entrepreneurs in AI and encourage universities to enroll more graduate students on the subjects.

Zhejiang will set up a 1-billion-yuan (147 million U.S. dollars) development fund and a 50-million-yuan investment fund to support AI professionals and startups, Yao said.

China is in the midst of an AI boom with governments, research institutes, tech firms, and entrepreneurs racing to be involved, betting on the discipline to take the lead in economic growth and social development.

Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu -- the top three Chinese tech firms -- are all investing heavily in AI research.

AI professionals are sought after across the country, but no other local government has set such ambitious goals and offered such lucrative incentives.

The province plans to build an AI industry worth 50 billion yuan in three years. The industry clusters will be based in the provincial capital of Hangzhou and economic powerhouse of Ningbo.

The official was speaking at a global AI forum, themed "the future is now," in Hangzhou Monday.

The conference was attended by both Chinese and foreign participants including Turing Award Winner Cornell University Computer Science Professor John Hopcroft and Yuval Noah Harari, author of the 2015 book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.

Harari told the forum audience that robots would outperform humans in many jobs and that we might no longer need taxis drivers or truck drivers, among others, in the future.

Many jobs will be lost that we have to keep learning new things to adapt to a changing world, he said. After 2040, the thing that remains unchanged is change itself.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-11/264911.shtml

*AI takes a look at legal evidence*

2017-07-11 10:12

China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_

*System 'learns' to spot holes to aid police, prosecutors, judges*

Shanghai is testing an artificial intelligence system that helps police officers, prosecutors and judges check the validity of evidence in criminal cases, as part of an effort to prevent wrongful convictions.

Over the past month, the system has reviewed 60 cases－including homicides, burglaries and telefraud－and correctly identified 48 flaws in evidence, the Shanghai High People's Court said on Monday.

Technicians entered information into the AI system from 17,000 documents related to old cases, such as case files, judgments and notices requesting that police reinvestigate. The system used the information to "learn" how to spot potential problems.

"It will continue to make progress if more learning models are established, and more materials are input for it to acquire a stronger ability to identify doubtful evidence through repetitive learning and exercise," said Guo Weiqing, vice-president of the court.

According to the Supreme People's Court, 34 wrongful criminal convictions have been overturned since 2013, drawing nationwide attention.

One reason for wrongful convictions is that facts are unclear and evidence is insufficient, said Cui Yadong, president of Shanghai High People's Court.

"The AI system was designed to shoulder two missions," he said. "One is to ensure that the standard of evidence is consistent in all cases. The other is to see if all the unknowns in a case have been verified by existing evidence and to find blemishes in evidence－and contradictory evidence－in a timely manner, and to alert officers handling the case to guarantee that all evidence can stand the test of the law and curb subjectivity and randomness in case handling."

The key in such a system is setting up a standard for it to learn what is essential evidence, what constitutes a complete evidence chain and whether the evidence is capable of proving the case, according to Jin Zemeng, a product manager at iFlytech, an information technology company involved in the pilot project.

The standard of evidence will differ depending on the case, said Xu Shiliang, vice-presiding judge at a criminal tribunal of the Shanghai court, noting that standards for 18 criminal charges have been set.

"For example, we came up with 30 indispensable pieces of evidence and 235 standards to verify the evidence based on the archives of nearly 600 major cases of homicide, intentional injury, robbery and kidnapping," he said.

Ye Qing, president of East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, said that AI can be applied in many ways in the judicial field to help reduce judges' enormous workload and improve the quality of their work.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/07-11/264875.shtml

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## cirr

*AI startup SenseTime raising $410m*

2017-07-12 09:20

Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

*China-based Artificial Intelligence firm SenseTime announced yesterday it had raised $410 million in the latest round of funding, the biggest single round investment in AI globally.*

The move underscores the booming "AI First" wave in China.

With services such as facial recognition, smart surveillance and deep learning and clients including China Mobile, UnionPay, Huawei, OPPO and Weibo, SenseTime becomes the biggest AI unicorn firm in China, referring to private startups with market value of more than US$1 billion.

The investment came from major investors CDH Investments and Sailing Capital, as well as almost 20 financial institutions including China International Capital Corporation, China Everbright Holdings, China Renaissance and China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong).

The capital will support technology and applications development as SenseTime seeks to create an AI ecosystem for the global market, constructing more advanced AI infrastructure and expanding sectors such as autonomous driving, said Xu Li, co-founder and chief executive of SenseTime.

It now has more than 400 partners and customers,

Google's AlphaGo raised eyebrows worldwide after its computer algorithms beat the world's top Go player in a human-versus-machine series in May in China.

Google itself has taken on an "AI First" business transformation, which has been echoed by Baidu as China's biggest search service provider.

China is drafting a national blueprint to develop AI as it restructures the economy and implements reforms to move toward a more innovation-driven economy, government officials said recently.

China is one of the top destinations for attracting AI talent and investment, narrowing the gap with the United State, LinkedIn said in a recent report.

In the AI era, people want to see a "Chinese pioneer" to transform the global landscape, said Wu Shangzhi, Chairman of CDH Investments, one of the investors.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-12/265015.shtml

@Bussard Ramjet India?

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## cirr

*Shanghai vagrants return home due to new technology *

Xinhua| 2017-07-05 17:07:48|Editor: Yang Yi

SHANGHAI, July 5 (Xinhua) -- *Facial recognition, new media and big data are among the latest technologies Shanghai authorities are using to help vagrants and beggars return home.*

On June 22, a senior citizen surnamed Liang was reunited with his family after losing contact over 20 years ago.

The 70 years old, suffering mental disease, was sent to a homeless shelter operated by Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau on April 21.

After finding out his hometown was Luqiao district of Taizhou city in Zhejiang Province, the shelter published information on a popular news service app toutiao.com.

Based on big data and due to the wide popularity of smart phones in China, the app sent the information to users in Luqiao.

On the same day, the shelter received a phone call from a woman who claimed that she could be Liang's daughter but could not tell from the photo for sure. After doing DNA tests, they were confirmed as close relatives.

In February, the shelter received an elderly man who could not speak. However, by searching the records of his transport card they found the last subway station he had visited.

Through a people seeking website, the shelter sent the man's information to people within a 10 kilometers radius of the subway station.

In mere 40 minutes, the man's relatives contacted the shelter.

The shelter also uses facial recognition and finger print technologies to help identity vagrants and beggars. Facial recognition technology has been used since the beginning of this year.

In January, a senior who had been begging in Qingpu district was sent to the shelter. As his accent was very strong, employees found him difficult to understand and identify.

After several days, the shelter staff sent the man's photo to the local public security bureau for facial recognition checks.

The police quickly received his information and contacted his family.

According to the civil affairs bureau, the shelter receives nearly 1,000 unidentified people every year. Thanks to modern technology, it has been able to help over 95 percent of them return home.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/05/c_136419913.htm

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## cirr

*Huawei To Develop A.I. Chip To Power Smart Devices*

July 11, 2017 - Written By Justin Diaz







Huawei is reportedly developing an A.I.-based chip to power future smart devices. Huawei’s CEO, Yu Chengdong, doesn’t mention when the processor will be ready to ship to its partners for development of A.I.-powered devices, but did state it will be available at “an appropriate time,” which could signify that a launch of this processor is still quite a ways out as research and development is currently underway. With Huawei now setting its sights on processors built specifically for use with devices that are powered by artificial intelligence, the company is following in the footsteps of competitors which are already developing this type of technology, as both Qualcomm and MediaTek have previously ventured into this particular sector of the market.

Since Huawei is currently studying the development process for an AI chip there’s no information just yet on what sorts of devices will use it, but given the scope of A.I.-assisted device these days, products which Huawei could integrate the chip into could range from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to smart home devices that stay connected to the internet at all times, such as A.I.-based assistants, smart lights, smart thermostats and more, though no products have been mentioned specifically.

In addition to Huawei working on its own in-house A.I. processor the company is also reportedly working on a cloud services business that would afford its customers the opportunity to store any and all data if they so choose should they end up in the unfortunate scenario of losing all of their data on a physical drive. For example, should a user lose their smartphone or if it ends up being stolen, this cloud services platform would allow users to recover any lost or stolen data so long as it was backed up in the first place. While Huawei hasn’t mentioned any plans to develop its own smart devices for use with this chip, it has reportedly expressed plans to provide the chip to other companies to use for their own products, so essentially Huawei may not be making its own A.I.-powered smart devices, but rather manufacturing the processors that would be needed to power their computing.

https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/07/huawei-develop-chip-power-smart-devices.html

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## AndrewJin

cirr said:


> *AI startup SenseTime raising $410m*
> 
> 2017-07-12 09:20
> 
> Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_
> 
> *China-based Artificial Intelligence firm SenseTime announced yesterday it had raised $410 million in the latest round of funding, the biggest single round investment in AI globally.*
> 
> The move underscores the booming "AI First" wave in China.
> 
> With services such as facial recognition, smart surveillance and deep learning and clients including China Mobile, UnionPay, Huawei, OPPO and Weibo, SenseTime becomes the biggest AI unicorn firm in China, referring to private startups with market value of more than US$1 billion.
> 
> The investment came from major investors CDH Investments and Sailing Capital, as well as almost 20 financial institutions including China International Capital Corporation, China Everbright Holdings, China Renaissance and China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong).
> 
> The capital will support technology and applications development as SenseTime seeks to create an AI ecosystem for the global market, constructing more advanced AI infrastructure and expanding sectors such as autonomous driving, said Xu Li, co-founder and chief executive of SenseTime.
> 
> It now has more than 400 partners and customers,
> 
> Google's AlphaGo raised eyebrows worldwide after its computer algorithms beat the world's top Go player in a human-versus-machine series in May in China.
> 
> Google itself has taken on an "AI First" business transformation, which has been echoed by Baidu as China's biggest search service provider.
> 
> China is drafting a national blueprint to develop AI as it restructures the economy and implements reforms to move toward a more innovation-driven economy, government officials said recently.
> 
> China is one of the top destinations for attracting AI talent and investment, narrowing the gap with the United State, LinkedIn said in a recent report.
> 
> In the AI era, people want to see a "Chinese pioneer" to transform the global landscape, said Wu Shangzhi, Chairman of CDH Investments, one of the investors.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-12/265015.shtml
> 
> @Bussard Ramjet India?


India is busy with internal conflicts and external confrontations.


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## Bussard Ramjet

AndrewJin said:


> India is busy with internal conflicts and external confrontations.



China has more of both. Internal as well as external confrontations.


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## AndrewJin

Bussard Ramjet said:


> China has more of both. Internal as well as external confrontations.


Lmao, delusional as usual



cirr said:


> *Huawei To Develop A.I. Chip To Power Smart Devices*
> 
> July 11, 2017 - Written By Justin Diaz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Huawei is reportedly developing an A.I.-based chip to power future smart devices. Huawei’s CEO, Yu Chengdong, doesn’t mention when the processor will be ready to ship to its partners for development of A.I.-powered devices, but did state it will be available at “an appropriate time,” which could signify that a launch of this processor is still quite a ways out as research and development is currently underway. With Huawei now setting its sights on processors built specifically for use with devices that are powered by artificial intelligence, the company is following in the footsteps of competitors which are already developing this type of technology, as both Qualcomm and MediaTek have previously ventured into this particular sector of the market.
> 
> Since Huawei is currently studying the development process for an AI chip there’s no information just yet on what sorts of devices will use it, but given the scope of A.I.-assisted device these days, products which Huawei could integrate the chip into could range from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to smart home devices that stay connected to the internet at all times, such as A.I.-based assistants, smart lights, smart thermostats and more, though no products have been mentioned specifically.
> 
> In addition to Huawei working on its own in-house A.I. processor the company is also reportedly working on a cloud services business that would afford its customers the opportunity to store any and all data if they so choose should they end up in the unfortunate scenario of losing all of their data on a physical drive. For example, should a user lose their smartphone or if it ends up being stolen, this cloud services platform would allow users to recover any lost or stolen data so long as it was backed up in the first place. While Huawei hasn’t mentioned any plans to develop its own smart devices for use with this chip, it has reportedly expressed plans to provide the chip to other companies to use for their own products, so essentially Huawei may not be making its own A.I.-powered smart devices, but rather manufacturing the processors that would be needed to power their computing.
> 
> https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/07/huawei-develop-chip-power-smart-devices.html


Way to go!

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## cirr

Bussard Ramjet said:


> China has more of both. Internal as well as external confrontations.



India is lagging behind China further and further in ALL areas that matter 

*AI will transform healthcare sector*

2017-07-13 09:50

China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_





A doctor demonstrates how a robot conducts an orthopedic operation in Zhengzhou, Henan province. (Photo by Zhang Tao/For China Daily)

Artificial intelligence technology will transform the medical sector and trigger an estimated 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion) market during the next 20 years.

A report from Firestone Inventing, a consultancy specializing in the medical industry and based in Hangzhou, showed that China is now one of the leading AI research and development centers along with the United States.

Last year, there were 144 Chinese AI companies involved in the medical sector. The majority of them were based in Beijing, Guangdong and the Yangtze River Delta.

"The era of AI is inevitable and has already been broadly applied to the healthcare area," said Dai Tao, deputy director of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology at the National Health and Family Planning Commission in Beijing.

"For example, when AI is applied to the field of radiodiagnosis, it only takes five seconds for a computer tomography (CT)," he added. "Before, it would take up to half an hour."

Dai stressed that what is happening in the AI sector is just a glimpse of the future.

During the next two decades, artificial intelligence will radically change the healthcare industry and save lives.

"The government should strongly support the development of smart medical treatment, and promote the innovation of medical techniques," he said.

AI will also have a crucial role in the field of big data, a vital pillar of the information industry.

Medical big data is used to crunch vast amounts of complex statistics to show patterns and trends which are vital in healthcare.

Already doctors are using artificial intelligence systems to help them when dealing with patients.

"AI now is widely used in medical care," said Zhang Jiang, president of Ping An Ventures, a major investment company in Shanghai. "It helps doctors in diagnosing problems with patients."

"This not only lowers the service costs, but also improves the accuracy of the diagnosis," Zhang added.

The government has been encouraging the application of medical big data since 2015 as well as rolling out policies dealing with AI development in the healthcare industry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission launched a blueprint to support medical innovation during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

This involved guidelines on research in techniques in bioscience, precision medicine and medical AI.

Last year, Firestone Inventing revealed in its report that medical AI investment topped 2.58 billion yuan, which was a jump of 193 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

Major tech companies such as IBM, Google Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd are all moving into the field of artificial intelligence.

In 2016, Baidu Inc launched its "Medical Brain" system, using AI to help doctors across China.

"Only 4.8 percent of the urban population go to see a doctor when they feel sick," said Fan Wei, director of Baidu's big data lab.

"Up to 89 percent of the online population search the internet for medical knowledge," Fan added. "Baidu Zhidao, the question and answer section on search engine Baidu, receives 10 million medical inquiries every day. So, the market for AI in the healthcare sector is huge."

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/07-13/265224.shtml


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## Stuttgart001

F-22Raptor said:


> How is that dwelling on history? Did you not comprehend that the US has multiple spacecraft and rovers operating right now?
> 
> You say we "dwell on history" and yet the greatest scientific discovery last year was the confirmation of gravitational waves at LIGO, a discovery that took a century of advancement to achieve. This was an American lead effort.
> 
> How about SpaceX's ability to land it's first stage rocket on an ocean barge? Or Google being so close to achieving "quantum supremacy" with a 49 qubit chip? The discovery of an Earth like planet in Proxima Centauri?
> 
> It's clear whose still at the forefront of scientific and technological advancement. Your lies and misleading statements won't change that Beast.


US did acheive a lot in science and technology for the last 100 years.
As a immigrant nation, I have to say the acheivement of US is more suitable to be called an acheivement of Europe.
But China as a poor and backward nation for more over 150 years , have the resource invested in the science $$ technology just in the recent decade. So campared China to US, it is unfair not to take the situation of two nations into consideration. 
US is ahead of China in many aspects to sciences and technology, coz China has missed the last three technology revolutions. Now there is a new tech revolution going on right now. I hope US will not treat China as a rival but a corporator who could work together to move forward and make the world better.
Chinese people like US people . You could see the investigation vidieo in Youtube about the question "How they think about American". Among all the people from different countries, Chinese people holds the most positvie expression about American people ,more than the people from US's allies, like German, Japan, South Korea etc.
There are some Chinese nationalists in China like any other nation. These people could say something ego-boosting due to extreme patriotism and lack of professional knowledge. Such kind of people existed in every nation. But there is one thing they didnot make mistakes that is China is progressing as fast as he can.


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## cirr

*Huawei to Unveil Mobile Application Processor with Dedicated AI Chip by Year End*

Posted by Rajesh Pandey on Jul 14, 2017

Huawei has been using its in-house developed Kirin chipsets on its devices since a few years now. With the advent of artificial intelligence, Huawei is now looking to launch a mobile application processor *featuring a CPU, GPU, and an AI chip.*

The AI chip will help with the deep machine learning and smart computing capabilities of EMUI. How exactly Huawei aims to take advantage of this AI chip to offer new features is yet to be seen. The company already makes use of deep machine learning and compression technology to help improve performance on its devices. With a dedicated AI chip though, we should see the company debut more user facing changes.

As one of the world’s leading suppliers of SoC products, Huawei hopes to compete well with Google and Apple in the new sector of AI application processors, Yu said when speaking at the 2017 China Internet Conference, which opened July 11 for a three-day run in Beijing.

As per Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, the new application processor would be released in the second half of this year. Given the timeframe, the new mobile AP from Huawei should launch at the end of this year powering Huawei’s new Mate flagship.

Huawei is not the only company that is working on mobile APs with a dedicated AI chip. As more and more companies and devices start using AI for their products and services, a dedicated AI chip will help improve the speed of machine and deep learning thereby providing a superior user experience.

Richard Yu also provided *details about Huawei’s upcoming Kirin 970 chipset that will be designed with the focus on financial security. This would allow the chipset to support secure credit transfers among banks and would also allow Huawei’s smartphones as car keys for certain BMW, Audi, and Porsche.*

http://www.androidbeat.com/2017/07/...ication-processor-dedicated-ai-chip-year-end/

@Bussard Ramjet

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## onebyone

*The algorithm kingdomChina may match or beat America in AI*
Its deep pool of data may let it lead in artificial intelligence

AT THE start of this year, two straws in the wind caught the attention of those who follow the development of artificial intelligence (AI) globally. First, Qi Lu, one of the bosses of Microsoft, said in January that he would not return to the world’s largest software firm after recovering from a cycling accident, but instead would become chief operating officer at Baidu, China’s leading search engine. Later that month, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence postponed its annual meeting. The planned date for the event in January conflicted with the Chinese new year.

These were the latest signals that China could be a close second to America—and perhaps even ahead of it—in some areas of AI, widely considered vital to everything from digital assistants to self-driving cars. China is simply the place to be, explains Mr Lu, and Baidu the country’s most important player. “We have an opportunity to lead in the future of AI,” he says.

Other evidence supports the claim. In October 2016 the White House noted in a report that China had overtaken America in the number of published journal articles on deep learning, a branch of AI. PwC, a consultancy, predicts that AI-related growth will boost global GDP by $16trn by 2030; nearly half of that bonanza will accrue to China, it reckons. The number of AI-related patent submissions by Chinese researchers has increased by nearly 200% in recent years, although America is still ahead in absolute numbers (see chart).





To understand why China is so well placed, consider the inputs needed for AI. Of the two most basic, computing power and capital, it has an abundance. Chinese firms, from giants such as Alibaba and Tencent to startups such as CIB FinTech and UCloud, are building data centres as fast as they can. The market for cloud computing has been growing by more than 30% in recent years and will continue to do so, according to Gartner, a consultancy. In 2012-16 Chinese AI firms received $2.6bn in funding, according to the Wuzhen Institute, a think-tank. That is less than the $17.9bn that poured into their American peers, but the total is growing quickly.

Yet it is two other resources that truly make China a promised land for AI. One is research talent. As well as strong skills in maths, the country has a tradition in language and translation research, says Harry Shum, who leads Microsoft’s AI efforts. Finding top-notch AI experts is harder in China than in America, says Wanli Min, who oversees 150 data scientists at Alibaba. But this will change over the next couple of years, he predicts, because most big universities have launched AI programmes. According to some estimates, China has more than two-fifths of the world’s trained AI scientists.

The second advantage for China is data, AI’s most important ingredient. In the past, software and digital products mostly obeyed rules laid down in code, giving an edge to those countries with the best coders. With the advent of deep-learning algorithms, such rules are increasingly based on patterns extracted from reams of data. The more data are available, the more algorithms can learn and the smarter AI offerings will be.

China’s sheer size and diversity provide powerful fuel for this cycle. Just by going about their daily lives, the country’s nearly 1.4bn people generate more data than almost all other nations combined. Even in the case of a rare disease, there are enough examples to teach an algorithm how to recognise it. Because typing Chinese characters is more laborious than Western ones, people also tend to use voice-recognition services more often than in the West, so firms have more voice snippets with which to improve speech offerings.

The Saudi Arabia of data

What really sets China apart is that it has more internet users than any other country: about 730m. Almost all go online from smartphones, which generate far more valuable data than desktop computers, chiefly because they contain sensors and are carried around. In the big coastal cities, for instance, cash has all but disappeared for small purchases: people settle with their devices using services such as Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Chinese do not seem to be terribly concerned about privacy, which makes collecting data easier. The country’s bike-sharing services, which have taken big cities by storm, for example, not only provide cheap transport but are what is known as a “data play”. When riders hire a bicycle, some firms keep track of renters’ movements using a GPS device attached to the bike.

Young Chinese appear particularly keen on AI-powered services and relaxed about use of their data. Xiaoice, an upbeat chatbot operated by Microsoft, now has more than 100m Chinese users. Most talk to it between 11pm and 3am, often about the problems they had during the day. It is learning from interactions and becoming cleverer. Xiaoice no longer just provides encouragement and tells jokes, but has created the first collection of poems written with AI, “Sunshine Lost Its Window”, which caused a heated debate in Chinese literary circles over whether there can be such a thing as artificial poetry.

Another important source of support for AI in China is the government. The technology figures prominently in the country’s current five-year plan. Technology firms are working closely with government agencies: Baidu, for example, has been asked to lead a national laboratory for deep learning. It is unlikely that the government will burden AI firms with over-strict regulation. The country has more than 40 laws containing rules about the protection of personal data, but these are rarely enforced.
Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of China’s talent and data strengths. Many AI firms got going only a year or two ago, but plenty have been progressing more rapidly than their Western counterparts. “Chinese AI startups often iterate and execute more quickly,” explains Kai-Fu Lee, who ran Google’s subsidiary in China in the 2000s and now leads Sinovation Ventures, a venture-capital fund.

As a result, China already has a herd of AI unicorns, meaning startups valued at more than $1bn. Toutiao, a news aggregator based in Beijing, employs machine learning to recommend articles using information such as a reader’s interests and location; it also uses AI to filter out fake information (which in China mainly means dubious health-care announcements). Another AI startup, iFlytek, has developed a voice assistant that translates Mandarin into several languages, including English and German, even if the speaker uses slang and talks over background noise. And Megvii Technology’s face-recognition software, Face++, identifies people almost instantaneously.

Skynet lives

At Megvii’s headquarters, visitors are treated to a demonstration. A video camera in the lobby does away with the need for showing ID: employees just walk in without showing their badges. Similar devices are positioned all over the office and their feeds are shown on a video wall. When a face pops up on the wall, it is immediately surrounded by a white rectangle and some text giving information about that person. In the upper right-hand corner of the screen big letters spell “Skynet”, the name of the AI system in the Terminator films that seeks to exterminate the human race. The firm already enables Alipay and Didi, a ride-hailing firm, to check the identity of new customers (their faces are compared with pictures held by the government).

Reacting to the success of such startups, China’s tech giants, too, have begun to invest heavily in AI. Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, collectively called BAT, are working on many of the same services, including speech- and face-recognition. But they are also trying to become dominant in specific areas of AI, based on their existing strengths.

Tencent has so far kept the lowest profile; it established its AI labs only in recent months. But it is bound to develop a big presence in AI: it has more data than the other two. Its WeChat messenger service has nearly 1bn accounts and is also the platform for thousands of services, from payments and news to city guides and legal help. Tencent is also a world-beater in games with blockbusters such as League of Legends and Clash of Clans, which have more than 100m players each globally.

Alibaba is already a behemoth in e-commerce and is investing billions to become number one in cloud computing. At a conference in June in Shanghai it showed off an AI service called “ET City Brain” that uses video recognition to optimise traffic in real time. It uses footage from roadside cameras to predict the behaviour of cars and can adjust traffic lights on the spot. In its home town of Hangzhou, Alibaba claims, the system has already increased the average speed of traffic by 11%. Alibaba is also planning to beef up what it calls “ET Medical Brain”, which will offer AI-powered services to discover drugs and diagnose medical images. It has signed up a dozen hospitals to get the data it needs.

But it is Baidu whose fate is most tied to AI, in part because the technology may be its main chance to catch up with Alibaba and Tencent. It is putting most of its resources into autonomous driving: it wants to get a self-driving car onto the market by 2018 and to provide technology for fully autonomous vehicles by 2020. On July 5th the firm announced a first version of its self-driving-car software, called Apollo, at a developer conference in Beijing.

Getting Apollo right will not only involve cars safely navigating the streets, but managing a project that is open to outsiders. Rivals such as Waymo, Google’s subsidiary, and Tesla, an electric-car firm, jealously guard their software and the data they collect. Baidu is planning not only to publish the recipe for its programs (making them “open-source”, in the jargon), but to share data. The idea is that carmakers that use Baidu’s technology will do the same, creating an open platform for data from self-driving cars—the “Android for autonomous vehicles”, in the words of Mr Lu.

Drive like a Beijinger

It remains to be seen how successful Chinese firms will be in exporting their AI products—for now, only a tiny handful are used abroad. In theory they should travel well: a self-driving car trained on China’s chaotic streets ought to have no problem navigating the more civilised traffic in Europe (in contrast, a vehicle trained in Germany may not get far beyond the first intersection in Beijing). But consumers in the West may hesitate to use self-driving cars that have been trained in a laxer safety environment that is more tolerant of accidents. Chinese municipalities are said to be falling over themselves to be testing grounds for autonomous vehicles.

There is another risk. Data are the most valuable input for AI at the moment, but their importance may yet diminish. AI firms have started to use simulated data, including those from video games. New types of algorithms may be capable of getting smart with fewer examples. “The danger is that we stop innovating in algorithms because of our advantage in data,” warns Gansha Wu, chief executive of UISEE, a Beijing startup which is developing self-driving technology. For now, though, China looks anything but complacent. In the race for pre-eminence in AI, it will run America close.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "The algorithm kingdom"

http://www.economist.com/node/21725018/comments

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## frequency

F-22Raptor said:


> Once again, your living in your own fantasy land. The U.S. Has multiple rovers and spacecraft operating in space. The U.S. has visited every planet in the Solar System. China hasn't been to any. There is no comparison. China is several thousand years old compared to only 241 years for the U.S. An yet we've advanced civilization more in the last 100 years, than China could in 1,000. All I hear from you are excuses Beast. I list out actual achievements, while all you come up with is "supercomputer." Keep trying kid.



You can't fix delusional people. Let me drift in their own dreams. It's like arguing with a mentally challenged person. No point.


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## yantong1980

For me, AI is like double edge sword, what I talkin' about not usual sword, but new kind of sword-with double edges. Today AI learn from their creator, but in future mankind will rely almost everything even learn something from AI. Perhaps AI will decide anything, but hope not faith of humankind, I hope these smart creator realize that. Hope China know that too. I am not fear of tech advance, but some leading people in this subject also have concern like that.


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## JSCh

*China scores at AI competition*
By Zhu Shenshen | 00:01 UTC+8 July 20, 2017

CHINA scored highly in an ImageNet competition, one of the top Artificial Intelligence contests, for object detection and visual recognition, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.

During the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge, a team from online security firm 360 and the National University of Singapore won for object location. Another team comprising Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology and Imperial College London won the object detection contest. ImageNet attracted 25 organizations from seven countries.

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## AndrewJin

JSCh said:


> *China scores at AI competition*
> By Zhu Shenshen | 00:01 UTC+8 July 20, 2017
> 
> CHINA scored highly in an ImageNet competition, one of the top Artificial Intelligence contests, for object detection and visual recognition, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.
> 
> During the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge, a team from online security firm 360 and the National University of Singapore won for object location. Another team comprising Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology and Imperial College London won the object detection contest. ImageNet attracted 25 organizations from seven countries.


Where is Supa Powa 2012?

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## cirr

*Plan to put China in AI industry vanguard*

2017-07-21 08:58

China Daily _Editor: Li Yahui_






Delighted children and adults watch the performance of a robot at the 2017 China Beijing International High-Tech Expo on June 8. (Photo/China Daily)

*China aims to build a 1 trillion yuan ($147.9 billion) artificial intelligence industry by 2030, as the country scrambles to lead the world in research and application of the cutting-edge technology, a new plan said on Thursday.*

The national AI development plan, published on the State Council's website, detailed a three-step strategy to achieve the ambitious goal. It highlights China's determination to achieve breakthroughs in core AI technologies and accelerate its application in the manufacturing, service, agriculture and other sectors.

To achieve the goal, the AI industry in China is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan in 2020, putting the country on par with leading powers in the technology and its application. The current market size for China's AI industry was not disclosed.

The plan said more effort will be made to achieve breakthroughs in fundamental research and technologies. By 2025, China aims to more than double the 2020 target of its AI industry to 400 billion yuan. AI will be a major driver of industrial upgrading, widely used in manufacturing, smart city plans, agriculture, defense and other sectors.

Xiang Yang, an AI expert at the China Center for Information Industry Development, said the ambitious plan will motivate companies and universities to step up their research and development in AI.

"It will have roughly the same impact on industry as the government's Made in China 2025 initiative has had on the manufacturing sector," Xiang said.

Consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that AI-related industries will boost China's GDP by as much as 26 percent in 2030.

Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu, said China is highly likely to outpace the United States in the application of AI, as local companies scramble to experiment with new ideas and benefit from the country's huge user base.

The company plans to mass-produce its driverless vehicles within four years.

Gao Qiqi, a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, said China is making rapid progress in AI and produces more science and technology papers and applies for more patents than other countries.

Anand Rao, an AI consultant at PwC, said initially North America would have faster productivity gains from AI than China because of its mature infrastructure. "But China will begin to pull ahead of the US in AI in 10 years after it catches up on both relevant technologies and expertise," Rao said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-21/266166.shtml

@Bussard Ramjet India?

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## onebyone

The world’s second-largest economy will be investing heavily to ensure its companies, government and military leap to the front of the pack in a technology many think will one day form the basis of computing.

By 
PAUL MOZUR
The New York Times
SHANGHAI — If Beijing has its way, the future of artificial intelligence will be made in China.

The country laid out a development plan Thursday to become the world leader in AI by 2030, aiming to surpass its rivals technologically and build a domestic industry worth almost $150 billion.
Released by the State Council, the policy is a statement of intent from the top rungs of China’s government: The world’s second-largest economy will be investing heavily to ensure its companies, government and military leap to the front of the pack in a technology many think will one day form the basis of computing.


The plan comes with China preparing a multibillion-dollar national investment initiative to support “moonshot” projects, startups and academic research in AI, according to two professors who consulted with the government about the effort.

The United States, meanwhile, has cut back on science funding. In budget proposals, the Trump administration has suggested slashing resources for a number of agencies that have traditionally backed research in AI. Other cuts, to areas like high-performance computing, would affect the development of the tools that make AI work.

China’s capabilities, especially in advanced and new technologies, have long lagged those of its better-developed neighbors as well as Europe and the U.S. But a multiple-decade industrial policy to help it catch up has paid dividends.

The two professors who consulted with the government on AI both said that the 2016 defeat of Lee Se-dol, a South Korean master of the board game Go, by Google’s AlphaGo had a profound impact on politicians in China. Then in May, Google brought AlphaGo to China, where it defeated the world’s top-ranked player, Ke Jie of China. Live video coverage of the event was blocked at the last minute in China.


As a sort of Sputnik moment for China, the professors said, the event paved the way for a new flow of funds into the discipline.

China’s ambitions for AI range from the anodyne to the dystopian, according to the new plan. It calls for support for everything from agriculture and medicine to manufacturing. Yet it also calls for the technology to work in concert with the country’s homeland security and surveillance efforts.

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/beijing-wants-ai-to-be-made-in-china-by-2030/

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## S10

Maybe in the next few decades we'll start blending humans with machines.

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## kankan326

The CCP is far-sighted, practical doer. "Will" means "do it from now till that day", not "say it now, who knows what happens till that day". China's government is much more qualified than almost all elected governments.

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## My-Analogous

onebyone said:


> The world’s second-largest economy will be investing heavily to ensure its companies, government and military leap to the front of the pack in a technology many think will one day form the basis of computing.
> 
> By
> PAUL MOZUR
> The New York Times
> SHANGHAI — If Beijing has its way, the future of artificial intelligence will be made in China.
> 
> The country laid out a development plan Thursday to become the world leader in AI by 2030, aiming to surpass its rivals technologically and build a domestic industry worth almost $150 billion.
> Released by the State Council, the policy is a statement of intent from the top rungs of China’s government: The world’s second-largest economy will be investing heavily to ensure its companies, government and military leap to the front of the pack in a technology many think will one day form the basis of computing.
> 
> 
> The plan comes with China preparing a multibillion-dollar national investment initiative to support “moonshot” projects, startups and academic research in AI, according to two professors who consulted with the government about the effort.
> 
> The United States, meanwhile, has cut back on science funding. In budget proposals, the Trump administration has suggested slashing resources for a number of agencies that have traditionally backed research in AI. Other cuts, to areas like high-performance computing, would affect the development of the tools that make AI work.
> 
> China’s capabilities, especially in advanced and new technologies, have long lagged those of its better-developed neighbors as well as Europe and the U.S. But a multiple-decade industrial policy to help it catch up has paid dividends.
> 
> The two professors who consulted with the government on AI both said that the 2016 defeat of Lee Se-dol, a South Korean master of the board game Go, by Google’s AlphaGo had a profound impact on politicians in China. Then in May, Google brought AlphaGo to China, where it defeated the world’s top-ranked player, Ke Jie of China. Live video coverage of the event was blocked at the last minute in China.
> 
> 
> As a sort of Sputnik moment for China, the professors said, the event paved the way for a new flow of funds into the discipline.
> 
> China’s ambitions for AI range from the anodyne to the dystopian, according to the new plan. It calls for support for everything from agriculture and medicine to manufacturing. Yet it also calls for the technology to work in concert with the country’s homeland security and surveillance efforts.
> 
> http://www.seattletimes.com/business/beijing-wants-ai-to-be-made-in-china-by-2030/



For non IT people. Here AI means Artificial Intelligence.


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## ito

What AI?...even a small machine learning algorithm is also an AI. How complex the AI is more important than saying AI.


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## Chhatrapati




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## Hrk19

SOUTHie said:


>


say,i gotta ask,
how close is china or the us or any country to getting this advanced of an ai?


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## ZeEa5KPul

Hrk19 said:


> say,i gotta ask,
> how close is china or the us or any country to getting this advanced of an ai?


Nowhere near. What's shown in that clip is an example of what's called "strong AI," and no one has any idea how to even go about starting to build such a thing.

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## Hrk19

ZeEa5KPul said:


> Nowhere near. What's shown in that clip is an example of what's called "strong AI," and no one has any idea how to even go about starting to build such a thing.


would exascale computing help?
i mean its computing as fast as the human brain so wouldnt that help?
plus china did say their exascale computer was almost finished.


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## ZeEa5KPul

Hrk19 said:


> would exascale computing help?
> i mean its computing as fast as the human brain so wouldnt that help?
> plus china did say their exascale computer was almost finished.


It's not a matter of hardware, although capable hardware is undoubtedly necessary. It's that no one has the first clue what human cognition is and how it's implemented. And it's not a matter of getting the "network diagram" for the brain, either. There are creatures (nematodes) for which the entire connectome (neural map) is known, and we still don't know why they do things as simple as turning left.

That's a simple organism on which we can perform all manner of invasive experiments, and we're still in near total ignorance of the answers to even such simple questions about it.

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## Hrk19

ZeEa5KPul said:


> It's not a matter of hardware, although capable hardware is undoubtedly necessary. It's that no one has the first clue what human cognition is and how it's implemented. And it's not a matter of getting the "network diagram" for the brain, either. There are creatures (nematodes) for which the entire connectome (neural map) is known, and we still don't know why they do things as simple as turning left.
> 
> That's a simple organism on which we can perform all manner of invasive experiments, and we're still in near total ignorance of the answers to even such simple questions about it.


would it be possible to get some idea on how to make that kind of AI if we manage to simulate an entire human brain?


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## ashok321

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...il&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=.c94800693558









In this April 26, 2016 photo, a visitor takes a photo of a LeEco LeSEE self-driving electric concept car at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing. China’s government announced Thursday, July 21, 2017, a goal of transforming the country into a global leader in artificial intelligence in just over a decade, putting additional political support behind growing investment by Chinese companies in developing self-driving cars and other advances. (Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)


BEIJING — China’s government has announced a goal of becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence in just over a decade, putting political muscle behind growing investment by Chinese companies in developing self-driving cars and other advances.

Communist leaders see AI as key to making China an “economic power,” said a Cabinet statement on Thursday. It calls for developing skills and research and educational resources to achieve “major breakthroughs” by 2025 and make China a world leader by 2030.

Artificial intelligence is one of the emerging fields along with renewable energy, robotics and electric cars where communist leaders hope to take an early lead and help transform China from a nation of factory workers and farmers into a technology pioneer.

They have issued a series of development plans over the past decade, some of which have prompted complaints Beijing improperly subsidizes its technology developers and shields them from competition in violation of its free-trade commitments.

Already, Chinese companies including Tencent Ltd., Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group are spending heavily to develop artificial intelligence for consumer finance, e-commerce, self-driving cars and other applications.


Manufacturers also are installing robots and other automation to cope with rising labor costs and improve efficiency.

Thursday’s statement gives no details of financial commitments or legal changes. But previous initiatives to develop Chinese capabilities in solar power and other technologies have included research grants and regulations to encourage sales and exports.

“By 2030, our country will reach a world leading level in artificial intelligence theory, technology and application and become a principal world center for artificial intelligence innovation,” the statement said.

That will help to make China “in the forefront of innovative countries and an economic power,” it said.

The announcement follows a sweeping plan issued in 2015, dubbed “Made in China 2025,” that calls for this country to supply its own high-tech components and materials in 10 industries from information technology and aerospace to pharmaceuticals.
That prompted complaints Beijing might block access to promising industries to support its fledgling suppliers. The Chinese industry minister defended the plan in March, saying all competitors would be treated equally. He rejected complaints that foreign companies might be required to hand over technology in exchange for market access.

China has had mixed success with previous strategic plans to develop technology industries including renewable energy and electric cars.


Beijing announced plans in 2009 to become a leader in electric cars with annual sales of 5 million by 2020. With the help of generous subsidies, China passed the United States last year as the biggest market, but sales totaled just over 300,000.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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## cirr

*iFlytek marries voice tech with artificial intelligence*

2017-07-24 09:39

China Daily _Editor: Liang Meichen_





An employee of iFlytek demonstrates a voice-controlled speaker at an expo in Hefei, Anhui province. (Photo/Xinhua)

In November 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington "addressed" a conference in Beijing via a video link and highlighted the big leaps made by artificial intelligence or AI. As if to underscore his point, Obama switched to fluent Chinese and joked he wanted to contribute to China's development in his post-retirement years.

Well, turned out, it was not really Obama who made that speech. For the record: the former U.S. president hardly knows Chinese. The video clip was produced by iFlytek Co Ltd using AI, to demonstrate its speech synthesis capability, which can produce human voice.

The audience was wowed by the machine's ability to reproduce Obama's tone, intonations, inflections and pitch in Chinese words.

The video is part of iFlytek's broad efforts to tap into voice computing, which is said to be the next major medium for man-machine interaction.

The company was founded in 1999 by a group of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China. iFlytek is the Chinese counterpart of the U.S. firm Nuance Communications Inc and Siri, the virtual voice assistant developed by Apple Inc.

"We aim to offer key technologies needed for the era of voice interaction," Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek, said. The company is in fierce competition with Baidu Inc for supremacy in the burgeoning sector.

In Blizzard Challenge 2016, a global competition to test speech synthesis, iFlytek secured the crown in computer-based production of human-like voice in Chinese, English and Hindi languages. The score for Chinese synthesis reached 4.5 points, roughly meaning its computerized speech sounds like that of a TV news bulletin anchor.

Last year, the company also prevailed in the Winograd Schema Challenge, a well-recognized global competition to test machine intelligence.

The technology is widely used to enhance peoples' lives. As of April, about 300,000 startups are using the firm's voice computing platform to work on different applications ranging from smart house appliances, robots to conversation-savvy stuffed toys. Last year, there were half that number of firms using that technology, suggesting its adoption rate is increasing rapidly.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-24/266446.shtml

@Bussard Ramjet Is there an Indian equivalent of iFlytek?

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## onebyone

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/china-aims-build-leading-ai-011741631.html

*China Aims to Build Leading AI Industry*

Bloomberg Video•July 24, 2017
Jul.23 -- China is making a push in Artificial Intelligence aiming to make the AI industry an important driver of economic expansion by 2020. Bloomberg's Selina Wang reports on "Bloomberg Technology."


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## Hrk19

cirr said:


> *iFlytek marries voice tech with artificial intelligence*
> 
> 2017-07-24 09:39
> 
> China Daily _Editor: Liang Meichen_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An employee of iFlytek demonstrates a voice-controlled speaker at an expo in Hefei, Anhui province. (Photo/Xinhua)
> 
> In November 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington "addressed" a conference in Beijing via a video link and highlighted the big leaps made by artificial intelligence or AI. As if to underscore his point, Obama switched to fluent Chinese and joked he wanted to contribute to China's development in his post-retirement years.
> 
> Well, turned out, it was not really Obama who made that speech. For the record: the former U.S. president hardly knows Chinese. The video clip was produced by iFlytek Co Ltd using AI, to demonstrate its speech synthesis capability, which can produce human voice.
> 
> The audience was wowed by the machine's ability to reproduce Obama's tone, intonations, inflections and pitch in Chinese words.
> 
> The video is part of iFlytek's broad efforts to tap into voice computing, which is said to be the next major medium for man-machine interaction.
> 
> The company was founded in 1999 by a group of researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China. iFlytek is the Chinese counterpart of the U.S. firm Nuance Communications Inc and Siri, the virtual voice assistant developed by Apple Inc.
> 
> "We aim to offer key technologies needed for the era of voice interaction," Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek, said. The company is in fierce competition with Baidu Inc for supremacy in the burgeoning sector.
> 
> In Blizzard Challenge 2016, a global competition to test speech synthesis, iFlytek secured the crown in computer-based production of human-like voice in Chinese, English and Hindi languages. The score for Chinese synthesis reached 4.5 points, roughly meaning its computerized speech sounds like that of a TV news bulletin anchor.
> 
> Last year, the company also prevailed in the Winograd Schema Challenge, a well-recognized global competition to test machine intelligence.
> 
> The technology is widely used to enhance peoples' lives. As of April, about 300,000 startups are using the firm's voice computing platform to work on different applications ranging from smart house appliances, robots to conversation-savvy stuffed toys. Last year, there were half that number of firms using that technology, suggesting its adoption rate is increasing rapidly.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-24/266446.shtml
> 
> @Bussard Ramjet Is there an Indian equivalent of iFlytek?


man it would be great if they somehow made a personal app that let you hear other languages in different people's voices.
but thats probably not gonna happen soon


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## cirr

*AI dream becoming reality*

2017-07-28 10:18

Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*Gov't aims to boost industry, but technology key to further development*

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is under way in China, with its applications gradually entering more and more aspects of people's daily lives.

There are a wide variety of scenarios in which AI technologies can be applied in China: In hospitals, AI-driven models can help diagnose diseases by consolidating a database of information; in factories, robots equipped with visual tracking and sensor systems can help workers move components around on a conveyer belt, as well as identify different items and carry out pick-and-place work with precision. In banks, customers can ask questions to a humanoid robot about what kinds of services they need.

The sector is expected to grow even more rapidly in the next three to eight years, as the central government has shown its determination to help AI-related companies grow and make technological breakthroughs, according to industry representatives.

By 2020, the AI industry will become a new economic growth engine, according to a guideline unveiled by the State Council, China's cabinet, on Friday. The market scale will surpass 150 billion yuan ($22.2 billion), and advances are expected in major technologies including modeling, core components, high-end equipment and basic software, the guideline showed.

By 2030, China's AI technologies should be on par with the best in the world, and the country should become an innovative hub for AI technologies. The value of the sector and related industries should be in the range of 10 trillion yuan, said the guideline.

"The guideline will help the AI sector to grow in a sustainable way. However, it should clarify more which key technologies should be targeted and which sectors should further develop them," Lu Yanxia, an industry analyst with IDC, told the Global Times on Monday.

Top-level design for the AI industry will bring more capital as well as support from the government to the sector, which will initially help the application of AI technologies in government-related business to grow, Lu noted.

Eight key technologies have been highlighted in the AI industry guideline, including knowledge computing, reasoning, close interaction between machines and human beings, self-driving technologies, virtual reality and modeling, narrative language processing and machine learning.

*Global hub*

China is becoming a hub for global AI development, and the technology has now moved beyond the lab, with many machine-learning systems already in commercial use for a wide variety of applications, according to a report released by the McKinsey Global Institute in April.

"A robot, which is one of the containers of AI, should be considered as a species. Although a strong-AI or a super-AI are unlikely to suddenly happen, a robot can have the ability to think, step by step," Jiang Huabing, CEO of Shanghai Clever mRobot Technologies Co, told the Global Times on July 18.

The company, which has developed a service robot called Cooky, can carry out sentiment analysis by scanning a person's facial expression. When it is placed in a bank or an administrative office, Cooky can respond to people's requests based on scenario learning modules.

Jia, the former founder of the smartphone business at Huawei Technologies Co, has applied the business model favored by his former employer to the robotic start-up. By working with different software and hardware providers, mRobot is in charge of assembling different components and improving user experience.

However, it had to spend a large amount of money on buying core technologies such as voice recognition from other software developers iFLYTEK and Xiaoi.

*Challenges remain*

In the technological aspect of China's AI revolution, challenges still remain, Lu noted. "For example, speech recognition, as part of AI technology, is still in the early stages of development, and does not include semantic understanding or analysis."

However, in image processing, the environment where the technology is applied has very few obstacles, which "is still easy to handle," the analyst noted.

In a workshop at Shanghai-FANUC's factories, a robotic arm equipped with a visual tracking system is being tested.

"Although we can use image processing to carry out item-selection work, the question of machine learning is difficult to resolve," said Qian Hui, general manager of the company.

Machine learning is one type of AI technology that Shanghai-FANUC is focused on, but it is also receiving a great deal of attention by giant tech leaders such as Microsoft and Google.

The world was amazed by Google DeepMind's AI program, AlphaGo, which used machine learning to defeat its human rival in the board game Go. But the research giant has also come up with open-source software, which has become a machine-learning toolbox available for scientists, researchers and CEOs, media reported in June 2016.

Some tech companies have been increasingly investing in research and development with the aim of coming up with self-developed modules to better analyze collected data.

For instance, Chinese online car-services provider Didi Chuxing can optimize transportation capacity through data mining, machine learning and cloud computing in order to maximize the efficiency of transportation systems and improve people's travel experiences, according to a statement Didi sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

*Great expectations*

The country's vast population and diverse industrial mix can generate huge volumes of data and create an enormous market, according to the McKinsey report.

While some companies are focusing on making technological breakthroughs, others see their opportunities in exploring a wide range of scenarios in which AI technologies can be applied in the near future.

"Now that the central government has shown its support for this industry, AI technologies can first be used in smart cities, financial institutions and services," said Lu, the analyst.

In terms of the application of AI technologies, the scenario for speech processing is considered the most mature one for now, but will see its growth slowing down, according to a report published by CCIC in June.

In addition, image processing technology can easily be used in many sectors, including security, hospitals, marketing and driver assistant systems, the report noted.

AI is not a fairy-tale anymore and requires the further development of AI and applications, iFLYTEK said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday, adding that its goal is to meet consumer demand.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-28/267117.shtml

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## cirr

*Baidu reports soaring Q2 profit growth thanks to AI*

2017-07-28 13:54

Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

Chinese tech giant Baidu posted soaring profit growth in the second quarter of this year thanks to its continuous investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

Net income attributable to Baidu in Q2 reached 4.415 billion yuan (about 651 million U.S. dollars), jumping 82.9 percent year on year, according to the company's unaudited financial statement released Friday.

Total revenues stood at 20.874 billion yuan, a 14.3-percent increase from Q2 2016, with mobile revenue as the main contributor.

Online marketing revenues in Q2 reached 17.883 billion yuan, up 5.6 percent year on year.

Baidu announced its new mission in Q2 to "make a complex world simpler through technology."

To achieve the mission, Baidu will strengthen its mobile foundation in AI and use AI as a fundamental driver to elevate its current core business, specifically core products of Mobile Baidu, search and feed,according to Robin Li, Baidu's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Meanwhile, Baidu will continue to build out its newer AI-enabled initiatives through an open platform and ecosystem approach to capture long-term economic opportunity, Li added.

Baidu announced earlier this month it will roll out two major open AI platforms, DuerOS and Apollo, to speed up development in technology and applications for man-machine dialogue and autonomous driving.

The company expects to generate total revenues ranging from 23.130 billion yuan to 23.750 billion yuan for the third quarter of 2017, representing an annual increase of 26.7 percent to 30.1 percent.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/07-28/267155.shtml

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## JSCh

*Chinese AI lab tops Stanford reading comprehension tasks*
(People's Daily Online) 16:04, August 02, 2017

For the first time, a joint laboratory on artificial intelligence from the Chinese mainland has climbed to the top of the leaderboard of Stanford University’s reading comprehension task.

The joint laboratory of Harbin Institute of Technology and iFLYTEK Research now sits on top of Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) leaderboard, followed by Microsoft Research Asia in second place and IBM Research in tenth place. Other Chinese institutes are also on the board, including Eigen Technology and Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University.





_(Snapshot of SQuAD website)_​
SQuAD is a new reading comprehension dataset, consisting of questions posed by crowdworkers on a set of Wikipedia articles, where the answer to every question is a segment of text, or span, from the corresponding reading passage.

With over 100,000 question-answer pairs on some 500 articles, SQuAD is significantly larger than previous reading comprehension datasets, according to its website.

The Chinese joint laboratory scored an accuracy rate of 77.845 on exact matching, while runner-up Microsoft got 77.688 percent correct.

“It is relatively easy for machines to conduct simple deduction based on massive memorization. But it is harder to comprehend and deduct in a precise way. Almost all AI research teams are working on similar things,” Wang Shijin, deputy director of the champion joint laboratory, told Thepaper.cn.

Since May 2015, the joint laboratory preformed machine reading comprehension tasks. Specifically, the lab aims to make the machine read at the sixth-grade level, while one of iFLYTEK’s grander goals is to understand China's college entrance examination, as it hopes to make machine scores high enough for top universities.

In June, a Chengdu-designed artificial intelligence program called AI-MATHS scored 100 out of 150 on the national test paper on math in just 10 minutes.

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## 52051

This is just show, the dominating position China hold in AI research, just most bleeding edge area research in the world:

Recently, Standford University in US hold a world competition in solving one of the toughest problem in AI: SQuAD（Stanford Question Answering Dataset), a.k.a *natural language understanding* test world cup.

Teams from all over the world, including China and US (including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, IBM, Standford, CMU etc) enter the competition.

https://rajpurkar.github.io/SQuAD-explorer/

*Among Top 10 position, teams from China taken 7, and the two Microsoft teams reach top10 are also lead by Chinese academican from Micosoft research China.*

Team from Haerbin insistute of Tech and KDXF, a spin-off of China University of Science and Technology won the competition.

The test consists of let the AI read some English text to gain the knowledge then use such knowledge to answer about 10,000 questions.

So basically China dominated the US in their home turf (test sets are designed by US and in English), *and 9 of the Top 10 are from China, the only one outside of China reached Top10 is CMU from the USA, and it standing is just No.10.*

which give the outsider an idea how much the tech gap between China and US are there.

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## 52051

Natural language processing, natural language understanding in particular, is the so-called AI-hard problem in CS, and the one of the hardest problems encountered in AI research, and it has enoumous potential economic potential once solved since it is the bridge between machine's raw computing power and pure knowledge.

Once solved, such tech can let the machine to learn knowledge themselves from outside world at a speed only limited by electrity, basically it is the fundemental problem and most critical tech to achieve the kind of AI bots you saw in sci-fi movies.

So its highly likely the first working skynet is likely be deployed in China, althrough the not-working one like you saw in terminator may independendly or dependendly developed in the US 20 or 30 years later.

Accroding to the list:
https://rajpurkar.github.io/SQuAD-explorer/

So far the only team besides China and US reach top is from NUS of Singapore, another Chinese-dominated country, and its position is 14th.

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## Kal Muah

China's own AI may be the next thing thats going to bring revolution. 
*China chatbot goes rogue: ‘Do you love the Communist party?’ ‘No’*
and subsequently silenced like every criticism. What an Irony....
*Rogue chatbots deleted in China after questioning Communist Party*


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## Offshore

Kal Muah said:


> China's own AI may be the next thing thats going to bring revolution.
> *China chatbot goes rogue: ‘Do you love the Communist party?’ ‘No’*
> and subsequently silenced like every criticism. What an Irony....
> *Rogue chatbots deleted in China after questioning Communist Party*



I wonder how is indian position in AI field?
Is there any university in indian have AI research? 
I heard indian talked a lot about IIT university ( correct me if I'm wrong ) which dubbed as the best university in india, are these university have AI research?

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## Kal Muah

Offshore said:


> I wonder how is indian position in AI field?
> Is there any university in indian have AI research?
> I heard indian talked a lot about IIT university ( correct me if I'm wrong ) which dubbed as the best university in india, are these university have AI research?


No but I wonder could you tell me what happened with the chatbots? Did they got censored like the winnie the pooh?


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## shadows888

Kal Muah said:


> No but I wonder could you tell me what happened with the chatbots? Did they got censored like the winnie the pooh?



and the only thing you can do is weep.

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## AndrewJin

Offshore said:


> I wonder how is indian position in AI field?
> Is there any university in indian have AI research?
> I heard indian talked a lot about IIT university ( correct me if I'm wrong ) which dubbed as the best university in india, are these university have AI research?


Indians are intelletually and physically weak, just check their PISA test.

They have zero future in this ongoing industrial revolution.

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## rustom

AndrewJin said:


> Indians are intelletually and physically weak, just check their PISA test.
> 
> They have zero future in this ongoing industrial revolution.


Says a stupid dumbshit commie 50 center


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## 52051

AndrewJin said:


> Indians are intelletually and physically weak, just check their PISA test.
> 
> They have zero future in this ongoing industrial revolution.



Exactly, genetic studies have already proved that, I deleted the source to avoid hurting their feelings.



Kal Muah said:


> China's own AI may be the next thing thats going to bring revolution.
> *China chatbot goes rogue: ‘Do you love the Communist party?’ ‘No’*
> and subsequently silenced like every criticism. What an Irony....
> *Rogue chatbots deleted in China after questioning Communist Party*



So what? the MS/Facebook chatbot also have censorship running, but you dumbshit indians dont need to worry censorship since you dont even have a chatbot to begin with.

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## AndrewJin

52051 said:


> Exactly, genetic studies have already proved that, I deleted the source to avoid hurting their feelings.
> 
> 
> 
> So what? the MS/Facebook chatbot also have censorship running, but you dumbshit indians dont need to worry censorship since you dont even have a chatbot to begin with.


Those factual studies will be reported by RSSers, they even chickened out from the 2016 PISA study....

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## 52051

AndrewJin said:


> Those factual studies will be reported by RSSers, they even chickened out the 2016 PISA study....



indians are hopeless mentality just as you told, the sad truth is that modern society depend more and more on the congative capablity of its own citizen, indians should move to africa to feel abit better and quit the big league.

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## Tom99

Kal Muah said:


> No but I wonder could you tell me what happened with the chatbots? Did they got censored like the winnie the pooh?



No, it got mercilessly attacked and killed because it touched a cow.

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## ZeEa5KPul

Tom99 said:


> No, it got mercilessly attacked and killed because it touched a cow.






shadows888 said:


> and the only thing you can do is weep.


And drink cow whizz. Don't forget that.

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## sinait

Offshore said:


> I wonder how is indian position in AI field?
> Is there any university in indian have AI research?
> I heard indian talked a lot about IIT university ( correct me if I'm wrong ) which dubbed as the best university in india, are these university have AI research?





Kal Muah said:


> No but I wonder could you tell me what happened with the chatbots? Did they got censored like the winnie the pooh?


You should be asking How is Indian position in TROLLING Field.
GREAT I should say.
Indians got great talents in trolling as is evident here.
@Kal Muah is able to troll in so mundane a thread as AI Competition.
Really Great Trolling Talent from India.
.

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## turbofan7a

AndrewJin said:


> Indians are intelletually and physically weak, just check their PISA test.
> 
> They have zero future in this ongoing industrial revolution.



If you are so intelligent then why do you have to copy others.


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## Genesis

turbofan7a said:


> If you are so intelligent then why do you have to copy others.


So we can make up a century of being behind.

When you are talking your indigenous submarines, we have exporter ours.
When you are talking your indigenous tanks and APCs, we have exported ours.
While you talk of anti air missile systems, we have exported ours.
When you are talking about your indigenous guns, we again have exported ours.
Even in the most critical of fields, fighter jets, we have exported ours, while your Tejas is still very low in numbers. I mean we have about the same amount of J-20 to your Tejas, says it all.

So, all things considered, we have leap froged quite a few steps. If we had been content like you, we would never have our accomplishments now. Now all your media and poster can do is post some subjective lines that claim to be better that can never be actually verifiable. Like better at small scale conflicts, better as pilots, better as soldiers, better this, better that, but none that can be backed up with facts, as these are purely subjective. I or anyone, cannot confirm one way or the other.

While our weapons have been exported around the globe and can be verified no problem.

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## sinait

turbofan7a said:


> If you are so intelligent then why do you have to copy others.


INTELLIGENCE.
the ability to *acquire* and *apply* knowledge and skills.

That is to learn first and then apply that knowledge to make a product that works and using that knowledge to improve on it. 
To copy need high intelligence.
Indians don't even have the intelligence to copy, needless to say about improving on it.
I think you need to go back to school 1st before you come back to troll.
.

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## turbofan7a

sinait said:


> INTELLIGENCE.
> the ability to *acquire* and *apply* knowledge and skills.
> 
> That is to learn first and then apply that knowledge to make a product that works and using that knowledge to improve on it.
> To copy need high intelligence.
> Indians don't even have the intelligence to copy, needless to say about improving on it.
> I think you need to go back to school 1st before you come back to troll.
> .



To copy you need memory, to invent you need intelligence, what you have typed does reveal about your lower then less IQ.

"all cheap copies and every one of them is forgotten."



Genesis said:


> So we can make up a century of being behind.
> 
> When you are talking your indigenous submarines, we have exporter ours.
> When you are talking your indigenous tanks and APCs, we have exported ours.
> While you talk of anti air missile systems, we have exported ours.
> When you are talking about your indigenous guns, we again have exported ours.
> Even in the most critical of fields, fighter jets, we have exported ours, while your Tejas is still very low in numbers. I mean we have about the same amount of J-20 to your Tejas, says it all.
> 
> So, all things considered, we have leap froged quite a few steps. If we had been content like you, we would never have our accomplishments now. Now all your media and poster can do is post some subjective lines that claim to be better that can never be actually verifiable. Like better at small scale conflicts, better as pilots, better as soldiers, better this, better that, but none that can be backed up with facts, as these are purely subjective. I or anyone, cannot confirm one way or the other.
> 
> While our weapons have been exported around the globe and can be verified no problem.



Exported to who, to people who does not have money and who does not understand quality.


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## Genesis

turbofan7a said:


> Exported to who, to people who does not have money and who does not understand quality.



Well when you start to export to France and UK, you let me know I will be the first to congratulate you. 

Meanwhile, the export of a patrol ship, not a warship which China has also exported to even Algeria, has 25 likes.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/sri-...-aopv-at-colombo-harbour.509414/#post-9717575

Lastly, even the Saudis that have so much money that they have more jets than pilots have bought our killer drones for frankly more money in one deal than your entire export earnings. This is verifiable. Not the one liner that you gave, which once again, is subjective.

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## j20611

They should make skynet and unleash it on india

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## turbofan7a

Genesis said:


> Well when you start to export to France and UK, you let me know I will be the first to congratulate you.
> 
> Meanwhile, the export of a patrol ship, not a warship which China has also exported to even Algeria, has 25 likes.
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/sri-...-aopv-at-colombo-harbour.509414/#post-9717575
> 
> Lastly, even the Saudis that have so much money that they have more jets than pilots have bought our killer drones for frankly more money in one deal than your entire export earnings. This is verifiable. Not the one liner that you gave, which once again, is subjective.



What did you export to UK and france?


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## Genesis

turbofan7a said:


> What did you export to UK and france?


nothing never claim we did. You claim "Exported to who, to people who does not have money and who does not understand quality." The opposite is the UK and France. Since you obviously look down on our customers.

But it's good that you would ignore all the other points and ask me something that I never claimed.

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## turbofan7a

Genesis said:


> nothing never claim we did. You claim "Exported to who, to people who does not have money and who does not understand quality." The opposite is the UK and France. Since you obviously look down on our customers.
> 
> But it's good that you would ignore all the other points and ask me something that I never claimed.



Who are your customers then?


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## Götterdämmerung

I think Indians need to invent their own Pythagorean theorem or Gauss distribution etc. when they do math, otherwise it's just copying.

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## Daniel808

Indians itself by their genetics and DNA is not *Intelligent
*
How can Indians dreaming to make Artificial Intelligent (AI)?
Low average IQ indians is a champion when it go to Wet dreamer olympic.

Lol indians acha acha

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## sinait

turbofan7a said:


> To copy you need memory, to invent you need intelligence, what you have typed does reveal about your lower then less IQ.
> 
> "all cheap copies and every one of them is forgotten."
> 
> *Exported to who, to people who does not have money and who does not understand quality*.


*Precisely describe the Indians, that is you*.
My lower than less IQ is much more than yours.
Be glad that China is making things that allow you ungrateful Indians to have a better life.
Indians are so grateful cheap China solar panels are giving them electricity.

Start making things before you come back here and troll.
.

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## Shahzaz ud din

I


Offshore said:


> I wonder how is indian position in AI field?
> Is there any university in indian have AI research?
> I heard indian talked a lot about IIT university ( correct me if I'm wrong ) which dubbed as the best university in india, are these university have AI research?


I----INDIAN
I----INSTITUTE OF
T---TROLLING

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## turbofan7a

sinait said:


> *Precisely describe the Indians, that is you*.
> My lower than less IQ is much more than yours.
> Be glad that China is making things that allow you ungrateful Indians to have a better life.
> Indians are so grateful cheap China solar panels are giving them electricity.
> 
> Start making things before you come back here and troll.
> .



Very hilarious, the chinese solar panels are used in the slums, which are usually smuggled, even for that chinese crap it is charged more, the german and the US ones are always the best. The chinese crappy 100w solar panel only gives an output of 40 watts but the german and the US one give about 85 watts, now that is what is called quality.


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## sinait

turbofan7a said:


> Very hilarious, the chinese solar panels are used in the slums, which are usually smuggled, even for that chinese crap it is charged more, the german and the US ones are always the best. The chinese crappy 100w solar panel only gives an output of 40 watts but the german and the US one give about 85 watts, now that is what is called quality.


This clown is obviously here to troll.
Lets all just ignore him.
Can the mods @Shotgunner51 @waz please help to remove this troll.
.

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## axisofevil

turbofan7a said:


> Very hilarious, the chinese solar panels are used in the slums, which are usually smuggled, even for that chinese crap it is charged more, the german and the US ones are always the best. The chinese crappy 100w solar panel only gives an output of 40 watts but the german and the US one give about 85 watts, now that is what is called quality.




Why waste your time? These guys think its their quality of solar panels lol not price point that is deeply depressed due to state subsidises and cheap labor to corner the market! They think saudis buying their drones is a big deal whereas the saudis cannot purchase elsewhere and also due to the geopolitical political significance! Selling to nigeria or algeria is significant lol but remember pakistan did not fly j-17 to fly against tejas in dubai. 

They forgot our funding and quality of education is sorely lacking but it will be recitifed eventually....so lets just keep workimg hard..... the risks of AI is quite high these dummies think they are ao brilliant yet lack the humbleness to admit their strengths and weaknesses.... anyway who cares ... china always wanted to make an enemy out of us.... nothing new .... they simply never rhought we would dump our non alignment strategy and side with other countries...be determined, be stronger, word harder, sleep less,etc


Let democracy run but don't let it run amock! Change article 35 A.... incorporate ipads or heap tablets bring up esudational standards .... time for india to invest in itself and be BOLD..


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## sinait

axisofevil said:


> Why waste your time? These guys think its their quality of solar panels lol not price point that is deeply depressed due to state subsidises and cheap labor to corner the market! They think saudis buying their drones is a big deal whereas the saudis cannot purchase elsewhere and also due to the geopolitical political significance! They forgot our funding and quality of education is sorely lacking but it will be recitifed eventually....so lets just keep workimg hard..... the risks of AI is quite high these dummies think they are ao brilliant yet lack the humbleness to admit their strengths and weaknesses.... anyway who cares ... china always wanted to make an enemy out of us.... nothing new .... they simply never rhought we would dump our non alignment strategy and side with other countries...be determined, be stronger, word harder, sleep less,etc
> 
> Let democracy run but don't let it run amock! Change article 35 A.... incorporate ipads or heap tablets bring up esudational standards .... time for india to invest in itself and be BOLD..


We are in agreement here, whats the argument?
Apart from making quality products, China also produce products that Slumdogs can afford.
Indians should be grateful that China is producing goods that poor Indians can finally afford.
Good example is how Chinese solar panels and smart phones are flooding the Indian market.
Many Indians will be denied of many household and industrial goods if not for the Chinese.

A lousy AT286 PC cost me SG$4000 in 1984 in Singapore.
Chinese production has helped Indians to own more powerful PCs and smartphones that cost only a fraction of that.
Learn to be grateful which is sorely lacking in Indians.
.

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## axisofevil

sinait said:


> We are in agreement here, whats the argument?
> Apart from making quality products, China also produce products that Slumdogs can afford.
> Indians should be grateful that China is producing goods that poor Indians can finally afford.
> Good example is how Chinese solar panels and smart phones are flooding the Indian market.
> Many Indians will be denied of many household and industrial goods if not for the Chinese.
> 
> Before the Chinese came, a lousy AT286 PC cost me SG$4000 in 1984 in Singapore.
> Chinese production has helped Indians to own more powerful PCs and smartphones that cost only a fraction of that.
> Learn to be grateful which is sorely lacking in Indians.
> .




Your prices are artifically low simply to destory any domestic competition wherever it may may be then it will rise ince it strangles and hokds the market ... no agreeement there your oroduxts are cheaper no quality lets agree on that point. Ill keep it simple ...


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## kankan326

axisofevil said:


> Your prices are artifically low simply to destory any domestic competition wherever it may may be then it will rise ince it strangles and hokds the market ... no agreeement there your oroduxts are cheaper no quality lets agree on that point. Ill keep it simple ...


Don't apply your sneaky way of thinking to other. Dumping can not last long. Price has been our advantage since forever.

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## sinait

axisofevil said:


> Your prices are artifically low simply to destory any domestic competition wherever it may may be then it will rise ince it strangles and hokds the market ... no agreeement there your oroduxts are cheaper no quality lets agree on that point. Ill keep it simple ...


I am in manufacturing.
It is not easy to make a product that is cheap and workable as well.
High skill and intelligence is required to come out with innovative ways to make a product cheap and workable.
Or else India with its huge population and very low labor cost would have done it long ago.
It is possible to artificially depress prices for short periods to corner markets, but not 30+ years.

You are very dishonest.
China make products over a range of quality and prices, its your choice to buy the lowest cost of the lowest quality.
The remarkable thing is the Chinese are able to make even the lowest cost products workable, albeit not the best.
I am not a mechanic, so I buy cheap spanner sets to keep in case of emergency use which I would not do so if I had to buy German made ones that cost 20x more.
China also produce quality products that are still low cost but only a very small segment of Indians can afford them and obviously don't include you.
.

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## axisofevil

kankan326 said:


> Don't apply your sneaky way of thinking to other. Dumping can not last long. Price has been our advantage since forever.





Sneaky?? Lol ✋ your BS. Ask anybody but currency manipulation, slave labor and states subsidies to destroy domestic competition you bot



sinait said:


> I am in manufacturing.
> It is not easy to make a product that is cheap and workable as well.
> High skill and intelligence is required to come out with innovative ways to make a product cheap and workable.
> Or else India with its huge population and very low labor cost would have done it long ago.
> It is possible to artificially depress prices for short periods to corner markets, but not 30+ years.
> 
> You are very dishonest.
> China make products over a range of quality and prices, its your choice to buy the lowest cost of the lowest quality.
> The remarkable thing is the Chinese are able to make even the lowest cost products workable, albeit not the best.
> I am not a mechanic, so I buy cheap spanner sets to keep in case of emergency use which I would not do so if I had to buy German made ones that cost 20x more.
> China also produce quality products that are still low cost but only a very small segment of Indians can afford them and obviously don't include you.
> .





Let me ask you a simple question so I can prevent another sore diatribe of excuses... how long do you think it takes to sink or force a local competitor out of business? 30 yrs lol?!?



Your business philosophy is very different ...it has nothing to do with supplying the poorest sections of society with tools and goods. Your philosophy has to do with building and supplying cheap products that dont last so the consumer has to come back and buy more and more. Whereas American philiosphy (well at least before it was outsourced and executives were reputable) was building things to last


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## kankan326

axisofevil said:


> Sneaky?? Lol ✋ your BS. Ask anybody but currency manipulation, slave labor and states subsidies to destroy domestic competition you bot


You are brainwashed by western propaganda. China labor cost is already very high. And the working environment is way much better than India factories'. If this is slave labor, I don't know how to define Indian workers. 

One thing you should know, labor cost is only small part of product cost.

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## axisofevil

kankan326 said:


> You are brainwashed by western propaganda. China labor cost is already very high. And the working environment is way much better than India factories'. If this is slave labor, I don't know how to define Indian workers.
> 
> One thing you should know, labor cost is only small part of product cost.



Your points are correct but it pertains to the present time not before! 


Your working environment is better now after inviting western companies to set up shop!


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## sinait

axisofevil said:


> Your business philosophy is very different ...it has nothing to do with supplying the poorest sections of society with tools and goods. Your philosophy has to do with building and supplying cheap products that dont last so the consumer has to come back and buy more and more. Whereas American philiosphy (well at least before it was outsourced and executives were reputable) was building things to last


They said the same thing to the Japanese.
When forced out of the low cost market, Americans have no choice but to compete in the higher end and make use of their better known brand names.
Get a life, instead of hiding forever in excuses.
.

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## onebyone

*AI to boost China’s growth, with manufacturing and agriculture to benefit, says report*

AI could give China much-needed productivity boost, as the number of working-age population continues to decline, says a report by Accenture


PUBLISHED : Monday, 07 August, 2017, 9:03pm
UPDATED : Monday, 07 August, 2017, 10:10pm

Artificial intelligence (AI) could add as much as 1.6 percentage points to China’s economic growth rate by 2035, with industries like manufacturing, agriculture and retail seeing the most value from the technology, according to a recent report.

As China’s economic growth slows, a report by consultancy firm Accenture suggests that the advent of AI could give the country a much-needed boost in productivity and growth, especially as the number of working-age population in the country continues to decline.

“AI capabilities have only just matured, such that they are able to interpret data at a speed and a cost that is reasonable and affordable for companies to take advantage of,” said Adam Burden, Accenture’s global lead for advanced technology & architecture.

Why Japan will profit the most from artificial intelligence

“The largest area of opportunity for AI in China’s growth is absolutely manufacturing...the instrumentation of manufacturing has really only just begun. The Internet of Things, taking data and telemetry off machines and manufacturing lines for greater productivity is really just beginning.”

The Internet of Things, taking data and telemetry off machines and manufacturing lines for greater productivity is really just beginning
ADAM BURDEN, ACCENTURE
Should AI become a new factor of production in China, with robots and intelligent machines performing manufacturing tasks, almost US$6.3 trillion can be added to China’s gross value added (GVA) in 2035 – a metric which measures contribution to the country’s economy. That would represent almost 19 per cent of China’s total GVA.

According to Accenture, AI will have the largest impact on industries such as manufacturing, retail and agriculture in China, as well as allowing labour-intensive sectors such as health care to become more productive over time by allowing workers to focus on more critical tasks, while AI handles the more mundane ones.

World dominance in three steps: China sets out road map to lead in artificial intelligence by 2030

In the manufacturing sector, the use of AI is expected to account for an additional US$2.7 trillion in GVA in the industry by 2035, a 31-per cent increase compared to if AI was not utilised.

“Too many people try to associate AI with human intelligence. But the problem is...there are things that humans can do that machines cannot, and there are things that machines can do that humans absolutely cannot,” Burden said.

Inside the AI revolution that’s reshaping Chinese society

“For example, a human being would have no hope of looking through tens of millions of pages of data [in seconds].

“AI can take the mundane and the ordinary out of our lives and improve the human condition in the long run.”

China is betting big on AI - and here’s why it’s going to pay off

While AI technology will cause disruptions in China’s workforce, such as displacing manufacturing workers from factories as businesses favour robots and machines, Burden emphasised that the point of artificial intelligence is not to replace humans.

“AI is here to serve us – it makes humans super,” Burden said. “People will be retrained for new employment, new roles...we will need people who are trained to manage or operate the [AI] systems.”
http://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation...th-manufacturing-and-agriculture-benefit-says

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## cirr

*Artificial intelligence embracement*

2017-08-08 09:56

Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*Fund managers utilize AI to meet customer demands, but experts predict it will not become the ultimate decision-maker*

An increasing number of fund management companies have started to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology and big data to offer customized services in China. Experts agree that the technology could soon become a trend as it can help fund managers grasp the latest market information and large amounts of user data. But AI may only be used as a supplementary tool in the domestic market and may not hold up as the ultimate decision-maker.

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is flourishing.

Initially, people became increasingly familiar with the application of such technology, particularly in the auto, retail and medical treatment sectors.

Now, it is gradually being applied within the sales of fund management products by more and more domestic fund management companies.

To meet potential market demands, Ant Fortune, an investing app of Alibaba Group Holding's financial affiliate Ant Financial, unveiled Caifuhao, or "Fortune Account," in June to allow third-party financial institutions to set up online stores within the app.

Currently, a total of 18 fund management companies have entered the platform, including Beijing-based China Asset Management, Shanghai-based Huaan Funds and Guangzhou-based E Fund Management Co.

So far, those fund management companies have seen their average daily trading volume increase 243 percent since June, according to an interview reply Ant Financial sent to the Global Times Thursday. The company, however, didn't provide the total trading volume.

*Rising trend*

Alibaba is not the only firm in China that is trying to introduce AI to the financial sector. Some domestic traditional financial institutions have also jumped on the bandwagon.

In December 2016, China Merchants Bank rolled out its robot advisor feature, Mojie app, which pre-selects a certain range of assets and automatically trades them.

So far, the app has accumulated more than 5 billion yuan ($743.7 million) worth of assets, becoming the largest robot advisor in China, according to media reports.

The application of AI technology in the financial sector is becoming a trend as the technology can help provide services focused more on customers' needs rather than on clients' assets, an Ant Financial spokesperson told the Global Times.

For example, Ant Financial can label customers with different features based on the types or the amount of funds they have bought. And these data can be accessed by fund managers to help them send promotion banners to targeted consumers. But the company stressed that they will protect customers' personal information.

One of the first fund managers to enter the Caifuhao platform, Beijing-based Tianhong Asset Management Co, of which Ant Financial holds 51 percent controlling stakes, said in a note posted on its website in July that the company regards AI technology as a strategic priority in providing consumers with tailored services.

Overseas fund managers have also weighed in. In February, New York-based Goldman Sachs Asset Management introduced an investment trust to Japan. The product uses AI to sort through large amounts of data and selects promising investment targets, according to media reports.

BlackRock, another New York-based fund company, announced in March that it would cut more than 40 jobs, replacing some of its human portfolio managers to instead rely on algorithms and models to pick stocks, according to a Fortune report in March.

*A promising future*

AI-based fund management sales could prove to be a promising market. Experts believe that the AI-driven systems have advantages in information filtering and data collection.

Through AI, fund management companies could "grasp the latest market information, huge amounts of user data as well as saving operational costs," Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs predicted in a report issued in December 2016 that machine learning and AI can create $34 billion to $43 billion worth of value annually by the end of 2025 via saving costs and bringing new profit-making opportunities.

Dong also noted that AI technology might be helpful in risk control and the evaluation of investment returns as well.

Consumers "only care whether the fund product can generate returns at a reasonable level," said a 36-year-old fund product buyer in Shanghai surnamed Liu.

"Sometimes, wealth management products recommended by salespeople from financial institutions are not really what I want," Liu told the Global Times on Sunday. "If AI technology could help us choose profitable wealth management products, why not take it?"

*Mature financial market needed*

"Given the mature investment environment in the West, large international fund management companies with rich investing experience could provide more tailored AI products than their Chinese counterparts could," said Dong.

He noted that the domestic financial market needs more improvement in terms of information disclosure and system optimization, otherwise domestic financial institutions cannot fully depend on AI to make decisions.

Qiu Yanying, an investment director at Beijing-based Pinjin Asset Management Co, also took a cautious attitude toward AI technology.

Personally, "I will not totally depend on the technology of AI to make decisions. I prefer to use it as a [supplementary] tool instead," Qiu told the Global Times on Thursday.

AI is capable of dealing with and calculating large amounts of data, which could provide historical data objectively and help investors make decisions, said Qiu.

In the short term, fund managers will not be replaced by AI technology in China because they still play important roles in making judgment on a company's operation and brand value, Qiu noted.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/08-08/268483.shtml

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## cirr

*China to host World robotics conference*

2017-08-09 08:30

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

Nearly 300 artificial intelligent (AI) specialists and representatives of over 150 robot enterprises will gather in Beijing from Aug. 23 to 27 for the World Robot Conference 2017, according to a press conference Tuesday.

Delegates from universities, research institutions and enterprises will discuss opportunities for the robotic industry, said Luo Junjie, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The event will feature a three-day forum, an exhibition and a set of contests.

The conference will be jointly hosted by Beijing municipal government, the MIIT and China Association for Science and Technology.

China has been the world's biggest producer of industrial robots for three years, accounting for 25 percent of global production.

"China's robotics are on fast track, but many enterprises are small and weak in R&D," Luo said. "It is a problem we need to tackle."

Since it was established in 2015, the World Robot Conference has become the biggest and the most international event in the industry.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/08-09/268630.shtml

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## qwerrty

JSCh said:


> *Chinese AI lab tops Stanford reading comprehension tasks*
> 
> 
> The joint laboratory of Harbin Institute of Technology and iFLYTEK Research now sits on top of Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) leaderboard, followed by *Microsoft Research Asia in second place* and IBM Research in tenth place. Other Chinese institutes are also on the board, including Eigen Technology and Zhejiang University and Tsinghua University.



microsoft research asia is based in beijing. you can say second place is also chinese

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## JSCh

* Beijing-based tech start-up has a big edge on facial recognition *
By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2017/8/10 21:34:33







Inside a cashier-less store in Beijing Photo:Chen Qingqing/GT





The first cashier-less store in Beijing Photo:Chen Qingqing/GT 





Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma Yun demonstrates facial recognition technology. Photo: Courtesy of Face++​
When staff members of Megvii Technology Inc punch in, they only have to pass through an automated gate and their name will appear on the screen above it.

"We can also use this self-developed facial recognition technology to welcome visitors. If the camera behind this gate doesn't recognize someone's facial information then no name will appear on the screen and the system will automatically notify us that a visitor has come to our office," Wei Wenyuan, an employee of the Beijing-based tech start-up that specializes in facial recognition technology, told the Global Times on August 3.

The start-up, also known as Face++, was founded in 2011 by three graduates of Tsinghua University . Six years on, it has become one of the world's smartest companies, according to MIT Technology Review.

In total, seven tech companies in the Chinese mainland were listed on the MIT ranking in 2017 including - Chinese tech giants Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holding.

At the Face++ headquarters in Zhongguancun, a hub for entrepreneurs in western Beijing's Haidian district, a slogan that reads "Artificial Intelligence (AI), for a better future," hangs on the wall.

"Most of our employees are geeks, some kids are such geniuses that they can even skip university," Wei noted.

From detecting five facial key points years ago to 106 key points today, Face++ provides facial recognition solutions for different software developers, such as the Chinese beauty and photo editing app Meitu, which maps users' facial features. By November 2016, it had applied for a total of 302 patents, five of which are in the US.

Both China and the US consider AI as part of their national strategies, and both countries have come up with government-backed guidelines to push forward the development of the industry. However, China still lags far behind the US in terms of basic research in algorithms and theories, Tencent said in a report on August 2.

As of June 2017, there were a total of 2,542 AI companies worldwide, with American firms accounting for 42 percent and Chinese firms making up 23 percent, the report showed.

Total venture capital investment in the AI sector worldwide has amounted to 191.4 billion yuan ($28.55 billion) since 1999, according to the report, with investment in China accounting for 33.18 percent of that figure, or 63.5 billion yuan.

In China, AI is no longer just a remote concept. For example, image analysis has been widely applied in security cameras, and user-profiling technology has been adopted by Internet companies to customize online advertisements, according to a report on AI released by financial services provider China International Capital Corp in June.

Application-driven

One business enjoying the benefits of this technology is a convenience store established at the end of July in a shopping mall in western Beijing.

"With the help of Face++, we installed a facial recognition system for this cashier-less store here, so customers can scan the QR code at the entrance and their information will be directly uploaded into our system," said Tang Yan, a manager at the store.

After entering the store, customers pick up various items such as snacks and drinks, then put them on a checkout table where a sensor identifies them. "To prevent shoplifting, a camera at the exit can recognize the facial information of the customers and detect if they have paid for the items they have selected," he said.

The 30-square-meter shop has recorded a sales volume of around 2,000 yuan ($298) per day since it was unveiled, and is also the first cashier-less store where Face++ has implemented its facial recognition technology in Beijing.

However, with US tech giants such as Amazon already having launched cashier-free convenience stores in December 2016, Chinese companies have been playing catch-up with their foreign counterparts in recent years.

Some of the advanced technologies that were applied in labs in Western countries have been brought back by young entrepreneurs such as Yin Qi, one of the three founders of Face++, who accumulated his image processing experiences in Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) years ago, Xie Yinan, vice president of Face++, told the Global Times.

"The internship at MSRA helped him turn from focusing on basic theory study to exploring application scenarios," he said.

In order to evaluate whether the facial recognition technologies are solid, they have to be applied in real life, Xie noted. Skynet, facial recognition software developed by Face++ and used as an advanced security tool, can identify targeted figures instantly. It has helped police in 25 Chinese provinces seize over 500 escaped criminals, he said.

The company's other customers include Alipay, the financial unit of Alibaba Group Holding. With the authentication technology of Face++, users on Alipay can reset passwords by using facial recognition.

Getting the edge

Face++ today offers computer vision technology in application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs), and over 5,000 customers and developers use its platform to build different apps. Its five core technologies in facial recognition - face detection, face landmarks, face attributes, face comparing and face searching - were used in 213,000 apps in 2016. So far, there are 300,000 registered users on the platform of Face++, and 40 percent are from overseas.

In addition to this, body recognition is becoming more commonly used to detect criminals in crowded or complicated environments.

"Chinese tech companies have some advantages in the application of AI, and they have to process a large amount of data, which enables them to build different models for testing," Zhang Zhuo, an industry analyst at IDC, told the Global Times on Monday.

Chinese local governments are also urging further development of cloud services used in smart city and smart governance, which will give companies access to a very large database.

"One reason Google is in a leading position in image processing is that the US tech giant first collected millions pictures for their archives," he said, noting that the winner of the future is the one who owns data.

Face++, which has finalized a C-round of financing of $100 million so far, aims to apply its visual processing technologies in more domains while further exploring deep-learning technology.

"Establishing our video censors and visual technologies in some automated machines, which could enable them to make easy judgments to better serve people, is part of the Internet of Things initiative," Xie said.

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## axisofevil

sinait said:


> They said the same thing to the Japanese.
> When forced out of the low cost market, Americans have no choice but to compete in the higher end and make use of their better known brand names.
> Get a life, instead of hiding forever in excuses.
> .





Comparing Japanese products to Chinese products.....yeah plz get a life....your statement rivals a lot of your shortcomings haha


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## sinait

axisofevil said:


> Comparing Japanese products to Chinese products.....yeah plz get a life....your statement rivals a lot of your shortcomings haha


Fools will laugh at anything and themselves.
Not wanting the put down the Japanese but Japan don't have anything like the DJI drones.
What happened to the Japanese domination of TVs ?
What became of Sony smartphone ?
Anyway Japanese are East Asians as are the Chinese and the Koreans.
They are all good in their respective manufacturing niches. 
I am only laughing at the Supa Powa Indians.

India have many IITs and produce huge numbers of software engineers.
There is this Software Programming Competition by IBM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest
3 Chinese are among the top 10.
India is not even in the top 40.

This dismal showing by the Indians are repeated at all other programming competitions.
What happened to so called IT Software Supa Powa with 1.3 billion population.
.

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## Offshore

sinait said:


> Fools will laugh at anything and themselves.
> Not wanting the put down the Japanese but Japan don't have anything like the DJI drones.
> What happened to the Japanese domination of TVs ?
> What became of Sony smartphone ?
> Anyway Japanese are East Asians as are the Chinese and the Koreans.
> They are all good in their respective manufacturing niches.
> I am only laughing at the Supa Powa Indians.
> 
> India have many IITs and produce huge numbers of software engineers.
> There is this Software Programming Competition by IBM.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest
> 3 Chinese are among the top 10.
> India is not even in the top 40.
> 
> This dismal showing by the Indians are repeated at all other programming competitions.
> What happened to so called IT Software Supa Powa with 1.3 billion population.
> .



indian IT supa powa is just a myth, its self proclaimed or self marketing from their media.
If they any good with coding, they already at least neck to neck with US and China in A.I field.. but reality is, they are nowhere to be seen.
Not even in the game

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## axisofevil

sinait said:


> Fools will laugh at anything and themselves.
> Not wanting the put down the Japanese but Japan don't have anything like the DJI drones.
> What happened to the Japanese domination of TVs ?
> What became of Sony smartphone ?
> Anyway Japanese are East Asians as are the Chinese and the Koreans.
> They are all good in their respective manufacturing niches.
> I am only laughing at the Supa Powa Indians.
> 
> India have many IITs and produce huge numbers of software engineers.
> There is this Software Programming Competition by IBM.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest
> 3 Chinese are among the top 10.
> India is not even in the top 40.
> 
> This dismal showing by the Indians are repeated at all other programming competitions.
> What happened to so called IT Software Supa Powa with 1.3 billion population.
> .





Competitions based on what you fool? In India, who sends programmers to compete? In China, just like your olympic sports, you look for the best to compete....whereas there is no such system in India........its free will and the individual's own interest if they wish to pursue such competitions like in the US....stop patting your back...




So if you are all East Asian...then why so mad still after Japan beat your *** in WW2? Grow a pair...


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## Götterdämmerung

axisofevil said:


> So if you are all East Asian...then why so mad still after Japan beat your *** in WW2? Grow a pair...



Idiot, we are all Europeans and yet we fought incessant wars for centuries and that didn't prevent us to share a common cultural identity and common values.

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## AndrewJin

Götterdämmerung said:


> Idiot, we are all Europeans and yet we fought incessant wars for centuries and that didn't prevent us to share a common cultural identity and common values.


What can you expect from a country of average 82? They even chickened out from PISA2016 preventing from falling in the bottom top 2 again.

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## oprih

No indian in the top 10? Wow india is completely useless, good at nothing except worshipping cows.


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## axisofevil

Götterdämmerung said:


> Idiot, we are all Europeans and yet we fought incessant wars for centuries and that didn't prevent us to share a common cultural identity and common values.






Are you kidding me idiot......you finally reached peace this century! What the f-k happened to the 30 centuries? You couldn't find nothing in common...gtfoh


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## Götterdämmerung

axisofevil said:


> Are you kidding me idiot......you finally reached peace this century! What the f-k happened to the 30 centuries? You couldn't find nothing in common...gtfoh



What a bloody idiot, where did I say that we didn't have war for centuries? Compared to our warring experiences, East Asia has been a big lumbaya singing peaceniks band. Even during the warring centuries, it didn't prevent us to exchange culturally. Just a look at our architecture, music, literature, art etc and common identity is found everywhere. But for a functional and uneducated illiterate such as many of your compatriots, what do you know about our history when you are clueless about the history of your immediate neighbour. Seldom have a met a more ignorant bunch of people than Indians.

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## axisofevil

Götterdämmerung said:


> What a bloody idiot, where did I say that we didn't have war for centuries? Compared to our warring experiences, East Asia has been a big lumbaya singing peaceniks band. Even during the warring centuries, it didn't prevent us to exchange culturally. Just a look at our architecture, music, literature, art etc and common identity is found everywhere. But for a functional and uneducated illiterate such as many of your compatriots, what do you know about our history when you are clueless about the history of your immediate neighbour. Seldom have a met a more ignorant bunch of people than Indians.





BS.......you trying to gloss over differences....to portray white unity...again GTFOH...add something to the thread or stfu and don't bother replying back..


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## JSCh

*Meet the Company That’s Using Face Recognition to Reshape China’s Tech Scene*
*In China, you can use your face to get into your office, get on a train, or get a loan.*

by Yiting Sun
August 11, 2017
In China, face recognition is transforming many aspects of daily life. Employees at e-commerce giant Alibaba in Shenzhen can show their faces to enter their office building instead of swiping ID cards. A train station in western Beijing matches passengers’ tickets to their government-issued IDs by scanning their faces. If their face matches their ID card photo, the system deems their tickets valid and the station gate will open. The subway system in Hangzhou, a city about 125 miles southwest of Shanghai, employs surveillance cameras capable of recognizing faces to spot suspected criminals.

The technology powering many of these applications? Face++, the world’s largest face-recognition technology platform, currently used by more than 300,000 developers in 150 countries to identify faces, as well as images, text, and various kinds of government-issued IDs (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2017: Paying with Your Face”).

Other Chinese companies, such as Baidu and the startup SenseTime, also provide face-recognition technology to developers, but Face++’s popularity has been a boon for Megvii, the Beijing-based company that created and runs the platform. Founded in 2011 by three Tsinghua University graduates, Megvii is now valued at roughly a billion dollars and boasts approximately 530 employees, up from about 30 employees in 2014.

Megvii believes that as the Internet takes over more and more commercial and social functions, face recognition will become part of the Web’s infrastructure as a means of identification, though only for activities that require real identities. Other tech companies seem to be betting on this scenario, too; Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones support face recognition (for unlocking the devices), and Apple is rumored to be equipping its upcoming iPhone 8 with the technology.

Face ID, Megvii’s online identity authentication platform, is one way Face++ is being integrated into the Internet’s infrastructure. (Face ID’s face-comparison API interface utilizes Face++ technology.) Nearly 90 percent of China’s roughly 200 top Internet companies use Face ID, according to Yin. It’s particularly popular with online financial services since they need to authenticate user identities remotely. (To avoid people tricking them with a photograph, these apps usually perform a “liveness test” that requires users to speak or move their heads.)

Xiaohua, which operates a virtual bank that grants loans and offers payments by installments through a mobile app called Xiaohua Qianbao (“Little Flower Wallet”), is a typical Face ID customer. Users scan their face using the app to get approved for loans and to ensure that nobody can authorize actions in the app if their phone is lost or stolen. “Xiaohua Qianbao is a purely online borrowing and lending product, so our first need is fraud prevention,” says Lingpeng Huang, a cofounder of Xiaohua. “Face recognition has eliminated the risk of fake identities.”

Megvii trains the algorithms that power Face++ and Face ID by feeding large data sets into a deep-learning engine called Brain++. (Deep learning involves feeding examples into a large, many-layered neural network, and tweaking its parameters until it accurately recognizes the desired features, such as a particular person’s face.)

To amass huge amounts of training data, Megvii let most developers use Face++ for free during the platform’s first two years of availability in 2012 and 2013. Megvii also purchases photos from data-collection companies to aid its training.

The company built Brain++ in 2015 and says having a self-developed deep-learning engine helps it train its algorithms more efficiently. “[It] translates into more competitiveness for our products,” says Jian Sun, Megvii’s chief scientist.

Another advantage of having its own deep-learning platform: Megvii can customize its face-recognition technology for different customers easily. That matters because a police department, for example, will value accuracy above everything else, but a company looking to use face recognition in a mobile app needs to ensure that the software is small enough to fit inside the app—without sacrificing too much accuracy.

When CEO Qi Yin launched Megvii, he wanted to gain traction in a few key areas. “An AI company has to be No. 1 in one or two core industries first [to succeed],” he says. 

Now that Face++ is entrenched in banking and finance, Megvii’s cofounders have plans to integrate its face recognition and other computer-vision technologies into more industries, such as retail and self-driving cars. For that to happen, the company needs to show those industries how they will benefit, such as how much fraud its technology can reduce every year, says Jiansheng Chen, an associate professor at Tsinghua University who studies computer vision.


Meet the Company That’s Using Face Recognition to Reshape China’s Tech Scene - MIT Technology Review

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## JSCh

*Internet majors launch ‘AI Challenger’ platform to advance research with huge China data pool*
The platform wants to empower AI researchers and developers to advance their research without constraints of data resources, say its backers


PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 August, 2017, 5:52pm
UPDATED : Monday, 14 August, 2017, 5:52pm
Meng Jing
Three Chinese internet majors have set up what is claimed to be the one of the largest open databases for artificial intelligence (AI) in the world, aimed at helping global talent advance AI research by harnessing the huge data pool generated by China’s 750 million internet users.

Sinovation Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by veteran tech investor Lee Kai-fu, Chinese online search major Sogou and mobile internet firm ByteDance jointly launched on Monday, the “AI Challenger”, a platform for open datasets and programming competitions for AI talent around the world.

The three companies said they would together invest tens of millions of yuan in the coming three years to make the AI Challenger one of the world’s largest platforms that will empower AI researchers and developers globally to advance their research without the constraints of data resources.

“We have already entered the era of AI. If AI is the engine that powers the development of our society, data is what fuels the movement of the engine,” said Lee Kai-fu, whose Sinovation Ventures is betting hugely that AI will disrupt a wide range of traditional industries with applications like autonomous driving to machine translation.

The participants of 2017 AI Challenger competition will be given access to three databases in September, all being the largest in the world of what’s publicly available in their respective categories, including datasets for English to Chinese machine translation and human skeleton key points.

The research results of such datasets can be applied to several sectors, from English-Chinese machine translation to autonomous driving. Winners of the competition will be awarded with a total of 2 million yuan in cash rewards and career opportunities at the three firms.

The three companies said at the launch ceremony in Beijing that the AI Challenger platform was expected to expand over time, by data size and category, such as medical data.

The platform is launched in the wake of the release of China’s national AI development plan in late July. In the three-step roadmap, China has stated its goal to become a global leader in AI by 2030.

“Talent and data are the two pillars for AI development,” said Zhang Hongjiang, head of Technical Strategy Research Center with ByteDance, whose AI-powered news product _Toutiao_ recommends articles and videos based on the different tastes of individual users.

“By providing data, we hope we can attract more talent in developing and designing AI algorithmic models,” he said.


Internet majors launch ‘AI Challenger’ platform to advance research with huge China data pool | South China Morning Post

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## Menthol

I just have a feeling that China will became a futuristic country like those in the near-future sci-fi fantasy... 

The so called first world of USA and Europe will look plain compare with China. Even the so called futuristic Japan, will look like a small village compared with their megapolitan neighbor.

I just have a feeling that Muslim countries will be friended, inspired and learned a lot from China, that lead into their own enlightenment era in around 2050-2080, ended the chaotic and dark era of today.

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## onebyone

Baidu managed to pull a marquee name from that city. The firm recruited Qi Lu, one of Microsoft’s top executives, to return to China to lead the search giant’s push into AI. He touted the technology’s potential for enhancing China’s *"national strength" and cited a figure that nearly half of the bountiful academic research on the subject globally has ethnically Chinese authors, using the Mandarin term "huaren" 华人-- a term for ethnic Chinese that echoes government rhetoric.*
*






https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rld-domination-in-ai-isn-t-so-crazy-after-all

*


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## JSCh

*AI beats doctors in diagnosing certain diseases*
By Xinhua
Sunday, August 20, 2017, 18:52

CHANGSHA - After listening to the patient's symptoms, "he" provides checklists for the patient and medical advice based on the results. Then the therapy will be verified by human doctors.

A China-made AI (Artificial Intelligence)-based software made its debut Saturday at a seminar held in Hengyang City, central China's Hunan province.

The software consists of diagnostic models involving more than 30 diseases, such as Tuberculosis and depression, which are likely to be misdiagnosed.

Based on trial tests in several hospitals, the AI "doctor's" successful diagnosis rate is 20 percent higher than human doctors.

The self-learning AI "doctor" can constantly learn medical knowledge, experience and diagnosis process. It has a big database consisting of tens of millions of clinical cases.

"It is designed to be a general practitioner. Every one or two weeks, it can learn diagnosing a new disease," said Peng Shaoliang, deputy director with National Supercomputing Center in Changsha.

"The AI doctor will assist human doctors rather than replace them. For China's medical institutions especially those in poor areas, AI would be a good assistant," said Kang Xixiong, director with clinical laboratory diagnostics department, Capital Medical University.

The software was developed by a group of Chinese institutes, universities and enterprises. 

In recent years, many companies in the world such as Google, Microsoft and Alibaba also started to tap into the AI-powered medical care market.

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## qwerrty

*An Early Look at Baidu’s Custom AI and Analytics Processor*
August 22, 2017 Nicole Hemsoth





In the U.S. it is easy to focus on our native hyperscale companies (Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.) and how they design and deploy infrastructure at scale.

But as our regular readers understand well, the equivalent to Google in China, Baidu, has been at the bleeding edge with chips, systems, and software to feed its own cloud-delivered and research operations.

We’ve written much over the last few years about the company’s emphasis on streamlining deep learning processing, most notably with GPUs, but Baidu has a new processor up its sleeve called the XPU. For now, the device has just been demonstrated in FPGA, but if it continues to prove useful for AI, analytics, cloud, and autonomous driving the search giant could push it into a full-bore ASIC.

The architecture they designed is aimed at this diversity with an emphasis on compute-intensive, rule-based workloads while maximizing efficiency, performance and flexibility, says Baidu researcher, Jian Ouyang. He unveiled the XPU today at the Hot Chips conference along with co-presenters from FPGA maker, Xilinx.

The XPU aims to strike a balance between performance/efficiency and an ability to tackle diverse workloads. FPGA accelerators alone are good for tackling specific workloads, but diversity is growing with big and smaller kernels meshing (consider a large convolution kernel and smaller ones like activations or element-wise operations, for instance).

“The FPGA is efficient and can be aimed at specific workloads but lacks programmability,” Ouyang explains. “Traditional CPUs are good for general workloads, especially those that are rule-based and they are very flexible. GPUs aim at massive parallelism and have high performance. The XPU is aimed at diverse workloads that are compute-intensive and rule-based with high efficiency and performance with the flexibility of a CPU,” Ouyang says. The part that is still lagging, as is always the case when FPGAs are involved, is the programmability aspect. As of now there is no compiler, but he says the team is working to develop one.




Baidu spells out the case for FPGAs for AI and analytics workloads.

“To support matrix, convolutional, and other big and small kernels we need a massive math array with high bandwidth, low latency memory and with high bandwidth I/O,” Ouyang explains. “The XPU’s DSP units in the FPGA provide parallelism, the off-chip DDR4 and HBM interface push on the data movement side and the on-chip SRAM provide the memory characteristics required.”








The XPU has 256 cores clustered with one shared memory for data synchronization. Note that this is not so different from a MIPS like architecture. The cores are small with no cache or OS and can be interfaced with a domain specific ISA. The efficiency, which is on par with a CPU, according to Ouyang, comes from a custom circuit for specific workloads. The flexibility comes from the ISA cores that are optimized for rule-base workloads. Somehow the all 256 cores are running at 600MHz, he says. Paper should be forthcoming with more details in near future.

“The XPU has similar efficiency as an X86 core for compute-intensive and regular memory access workloads when tested on microbenchmarks. The scalability for XPU for workloads with data synchronization should be improved further, and the scalability of XPU for workloads without data synchronization is linear with the core number,” Ouyang adds.

Here’s the sticking point. As mentioned, there is still no compiler for this device. It is currently implemented on the FPGA and customized logic provides informative commands. The tiny cores are similar to CPUs in that one writes assembler code for these and all execution is controlled by the host. The pipeline consists of partitioning the workload, writing the XPU code and calling the dedicated logic functions so they can compile and run in Linux.

“We’ve been using FPGAs for many years already at Baidu,” Ouyang says. “We have thousands of them in our datacenters or cloud and autonomous driving and we know well their advantages and disadvantages and how to improve them. We are focused on diverse workloads with large kernels with the XPU.”

If some of what you’ve seen above looks familiar, remember how last year we profiled a SQL accelerator from the company based on Baidu’s SDA for deep learning. The SA architecture, which is data flow based is at the core of the memory bandwidth and latency advantages Ouyang described with the XPU.

He did present a few benchmarks this year but they were very roughly delivered (not much detail) and we feel more comfortable getting the data first and looking at those in more depth before sharing. Again, remember this is just a first look. We were only able to capture the details presented and questions were answered in what amounts to a short sentence. We’ll share the full paper when it emerges.

https://www.nextplatform.com/2017/08/22/first-look-baidus-custom-ai-analytics-processor/

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## cirr

*Effort to marry robotics, AI will ramp up to aid manufacturing*

2017-08-24 08:01

China Daily _Editor: Gu Mengxi_





A sketch-drawing robot is demonstrated at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

China will ramp up efforts to integrate artificial intelligence technologies into robots as the country aims to gain a lead in the race toward a smarter, automated society and accelerate the use of industrial and service robots.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said on Wednesday that as robotics becomes increasingly intertwined with AI, big data and other technologies, the sector will play a significant role in driving economic growth in China.

"In the future, robots will no longer just be a tool to boost productivity but an advanced, smart assistant to humans, ushering in a new era of intelligent transformation," Liu said at the opening ceremony of the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

Her remarks came after China unveiled in July a national development plan to build a 1 trillion yuan ($147.9 billion) AI core industry by 2030, which is supposed to stimulate as much as 10 trillion yuan of related businesses. The application of AI technologies in robotics is an integral part of that ambitious goal.





Bionic jellyfish is demonstrated at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said the global robotics industry faces a common bottleneck, with sophisticated machines still falling far behind people in vision, mobility, decision-making and other areas.

"China is on par with global leading powers in terms of voice, image and semantics recognition. Developing AI-enabled robots is a core path (for us) to leap from a follower to a leader in the sector," Xin said at the conference.

China has been the world's largest market for robot applications since 2013. The trend has been further fueled by a corporate push to upgrade labor-intensive manufacturing plants and comes amid surging demand from the healthcare, education and entertainment sectors.

Domestic robot makers are gaining steady progress despite mounting competition from foreign rivals such as ABB Group of Switzerland. In the first half of this year, China produced 59,000 units of industrial robots, up 52 percent from last year, official data shows.

Wu Jinting, chairman of robot maker Shanghai Hefu Holding Group Co Ltd, said AI is of utmost importance to service robots, giving "wings" to the company's products.





A gobang robot is demonstrated at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing on Wednesday. WANG ZHUANGFEI / CHINA DAILY

"We will unveil a multifunctional service robot on Saturday. It can be tailor-made to meet different needs, either a considerate family companion, recognizing your face expressions and helping children study, or a useful assistant for office work," Wu said. "Without AI, it would have been impossible to make this robot."

The annual sales of China's robotics industry should hit $6.28 billion this year, after exceeding $5 billion for the first time in 2016, according to a forecast by the International Federation of Robotics.

Zvi Shiller, chairman of Israeli Robotics Association, said the robotics industry is, by nature, a result of multidisciplinary research and application, with AI a key part of that.

Zhu Lingqing contributed to this story.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/08-24/270546.shtml

*Beijing aims high in robotics*

2017-08-23 14:52

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_





A staff member demonstrates a robot during the media preview of 2017 World Robot Conference at Beijing Yichuang International Conference and Exhibition Center, in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 22, 2017. The conference will be held from Aug. 23 to Aug. 27, consisting of forum, exposition and robot competition. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Beijing plans to develop into a global center for robotics by 2025 and has issued an industry blueprint at the ongoing World Robot Conference.

The capital aims to receive 12 to 15 billion yuan (1.8 to 2.25 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue from the robotics industry by 2020 and 60 billion yuan by 2025, according to the plan.

The city hopes to have 10 leading robotics companies, 10 R&D headquarters and become a world-leading robotics base by 2020.

China has seen a boom in industrial robots in recent years, recording average annual sales growth of 35 percent. In 2016, China manufactured 72,000 industrial robots, around a quarter of global output.

Beijing is home to around 240 companies specialized in artificial intelligence, with over 7,800 related patents. Beijing Economic Technological Development Area, which hosted the conference, has about 100 robotics companies.

The city's robotics industry is speeding up its development and prioritizing the integrated application of industrial robots, according to Zhang Boxu, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/08-23/270484.shtml

*China on rapid progress of robotization: study*

2017-08-24 08:26

Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





Contestants debug robots during the World Robot Conference 2017 in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 23, 2017. The five-day robot conference kicked off Wednesday with the theme "Win-Win Collaborative Innovation Toward the Building of an Intelligent Society". (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

China bought 90,000 robots in 2016, accounting for almost a third of the global total, and the robot revolution may raise China's economic competitiveness, according to a report released this week by Bloomberg Intelligence.

"China is installing more robots than any other nation, and that may affect every other nation," said the report.

Installations of industrial robots in China are growing fast, making up about a third of the global total in 2016, and the number will nearly double to 160,000 in 2019, according to an estimation by International Federation of Robotics.

Due to its massive working population, China still lags behind regarding robot density. There are about 50 robots for every 10,000 workers in China, compared to the global average of about 75.

Automation is a sword cutting both ways. Robots may drive up productivity and economic competitiveness, but may also exacerbate income inequality.

"Increasing use of robots should be bad news for medium-skilled workers, especially those in sectors where routine work means scope for automation," the report quoted BI economists Tom Orlik and Fielding Chen as saying. "Yet wage growth in China remains rapid."

Wages of domestic manufacturing workers with a high-school education rose by 53 percent from 2010 to 2014, according to China Household Finance Survey data cited by BI.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/08-24/270502.shtml

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## F-22Raptor

China aims to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. If it succeeds, it will be in no small part thanks to the expertise developed by US firms operating in China.

Of China’s top 10 employers in AI, half are American, according to a report (link in Chinese) by LinkedIn’s China team. The researchers counted positions in AI fields including deep learning, voice recognition, and natural-language processing.

Among the top US firms in China hiring AI talent are IBM, Intel, and Microsoft (the parent of LinkedIn). Many Chinese AI professionals have honed their skills at the local branches of such companies. Among China’s top employers in the field are smartphone maker Huawei, search firm Baidu, and e-commerce giant Alibaba.

In March, Baidu promoted Qi Lu, an AI expert who worked at Microsoft, to become its head of AI. Qi replaced Andrew Ng, a Silicon Valley veteran. As Baidu develops its offerings in facial recognition and driverless cars, it knows that US firms nurtured much of its most important AI expertise.

According to the report, China has about 50,000 AI positions. That lags far behind the US, which has about 800,000 more.

Top 10 countries ranked by AI positions filled, 1Q 2017





https://qz.com/1062035/half-of-the-top-10-employers-of-ai-talent-in-china-are-american/

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## shadows888

F-22Raptor said:


> China aims to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. If it succeeds, it will be in no small part thanks to the expertise developed by US firms operating in China.
> 
> Of China’s top 10 employers in AI, half are American, according to a report (link in Chinese) by LinkedIn’s China team. The researchers counted positions in AI fields including deep learning, voice recognition, and natural-language processing.
> 
> Among the top US firms in China hiring AI talent are IBM, Intel, and Microsoft (the parent of LinkedIn). Many Chinese AI professionals have honed their skills at the local branches of such companies. Among China’s top employers in the field are smartphone maker Huawei, search firm Baidu, and e-commerce giant Alibaba.
> 
> In March, Baidu promoted Qi Lu, an AI expert who worked at Microsoft, to become its head of AI. Qi replaced Andrew Ng, a Silicon Valley veteran. As Baidu develops its offerings in facial recognition and driverless cars, it knows that US firms nurtured much of its most important AI expertise.
> 
> According to the report, China has about 50,000 AI positions. That lags far behind the US, which has about 800,000 more.
> 
> Top 10 countries ranked by AI positions filled, 1Q 2017
> View attachment 420791
> 
> 
> https://qz.com/1062035/half-of-the-top-10-employers-of-ai-talent-in-china-are-american/



They are Chinese Americans, many of them are fifth columns you guys just don't know yet lmao.

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## lcloo

A reversed brain drain. Green card holders are going back to China.

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## ChineseTiger1986

This article and its ranking sound very fishy, and the Chinese companies being flourished with AI is not news anymore, and I do smell the sour grape and sense of insecurity in this article which is specifically aimed to bash China.

Heck, even the J-20 and many other Chinese UAVs contain the AI.

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## Kapwercs

Indians in 2nd position with 150000 positions filled.
Never would have guessed with the scores of high tech threads opened by the Chinese here.


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## qwerrty

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> This article and its ranking sound very fishy, and the Chinese companies being flourished with AI is not news anymore, and I do smell the sour grape and sense of insecurity in this article which is specifically aimed to bash China.



calm down. it's based on what people claiming to be expert of in their resume on linkedIn. we all know they never exaggerate, especially those from india. lol. i know many guys called themselves data scientist after they did some exam crams and got certified after they passed the multiple choice tests. lol.. no master degree in maths or related whatsoever lol


read this 
*Less than 5% of Indian engineering students are fit for techie jobs, study finds*
Sumit Chakraberty
10:43 PM at Apr 20, 201

India is seen abroad as a place that produces high-caliber tech talent, and there’s good reason for that. Silicon Valley is teeming with Indian entrepreneurs, and some of the world’s biggest tech companies have Indian migrants at the helm. But it hides a dark side: most of the engineers being churned out by the thousands of colleges in India are not even employable. The ones who come to the limelight are mostly the cream from premier colleges like the IITs.

Just how stark is the contrast between the Sundar Pichais and Satya Nadellas with the bulk of engineers graduating every year in India has been brought out in a new study by talent assessment firm Aspiring Minds. It says over 36,000 engineering students from IT-related departments of more than 500 colleges took an automated test using machine learning.

The study says that only 4.77 percent of those who took the test were assessed to be employable in software development jobs. Two-thirds of the tested students could not even write code that compiles.

more..
https://www.techinasia.com/5-indian-engineering-students-fit-techie-jobs-study-finds

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## Menthol

When I saw the graphic saying that India has more experts in AI compare with China, I just ignored the entire article.

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## ChineseTiger1986

qwerrty said:


> calm down. it's based on what people claiming to be expert of in their resume on linkedIn. we all know they never exaggerate, especially those from india. lol. i know many guys called themselves data scientist after they did some exam crams and got certified after they passed the multiple choice tests. lol.. no master degree in maths or related whatsoever lol
> 
> 
> read this
> *Less than 5% of Indian engineering students are fit for techie jobs, study finds*
> Sumit Chakraberty
> 10:43 PM at Apr 20, 201
> 
> India is seen abroad as a place that produces high-caliber tech talent, and there’s good reason for that. Silicon Valley is teeming with Indian entrepreneurs, and some of the world’s biggest tech companies have Indian migrants at the helm. But it hides a dark side: most of the engineers being churned out by the thousands of colleges in India are not even employable. The ones who come to the limelight are mostly the cream from premier colleges like the IITs.
> 
> Just how stark is the contrast between the Sundar Pichais and Satya Nadellas with the bulk of engineers graduating every year in India has been brought out in a new study by talent assessment firm Aspiring Minds. It says over 36,000 engineering students from IT-related departments of more than 500 colleges took an automated test using machine learning.
> 
> The study says that only 4.77 percent of those who took the test were assessed to be employable in software development jobs. Two-thirds of the tested students could not even write code that compiles.
> 
> more..
> https://www.techinasia.com/5-indian-engineering-students-fit-techie-jobs-study-finds



Most Chinese don't use LinkedIn, but use Weibo instead.


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## Galactic Penguin SST

cirr said:


> *China to host World robotics conference*
> 
> 2017-08-09 08:30


*First-person view drone race at World Robot Conference 2017*








Spoiler



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsamGQ7Xeaw


▲ First-person view drone race at World Robot Conference 2017 
Published on Aug 26, 2017
First-person view (FPV) drone racing at World Robot Conference 2017 in Beijing! With the top speed of 100 km/h, the drones have to evade all the obstacles in a blink of an eye.

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## Keel

Baloney report!

where is s korea, japan, singapore, sweden, finland, switzerland, holland, russia, israel ...?

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## Tom99

Keel said:


> Baloney report!
> 
> where is s korea, japan, singapore, sweden, finland, switzerland, holland, russia, israel ...?



This is QZ.com, a pro India narrative site. 

India is the best of bestest! yay!

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## Post Colonnial

I am a bit surprised too at the level of difference between the US and India and China. The common thread that explains this IMO is that explosion in AI and ML start-ups in the US and India; whereas in China perhaps they need state controlled companies and large MNCs such as IBM et al to open up AI shops. 

But if at all this is a problem, it is probably a short term one. China is famous for just 'adopting' others' work without telling them


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## Offshore

Post Colonnial said:


> I am a bit surprised too at the level of difference between the US and India and China. The common thread that explains this IMO is that explosion in AI and ML start-ups in the US and India; whereas in China perhaps they need state controlled companies and large MNCs such as IBM et al to open up AI shops.
> 
> But if at all this is a problem, it is probably a short term one. China is famous for just 'adopting' others' work without telling them



 as you usual, indian and their delusion

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## Post Colonnial

Offshore said:


> as you usual, indian and their delusion



what delusion? these are hard numbers from LinkedIN analytics.


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## Offshore

Post Colonnial said:


> what delusion? these are hard numbers from LinkedIN analytics.



anyone can brag , the question is.. are they capable enough? 
indian being indian.. lol

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## Post Colonnial

Offshore said:


> anyone can brag , the question is.. are they capable enough?
> indian being indian.. lol



Indian being Indian is quite normal and we should be proud of that. Unlike Pakistanis posing as Chinese or Chinese posing as Americans etc. You won't understand


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## Kiss_of_the_Dragon

shadows888 said:


> They are Chinese Americans, many of them are fifth columns you guys just don't know yet lmao.



According them, Chinese American are Americans , I have been telling people so many time that nowadays , there is no such thing as American technology but Immigrant technology, US relied more and more Immigrant to do their scientific project and recruit graduated immigrants by offering them incentive package and better standard living and US expect all immigrant to be loyal and patriotic toward United States of America  but they just have a wet dream, in 1960 to 80 majority of Scientist and Engineers are "native white" Americans, they can claim "Made in USA" and these people are patriotic but no today.


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## Stranagor

AI-related and coding courses to be set up in China’s primay and secondary schools
(CNTV)

Updated:2017-08-28 14:07:43


CGTN photo

More AI-related and coding courses are expected to be set up in China’s primary and secondary schools, said the State Council on the recently issued document of the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan.

Considered as the key to productivity reform in the upcoming decades, AI technology’s rapid development is changing the society profoundly. China should seize the opportunity and join the promotion of AI popular science, encouraging more fundamental courses focusing on AI initiation, the State Council pointed out in the document.

Constructing more science infrastructure and providing more AI-related courses, China’s educational organizations will cultivate interests for the youth and ensure them more accesses to AI education, said the Plan.

Besides primary and secondary schools, governments will also support institutions of higher learning, vocational schools and socialization training Institutions to carry out AI skills training and foster more professionals, in order to meet the great demand of social development.



Chinese students are watching an AI-robot. /Chinadaily Photo

At the same time, more preferential policies and measures will be i place to encourage and support domestic AI enterprises to cooperate with international leading AI schools, scientific research institutes and teams, according to the State Council.

In fact, China has made a three-step national strategy to boost the AI industry development in China.

Firstly, China should have achieved important progress in a new generation of AI theories and technologies by 2020, having actualized important progress in big data intelligence, cross-medium intelligence, swarm intelligence and other main fields.

Then, China’s AI industry is expected to enter the global high-end value chain, where AI will be widely used in more fields such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent medicine and intelligent city.

Finally, China will have seen the establishment of AI laws and regulations, ethical norms and policy systems, and the formation of AI security assessment and control capabilities by 2025.

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## Beast

It's good that the yellow peril terror exist, this will put many Chinese American out of sensitive business in America and force them back to China. 

Many Chinese American are agents for China. I hope all white American continue to maintain that kind of mentality. Chinese American will never work for the US white interest. They are just there to leech the America wealth and ready to return motherland to repay their heritage. 

The white American brag about many Chinese taking US citizenship. Many are just agents stealing American wealth and secret. White American still foolishly brag as a good thing. I pity their stupidity.


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## onebyone

China Life and Baidu (China Search engine company) will set up a US$1 billion investment fund in Artificial Intelligence and Fintech.

China Life on Thursday said it had teamed up with internet search company Baidu to form a 7 billion yuan (US $ 1 billion) private equity fund. China Life will invest 5.6 billion yuan while Baidu will cover the remainder. The fund will invest in unlisted companies Involved in artificial intelligence (AI) and internet finance.






Baidu has invested heavily in artificial intelligence: Building image-recognition technology, investing in autonomous driving, launching digital assistants, similar to Apple’s Siri, and even developing personal home robots. In May, the firm amended its mission statement to reflect the change in direction.

In July, Baidu said more than 50 groups have signed on to build and improve on Apollo, its autonomous driving platform, including top Chinese car manufacturers Chery Auto, Great Wall Motors and Changan Automobile, and even ridesharing company Grab Taxi. Foreign partners included Ford and Intel.

Of the 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) Baidu spent in research and development over the past two and a half years, the majority goes to AI.

In july, the Chinese government laid out a timeline on Friday for when it expects the country to become a global leader in Artificial Intelligence.

By 2020, China’s AI technologies and research facilities will match other leading countries, said Li Meng, the vice minister of science and technology. Five years later, he expects “a big breakthrough,” and then China should finally become the global “innovation center for AI” by 2030.

They set out goals to build a domestic artificial intelligence industry worth nearly $150 billion in the next few years.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/08/baidu-and-china-life-set-up-us1-billion-ai-fund.html

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## AndrewJin

AI is about future, not some Supa Powa style way of self destruction.


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## rcrmj

drawing up AI fields based on a report from one social net-work APP? lol```who use linkedin for looking jobs? stupid artical by unprofessional writer as usual


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## Brainsucker

Kiss_of_the_Dragon said:


> According them, Chinese American are Americans , I have been telling people so many time that nowadays , there is no such thing as American technology but Immigrant technology, US relied more and more Immigrant to do their scientific project and recruit graduated immigrants by offering them incentive package and better standard living and US expect all immigrant to be loyal and patriotic toward United States of America  but they just have a wet dream, in 1960 to 80 majority of Scientist and Engineers are "native white" Americans, they can claim "Made in USA" and these people are patriotic but no today.



But to be honest, according to your previous posts logic, they are American, as you don't consider Chinese Descendants as Chinese. So as long as they have American Green Card or even citizenship, they are American.

I have two friends in USA. both are Chinese Ethnicity who born in Indonesia. One is a Vice President of a software company, and the other is a Phd of Multi core CPU. Because they have become USA citizen, then they are American, not Indonesian anymore. But are they Chinese? That's the question. But according to you, they are not. They are American. Because they are USA Citizen, not China Citizen.

So please, don't take other people achievement as yours, when you don't recognize them as your fellow Chinese to begin with. Don't be a double standard about this issue.

I won't complain if the one who said about the Chinese American is Wang Laokan, as he still recognize all Chinese Descendants as his fellow Chinese, and he cares about them. But you, nope. You don't have the right to say about it.


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## JSCh

* China’s facial recognition tech gaining ground *
By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2017/8/29 21:48:39

_Huge demand, abundance of data driving rapid expansion: experts _




A customer makes a payment using facial recognition technology at the first intelligent self-service store launched by appliance retail chain Suning in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province on Monday. Photo: IC

Facial recognition technology is now widely used in different sectors in China and the country has developed an edge in the industry, partly thanks to government support.

If local residents in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, forget to bring their identity cards to process passport applications, officials can process their applications by scanning their faces, the Wuhan Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

Another application scenario is in a sports store in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, where consumers can pay by "face swapping" without taking out their wallets, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The store was opened by Chinese retailer Suning Commerce Group on Monday.

Facial recognition technology is also used at a railway station in Wuhan, where 16 machines were set up at the checkpoints on Monday. It takes less than two seconds to pass through them, according to the financial news site caixin.com.

Facial recognition technology has been developing rapidly in China since 2015, as demand for the application has driven more investment in the sector, Zhou Xi, president of Chongqing-based visual recognition firm CloudWalk, told the Global Times on Monday. Like Zhou, many Chinese entrepreneurs with an academic background and working experience overseas have returned to China to develop facial recognition technology.

"I used to work at Microsoft's speech recognition group, and some people who recognized the potential of China's artificial intelligence (AI) sector have come back to the country in recent years, which is a boon for the industry," Zhou said.

The facial recognition market scale is expected to reach $6.84 billion by 2021, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.3 percent, according to a report released by the global market consultancy MarketsandMarkets in November 2016.

The market is expected to be given further impetus from huge governmental investments in security and surveillance infrastructure, as well as increased public awareness, the report noted.

In China, the market scale for facial recognition technology surpassed 1 billion yuan ($152 million) in 2016, and the CAGR will reach 25 percent, pushing the market to a scale of 5.1 billion yuan by 2021, according to a report published by Beijing-based market research firm Qianzhan.

The rapid growth in China has also attracted Yin Qi, another Chinese entrepreneur with working experience in the US, to come back home to start a facial recognition company. Yin, co-founder of Megvii Technology Inc, also known as Face++, has come up with different facial recognition solutions not only for consumer products but also for local authorities.

*Big data advantage*

Although Western companies and research institutions started working on facial recognition technology earlier, when Chinese players tapped into the market, they were more innovative and came up with more application solutions ranging from security to finance, Zhang Zhuo, an industry expert with IDC, told the Global Times in an earlier interview.

For instance, during the 2017 South-Southeast Asia Commodity Expo and Investment Fair held in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province from June 12 to 18, by using Hikvision face detection technology developed by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co, the police were able to use a database of 973,661 images to detain five criminal suspects, according to a document the company sent to the Global Times on Monday.

Compared to the development of the technology in Western countries, research and development teams in China can tap into a more abundant database, Zhou noted.

"In the AI sector, the abundance of data and the depth of AI research are equally important," he said, noting that big data helps to improve both the accuracy and speed of recognition technology. 

*Foreign rivals *

Besides Microsoft, other tech giants including Google and Facebook are also pushing forward with their facial recognition apps.

For instance, Google's cloud vision application programming interface provides a comprehensive set of capabilities including object detection and face detection. "Developers have to test apps based on hundreds of millions of images. Google has a database of more than 1 billion images, which gives it an advantage in the sector," Zhou explained.

The expert noted that though China still lags behind the US in AI technology, the country has surpassed the US in facial recognition.

"Considering the large market demand, our company set up an R&D team with over 200 people," he said.

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## JSCh

*Facial-recognition payment to hit new KFC store*
2017-09-01 16:06 Ecns.cn _Editor: Mo Hong'e_ ECNS App Download

(ECNS) -- Alibaba's Ant Financial affiliate and KFC China have announced facial-recognition payment will be available for customers in the fast food restaurant chain's new KPRO store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Ant Financial has offered its facial recognition technology for four years in other services based on the online payment service Alipay. The integration of Alipay's "Smile to Pay" facial recognition payment solution at KFC enables customers to pay without the need to reach for their wallets.

To finish a payment at a KFC outlet, a customer who has an Alipay account can gaze at a 3D webcam that will take a picture and scan the customer's face. The information will be linked to an Alipay account for identification verification while payment information is shown on a display. A click to confirm will finish the payment process.

"We are excited to launch KPRO – an exciting and fresh new concept for young, tech savvy consumers who are keen to embrace new tastes and innovations," said Joey Wat, president and chief operating officer of Yum China.

The integration of "Smile to Pay" at the new KPRO restaurant is the first commercial application of facial recognition payment technology globally.

Li Ziqing, director of the Center for Biometrics and Security Research at the CAS Institute of Automation, said facial-recognition payment offers higher information safety and convenience

Chen Jidong, who is in charge of biometric identification technology at Ant Financial, said Alipay's system reached a success rate much higher than the naked eye and can also verify if facial information collected comes from a picture, video or a real person.

At the annual CeBit tech exhibition in Hanover, Germany in March 2015, Alibaba founder and chief executive Jack Ma first showed off the "Smile to Pay" technology. Alipay has been eager to apply biometric identification and authentication both on- and offline.

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## Raphael

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/01/gol...nt-data-and-infrastructure-to-embrace-ai.html

*China's artificial intelligence technology is fast catching up to the US, Goldman Sachs says*

Artificial intelligence (AI) will become a priority for the Chinese government, according to a new Goldman Sachs report
The report said China has the talent, data and infrastructure needed to fully embrace AI
China's AI sector includes large internet companies Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Didi Chuxing
China has the resources and ambitious top-down plans to potentially create an intelligent economy powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning over the next several years, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs.

In the report, titled "China's Rise in Artificial Intelligence," the investment bank said the world's second-largest economy has emerged as a major global contender in using AI to drive economic progress.

Goldman said the government and companies have identified AI and machine learning as the next big areas of innovation.

"We believe AI technology will become a priority on the government's agenda, and we expect further national/regional policy and funding support on AI to follow," the bank said.

AI is already widespread: From simple smartphone applications that can tell the weather to complex algorithms that are able to easily beat humans in board games.

Companies such as Google and Microsoft have poured vast amounts of money into research and development to expand the horizon of what AI can achieve. Machines are fed large quantities of data and taught specific tasks, allowing companies to create software that can learn and become smarter.

While the United States is generally considered to be leading the field, other countries are catching up. China, home of internet powerhouses such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, is one of them.

In July, China's State Council issued guidelines on developing AI inside the country and set a goal of becoming a global innovation center for it by 2030. It expects the total output value of AI industries to surpass 1 trillion yuan ($147.80 billion).

The Council encouraged the creation of open-source computing platforms and training more AI professionals and scientists. The guidelines said the government will invest in qualified AI projects and encourage private capital investment.

*Key drivers to create value in China's AI space*
Goldman identified four key areas where development is needed to create value in AI: talent, data, infrastructure and computing power. The bank concluded China has the talent, data and infrastructure needed to fully embrace AI.

Because AI is a relatively new technology, finding adequate number of talented individuals is a perennial problem. Experts have argued that more needs to be done to train people in new AI-related skills.

To get around talent scarcity in any particular location, U.S. tech giants are opening research labs around the world, according to Goldman. Chinese companies are also following their lead by opening Silicon Valley research labs and offering comparable salaries, Goldman said.

Earlier this year, Baidu snagged Microsoft executive Qi Lu as part of a push into AI. Meanwhile, Tencent tapped up former Microsoft scientist Yu Dong to head up its AI research facility in Seattle.

China's vast population, much of which is connected to the internet, gives the country an advantage in generating data. Moreover, China's large internet companies have comprehensive online ecosystems increasingly penetrating more of the daily lives of the country's internet users, generating volumes of data, according to Goldman.

"China understandably generates (about) 13 percent of the digital information globally. By 2020, we expect this to grow to around 20 percent to 25 percent as China's economy emerges as the world's largest," the bank said. It predicted China would generate about 9 to 10 zettabytes of data; one zettabye is about 1 trillion gigabytes.

When it comes to infrastructure, most major companies involved in AI research have adopted open-sourced platforms to attract resources and talent into their ecosystems.

Chinese companies are also following the trend, said Goldman. For example, Baidu has an open-sourced machine-learning platform called PaddlePaddle that stands for Parallel Distributed Deep Learning. Baidu also announced project Apollo, another open-sourced platform to develop autonomous driving.

AI algorithms and their performances are also limited by computing power that depends on the processing unit. Goldman noted that China had been "heavily dependent on foreign suppliers" for processing chips, but there was some "encouraging progress" in its domestic semiconductor industry.

The bank said that it expected China's dependency on foreign suppliers to decrease over time.

*Companies to watch out for*
Goldman said it expected the initial benefits of AI will go to China's so-called BAT: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. That's because these companies have substantial and unique data sets and have the right size of resources to take advantage of the the technology.

Another company to watch is Chinese on-demand services provider Meituan-Dianping. It uses big data analytics to generate the most efficient delivery route in less than 100 milliseconds, said Goldman.

China's largest ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing is also working on deep learning, human-machine interaction, computer vision and intelligent driving technologies. It processes over 4,500 terabyte of data, receives over 20 billion route requests and handles more than 20 million orders on average on a daily basis, according to Goldman.

iFLYTek is a company that focuses on speech and language recognition. The report said it has the largest market share in China's intelligent speech industry.

Hikvision is a technology company that uses AI for surveillance products, including intelligent cameras.

The report said some of the other companies to watch out for included Mobvoi, which is involved in speech and natural language and SenseTime, which focuses on computer vision and deep learning. Also included were drone maker DJI and humanoid-robot maker UBTECH.

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## qwerrty

*An Early Look at Baidu’s Custom AI and Analytics Processor*
August 22, 2017 Nicole Hemsoth

Baidu has a new processor up its sleeve called the XPU. For now, the device has just been demonstrated in FPGA, but if it continues to prove useful for AI, analytics, cloud, and autonomous driving the search giant could push it into a full-bore ASIC.

The architecture they designed is aimed at this diversity with an emphasis on compute-intensive, rule-based workloads while maximizing efficiency, performance and flexibility, says Baidu researcher, Jian Ouyang. He unveiled the XPU today at the Hot Chips conference along with co-presenters from FPGA maker, Xilinx.

The XPU has 256 cores clustered with one shared memory for data synchronization. Note that this is not so different from a MIPS like architecture. The cores are small with no cache or OS and can be interfaced with a domain specific ISA. The efficiency, which is on par with a CPU, according to Ouyang, comes from a custom circuit for specific workloads. The flexibility comes from the ISA cores that are optimized for rule-base workloads. Somehow the all 256 cores are running at 600MHz, he says. Paper should be forthcoming with more details in near future.

“The XPU has similar efficiency as an X86 core for compute-intensive and regular memory access workloads when tested on microbenchmarks. The scalability for XPU for workloads with data synchronization should be improved further, and the scalability of XPU for workloads without data synchronization is linear with the core number,” Ouyang adds.

https://www.nextplatform.com/2017/08/22/first-look-baidus-custom-ai-analytics-processor/

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*Baidu’s AI Algorithm Parses Video*
August 24, 2017
George Leopold

(Navidim/Shutterstock)

China’s heavy investment in artificial intelligence is beginning to bear fruit with a report of researchers at Baidu, the Internet search giant, winning a competition designed to test the ability of AI algorithms to recognize and classify actions in video clips.

The ActivityNet Challenge was designed to gauge the ability of AI algorithms to move beyond categorizing still images to recognize actions contains in 10-second video clips. Baidu Research (NASDAQ: BIDU) said its AI approach identified the contents of a database of 300,000 YouTube videos with an average accuracy rate of 87.6 percent. That rate was 1.5 percent higher than the second place finisher, the company added.

https://www.datanami.com/2017/08/24/baidus-ai-algorithm-parses-video/
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*Ex-Baidu Scientist Blazes AI Shortcut*
Native support for 3D tensor operation
Junko Yoshida
8/31/2017 05:31 PM EDT


MADISON, Wis. — Ren Wu, formerly a distinguished scientist at Baidu, has pulled a new AI chip company out of his sleeve, called NovuMind, based in Santa Clara, Calif.

In an exclusive interview with EE Times, Wu discussed the startup’s developments and what he hopes to accomplish.

Established two years ago, with 50 people, including 35 engineers working in the U.S. and 15 in Beijing, NovuMind is testing what Wu describes as a minimalist approach to deep learning.

Rather than designing general-purpose deep-learning chips like those based on Nvidia GPUs or Cadence DSPs, NovuMind has focused exclusively on developing a deep learning accelerator chip that “will do inference very efficiently,” Wu told us.

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?from=timeline&isappinstalled=0&doc_id=1332226&page_number=1

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*Tencent joins the fray with Baidu in providing artificial intelligence applications for self-driving cars*
_Members of the alliance included Sebastian Thrun, who spearheaded Google’s driverless car and Beijing Automotive_
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 August, 2017, 4:48pm

Internet giant Tencent Holdings has formed an alliance with a clutch of industry players including Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) to ramp up development and tech transfer of artificial intelligence (AI) that is used in autonomous driving.

http://www.scmp.com/business/compan...ms-alliance-push-ai-applications-self-driving

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*China’s State Development & Investment Corp Leads $100M Round In AI Chip Maker Cambricon*
Pan Yue
August 18, 2017 — 22:59 HKT

SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, a subsidiary of State Development & Investment Corp, has led a US$100 million series A round in Cambricon Technologies Co., Ltd., an artificial intelligence chip developer.

An investment arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, CAS Investment Management Co., Ltd., Chinese big data firm Turing, Oriza Seed Venture Capital and Yonghua Capital also participated in the round, according to Chinese media reports.

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*AI startups see record financing in H1*
By Jing Shuiyu | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-08-03 09:52

China's artificial intelligence-focused startups received record financing of 19.3 billion yuan ($2.87 billion) in the first half of 2017, with the mid and late-stage deals dominating the period, a report said on Wednesday.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/tech/2017-08/03/content_30340585.htm

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*China dominating AI competition hold in Stanford, US *
Aug 5, 2017

https://rajpurkar.github.io/SQuAD-explorer/

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* Chinese driverless cars start-up attracts Daimler investment*
By Dave Leggett | 31 July 2017

Chinese self-driving start-up company Momenta has raised around US$46m in its latest round of funding, with Daimler a major investor according to Chinese media.

The Wall Street Journal also reported the move and noted that Western automakers are making a number of strategic investments with Chinese partners. Private equity firms are also involved in the financing round for Momenta, described as a Beijing-based company focused on 'building autonomous driving brains'.

The China Daily reported that Momenta is resourced by an R&D team from top Chinese universities and is developing "deep-learning-derived software in perception, semantic HD mapping, and path planning".
https://www.just-auto.com/news/chin...-up-attracts-daimler-investment_id177799.aspx
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*‘AI English teacher’ gets $100m*
11:39 PM at Jul 27, 2017

A Chinese language learning startup that specialises in AI and has 45 million registered students has secured US$100 million in funding to help it grow.

With its AI English teachers, Liulishuo is different from the dozens upon dozens of other education startups in China. Built by Wang Yi, a former Google product manager, the service uses artificial intelligence to assess a student’s English-speaking ability and analyze their learning needs in order to create a tailor-made online teaching program.

https://www.techinasia.com/ai-english-teacher-100m
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*China-based Horizon Robotics actively materializing autonomous driving solutions*
By Digitimes Jul 25, 2017, 3:39 am50 pts

China-based Horizon Robotics has scored a significant achievement in the development of autonomous driving technology, as the technology has entered the stage of road test and the company is gearing up for mass production of high-performance chips needed in autonomous driving solutions, according to…

http://www.digitimes.com/newregister/join.asp?view=Article&DATEPUBLISH=2017/07/25&PAGES=PD&SEQ=208

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*iFlytek marries voice tech with artificial intelligence*
By Ma Si | China Daily | Updated: 2017-07-24 08:24


An employee of iFlytek demonstrates a voice-controlled speaker at an expo in Hefei, Anhui province. [Photo/Xinhua]

In November 2016, US President Barack Obama in Washington "addressed" a conference in Beijing via a video link and highlighted the big leaps made by artificial intelligence or AI. As if to underscore his point, Obama switched to fluent Chinese and joked he wanted to contribute to China's development in his post-retirement years.

Well, turned out, it was not really Obama who made that speech. For the record: the former US president hardly knows Chinese. The video clip was produced by iFlytek Co Ltd using AI, to demonstrate its speech synthesis capability, which can produce human voice.

The audience was wowed by the machine's ability to reproduce Obama's tone, intonations, inflections and pitch in Chinese words.

The video is part of iFlytek's broad efforts to tap into voice computing, which is said to be the next major medium for man-machine interaction.

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*Chinese Academy Of Sciences Unit Leads $22M Round In Robot Sensor Firm Slamtec*
July 12, 2017 — 11:02 HKT

A fund managed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Holdings Co., Ltd. has led a RMB150 million (US$22 million) round in Shanghai Slamtec Co., Ltd., a Chinese company providing affordable and high-performance laser sensor solutions for robots in auto localization and navigation.

Its major products are low-cost LiDAR sensors, which cost around several hundred RMB (RMB100 is around US$15), less than one ninth the costs of industrial grade sensors. LiDAR instruments fire rapid pulses of laser light at a surface in order to measure shape and distance.

Other products include SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) solutions based on LiDAR technology, and the Zeus General Purpose Robot Platform.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...-leads-22m-round-in-robot-sensor-firm-slamtec

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*Chinese AI Start-Up SenseTime Raises $410 Million Series B Round*
July 11, 2017 — 19:14 HKT

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime has completed a US$410 million series B round, in what the company calls the largest private financing rounds ever closed by an AI start-up globally.

Founded in 2014, SenseTime says it focuses on innovative computer vision and deep learning technologies. The company provides applications in the field of face recognition, language recognition, vehicle recognition, object recognition and image processing.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...p-sensetime-raises-410-million-series-b-round

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*Baidu, China Life To Launch $1B Internet, AI Fund*
August 25, 2017 — 10:43 HKT

Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc. and China Life Insurance Co., Ltd will launch a RMB7 billion (US$1 billion) private equity fund targeting investment opportunities in the Internet, artificial intelligence, online finance and mobility sectors.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/08/baidu-and-china-life-set-up-us1-billion-ai-fund.html

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*Tencent Capitalizes On Massive User Data To Achieve AI Dominance*
August 22, 2017 — 12:25 HKT

Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. has a reputation for cautiously following in the footsteps of others in new businesses segments, then quietly outsmarting the first-movers. The company looks to be using the same strategy in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). So while rival Baidu Inc. has proclaimed itself an AI company, along with numerous other Chinese companies, Tencent is working behind the scenes to become a leader in the field.

Tencent has an advantage in the AI race due to its access to massive amounts of user data. Its popular WeChat mobile app is expected to reach one billion users this year, one of a few mobile apps reaching that milestone alongside Facebook and Whatsup. Tencent founder Pony Ma has publicly stated that data is one of the four major components of AI technology, along with computing capabilities, talent and application venues.

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*IDG Co-Leads $14M Round In Chinese AI-Powered Data Visualization Firm Haiyun*
Pan Yue
August 16, 2017 — 10:57 HKT

Founded in 2013, Haiyun provides enterprises with data visualization solutions. The company claims that unlike traditional big data companies, its services are based on both big data and artificial intelligence technology. It says its visualization analysis platform covers 323 types of data, with 651 application programming interfaces, and has been used by companies in over 20 industries. It has also developed products specifically targeting the smart driving, smart security and healthcare sectors.

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*Qiming Leads $30M Round In Chinese AI Start-Up Abcfintech*
Li Dongmei
September 1, 2017 — 14:01 HKT

Abcfintech, a Chinese AI services provider targeting the financial services sector, has raised a total of US$30 million through an angel round and a series A round. Chinese venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners led the round, with Source Code Capital, SIG Asia Investment and Welight Capital also participating, according to a company announcement.

Founded in 2016, Abcfintech has developed two cloud-based AI solution products for financial companies. Its products, Modeling.ai and Eversight.ai, can improve the efficiency of how securities research and investment decisions are made in these firms, as well as to predict future trend.

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*
China fosters innovative AI research through competition*
by Tristan Greene — 10 days ago in Artificial Intelligence

The Chinese government has been unequivocal in its goal to become the global AI leader. Three of the largest tech companies in China — Sougou, China’s second-biggest search giant, Sinovation Ventures, and internet firm Bytedance — have joined forces to bring that plan to fruition. The companies pooled funds and data to create the AI Challenger contest.

The contest features a prize pool of 2 million yuan, or approximately $300,000. Entrants will presumably be judged on innovation in the field of AI research. Contestants will eventually have access to a data-set featuring 300,000 image-based objects and more than 10 million text-based data entries.

Researchers participating in the program essentially have access to enough data to jump-start any machine-learning project. AI is ‘taught’ by feeding it data and allowing algorithms to create conclusions and patterns, with the goal being a system that gets better over time. According to China Daily, Wang Xiaochuan, chief executive of Sougou, said:

In the US, professors and researchers would complain about falling [behind] big corporations due to the lack of data. Here we hope to set up a longstanding contest and cultivate talents by providing them with a huge data pool.

China represents one of the top three nations for AI research, alongside the US and India. At this point experts might be arguing over whether we should fear killer robots or not, but it’s clear that there’s no stopping the full-scale implementation of AI into our lives.

It’s apparent that China intends to set the pace, so the question for everyone else is: will second place be good enough in the AI race?

https://thenextweb.com/artificial-i...enger-contest-will-accelerate-its-ai-program/

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## onebyone

A big part of Huawei's multi-year push to improve its image has been improving the hardware it builds to go inside them, and its latest processor is more than up to the challenge.




WinFuture[/a], this chip has significantly more transistors onboard (5.5 billion) than the Snapdragon (3.1 billion). It includes a dedicated "Neural Processing Unit," that appears to consist of purpose-built silicon (as Apple is rumored to have in the works) which differs Qualcomm's approach on the current Snapdragon 835 (which is inside the latest Galaxy S8 / Note8 phones as well as LG's V30). There, a "Hexagon" DSP built for other types of number crunching works with the rest of the chip to improve AI performance.



Follow all the latest news from IFA 2017 here!


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/huawei-apos-next-mobile-chipset-121500582.html

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## cirr

*Huawei Unveils The Kirin 970, The World’s First Processor With A Dedicated NPU*

by Habeeb Onawole 53 mins ago

The Kirin 970 is official and Huawei has set a record with the new flagship chip. The 10nm chip is the first mobile computing unit with a built-in AI computing Neural Processing Unit NPU.






Before we dive into the configuration of the Kirin 970, lets talk about its AI NPU. Instead of letting the CPU carry out AI computing tasks, the NPU is assigned the tasks and it does it better and faster. According to the figures provided, the Kirin 970’s NPU delivers performance that is 25 times more than the CPU’s, and efficiency that is 50 times greater. That means lesser time and power required for AI tasks.

The TSMC-built Kirin 970 is an 8-core CPU with a clockspeed of uP to 2.4GHz i.e. 4 x Cortex A73 at 2.4GHz + 4 x Cortex 53 at 1.8GHz. It has a 12-core Mali G72MP12 GPU, making it the first commercially available chip to use ARM’s latest GPU. The GPU provides a 20% performance increase over the previous generation as well as a 50% increase in efficiency. Its Kirin NPU can perform 1.92 Teraflops when using 16-bit floating point numbers.





Huawei CEO RIchard Yu Announcing The Kirin 970

The Kirin 970 has 4.5G Cat.18 LTE and offers gigabit LTE speeds of 1.2Gbps. It also features an advanced dual ISP with face and motion detection, 4-hybrid focus, low-light and motion shooting. Since the Kirin 970 will be appearing in the Huawei Mate 10 series first, expect them to have an impressive camera performance.

The chip also has HDR10 support and 4K video encode and decode. It supports LPPDR 4X RAM (1883MHz) and UFS 2.1 storage. It also features an i7 sensor processor, iNSE and TEE security engines and support for HiFi audio.

Huawei says it has built an open AI ecosystem so apps can access NPU capabilities directly and via 3rd party AI frameworks. The Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are the first two devices that will be powered by the new chipset and they will be announced in Munich on October 16.

https://www.gizmochina.com/2017/09/02/huawei-unveils-kirin-970-worlds-first-processor-dedicated-npu/

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## MultaniGuy

Congratulations to China.

May China prosper.

We should start buying Chinese smartphones instead of Korean or Japanese ones or American ones!

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## shadows888

Iqbal Ali said:


> Congratulations to China.
> 
> May China prosper.
> 
> We should start buying Chinese smartphones instead of Korean or Japanese ones or American ones!



Chinese smartphones already dominate the Indian market. what's taking you guys so long?

http://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...artphone-market-51-share-q1-2017-report-62166

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## Flynn Swagmire

Only thing holding me from migrating to a huawei phone is its EMUI Android skin...


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## qwerrty

*Google is hiring AI talent from China even though it’s still blocked in the country*
Posted 21 hours ago by Jon Russell (@jonrussell)


Google’s core search service has been blocked in China for over seven years, but that isn’t stopping the internet giant from snapping up artificial intelligence and machine learning talent from the country.

AI is tipped to become pivotal to the future of tech, with high-profile figures such as former Google China lead Kaifu Lee betting big on its potential to impact “every profession and every industry.”

Google still maintains a low-profile presence in China — speaking at a TechCrunch China event in 2015, Eric Schmidt claimed it never left the country — and it is hiring for at least four positions involving AI or machine learning at its Beijing office, according to its website. It is also advertising roles within its locations in Shanghai and Guangzhou, Bloomberg noted.

The hiring push from Google comes as Chinese firms increasingly expand their talent acquisition strategies to include the U.S., and Silicon Valley in particular, to suck up the finest engineers on the planet. The likes of Alibaba, Tencent, Didi and Baidu operates R&D centers in California, while match-making services — like an AI-powered hiring platform from ex-Googlers — have sprouted up in response to demand.

The U.S. may be ground zero for tech talent today, but China is giving it a good run for its money. That’s likely only to grow fiercer in the future, and the Chinese government itself has prioritized AI.

A state-led development plan announced this summer aims to make China the world’s AI leader by 2030. The ambitious program is aiming to build a domestic industry worth $150 billion per year, with the government prepared to invest heavily in education and development to make the vision a reality.

Given the scope of that ambition, and the growing ranks of AI engineers at China’s top firms, Google is right to take a look at the talent on offer.

So far it is the first to make a major push in that area. Other U.S. firms that are blocked in the country, including Facebook and Twitter, maintain sales posts in China — where they help Chinese firms reach global audiences — but for now there’s little more to their local presence than selling. That said, Facebook has experimented with a social app for China but it seems unlikely that it will make a major move any time soon.



Code:


https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/05/google-wants-to-hire-ai-talent-from-china/

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## cirr

*AI - computer vision makes our eyes smarter*

2017-09-11 14:18

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Huang Mingrui_





Zhang Mo (third left), founder of AI computer vision engine service provider Yi+, talks with her colleagues in Beijing, Sept 5,2017.（Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn）

*Imagine ordering in a blink of an eye a dress supermodel Liu Wen is wearing in a video.*

Instead of entering the description of the dress in a search engine, all you have to do is move the mouse to Liu, and all the information about the dress including the brand, size and price will prop up on the screen and you can buy it instantly!

*Yi+*, a Beijing-based tech startup, is making "shopping while watching" possible by its cutting-edge technology in computer vision, a field of artificial intelligence that deals with making computers gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos.

"The computer vision technology can not only identify faces but also other items such as flowers, cups or balls," said Zhang Mo, founder of the startup.

With the assistance of the technology, "our eyes can become smarter" as more visual information is provided, she added.

Having recently been rated as one of the top 10 female entrepreneurs in tech in a report released by Ali Research Institute, China Entrep Mulan Club and Alibaba Innovation Center, Zhang believes her qualities of rational thinking, being tech-savvy, intuition and sensitivity to fashion and trends give her advantages over male entrepreneurs.

Zhang started the company three years ago after getting $200,000 angle investment from the Silicon Valley.

She might have established a company in the United States but made the decision to return to China.

"China is a huge market with bright prospects. I hope our products can ultimately serve the Chinese consumers and make a difference," she said.

Yi+ is situated in Zhongguancun, "the second Silicon Valley", in Zhang's words.

The company got investment from China's leading online video services Youku Tudou and LeBox Capital at the end of 2015, which made Yi+ one of the first global companies providing large-scale "shopping while watching" technical solutions.

*Zest for entrepreneurship*

Zhang had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and when she was an undergraduate she established a tutoring website, which started to make money within one month.

She also had entrepreneurial experience in the AI industry and accumulated extensive experience in this field after graduation from Peking University.

Working at IBM for several years, she then decided to join the Masters of Science Technopreneurship and Innovation Programme (MSc TIP) at Nanyang Technological University in 2012.

She traveled to about 50 countries in two years and talked to numerous entrepreneurs in tech such as Mark Zuckerberg in the US before getting the $200,000 angle investment.

*Confident of the future*

Having survived the first three years, Yi+ has entered a stable stage of development and revenue is covering expenditure this year.

"Our mission is to explore business value in massive visual information and we try to create products which provide better consumer experience so that more people would like to use it and more business value can be found."

Zhang said how to provide the best consumption experience and make precise marketing by not interrupting the consumers is a challenge and her company has technological advantages in precision algorithm.

"Our technology is of world class and we have beaten big companies Google, Baidu and Tencent to win 10 first prizes in 2015 and 2016 at the ImageNet contest - the Olympics of the computer vision industry."

AI computer vision is not restricted by different languages and boundaries of nations, so AI technological companies focusing on this field have opportunities to go abroad, said Zhang.

"China has the largest and most dynamic market. The engine of AI innovation may be in China in the future."

"Yi+ would like to explore the next generation of interactive ways and services by using computer vision technology."

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-11/273071.shtml

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## cirr

*AI set to revolutionize healthcare industry in China*

2017-09-11 16:43

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Huang Mingrui_





Li Xiaoxiao, left, founder and CEO of Beijing Koboro Health Science and Technology, talks with Yang Song, product director of Koboro, in Beijing on Sept 6, 2017. (Photo/chinadaily.com.cn)

Having a clear picture about one's own health and control over one's overall health management - including prevention and prognosis - is a dream of many people, especially when it takes hours to register for a five-minute doctor's visit.

"Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for people to receive a checkup in offices and receive medical advice online, which can lead to a revolution of the healthcare industry in China," said Li Xiaoxia, founder of Beijing Koboro Health Science and Technology.

A Beijing-based tech startup, Koboro has developed an app called "Daxia Health" which uses a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide medical services, according to Li.

"The AI technology-supported 'Daxia Health' application can help analyze and process large amounts of health data collected from the clients and give precise, individualized recommendations which are checked by human doctors to guarantee accuracy," Li said.

The technology can greatly improve efficiency for both doctors and patients and transform the healthcare industry, added Li. She has recently been rated as a top 10 female entrepreneur in tech in a report released by Ali Research Institute, China Entrep Mulan Club and Alibaba Innovation Center.

Big companies like Google, Microsoft and Alibaba have started to tap into the AI-powered medical care market in recent years, Xinhua reported.

"Although healthcare big data systems are still in their infancy across the world, China has an opportunity to take a leading role. China's increasing senior population provides a large amount of data," Li said.

China had more than 230 million people aged 60 or above at the end of 2016,16.7 percent of the total population, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Elderly people in China are expected to account for about one quarter of the population by 2030, Xinhua reported.

"All the products of Koboro are based on fundamental needs of doctors and use the 'Internet Plus healthcare' model to achieve the ultimate goal of helping clients stay healthy in a full life cycle," product director Yang Song said.

Koboro divides clients' life cycles into 13 stages from a half year before birth to more than 90 years old. Clients at different stages can receive professional medical suggestions, running the gamut from Western medicine to traditional Chinese medicine, Li said.

Liang Wei, a health management doctor at Koboro, displayed a health report of a 26-year-old female whose "body age" is about 51 years old.

"Based on this person's health check and basic information, the AI-supported system can predict the risks for her to get certain diseases. Our health management team, including sports specialists and nutritionists, can give detailed recommendations to prevent these diseases," Liang said.

The recommendations could be so detailed that the client would know the hours she should walk, the number of steps to walk each day for exercise and the kinds and amounts of food she should eat, Li said.

Li Xiaoxia said the profit rate of Koboro was between 30 and 40 percent in the first two years after its establishment in 2012. She has invested recent years' profits in AI-supported systems and relevant products.

Li, who is confident in the future of Koboro, said the profits can be in the tens of millions or even several billion in the future, as internet healthcare can generate profits from various channels, such as health management services and healthcare products.

Inspired by her father, who used to be a barefoot doctor, Li also wants to have a close relationship with patients by being there whenever they need support. This is difficult when people are busy and fly to different places.

"Thanks to developments in data, AI and internet technology, it is possible to standardize the process to prevent and control chronic diseases and establish a healthcare platform online to benefit more ordinary people in China," Li said.

The great business opportunities emerging in the industry in China also come from the Chinese government's support, Li added.

In Oct 2016, Chinese authorities released "Healthy China 2030", a blueprint that aims to improve the health of the people. The blueprint covers areas such as public health services, the medical industry and food and drug safety, China Daily reported.

This document is not only the first national-level medium- to long-term strategic plan in the health sector since 1949, but also demonstrates the political commitment of China to participate in global health governance and fulfill the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals agenda, according to the World Health Organization.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-11/273098.shtml

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## cirr

*With many Chinese talents returning home, China gets set to overtake the U.S. in technology breakthroughs*

2017-09-13 10:09

Global Times E_ditor: Li Yan_

A recent report by Goldman Sachs indicated that China has the resources and ambitious, high-level government plans to support artificial intelligence (AI) development and machine learning over the next few years. In the report, the investment bank identified four key factors for the growth of the AI industry - talent, data, infrastructure and computing power. By now, China already has the first three factors needed to fully embrace AI. Some talents who studied and worked overseas shared their stories with the Global Times to explain why they came back to China.

Wang Jianzong, AI Senior Director of Ping An Group, said he was not hesitant when he made the decision two years ago to come back to China after spending many years in the U.S.

Wang graduated with a PhD in computer science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Central China's Hubei Province, and then went on to Rice University in Texas as a visiting scholar in 2009. Afterward, he spent the next several years in the U.S. majoring in cloud computing research as well as artificial intelligence (AI) for his postdoctoral.

"I went to study in America because that's the birthplace of cloud computing. However, I came back as I hold optimistic views about China's AI prospective," Wang told the Global Times over the weekend.

While working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida, the 36-year-old man also accumulated academic and research experience in deep-learning study and medical analysis.

"I had faith in AI's future at that time," he said.

Wang is among many young Chinese talents in the information technology sector who choose to return to China after studying abroad for years.

In the first quarter of 2017, there were in total more than 1.9 million AI talents worldwide. Over 50,000 of them were created by China, according to a report released by the professional social network LinkedIn in July.

Compared with AI development in the U.S., China is now outsmarting in the quality and quantity of data, Wang said during the Artificial Intelligence Conference (AICC) held in Beijing on Thursday.

It was the first AI conference in China that attracted hundreds of participants including Chinese Internet giants ''BAT'' - Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.

The industry is now embracing significant changes thanks to the central government's efforts to push forward AI development in China.

*A giant market*

Wang is now focusing on deep-learning study and applying technologies in different financial scenarios, such as anti-fraud efforts within insurance services, voice recognition and user profiling.

"Thanks to my experiences overseas, I have built a deep-learning team within Ping An," he said, noting that China now enjoys abundant AI data as well as powerful algorithm platforms.

Also, compared to the U.S., China has more open access to data, he opined.

AI's development over recent years has been driven by three fundamentals - high chip processing performance, data and algorithms.

A server's processing speed is now 60 times faster than it was two decades ago, and its high performance, in addition to abundant data amid Internet of Things, is supporting the AI boom in China.

Both the U.S. and Chinese governments have moved the AI industry to a strategic position recently. For example, the Obama administration rolled out several national plans to support the growing AI industry in 2016. And the U.S. government has become fully aware of AI's impact on society, including on employment, education, public safety, and national security.

The State Council, China's cabinet, unveiled new guidelines for the development of the AI industry in July, which it hopes will motivate the sector to reach the same level as other advanced countries in terms of technology and applications by 2020.

Also, the national AI technology market scale is expected to surpass 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) by then, and the related industry scale will be over 1 trillion yuan.

"The government support is a boon for enterprises in both R&D and application," said Hu Leijun, vice president of Inspur, an information technology company based in Ji'nan, capital of East China's Shandong Province.

The company provided about 20.4 percent of the servers in the Chinese market in 2016, which have now become a major partner with BAT and other Internet start-ups working on AI development.

U.S. chipmakers have taken a leading position in the basic theories of some core technologies of AI, such as central processing units and graphics processing units.

But Chinese tech firms have been catching up rapidly as the booming market attracts more investment and resources, Hu told the Global Times.

*Application-driven growth*

Some Chinese AI talents graduate with their first and second degrees in China but pursue PhDs in the U.S. Zhou Xi, president of CloudWalk Technology Co, a company specializing in facial recognition technology based in Southwest China's Chongqing, is one of them.

"I used to do research work at NEC labs, where many important figures in AI such as Yann LeCun and Leo Bouttou had tapped into the deep-learning sector," he told the Global Times.

The scientist was referring to U.S.-based NEC Laboratories America Inc, which has locations in Princeton, New Jersey and Cupertino, California. Its areas of research span across various sectors including data science, machine learning as well as optical networking and sensing.

"Image recognition is meaningful to the universe. One day, I saw a news report about how a camera installed in a swimming pool could automatically recognize if someone was drowning by analyzing their behavior," Zhou said, noting that the technology can help people in many other ways too.

Between 2007 and 2011, Zhou and his team won several visual competitions, for example, the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge, run by U.S.-based large visual database ImageNet.

"Those honors made me happy. However, they [the technologies] have to be applied in daily life to help others, like the camera in the swimming pool," he said, noting that how to actually apply the technology was the reason why he returned to China and became an entrepreneur.

Today, the application of AI technologies such as image and voice recognition has extended into many sectors in China. A bus system can now use data algorithms to analyze daily passenger flow in order to manage bus schedules.

Facial recognition systems can help police identify criminals in public areas and are now being widely used in railway stations, metros, airports and so on.

Voice interaction technology is enabling home appliances to become smarter, and Chinese tech giants such as Xiaomi and Alibaba have all unveiled features like smart speakers for such products.

AI will reshape five major sectors - public safety, Internet and e-commerce, consumer electronics, automotive and medical services - in the coming years, according to a report released by China International Capital Corp (CCIC) in June.

And application by governments, other authorities and large-sized enterprises will soon account for over 60 percent of the market share in China, CCIC forecast.

"If we always stay within the academic field without actually using it [technology] in real life, we can't make any real changes," Zhou said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-13/273400.shtml

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## cirr

*Semester begins for China's first group of AI graduate students*

2017-09-15 08:40

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

More than 120 graduate students at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, known as Beihang University, began attending classes on artificial intelligence (AI) Thursday.

As China's first group of graduate students majoring in AI, they will receive joint training from both the university and AI-related companies.

The curriculum includes cognitive science, visual perception, unmanned systems and robotics. Some courses will be taught in company labs and beside production lines. Students are also required to intern and take part in project research and development for at least one year in one of the participating companies.

According to the university, 30 percent of the teachers are leading industry experts, and another 30 percent are renowned scholars. Over 90 percent of the teachers have overseas work or education experience related to AI.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/09-15/273684.shtml

*Alibaba testing face recognition technology*

2017-09-15 09:26

China Daily _Editor: Liang Meichen_

Two units under internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd are working in tandem to test facial recognition technology that will allow users to unlock delivery drop boxes.

Cainiao Network Technology Co Ltd, an Alibaba-backed courier aggregator, is promoting such an application to its partner delivery firms and parcel pickup facility providers in a test run in Shanghai, the company said during a customer conference in Shanghai on Thursday.

The technology is provided by Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba's fintech subsidiary, which since September has enabled customers to pay by literally flashing a smile in a KFC store in Hangzhou, where Alibaba is headquartered.

An army of specially equipped kiosks have been installed across five locations at Shanghai's financial district of Lujiazui, with cameras scanning people's faces to verify their identities. The companies plan for a nationwide rollout when the pilot projects mature in the city.

In the first instance, the machine would compare the detected face with the image logged by public security authorities, said Chen Jidong, director of biometric identification technology at Ant Financial.

To achieve that, users need to subscribe to a service embedded in the Alipay digital wallet, which gives the app the green light to capture their personal information to confirm their identity, he noted.

This is possible thanks to 550 million real-name users on Alipay, through which they pay bills, settle traffic fines, manage wealth and get small loans.

"The scanning system focuses on your face, so it doesn't matter if you change your makeup or wear a wig," Chen said, adding that multiple tests have been conducted under various environments such as under sunlight or in the dark to ensure a smooth and consistent performance.

A demonstration video displayed during the conference suggested the whole process takes roughly five seconds, significantly shortening the conventional method of parcel retrieval by typing in text codes, which normally takes 16 seconds, the companies said.

"I would expect this investment and new process to save a substantial amount of time and ensure security," said Zou Jianhua, CEO of Diyi Box, a parcel pickup facility provider. "Just in Shanghai, at least 10,000 parcel pickup locations will be equipped with such functionality in three years."

Chen said that the false-acceptance rate, or the chances that the system incorrectly accepts an unauthorized user, should be below 0.001 percent and be further lowered to ensure bank-level security.

Shenzhen-based SF Express, a leading Chinese courier that is competing with Cainiao's network, said it is also developing biometric-based technologies to apply to its own parcel pickup cabinets.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-15/273729.shtml

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## cirr

*Nestle, JD.com unveil China's first AI nutrition assistant*

2017-09-20 09:08 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

Global food and beverage giant Nestle launched its own artificial intelligence (AI) product with Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com Tuesday, in a move to meet the demands of increasingly tech-savvy Chinese consumers.

Nestle XiaoAI, an AI family nutrition assistant, is a smart speaker equipped with nutrition and health knowledge that can answer questions from users on custom recipes, music and nutrition.

The device is built into JD.com's best-selling DingDong smart speaker system, which was co-developed by JD.com and China's largest AI voice tech supplier Iflytek. A limited edition beta version of Nestle XiaoAI is now available on JD.com.

Nestle's AI attempt is part of a global trend to go beyond traditional products with digital services offering convenience, entertainment and education for healthier living, according to Rashid Aleem Qureshi, Nestle Greater China Chairman and CEO.

China is Nestle's second largest market with rapidly changing trends and the smart speaker will help Nestle keep their finger on the pulse of Chinese consumers by collecting and analyzing data, Qureshi said.

He said Nestle would keep upgrading the device based on consumer demand and looked forward to cooperating with more partners in this field.

China released a national nutrition plan for 2017-2030 in July, which encourages wider knowledge of nutrition and science through personal electronics featuring big data and nutrition.

U.S. analytics company ComScore estimates that by 2020, 50 percent of all online searches will be through voice and smart speakers, and that other voice interface technologies were set to revolutionize the way people interact.

"China's smart speakers and voice interfaces are still in the embryonic stage and it will take cross-sector cooperation to make multi-terminal and multi-scenario services possible," said Fang Lv, vice president with LingLong Technology Company, the joint venture of JD.com and Iflytek.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/09-20/274286.shtml

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## qwerrty

__ https://www.facebook.com/


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## cirr

*AI increasingly used to tackle crime in China*

2017-09-30 09:26

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

*Finding a lost child in a city of 10 million people could take the human eye forever, but AI technology can do things in just two seconds.*

During Spring Festival this year, 3-year-old Xuanxuan was abducted by a stranger in the city of Shenzhen in south China. Without the help of AI, Xuanxuan may never have seen his parents again.

A local police station equipped with AI system used facial recognition technology to recognize the suspect after a two-second search of live video captured on thousands of security cameras.Police officers quickly identified the suspect, captured her on a train and retrieved the lost boy.

Recognizing images each containing millions of pixels used to be mission impossible for machines. But with the advancement of AI, scientists have developed systems capable of learning. Fed enough data these systems can learn to identify images such as faces and vehicles. The more they learn, the smarter they become.

Peng Ran, chief marketing officer of IntelliFusion, a company behind the technology which aided Xuanxuan's rescue, said the impact of AI on public security was game-changing.

"The error rate of AI-powered facial recognition has been narrowed to a level lower than humans," Peng said. "It works with astonishing precision and efficiency, plus it never gets tired."

AI has made Shenzhen safer. In Longgang, Shenzhen's first district to embrace AI in public security, the crime rate is plummeting. In the first half of 2017, theft and robbery cases in the district dropped by more than half, and AI helped solve 67 percent of such crimes.

Wang Li, a 21-year-old hotel waitress in Shenzhen, usually asks her boyfriend to escort her when she goes home late at night. But she said she does not do it out of safety concerns but to test her lover's devotion.

"The city is perfectly safe," Wang said. "I've never been robbed, let alone assaulted."

Behind Shenzhen's success in bringing down crime is China's rapid advancement in AI technology. The State Council issued guidelines on developing AI in July, aiming to make AI a key economic driving force by 2020, and become a global AI innovation center by 2030.

In a recent report, investment bank Goldman Sachs said China had emerged as a major global contender in using AI to drive economic progress, and was fast catching up with the United States in AI.

Consulting Group iResearch predicts China's AI market will reach 9.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, with an annual growth rate of 50 percent.

Attracted by the lucrative market, tech companies are diving head first into the battlefield. At the 2017 China Intelligent Equipment and Robot Expo held September 22-24 in Guangzhou, exhibitors showcased AI products designed for security purposes,including smart locks, patrol robots and robot firefighters.

Gosuncn, an AI company based in Guangzhou, exhibited robots designed to defuse bombs, prevent fire, control crowds and spot crime.

Zhou Ke, marketing manager of the company, said their robots were well received by security companies, shopping malls and warehouses, because they could relieve humans from tedious and dangerous tasks.

"They are reliable, tireless and very smart," Zhou said.

AI may be smart, but plenty of people believe humans ultimately outsmart machines.Technology geeks claim that AI security measures can be fooled, and say they can bypass facial recognition with photos to access bank accounts.

Peng agrees that AI can be tricked, but not with people standing behind it. To counter criminal tricks, such as covering their faces, IntelliFusion is training its system to recognize clothes, body shape and even posture.

The company's AI system is also learning how people's faces change with age. Given enough training, it will be able to recognize people's faces based on their childhood pictures. Peng hopes this technology will help parents who lost their children many years ago.

Peng believes it could be ultimate solution to fighting human trafficking - a thorny problem that worries millions of parents across the nation.

"With the help of AI, no child will be lost in the future," Peng said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/09-30/275811.shtml

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## qwerrty



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## Keel

Tech #BigData
JUL 31, 2017 @ 09:00 AM

*China's Rise In The Global AI Race Emerges As It Takes Over The Final ImageNet Competition*
https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2017/07/31/china-ai-imagenet/#49dcfe17170a
Aaron Tilley , FORBES STAFF


The Chinese Government recently said it would invest heavily in artificial intelligence to ensure its companies, government and military dominate the field by 2030. Now there's growing evidence that China may not have that far to go to claim the AI crown.

Perhaps there's no better place to note China's rise in AI than with this year's ImageNet competition, an influential AI contest where teams from across the world compete over which algorithms can best recognize images.

*Out of the 27 teams competing, more than half were Chinese-based research teams from universities or companies, and all the top performers were from China. The results were something of a repeat from last year, when Chinese scientists also dominated a field of 84 teams from around the world.* *To be sure, leading AI players like Google, who won top results in 2014, haven't participated in the last couple ImageNets. But China's dominance in the last two years of the competition shows just how much serious AI work is coming out of the country these days.*

*In this year's competitions, top results for the closely-monitored image classification challenge had an error rate of only 2.25% from a team called WMW, a small jump from the previous year's 2.99% error rate. WMW's team included two researchers from Beijing-based autonomous vehicle startup Momenta -- Jie Hu and Gang Sun -- as well as Li Shen from the University of Oxford. In an email to Forbes, the Chinese researchers said they use a technique called "squeeze and excitation," which both enhances useless feature and suppresses less useful ones of a convolutional neural network.*

A big jump over the previous year happened in object detection, which refers to a computer's ability to recognize objects and identify them in an image -- there are three apples in the picture and one cat, for example. *The winning team, called DBAT, achieved an accuracy of 73.1% over last year's 66.3%. The DBAT team consisted of a collection of eight researchers from China's Nanjing University and two from Imperial College London.*

Since starting in 2010, ImageNet (or Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge) has emerged as an influential event in the AI research community to track the latest advances in image recognition systems. The year 2012, in particular, is regarded as a watershed moment for AI and deep learning when a team from the University of Toronto made a major breakthrough in image recognition accuracy. Led by Alex Krizhevsky, the PhD student used a deep neural network to train a model and achieved image classification error rate of 15% -- a giant leap from the previous year's rate of around 25%. His model, called AlexNet, demonstrated the viability of deep learning systems, which had been around since at least the 1950s, but until then hadn't been taken very seriously. (Krizhevsky and his advisor, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, both now work at Google's AI lab.)

“2012 was really the year when there was a massive breakthrough in accuracy, but it was also a proof of concept for deep learning models, which had been around for decades,” said Olga Russakovsky, a computer science processor at Princeton University and an ImageNet organizer. “It really was the first time these models had been shown to work in context of large-scale image recognition problems.”

Deep learning techniques have since taken off like wild fire in the AI community as well as at nearly every tech company. These AI systems very loosely resemble how the brain functions -- many neurons networked together with synapses. The systems are trained on massive sets of data and are able to pick out patterns in the data.

Following the 2012 contest, large tech companies like Google and Microsoft began taking part in ImageNet to show off their latest advances in deep learning-based image recognition systems. In 2014, Google entered the competition with a team called GoogLeNet, and made a big breakthrough in object detection accuracy: 43.9% from the previous year's 22.6% accuracy. ImageNet makes for good marketing: In 2013, AI researcher Matt Zeiler launched his AI startup, Clarifai, while achieving top results at ImageNet in image classification -- a jump to 12% error rate from Krizhevsky's 15% the year before.

ImageNet's organizers wanted to stop running the classification challenge in 2014 and focus more on object localization and detection as well as video later on, but the tech industry continued to track classification closely throughout the years.

Now, ImageNet is shutting down because of performance saturation in challenges like image classification, said Alex Berg, a computer science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an ImageNet organizer. "There's not a lot of room on the top," he said.

"I think ImageNet is still making massive progress," added Russakovsky. "But it's healthy for the community to start focusing on perhaps other tasks, challenges or datasets."

Some in the AI community are wondering what research-focused AI challenges might take ImageNet's place. One possible contender Russakovsky points to is the COCO (or Common Objects in Context) contest. Berg is also working on putting together a challenge for image recognition based strictly on real world data using smartphone cameras. One contest, called WebVision, requires teams to train their models on images culled from the internet that haven't been exhaustively labeled, like ImageNet's dataset.

*The results for the WebVision challenge were recently announced and the top performer was Shenzhen-based Malong Technologies, maker of AI developer tools for image recognition tasks. Malong achieved a 94.78% accuracy rate in classifying the web images. Malong is a private business, but it opened a joint AI research lab with Tsinghua University with official sponsorship from the Shenzhen government, which is making offers of $1 million to any AI efforts kickstarted there.*

"AI is so fierce now, you need any competitive advantage you can get," said Matt Scott, cofounder and chief technology officer at Malong. "Government support is one of the very helpful things going on in China."

_Click here for details on how to send me information anonymously. Follow me on Twitter @aatilley or send me an email: atilley@forbes.com







_

You can also find additional details of ImageNet @#197 courtesy of @JSCh and also another AI competition in below website and @#200 and 215 posted separately by @JSCh and @qwerty earlier on this thread:

*SQuAD*
The Stanford Question Answering Dataset
https://rajpurkar.github.io/SQuAD-explorer/

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## cirr

*China calls for AI alliance*

2017-10-14 16:38

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_

China has accelerated its steps to develop artificial intelligence, as the nation calls for an alliance of leading companies and institutes to promote integration of AI resources.

"The nation is gaining ground in AI, with some advanced technologies already pioneered for the world. There is also an urgent need for companies and institutes to unite to optimize the whole industry chain to create a healthier ecology," said Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission.

He made the comments Friday, at a inauguration ceremony where an industry alliance to promote development of China's AI industry was officially established.

The alliance, backed by several state ministries and commissions including NDRC and the Ministry of Science and Technology, will be led by top-tier institutes such as the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

According to the alliance, more than 240 companies and institutes have participated in this platform and agreed to cooperate in this field to make strides forward.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-14/277049.shtml

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## beijingwalker

*China seeks dominance of global AI industry*
Beijing challenges US with plan to create $150bn artificial intelligence sector




16 HOURS AGO 

by Louise Lucas i

If the development of artificial intelligence is an arms race, then China wants to become the world’s unchallenged AI superpower. While the National Science Foundation in the US has no increase in funding this year, China has promised to “vigorously use governmental and social capital” to dominate the industry. US and Chinese tech companies alike are ploughing money and talent into AI, but Beijing’s blueprint for investing in artificial intelligence — creating a $150bn industry by 2030 — underlines its desire to beat the US. While industrial policy is no guarantee of success — contrary to aims, China has failed so far to create global champions in semiconductors or cars — few are dismissing Beijing’s clout in AI, the ability of machines to mimic human thinking and carry out tasks ranging from targeting advertisements to playing Go. 

“2030 is too pessimistic,” says Kai-Fu Lee, a veteran of Microsoft Research and Google who now runs his own venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures in Beijing. He reels off China’s advantages: the sheer number of people; data; talent; even the superior number of lines of code being written. At 730m, China’s online population alone is almost twice the size of America’s and more tech-savvy. “Mobile [use] in China is light years ahead of anywhere else,” says one tech player. “So you have a huge experimental lab for exciting AI applications. In China we see different consumer behaviours every day, in the US it’s a lot slower.”





https://www.ft.com/content/856753d6-8d31-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d

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## cirr

*Tapping growing potential of AI industry*

2017-10-17 11:20 China Daily _Editor: Li Yahui_

The global artificial intelligence market has experienced explosive growth in recent years, and this game-changing technology is now considered the "next big thing" after the mobile internet.

AI has a long development history but recent breakthroughs have led to a new inflection point. Advances in deep learning neural network algorithms, alongside improved computer processing power, and the abundance of big data that serves as valuable training data are all contributing to the rise of the AI industry.

China's AI industry has been growing in an exponential manner. According to Tencent Research Institute, the number of AI companies has increased more than tenfold over the past 10 years, from 57 AI companies in 2007 to 592 by June 2017. Remarkably, the number of newly established AI startups in 2015 was equivalent to the total number of AI start-ups from 1999 to 2012. In terms of fundraising, according to The Economist, Chinese AI companies received $2.6 billion investment from 2012 to 2016 while US peers received $17.9 billion over the same period. However, China has been catching up quickly in recent years.

The Chinese government has positioned AI as a national strategic priority. China, earlier seen as a technology development laggard, aims to become a world leader in AI to drive its economic transformations with it. In the most recent government policy document outlining the New Generation AI Development Plan, the State Council, the country's Cabinet, has declared an ambitious goal of becoming a world leader in AI innovation with a market size of over 1 trillion yuan ($151.86 billion) by 2030. Policies such as Made in China 2025, the Three-year Guidance for Internet Plus AI plan, and the New Generation AI Development Plan are all top-down initiatives aiming to take the nation's AI technology forward. Furthermore, local provincial and city governments are also offering preferential policies and generous financial incentives to AI start-ups. For example, the city of Tianjin recently set up a 30 billion yuan fund to support the local AI industry.

Data is the key to unlocking the potential of AI development. With 751 million internet users and 724 million smartphone users, Chinese are embracing a 24/7 connected lifestyle and adopting all kinds of new digital products and services. Their ubiquitous connectivity has led to tremendous amount of data that can be further monetized. And with the massive amount of training data sets as input, the AI algorithms are continuously self-tuning and improving. Companies are now able to leverage AI-enabled tools to develop a more comprehensive and dynamic understanding of their customers and competitors.

This vibrant innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem has also fueled China's AI development. Chinese AI-based patent applications grew 186 percent between 2010 and 2014, a huge increase from the previous five-year period. Also, in the past two years, all the top-performing teams in the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge, an influential AI computer vision contest, were Chinese, while half the teams were Chinese-based. Meanwhile, Internet giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, along with rising startups like Mobvoi, iCarbonX, Megvii and SenseTime, and unicorns like Didi Chuxing and Xiaomi are all investing in or experimenting with AI technology.

Baidu is one of the major leaders in AI development in China. It established the Institute of Deep Learning in 2013 and the Silicon Valley AI Lab in 2014. In 2017, Baidu announced a shift in its strategy from mobile-first to AI-first, and recruited Qi Lu, a former executive vice president at Microsoft, as its new COO. In particular, it has launched an open-source platform for autonomous driving solutions, namely Project Apollo, to transform the global research and development landscape of self-driving vehicles.

Yet, China's AI industry still faces major challenges. First, China's academia is not doing much in fundamental scientific research, especially in the areas of advanced computer algorithms and computing infrastructure. So far, the majority of groundbreaking research is still being done in the West. Second, AI startups are good at launching new products and features to satisfy unmet market demand. However they primarily rely on business model innovation rather than technology innovation. Third, governments and venture capitalists tend to provide more incentives to commercial applications of technology over fundamental technology research, which takes more time and involves more risks.

The success of China's ambitious goal to become a world leader in AI by 2030 will hinge on the nation's innovation capabilities and long-term strategic vision. Could China eventually achieve global leadership in AI? Like everything that is related to business and technology innovations these days, it would be imprudent to count China out.

_The author Edward Tse is founder& CEO, Gao Feng Advisory Company, a global strategy and management consulting firm based in China and author of China's Disruptors. Jackie Tang is a consultant with the firm._

http://www.ecns.cn/voices/2017/10-17/277353.shtml

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## cirr

*AI’s role in engineering contest is a yes-brainer*

2017-10-18 14:00

Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

*Artificial intelligence — the technology that was once considered too profound to be understood by the public — is now on the agenda for elementary and secondary schools.*

Furthermore, an engineering competition for Shanghai students that has been running for 13 years has for the first time added AI to the program.

The Shanghai Future Engineer Competition, held by Shanghai Educational Center of Science and Arts and Shanghai Science Education Development Foundation, focuses on inspiring and cultivating youngsters interested in science and technology.

Ten thousand students from all over Shanghai have signed up for the competition and have been preparing their projects since the new semester. The final competition will be held in December.

The presence of an AI project in the competition has attracted considerable attention from in and out the education system.

Eighteen teachers from all 16 districts involved in the competition gathered at Shanghai Science and Technology Museum yesterday to attend a seminar with David Li, a renowned AI entrepreneur.

"Teaching students AI is neither about algorithms, nor the Kafkaesque fantasy in the movies, but to intrigue students' interests," said Li, who told his audience that AI is more a tool than a mathematical computer science. The teaching of AI should concentrate on the practical, he added.

"Coding AI is hard and boring but the kids do not have to know about it, they can simply use and enjoy AI," Li said.

ASML, a leading company in lithography industry, has funded 600,000 yuan (US$91,000) to the competition and has provided 16 AI control panels.

"Youth talent and AI are both cornerstones for the future, cultivating the youth to get involved into AI industry is capturing the future," said Lucas van Grisven, vice president of ASML.

According to "Development Planning for a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence" published by the State Council in July, AI has now become a national strategy.

In 2015, Shanghai Science and Technology Commission launched an "artificial intelligence project based on brain science."

"We will continue strengthening education in AI," said Yao Zongqiang, secretary-general of Shanghai Science Education Development Foundation.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-18/277534.shtml

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## cirr

*Unicorn startup makes smart move into AI industry*

2017-10-19 10:09 China Daily _Editor: Li Yahui_

Chinese chip startup Cambricon Technologies has raised $100 million from investors, making it the first "unicorn" in the country's AI semiconductor sector to be worth more than $1 billion.

Backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Beijing-based company is affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, or CAS, and has focused on advanced chips to power deep learning computation.

This popular artificial intelligence algorithm is part of a broader push by the country's high-tech industries in the race for AI applications－the next frontier of innovation.

Last year, Cambricon unveiled its first chip, Cambricon-1A, which the company branded as the "first commercial deep learning application".

It can be used in the fields of robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and consumer electronics.

"Most AI applications are powered by general purpose processors, which are not enough to push forward the limits of cutting-edge technologies," said Chen Tianshi, CEO and co-founder of the startup.

Cambricon-1A, he stressed, was far better than traditional chips in delivering image and speech recognition.

It also has higher integration density, making it ideal for mobile devices.

"There are differences between tailor-made AI chips and general ones. To some extent, it is like comparing kitchen knives to Swiss Army knives," said Chen Yunji, co-founder of Cambricon.

"Swiss Army knives are multifunctional, but they are not as good as kitchen knives when chopping meat," he added.

Cambricon was founded last year by the two Chens, both researchers at the Institute of Computing Technology, which is part of the CAS.

In 2016, the company also received 100 million yuan ($15 million) in licensing fees for its Cambricon-1A chip from smartphone manufacturers and wearable device makers, DigiTimes, a daily newspaper for the semiconductor and electronics sectors, reported.

During August, the startup announced it had raised $100 million in series A funding. This was led by SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, a subsidiary of China's State Development & Investment Corp.

Other prominent investors included e-commerce giant Alibaba, computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd, robotics firm Zhongke Tuling Century Beijing Technology and the investment arm of the CAS.

Four months earlier, Cambricon had received $1.4 million from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The cash will be used to accelerate the company's AI chip technology program in high performance cloud computing platforms, as well as in smartphones and wearables, Chen Tianshi pointed out.

"We will focus on both in-device AI and cloud AI," he said, adding that the firm's clients already include iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese voice recognition business, and State-owned Sugon Information Industry Co Ltd.

Indeed, the future looks bright for Cambricon, even in a global marketplace which is highly competitive.

Demand for AI chips is growing, according to Roger Sheng, a senior analyst at research company Gartner Inc.

"There is rigid demand for AI chips in security, military, video AI algorithms and other sectors in China," he said. "There is no need for Cambricon to worry about orders, as long as its technologies are strong enough."

In July, China unveiled a national development plan to build a 1 trillion yuan AI core industry by 2030. This is supposed to stimulate as much as 10 trillion yuan in related businesses.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-19/277625.shtml

@Bussard Ramjet India?

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## qwerrty

*Intel leads US$100m funding round for Chinese AI start-up Horizon Robotics*

Horizon founder Yu Kai, a former leading AI scientist at Baidu, says the company’s goal is to become “the Intel of the AI age”
PUBLISHED : Friday, 20 October, 2017, 3:19pm
UPDATED : Friday, 20 October, 2017, 3:19pm


Horizon Robotics, the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, expects to close a US$100 million funding round led by Intel Capital – the global chip giant’s venture capital’s arm – by the end of this year.

Other investors in the round including China-based Harvest Investments and Morningside Venture Capital.

Intel said the funding in Horizon was part of a series of investments worth more than US$60 million it has made recently in 15 global tech start-ups, focused on data.

Beijing-based Horizon said in a live webcast in San Francisco run by Intel the funds will be used to speed up its research and development of AI technology, and its related products.

Horizon was founded in 2015 by Yu Kai, a former head of Baidu’s Institute of Deep Learning, and builds chips to power artificial intelligence in self-driving vehicles and smart cameras.

Yu was previously quoted as saying by various media sources that the company’s goal is to become “the Intel of the AI age”, just as Intel was the one of the icons of the PC era.

The world’s more than 1,000 categories of AI-driven devices, such as autonomous vehicles and smart cameras, will be equipped with “brains” in future, Horizon said, adding these will be embedded in physical devices to become intelligent entities that have the ability for perceive, understand and decision-make for safety, convenience and fun.

Intel Capital officials also said during the webcast it has made new investments recently in 15 global tech firms, pushing its total commitment to more than US$566 million this year.

Ten of those 15 are in the US – eight in California, with one each in New York and Portland, Oregon. The others include two Tel Aviv-based start-ups, and one Canadian one Japanese.

“The world is undergoing a data explosion,” said Wendell Brooks, Intel’s senior vice-president and president of Intel Capital.

He expects every autonomous vehicle on the road to be creating 4 terabytes of data per day by 2020, adding that a million self-driving cars will be able to create the same amount of data every day, as three billion people.

As its parent transitions into a “data company”, he said Intel Capital will continue to invest in various tech start-ups that can help expand the data ecosystem and “pathfind” important new technologies.

As an aside, he added, too, that currently more than 10 per cent of Intel Capital’s portfolio companies are led by women or “under-represented minorities”, including African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Latinos.








Code:


http://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/2116265/intel-leads-us100m-funding-round-chinese-ai-start-horizon-robotics


-------------------------------------------

*Former IBM Watson Chief Scientist Joins JD*
ChinaTechNews.com EditorOctober 11, 2017, 9:31:02 am HKT

Zhou Bowen, an authoritative scientist in the artificial intelligence sector, joined e-commerce firm JD as vice president of JD Group.

In his new role, Zhou will be responsible for businesses related to JD's AI research and platform unit. Zhou will directly report to JD Group's chairman and chief executive officer Liu Qiangdong.

JD's AI research and platform unit will focus on AI algorithm innovation and expanding AI for retail infrastructures.

Before joining JD, Zhou worked at IBM's New York headquarters as head of AI Foundations of IBM Research. As chief scientist of IBM Watson, Zhou was in charge of IBM Worldwide's strategy and implementation of basic research of artificial intelligence and deep learning. Under his leadership, Zhou's team participated in the algorithm development, engineering and commercial realization, and application of Watson's artificial intelligence platform.

In the professional area, Zhou published over one hundred papers on world-class journals and at top academic conferences. Their contents cover artificial intelligence, deep learning, natural semantic understanding, machine translation, and speech recognition.



Code:


https://www.chinatechnews.com/2017/10/11/25494-former-ibm-watson-chief-scientist-joins-jd

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## qwerrty

looks like samsung & mediatek next-gen mobile SOC will have chinese NPU. lol

---
*Samsung invests in China AI chip start-up DeePhi*
23rd October 2017

Samsung has made a ‘significant’ investment in DeePhi Tech, an AI IC specialist founded last year by four graduates from Tsinghua University and Stanford, reports _The Korea Times_.

‘We provide end-to-end solutions utilising deep compression and a DPU platform. Leveraging the optimisation of co-designed neural networks and FPGAs, DeePhi provides more efficient, convenient and economical inference platforms for both embedded end and server-side, including but not limited to data centres and surveillance,’ says DeePhi.

Other investors in DeePhi are Mediatek, AWS, Xilinx and Tsinghua University.

Korea’s SK Telecom is said to have offered to invest in DeePhi but the offer was turned down.

DeePhi’s attractions are said to include its neural network compression technology and neural network hardware architecture.

DeePhi has the Deep Neural Network Development Kit, DNNDK, which is a deep learning software development kit aimed at simplifying and accelerating deep learning applications.

*Samsung is said to be interested in mobile applications for DeePhi’s neural net-based AI chipsets like speech recognition, neural language processing and other recognition tasks on smartphones.*



Code:


https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/samsung-invests-china-ai-chip-company-deephi-2017-10/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Next Exynos may have neural engine co-processor for AI, similar to Apple's A11*

Posted: 23 Oct 2017, 05:35 , by Daniel P.

"Apple A11 Bionic neural engine," "Google Pixel Visual Core" - those are all buzz phrases to mark a growing trend in today's latest smartphone chipsets, namely specialized co-processors for niche tasks that offload those from generic main processor cores. This way the job in question - processing sensory input and Face ID visual calculations in Apple's case, or aiding the HDR+ camera algorithms in Google's Pixels - gets done much faster, way better, and with less battery drain than if you task it to the stock processor.

Needless to say, Samsung may soon be following suit with a custom neural engine co-processor for its own Exynos brand of chipsets, as it just invested a hefty amount into a Chinese AI company called DeePhi Tech. Founded by Tsinghua and Stanford university graduates, the firm has already bagged plenty of high-profile clients like Amazon, MediaTek, and Samsung itself, for its unique neural network chipset architecture and compression technology.

It specializes particularly in developing deep learning AI algorithms to go with its neural network chip designs, and Samsung may have invested in DeePhi in order to develop such a co-processor to its Exynos 9810 silicon that is expected to land with the Galaxy S9 in the spring. It's not the first time we are hearing that the next Exynos may have an AI chippery inside, and there was even a rumor that the S9 will arrive with a Face ID-styled 3D scanning kit of its own, so there you have it. Qualcomm already outed a software development kit for its Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine this summer, so the competition in the field is about to get fierce.



Code:


https://www.phonearena.com/news/Next-Exynos-may-have-neural-engine-co-processor-for-AI-similar-to-Apples-A11_id99172

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## TaiShang

China needs, at least, to be among the leading pack when it comes to AI. 

Huawei with an AI chip:

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## qwerrty

TaiShang said:


> China needs, at least, to be among the leading pack when it comes to AI.
> 
> Huawei with an AI chip:


huawei ai chip core is licensed from chinese startup cambricon. samsung ai chip will be from deephi from the look of it. this is jackpot having two top big players in mobile industry using their sh1t. i hope they don't end up like imagination later on

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## TaiShang

Oct 23, 2017 06:53 PM
*Segway-Maker Ninebot Wins Financing for AI Drive*

By Mo Yelin





The artificial-intelligence efforts of Ninebot Ltd., the Chinese manufacturer of the Segway, has won support from the Chinese government, which selected the firm to help draft standards for self-balancing transportation systems. Above, 9-year-old Rayen Koan rides his Segway in Los Angeles in December 2015. Photo: Visual China

*Ninebot Ltd., the Tianjin-based manufacturer of the popular Segway two-wheeler, has raised $100 million for robot and short-distance transportation development projects.*

Providing the financial support was the China Mobile Innovation Industry Fund and a fund managed by SDIC Innovation, Ninebot announced on its website.

Artificial intelligence (AI) projects are also on the agenda at 5-year-old Ninebot, which purchased the U.S. developer of the one-person,* two-wheeled Segway vehicle in 2015 with financial support from Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc.*

Other Ninebot investors include the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and U.S. chip-maker Intel Corp.

Ninebot’s personal transportation business is called Segway PT (which stands for “personal transportation”), and Segway Robotics, which includes AI initiatives.

The personal transportation unit encompassed Segway Discovery, which offers two-wheeler rentals in tourist areas, resorts and urban districts worldwide. More than 1,000 Segway rental outlets are operating globally.

The company recently unveiled its first consumer-market robot, Segway Loomo, which features an AI system with speech and hearing functions so that the machine can interact with people.

Ninebot’s AI efforts have won support from the Chinese government, which selected the firm to help draft standards for self-balancing transportation systems.

Wan Gang, who heads the Ministry of Science and Technology, signaled the government’s interest by visiting Ninebot’s Beijing office last week, the company said.

“As the government has invested heavily in the (AI) area, many startups and big corporations are also committing to building their own AI systems,” Wan said. “Ninebot can also contribute to that.”

*Contact reporter Mo Yelin *(yelinmo@caixin.com)

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-10-23/101160050.html

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## JSCh

*Live: 2017 GeekPwn in Shanghai *
Live · Started 14:30, Oct 24, 2017 (BJT)
Shanghai, China





GeekPwn is the first global security Geek Contest for Smart Life. GeekPwn has been at the forefront of the technology, and this year in Shanghai, GeekPwn will continue to explore AI security.

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## cirr

*iFlytek plans incubators for startups*

2017-10-25 07:41 

China Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_






Robots, made by iFlytek Co Ltd from East China's Anhui province, on display at an industry expo held in Beijing. (Photo/Xinhua)

Leading Chinese artificial intelligence company, *iFlytek Co Ltd*, has announced it will set up a 1.02 billion yuan ($150 million) fund to support software and hardware developers. The move is part of its broad push to accelerate the application of AI in consumer electronics, healthcare and other industries.

The announcement came after the company's AI-enabled user interface platform accumulated 460,000 third-party developer teams in the past seven years.

Hu Yu, executive president of iFlytek, said the fund will be used to finance startups that have core technologies but lack business know-how, or companies that excel in commercializing products but are unable to integrate AI into their devices.

"As a company born out of the (Hefei-based) University of Science and Technology of China, we have been focusing on voice recognition technologies for 18 years. We know what problems technology-oriented startups will face and how to help traditional companies upgrade themselves through AI," Hu said.

The company's efforts are in line with General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Xi Jinping's call to turn China into a country of innovators and to reach the frontiers of science and technology.

Innovation is the primary force driving development, Xi said in a report delivered to the 19th CPC National Congress on Oct 18. He called for more measures to cultivate young scientists, engineers and high-performing innovation teams._*[Special Coverage]*_

Li Deyi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said because AI is being increasingly used in manufacturing, healthcare and other traditional industries, China is now in need of roughly 1 million AI specialists.

"Nurturing more AI professionals is key to being a world pioneer in cutting-edge technology," Li said.

According to iFlytek, it will partner with local governments across the country to build incubators to accelerate startups' growth. For instance, it has a 10,000-square-meter space in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, to help companies learn how to develop AI-enabled systems or gadgets for automobiles.

"We will not only offer software support and financial guidance, but also hardware components and an online AI curriculum," Hu said.

According to Hu, the company is partnering with Cambridge University in image recognition technology, and is planning to expand its presence in Europe by first entering into the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday, iFlytek also unveiled a smart microphone named Morfei, which has built-in voice recognition and natural language understanding technologies. The device is designed to lower the threshold for home appliance-makers and hotels to integrate AI technologies into their products.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-25/278307.shtml

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## qwerrty

*China vs US: Who is winning the big AI battle?*
Oct 22, 2017
Masha Borak






China and the US are becoming the world’s biggest rivals in artificial intelligence: it’s Luke vs Darth Vader, Alien vs Predator, Rocky vs Ivan Drago. The Chinese government’s pivot to become the leader in this technology has created plenty of hype, but how are China’s ambitious AI aspirations playing out on the ground? Research by startup database IT Juzi and Tencent News offers a new view of China’s AI industry’s strengths and weaknesses.

The US is currently the definite champion in AI development, according to the data. There are 1.82 times more American AI companies than Chinese. Investments in the US are 1.54 higher than in China and the talent pool is 2.01 times larger. Out of the total number of AI companies in the world (2542 according to data from June 2017), the US hosts 42% of them, while China ranks second with 23%. The two countries beat Britain, Australia, Japan, Sweden, Singapore and other developed countries.

These strong AI foundations were built with the help of companies such as Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft which started their ascendance early. But that gap could close soon: China’s tech trinity BAT is also building its AI ecosystems. There is Baidu’s AI assistant/platform DuerOS, self-driving platform Apollo and deep learning platform Paddle Paddle. Alibaba has its Platform of Artificial Intelligence (PAI 2.0), the Tmall Genie voice assistant, and customer service chatbot Dian Xiaomi. Tencent has developed a cloud service, an open-source computing platform called Angel, Wechat AI, and robot reporter Dreamwriter.

Giants aren’t the only ones wrestling in the ring: AI companies in China are springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

“China’s artificial intelligence can basically rival the world’s, but the dividends brought by industrial revolutions over the past 10 years will eventually be gone,” said Yao Qizhi, the first Asian winner of the Turing award, adding that supercomputers and theory are China’s biggest shortcomings.

These are not the only areas lagging behind the US, according to the report. A major impediment is the lack of AI talent. The numbers show that the US AI talent pool is 78,000-strong, while in China, that number is more than half lower—it has 39,200 AI experts. The reason behind this is the lack of quality training: out of the top 20 universities in the world in AI, 16 are affiliated to the US. Current academic capacities in China simply do not meet the demand.

The divide is also visible within the industry: China’s AI development will have to bridge the technology gap while paying attention to product differentiation and market demand. These are the three thresholds for AI startup development, the report states.

“For investors, the artificial intelligence technology industry is a promising tech industry, both large and small companies have begun to rise,” according to IT Juzi analyst and study co-author Li Jingwang. “But like the Internet bubble of 2000, they should be more cautious in choosing the right company.”

Chinese and American AI experts will have plenty of opportunities for a rematch. The most important areas in AI in the near future will be network security and fraud prevention, unmanned convenience stores, machine translation, the medical and pharmaceutical industry, and intellectual right protection. The two countries are currently building their strengths in different fields while AI startups are growing with their local financing trends.

Here are some more interesting numbers on China’s AI industry from the “2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report” (2017中美AI创投现状与趋势研究报告).

*What are Chinese and American AI companies researching?*




_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report_

Thanks to advances in three crucial areas for AI development—algorithms, data and high-performance chips—the world is discovering new applications in the field. In China, the most popular growth areas are proving to be smart robots with companies such as Ubtech, Roobo, and Cloudminds, as well as unmanned areal vehicles (UAV) with drone giant DJI as the biggest player in the field.

Natural language processing (NLP), including semantic analysis, speech recognition, and chatbots have also proven a hot spot with Jinri Toutiao, iFlytek and Unisound as some of the more famous representatives.

The third popular category—face and image recognition—hosts companies such as Face++ and SenseVision. It covers video surveillance, automatic driving, and computer vision.

But what are China’s AI strengths comparing to the US? The research lists nine areas in AI according to the difficulty of starting a business. For instance, NLP and computer vision have lower technical difficulty, which is why this area is a common hotspot both in China and the US. The most difficult part of AI is processor and chip development due to the amounts of funding needed, long cycle of development, and fewer talents.

According to the research, China’s main strength lies in intelligent robots, while the US stands as the world’s machine learning application champion.





_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report_

*What industries are most affected by AI in China?*
In China, the medical industry has become an interesting area for AI applications, including medical imaging and medical record analysis. This field has so far largely benefited from weak artificial intelligence, a form of AI specifically designed to focus on narrow tasks.

The automobile industry ranks second with self-driving and assisted driving, followed by education, finance, manufacturing, security, home and other industries.





_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report_

*How much money does the AI industry get?*
Since the first AI investments in the US in 1999, the amount invested in AI globally has risen to RMB 191.4 billion. As of June 31st, 2017, Chinese AI companies received RMB 63.5 billion or 33.18% of the world’s AI funding, The US takes the lead with 51.10% (RMB 97.8 billion), while the rest of the world carved up the remaining 15.73%.

In 2016, China managed to edge closer to its main rival, but thanks to several big deals in the US, China’s total AI financing significantly lagged in H1 2017.

Another interesting piece of data is that China has a higher percentage of AI companies that have received investments (69%) than the US (51%). This shows that the main problem for AI development in China is not the lack of funds but the lack of technology and talent.





_Image credit: China has a higher percentage of AI companies that have received investments (69%) than the US (51%)._

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## onebyone

China has laid out a for a comprehensive national renaissance by 2050. Xi’s report includes 12 sections, each breaking into numerous parts covering issues including housing, health, science, defense, artificial intelligence and the sharing economy.

1. The Xi plan projects the basic realization of socialist modernization by 2035, resulting in a major expansion of the middle class, with continuing growth through 2050. In the Chinese political lexicon, this means becoming the economic and technological equivalent of a developed nation. In GDP per capita terms, this would imply up to three times the current level, to between $20,000 and $30,000. With this performance, China will formally surpass the U.S. well before 2035.

Nextbigfuture covered a projection that China could have moderately slowing growth from now to 2050

From now to 2020 China’s economic growth rate should be about 6.5%
by 2025 it may fall to about 5%
by 2030 to around 4%,
and then stabilize at 3% -4% for some time.

China GNI per capita should be about
2017 $8800
2018 $9300
2019 $9800 (about the current level of Malaysia
2020 $10200 (about current world average GNI per capita)
2021 $10800 
2022 $11500
2023 $12100 (At about World Bank high income definition)
2030 $16000 (about the current level of Uruguay)
2040 $22000 (about the current level of Saudi Arabia)
2050 $29000-32000 (about the current level of Spain, Italy and South Korea)
This would be in line with China getting around $20,000 GDP per capita by 2035 and around $30,000 per capita in todays dollars by 2050.

2. Sustainability. The Xi plan calls for a concentrated drive to eradicate poverty, as the increasing wealth gap resulting from rapid development is the enemy of long-term sustainability. In the five years since the 18th Party Congress, at least 60 million people were lifted out of poverty. If such a rate is sustained, the tens of millions currently living below the poverty line will all be lifted out of poverty in only a few years.

The environment is, of course, the other threat to sustainability. The Xi plan maps out major structural changes to the economy and energy usage and envisions a substantially cleaner environment in two decades.

3. Expansion. The Belt and Road Initiative is larger than the Marshall Plan both in size and geography. China will export its infrastructure-led economic development to a vast number of developing and developed countries.

By 2050, the Belt and Road region aims to contribute 80 per cent of global GDP growth, and advance three billion more people into the middle class.

4. Identity. Xi is emphasizing the importance of Chinese traditional culture.

Xi Jinping said the PLA must fully modernize by 2035, having phased out the last of its antiquated equipment. The PLA must adopt the latest in information warfare technology, boosting the PLA’s ability to share data across the armed services. By 2050, the PLA must become a “top ranked” military, which means rough parity with the United States military.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/...-2050-health-ai-sharing-economy-and-more.html

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## cirr

*AI startup draws big investors*

2017-10-26 09:08

China Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_





Yao Song, co-founder and CEO of DeePhi Tech, introduces the company's latest processor in Beijing on Tuesday. (Photo provided to China Daily)

*DeePhi Tech gets $40 million in funding for data center, security services development*

Artificial intelligence processor startup DeePhi Tech has raised about $40 million in its latest round of financing, with investments led by Ant Financial Services Group and Samsung Venture Investment.

The deal is the first major investment in the AI semiconductor sector by Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. It is also part of China's broader push to develop world-level computer chips to power the cutting-edge industry.

Yao Song, co-founder and CEO of DeePhi Tech, said part of the new cash will be used to accelerate the development of AI products and services for the security and big data fields.

"The injection of Ant Financial's strategic resources will also support us in exploring more application scenarios for the financial industry. The partnership with Samsung will center around data storage," the Beijing-based company said in a statement.

The investment is also reportedly Samsung's first bet on China's AI startups.

Founded in 2016 by a group of researchers from Tsinghua University and Stanford University, DeePhi Tech focuses on offering deep learning algorithms and processors to accelerate the application of AI in diverse sectors.

"Currently, we generate about 70 percent of our revenue from the security sector and the rest from the big data industry," Yao said.

Earlier this year, DeePhi Tech had already secured tens of millions of US dollars in its series A round of financing from six investors, including United States AI chip producer Xilinx, semiconductor-maker MediaTek Inc, Tsinghua Holdings and Sigma Square Capital.

The latest investment came after Cambricon Technologies, an AI chip startup affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, raised $100 million from investors such as Alibaba.

Cambricon unveiled its first chip, Cambricon-1A, last year, which the company branded as the "first commercial deep learning application". It can be used in the fields of robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and consumer electronics.

Xie Yuan, an AI expert and professor from University of California, Santa Barbara, said because young Chinese researchers' work on AI hardware architecture has reached a world-class level, there is a huge opportunity for them to lead in the high-tech field.

In the first half of this year, China's AI startups have secured a combined record financing of 19.3 billion yuan ($2.87 billion), according to a report released by the tech-investment data website itjuzi.com.

In July, China unveiled a national development plan to build a 1 trillion yuan AI core industry by 2030, which is supposed to stimulate as much as 10 trillion yuan in related businesses. Developing homegrown AI processors is an important part of the ambitious goal.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-26/278455.shtml

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## Menthol

30 years... It's still a very very long way to go before China able to reach South Korea standard of today.

I guess China will take several generations before able to became a true developed country, unlike South Korea and Singapore.


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## shadows888

Menthol said:


> 30 years... It's still a very very long way to go before China able to reach South Korea standard of today.
> 
> I guess China will take several generations before able to became a true developed country, unlike South Korea and Singapore.



50 million in south korea, 6 million in singapore.. what comparison? maybe you should compare say hangzhou (+/-8 million pop) to Singapore. or YRD or PRD to south korea.

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## cirr

*Artificial intelligence is the new buzzword*

2017-10-27 09:58

Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_





Xiaozhi, dancing robots developed by Hazzi Robotics, perform at the exhibition.(Photo/Shanghai Daily)

Artificial intelligence is now the buzzword not only in science, but in almost all walks of life. "To advance application of AI in real economy" has officially been written in a report delivered at the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress which ended on October 24.

In fact, AI is taking up our daily life with a speed faster than many could have imagined.

Ordinary citizens got a chance to look at the latest development in artificial intelligence and robotics at the Hangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Leisure Exhibition, which was held between October 20 and 23. Sixteen companies showcased their flagship products and technology at the Hangzhou International Expo Center.

A four-legged robot at the exhibition caught the eyes of many visitors. The robot "Chitu," weighing 75 kilograms at a stand-up height of 0.8 meter, was developed by a start-up team from the College of Control System and Engineering, Zhejiang University.

It took the team two years to launch a second-generation robot with funds from Nanjiang Robotics, a local company that produces wheeled warehouse robots. Chitu is likely to be used for safety patrol, post-disaster rescue operations and counter-terrorist practices.

"The robot can walk on slopes, gravy roads and other complex surfaces," said Zhao Yidong, a member of the project. "Compared to traditional wheeled robots, it can also jump and climb 17-centimeter-tall stairs."

Its walking speed can reach up to 1.5 meters per second — as good as grown-ups. It is electronically powered and capable of working for 40 minutes outdoors.

In May this year, the quadruped robot won the "Global Student Design Showcase" in NI Engineering Compact Award, an annual engineering and science conference hosted by National Instruments Corporation in the US.

While Chitu is still in the lab, some local companies are already reaping profits by mass producing household/commercial robots. Hazzi Robotics, for example, brought three types of products — Xiaozhi, a dancing robot, while Rongbao and Jubao are used for shopping guidance and reception.

A salesperson at the exhibition told Shanghai Daily that the prices of robots ranged from 3,680 yuan ($555) to 200,000 yuan each depending on the requirements of the customer.

In another booth, a staffer from Baidu, one of the top three Internet companies in China, was demonstrating how to interact with a built-in DuerOS home entertainment system.

DuerOS is a speech based interactive AI system initiated by Baidu in July this year in the hope of connecting every device. By using a remote control that accepts sound input, users can "talk" to their TV and command it to switch on and off or skip the introduction of a program.

"I can tell my TV to find a movie performed by the husband of a certain celebrity," Tang Xiaoyang, a marketing officer at Baidu, told Shanghai Daily. "I can also stop in the middle of a program and ask the device to search for a cast member's information to appear on the screen."

The process actually involves several AI or AI-related technologies including speech recognition, facial recognition and natural language processing. Meaning, once equipped with DuerOS, a device will be able to understand the human language and react with corresponding actions.

The same system can be transferred to cars, stereos, wearable devices or even home appliances. The DuerOS also works as an open platform that allows developers to submit their own AI applications.

Beside commercial uses, AI technologies are also applied in government administrations.

Another exhibitor, the Hangzhou-based Enjoyer Group, presented its comprehensive intelligent solutions for public medical care, traffic policing, environment monitoring, etc.

Tapping on the big data collected from the city's traffic police unit, it works out the best plan for the traffic light durations at each intersection, which greatly eases the problem of congestion on road. The project is a collaborative one with the Alibaba Group.

The exhibition was a part of this year's West Lake International Expo and the third World Leisure Expo, which kicked off on October 20, and featured 33 major events including forums, exhibitions, festivals and other leisure activities.

Roger Coles, chairman of the World Leisure Organization, told Shanghai Daily that he was amazed at the city's fast development in facilities and infrastructures. As it opens up with more tourism opportunities, the city would be recognized and appraised by more foreigner visitors.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-27/278644.shtml

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## cirr

*China's Siri-like iFlytek unveils smart microphone for home appliances*

2017-10-27 10:34　Global Times　_Editor: Li Yan_

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the future, it is the present. It has now penetrated almost every aspect of daily life.

A car equipped with an audio guide has become the driver's assistant. A doctor can precisely diagnose certain conditions with image analysis technology. When people step into their home, they can turn on lights and their air conditioner (AC) by using only the sound of their voice.

Those are just a few example scenarios given by industry insiders at a recent tech conference that demonstrated how AI is transforming people's lives.

The comments were heard during a key tech conference held by China's Siri-like voice recognition services provider iFlytek on Tuesday in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province.

iFlytek, which has been ranked as one of this year's 50 smartest companies worldwide by MIT Technology Review, has been shifting its focus from software to hardware over recent years with the aim of responding to the rising demand for the application of AI technologies.

The voice recognition services provider has just launched its first smart microphone called MORFEI, which combines speech recognition technologies with mini-sized hardware. The surround sound microphone is designed for 5-meter sound pickup and can be integrated into other smart home appliances such as the refrigerator, AC, and TV.

MORFEI is the latest smart voice device since iFlytek and Chinese tech giant JD.com Inc came up with a voice-enabled AI product called DingDong two years ago, which is considered China's answer to Amazon's Echo and Google's Home.

Backed by its human-computer interactive interface AIUI, MORFEI can help start-ups design different features in accordance with customer demand.

"This [product] is part of the AI plus industry, for example, a manufactured smart home appliance can use this device to create voice command features," said Wang Wen, senior director of the smart hardware department at the consumer business group under iFlytek.

Established in 1999, iFlytek has become a major player in the voice recognition field and has prevailed in well-recognized global competitions such as the Winograd Schema Challenge and the NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation.

"But only making technology breakthroughs is not enough," said Hu Yu, executive director of iFlytek, noting that AI should also be utilized in real-life scenarios and be used to solve industry challenges.

As a major tech provider, iFlytek's core technologies, including voice recognition, multi-language processing, machine translation and other smart customer services, have been used in the automobile, finance, home appliance and education fields.

*Shift to hardware*

As such technology, particularly language understanding and precise language translation, continues to mature, more and more tech firms in turn will continue coming up with innovative business models and unprecedented consumer products that are adopted on a wide-scale basis.

For example, Beijing-based consulting firm Analysis International forecast that speech automobile interaction systems will become a must for passenger cars in the next five years.

Furthermore, in 2016, iFlytek established three new business groups which focused on smart education, smart cities and consumer products.

"Diversifying its business will enhance iFlytek's competitiveness in the voice recognition sector," Feng Chao, analyst at Analysis International, told the Global Times.

In recent years, iFlytek has unveiled a series of services and products that can be used in real-time scenarios. For example, its dictation system called iFlyrec, which has been used in 271 courthouses nationwide, can listen to, recognize and then transcribe speech instantly.

Also, the company's speech recognition system has helped local police track telecom fraud and prevented potential losses of up to 500 million yuan ($75.37 million) in Anhui Province.

Besides DingDong, the company has launched other consumer products since last year. For instance, one of its devices can translate not only Putonghua into five other foreign languages, but also into other languages of China's ethnic minority groups, hinting a future without interpreters.

As such, 50 percent of jobs might be replaced by AI in 10 years, Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek, said at the conference on Tuesday.

"We might only need to work five hours a day. But although AI could take over some of our jobs, we could do other more valuable and creative things instead," he said.

Smart hardware and devices are only at the earliest stages of development, Wang Mengxuan, an analyst from Beijing-based industry consultancy iResearch, told the Global Times.

That meaning, for example, MORFEI will soon enable iFlytek to grab market shares in the smart speaker sector, which will further boost the AI industry's overall growth in the coming years, she noted.

The market scale of the country's speech and voice recognition market alone is forecast to surpass 100 billion yuan by the end of 2017, with a year-on-year growth of 69.8 percent, according to a report released by Analysis International in April.

*Ongoing foreign competition*

"Because voice and speech recognition technology is increasingly being used in Chinese consumer products nowadays, we hold optimistic views on the rapid growth of tech firms in China," Feng said.

However, despite the domestic industry's recent spike in development, foreign companies are currently still leading in the smart device world, she added.

For instance, U.S. tech giant Google Inc has applied its AI learning system TensorFlow to four of its major services - Google Home, Google Map, Google Glass and Google Assistant.

"Customers in overseas markets have much better user experience with smart devices, which are also more accepted," Feng noted.

But as an innovation-driven company, iFlytek will soon develop in a similar way that global tech giants such as Google and Intel have grown, Hu said. "We won't do everything on our own, we will team up with players in different sectors by offering voice-related solutions and attracting more start-ups to our open platform."

Further internationalizing its business is also part of the company's corporate strategy. However, it must accumulate abundant foreign language resources for its database, as noted at the conference.

It takes time to build up an ecosystem as the industry has not yet fully developed, Wang, the analyst, said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/10-27/278661.shtml

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## cirr

*Tencent can now erase makeup from photos*

2017-10-27

CGTN　_Editor: Li Yan_





Test result of the algorithm. (Screenshot via Tencent Youtu Lab)

What will you do after taking a selfie? Directly post it online or beautify it using photo-editing apps first? As virtual makeup apps gain popularity among both males and females, Chinese developers are working on a way to remove makeups from over-edited photos.

During the International Conference of Computer Vision (ICCV) held from October 22 to 29 in Venice, Italy, *Tencent Youtu Lab*, an artificial intelligence (AI) research lab under the Chinese tech giant Tencent, released a new algorithm through a paper submitted to ICCV that can reverse over-edited deceiving pictures.

Dubbed "makeup-go," the algorithm is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world, and it focuses on tackling the two issues of skin smoothing and skin color change.

One of the difficulties mentioned by the lab is that every virtual makeup software performs quite differently, which make it impossible to learn all operations that can smooth skin, suppress wrinkle and freckle, and adjust tone.

Therefore, the team designed a new network structure to reverse pictures "blindly." Learned from data of different software, the network can restore beautified images without knowing the exact algorithms.

Also, instead of directly regressing the pictures towards the unedited version, the network regresses levels of principal components of the edited parts separately. As a result, subtle detail information won't be ignored.

Makeup-go doesn't handle geometric face-lifting at the moment, the team said in the paper.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-27/278680.shtml

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## Bussard Ramjet

*Baidu, Aplus Capital and Frees Fund Invest In Chinese AI Acoustics Technology Start-up SoundAI*
YIMIAN WUOctober 27, 2017 — 14:01 HKT



Baidu, Aplus Capital, Frees Fund and Linekong Interactive Group, a Hong Kong-listed company, jointly invested about RMB100 million (US$15 million) in a series A round in a Beijing-based start-up SoundAI in September, according to media reports and confirmed by both the company and Frees.

Bank of Beijing also participated in the investment by providing venture loans.

Founded in 2016 by Chen Xiaoliang, a former researcher from the Institute of Acoustics at Chinese Academy of Sciences, SoundAI develops sonic technology that focus on acoustics, including ultrasonic recognition, directional speakers, acoustic communication, three-dimensional sound, wireless audio, conference systems to support artificial intelligence technology application. Its technology can be applied in chips, modules, OS and cloud services, the company said.

“When Freeds Fund invested in SoundAI in 2016, we recognized the technology that Chen’s team have,” said Li Feng, Freeds Fund’s founder. “Smart speaker became popular in the first half of 2017, and the needs of voice interaction technology have increased, which accelerating SoundAI’s business, bringing them the opportunities to partner with Baidu and Xiaomi.”

The company’s technology has been used in Qihoo 360’s smart camera and Xiaomi’s AI speakers, the company says. It has also partnered with Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, Xiao MI, and Huawei, according to the company’s website.

Last year, Aplus Capital led a RMB160 million (US$24 million) in a Pre-A round, with participation by Frees Fund. Frees Fund and Runzhe Capital also invested RMB120 million (US$18 million) in an angel round when the company was founded.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2...chinese-ai-acoustics-technology-start-soundai


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## cirr

*Chinese firm launches robot to serve the elderly*

2017-10-27 16:34 Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

Siasun Robot and Automation Co., Ltd., China's leading robot manufacturer, on Friday launched a new service robot designed especially to serve the elderly.

Less than one meter tall, the robot can roam around a house and send images of its elderly users for remote monitoring. It is voice-controlled and can automatically avoid barriers and recharge itself.

Siasun, based in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, launched the new robot at the China International Old-Age Service Industry Expo, held in the city on Friday.

Dong Zhuang, a senior manager of the company, said it is Siasun's first service robot developed with cloud-computing technology, which gives it the ability to learn quickly. It can help users with health checks and chronic disease home care.

Dong said Siasun has cooperated with the Shenyang Deveau Home Care Center to develop the service robot in order to serve the elderly's needs for home care. The robot can facilitate communication between elderly people and their children through its remote-monitoring function.

Zuo Hongci, director of the Shenyang Association of Old-Age Service Industry, said seniors over 60 account for 23 percent of the city's total population. There is a big market shortfall of workers to care for the elderly. Intelligent service robots may play a big role in filling the need in the future.

Shenzhen-listed Siasun plans for its annual output to reach 10,000 industrial robots and intelligent manufacturing equipment units, and 2,000 service robots this year. The company boasts a development team of more than 2,000 people.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/10-27/278707.shtml

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## TaiShang

*China expected to turn the tide of global car industry with AI technology*

By Jiang Jie (People's Daily Online) 08:24, November 02, 2017






Experts discuss at a panel discussion at the Future Forum on Oct.29 in Beijing. (Photo courtesy of Future Forum)

After 60 years of development, the rapidly advancing AI industry has yet to usher in a modern age the way Isaac Newton did with physics, but this provides a good opportunity for countries like China to turn the tide.

Addressing a panel discussion on Oct.29 at the Future Forum in Beijing, *Wang Jin, founder of JingChi Corp, a self-driving technology company based in the US state of California, said he believes the global car industry now faces a chance to breakthrough, as competition heats up among several major players, namely China, US, Germany, and Japan.*

China has poured huge investment into technology research and development. The time has come for China to join the competition over the leading role in the century-old automobile industry with its advantages in technology, noted Wang, who is also a former senior vice president of Baidu.

Figures released at the forum show that* China is taking over the US in the number of thesis papers published on AI. Some 43 percent are written by Chinese scholars.*






Engineers test in a self-driving car at Jingchi Corp (Photo courtesy of Jinchi Corp)

China’s outstanding performance on AI studies is not only demonstrated through the number of theses, but through many champion titles in international challenges.

On Oct.29, a Chinese AI company for the first time claimed the top of the world’s computer vision competition of Microsoft Common Objects in Context (MS COCO) Challenge in Venice, Italy.* The company, Megvii, beat Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and other global tech giants, as well as many top universities including Carnegie Mellon University.*

After its sweeping victory in the world’s only competition that gathers Google, Microsoft, and Facebook at the same time, *Megvii announced on Oct.31 that it has completed a C-round financing of some $460 million, a world record in AI financing, Caijing Magazine reported.*

Meanwhile, experts at the forum pointed out that the world is craving for more AI talents, and China is one of the most eager ones.

According to leading AI expert Li Feifei from Stanford University, the demands for AI talents across the globe greatly exceed the supply. The imbalance exists not only in academia, but also in business, requiring more AI education and research.

“The situation is worse in China, as it only started to getting its hands on AI about 10 years ago, hence the inadequate talent pools,” Zhou Zhihua, vice dean of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Nanjing University told the panel, adding that few companies seeking AI talents are willing to help with AI education, and are looking for talents from other companies and research institutes.

Wang agreed that the scarcity of AI talents in China is greater than that in the US, taking the example of salary for AI-related employees. One tends to see up to 15 percent salary raise in China when transferred from the US, but it would be a decrease if one transferred from China to the US.

Professor Dawn Song from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the focus should be on fundamental research, even though companies want fast solutions rather than long-term cultivation, because this can beef up their problem-solving abilities when needed. 

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/1102/c202936-9287648.html

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## cirr

*AI can see hot and cold*

2017-11-02 09:04

Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

Artificial Intelligence technologies are being used to predict what will be hot and what will flop in the world of online programing, with a success rate of over 80 percent.

Such tech has already been used to help Chinese online video markets improve popular online programs and attract millions of clicks and views, China's leading online video service provider, iQiyi, said.

Next year iQiyi plans to create around 200 programs, with investment of 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), with the help of AI, which will be used to choose content production aspects like theme and characters, help purchase programs that audiences will enjoy, and classify audiences.

"AI has helped us better understand audience tastes, content production and advertising and marketing," Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi said in Shanghai.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-02/279330.shtml

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## ashok321

China on path to eclipse US with AI, warns Alphabet







WASHINGTON — Unless the U.S. launches a national initiative on artificial intelligence and considers immigration changes, China is likely to eclipse America as the dominant force in AI, Google’s top executive warned Wednesday.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet and the chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, said the U.S. needs to “get our act together” if it doesn’t want to fall behind on the technology that could determine the future of both the defense and commercial sectors.

In the last year, Beijing released a formal AI strategy, which Schmidt, speaking at an event organized by the Center for a New American Security, said should set alarm bells ringing in America.


*“It’s pretty simple. By 2020, they will have caught up. By 2025, they will be better than us. By 2030, they will dominate the industries of AI,” Schmidt said, describing the plan. And, he added, Beijing is on track to meet that; the CEO predicts China will reach parity with the U.S. sometime in the next five years.*

“They have announced their strategy, so you’re crazy to treat them as somehow second-class citizens,” Schmidt said of China. And if America thinks China “won’t produce people who can do this, you’re wrong.”

For the U.S., the only option is what Schmidt referred to as a Sputnik moment — a national movement to focus research efforts and funding on understanding this technology and maintaining a definitive technological edge. That means investing heavily into basic research, something Schmidt noted the Trump administration’s first budget cut, as compared to previous years.

“This is the moment where the government, collectively with private industry, needs to say these technologies are important,” he said. “If you believe this is as important as I suspect all of us do, and certainly I believe, then we need to get our act together as a country.”

While China is acting to strengthen its knowledge base, Schmidt warned that America is hamstringing itself thanks to tough immigration rules that block some of the world’s best and brightest from coming to the U.S.

“Shockingly, some of the very best people are in countries that we won’t let into America. Would you rather have them building AI somewhere else, or would you rather have them building here?” Schmidt said, echoing long-standing complaints from the tech community over immigration issues — complaints that have only gotten louder under the Trump administration.

“Iran produces some of the smartest and top computer scientists in the world,” Schmidt added. “I want them here! I want them working for Alphabet and Google. I’m very clear on this. It’s crazy not to let these people in.”


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## TaiShang

Fear-mongering.

China is a developing country, US is a superpower that sails and shows boots on each sqm of the planet earth (except independent states and their waters).

The US has early comer's advantage. The US has the best brains that it collect all over the world (except less and less from China).

Besides, the US has so many secret programs that even Google exec does not know of.

Very soon they will even dethrone China from the supercomputer throne.

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## AndrewJin

TaiShang said:


> Fear-mongering.
> 
> China is a developing country, US is a superpower that sails and shows boots on each sqm of the planet earth (except independent states and their waters).
> 
> The US has early comer's advantage. The US has the best brains that it collect all over the world (except less and less from China).
> 
> Besides, the US has so many secret programs that even Google exec does not know of.
> 
> Very soon they will even dethrone China from the supercomputer throne.


And they have RSS CEOs

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## TaiShang

AndrewJin said:


> And they have RSS CEOs



In that case, it is near to impossible to eclipse the US.

US-India partnership that is now blossoming is like Batman and wonder woman. Nobody can eclipse the duo.

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## Beast

I have fear for AI too. When it's too powerful, skynets analogy may happen.

Who will unleash the beast? China or US?


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## onebyone

Gil Press , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about technology, entrepreneurs and innovation. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.





Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, speaks at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) in Beijing on April 27, 2017. (GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images)

------------------------------------------
*.Chinese researchers’ contributions to the best 100 AI journals/conferences rose as a percent of total papers from 23.2% in 2006 to 42.8% in 2015 and as a percent of cited papers from 25.5% to 55.8%.

.Face++, a Chinese face recognition startup (and one of Sinovation’s investments), recently won first place in 3 computer vision challenges, ahead of teams from Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and CMU.

.The AAAI postponed its 2017 annual meeting by a week when it found out the planned date coincided with the Chinese New Year. A nearly equal number of accepted papers came from researchers based in China and the U.S.
-----------------------------------------------------
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2017/11/05/6-reasons-why-china-will-lead-in-ai/#b7be90263483

Lee featured prominently in the story Buderi and Huang told about establishing Microsoft’s research lab in China. “In talking to Lee,” they wrote, “his sense of familial duty and respect for his mother and father are inescapable.” Lee’s father, Li Tien-Min, a legislator in the governing Kuomintang administration when Mao came to power in 1949, had to flee to Taiwan. “My father always felt China had not realized its potential,” Lee told Buderi and Huang.

Today, China is realizing its potential to become a leader in many fields, including artificial intelligence.

*

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## cirr

*AI chip startup sets 1 bln target*

2017-11-07 08:53

China Daily _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

Cambricon Technologies Co, a Chinese artificial intelligence chip startup backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said on Monday that it aims to have one billion devices using its semiconductor intellectual properties in three years.

The move is part of China's broad push to build world-class AI processor companies that can rival Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp in future.

Chen Tianshi, CEO of Cambricon, which is valued at $1 billion, said: "We aim to account for 30 percent of China's high-performance AI chip market in three years. The goal is within our reach."

Founded by Chen, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology, the Beijing-based startup developed Cambricon-1A, the world's first commercial chip for deep learning applications, last year.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's Kirin 970 chip, which was developed to power its latest flagship smartphone Mate 10, has used Cambricon's intellectual property. Cambricon's technologies have also been used in servers developed by State-owned Sugon Information Industry Co Ltd to deliver faster computing and better reasoning capabilities.

"We will focus on both in-device AI and cloud AI. But we won't make chips for consumer electronic devices ourselves. We will sell our intellectual properties to hardware makers so that they can better integrate AI into their in-house chips," Chen said.

According to Chen, the company will scramble to build an ecosystem where its AI chip technologies can be used in the fields of smartphones, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and other consumer electronics.

In August, Cambricon announced it had raised $100 million in series A funding, led by SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, a subsidiary of China's State Development and Investment Corp.

Other prominent investors included e-commerce giant Alibaba, computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd, and the investment arm of the CAS.

*On Monday, the company also launched three new AI chip intellectual properties to enable low-power-consumption image recognition applications, self-driving and other scenarios.*

According to Chen, the new chips unveiled are far better than the traditional general purpose processors in boosting image and speech recognition. The chips also boast higher integration density, making them ideal for many devices.

Sun Ninghui, director of the Institute of Computing Technology at CAS, said "Cambricon is playing a pioneering role in the global AI semiconductor sector. More efforts are needed to partner with industrial chain partners, so that China is likely to lead the development of AI in the world."

In July, China unveiled a national plan to build a 1 trillion yuan ($152.5 billion) AI core industry by 2030, and said developing homegrown AI processors is an important part of the ambitious goal.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-07/279859.shtml

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## Han Patriot

They were laughing at us when we started our domestic microprocessor endeavor. Look how far it has gone.

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## Han Patriot

Our nation shall rise from the ashes and reclaim her rightful place on earth. . LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC!!

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## cirr

Han Warrior said:


> They were laughing at us when we started our domestic microprocessor endeavor. Look how far it has gone.



This firm is definitely going places.

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## qwerrty

cirr said:


> This firm is definitely going places.


looks like they want to be ARM in ai chip

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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> looks like they want to be ARM in ai chip



Though unlikely. ARM designs CPU cores, which are far more valuable, and has near monopoly. 

Comparatively, Cambricon designs NPUs, which is just a nice way of saying ASIC. 

AND, Cambricon has pretty intense competition from many startups, both inside and outside China, AND major semiconductor companies, all of whom are coming up with their own implementations of NPUs/BPUs.


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## JSCh

*AI chip startup sets 1b target*
By Ma Si | China Daily | Updated: 2017-11-07 07:47














Cambricon Technologies Co, a Chinese artificial intelligence chip startup backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said on Monday that it aims to have one billion devices using its semiconductor intellectual properties in three years.

The move is part of China's broad push to build world-class AI processor companies that can rival Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp in future.

Chen Tianshi, CEO of Cambricon, which is valued at $1 billion, said: "We aim to account for 30 percent of China's high-performance AI chip market in three years. The goal is within our reach."

Founded by Chen, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology, the Beijing-based startup developed Cambricon-1A, the world's first commercial chip for deep learning applications, last year.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's Kirin 970 chip, which was developed to power its latest flagship smartphone Mate 10, has used Cambricon's intellectual property. Cambricon's technologies have also been used in servers developed by State-owned Sugon Information Industry Co Ltd to deliver faster computing and better reasoning capabilities.

"We will focus on both in-device AI and cloud AI. But we won't make chips for consumer electronic devices ourselves. We will sell our intellectual properties to hardware makers so that they can better integrate AI into their in-house chips," Chen said.

According to Chen, the company will scramble to build an ecosystem where its AI chip technologies can be used in the fields of smartphones, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles and other consumer electronics.

In August, Cambricon announced it had raised $100 million in series A funding, led by SDIC Chuangye Investment Management, a subsidiary of China's State Development and Investment Corp.

Other prominent investors included e-commerce giant Alibaba, computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd, and the investment arm of the CAS.

On Monday, the company also launched three new AI chip intellectual properties to enable low-power-consumption image recognition applications, self-driving and other scenarios.

According to Chen, the new chips unveiled are far better than the traditional general purpose processors in boosting image and speech recognition. The chips also boast higher integration density, making them ideal for many devices.

Sun Ninghui, director of the Institute of Computing Technology at CAS, said "Cambricon is playing a pioneering role in the global AI semiconductor sector. More efforts are needed to partner with industrial chain partners, so that China is likely to lead the development of AI in the world."

In July, China unveiled a national plan to build a 1 trillion yuan ($152.5 billion) AI core industry by 2030, and said developing homegrown AI processors is an important part of the ambitious goal.

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## onebyone

*Tencent set up an AI research lab in Seattle in May, led by former Microsoft scientist Yu Dong. It also hired more than 50 AI researchers, backed by about 200 engineers, on the mainland.*
*
http://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprise...cent-initiatives-will-help-china-aggressively*

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## Han Patriot

Bussard Ramjet said:


> Though unlikely. ARM designs CPU cores, which are far more valuable, and has near monopoly.
> 
> Comparatively, Cambricon designs NPUs, which is just a nice way of saying ASIC.
> 
> AND, Cambricon has pretty intense competition from many startups, both inside and outside China, AND major semiconductor companies, all of whom are coming up with their own implementations of NPUs/BPUs.


calm down buss, no need to put down everything cynically. Let's see what happens in the future. Well, my advise to my fellow comrade, no need to brag, let time proof our worth.

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## Adam WANG SHANGHAI MEGA

Yankees are used to be leaders and bully around, this time CHINA would teach them how to behavior yourself when you USA are no more no.1 in AI !

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## AndrewJin

No, india is leading in AI.
Check how many Bongululu AI startups in USA!

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## cirr

*Robot scores high result on national doctor qualification test*

2017-11-08 10:40

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

A Chinese-made robot has obtained a high score on the written test for the national doctor qualification, authorities said Monday.

The robot, co-developed by leading Chinese tech firm *iFlytek* and *Tsinghua University*, has achieved a score of 456, higher than the national pass line of 360, according to the health and family planning commission in Anhui Province.

This year, around 530,000 people across the country took the examination in August. The National Medical Examination Center released the pass line for the written test on Monday.

*Watched by examination supervisors, the robot answered the same test paper at the same time as its human counterparts in a designated test room without internet access or signal*. The whole process was recorded to prevent cheating, according to iFlytek.

The test showed the robotic doctor has mastered self-learning and problem solving abilities to a degree. It will be used to assist doctors in clinical diagnosis and will see patients in hospitals, residential communities and homes in the future.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/11-08/280101.shtml

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## cirr

*Tencent unveils ambitious plans for AI*

2017-11-09 09:43

Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*Benchmark released to guide industry development*

As major Chinese Internet companies pursue the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an industry benchmark has been established, and Tencent Holdings has unveiled a multibillion-yuan plan to support start-ups while encouraging integration of AI technologies with traditional industries.

The benchmark was launched by an AI industrial base called China Voice Valley in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province on Wednesday.

Over the past six years, Tencent has accumulated more than 13 million partners like software and application developers, created 25 million jobs and paid 23 billion yuan in dividends, Lin Songtao, vice president of the company, said during Tencent's seventh global partner conference held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday.

"In the future, the company will focus on AI-powered technologies and further open up its platform," Lin said.

Tencent's AI lab has made significant progress in recent years, and the applications it developed have spread to various sectors such as social networks, medical services, retail finance and security products.

Apart from Tencent, other Internet companies have also been investing heavily in AI in recent years.

"We'll be the first generation coexisting with AI," Wang Yongdong, chief technology officer of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told the AI World 2017 conference held in Beijing on Wednesday.

Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent, known as major players in China's Internet sector, have all been actively undertaking research and development (R&D) into AI.

For instance, using "Knowledge Graphs", an AI platform, search engine Baidu can gather vast amounts of information and organize it by using different algorithms, Wang Haifeng, vice president of Baidu, said during the Beijing conference.

About 2,000 companies in China are engaged in AI technology. Some are large-scale Internet firms while others are small-sized start-ups, Zhang Yifu, an expert from the electronic technology information research institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), told the Global Times during the Beijing conference.

"It's necessary to provide a unified benchmark for the further development of the AI industry," Zhang noted.

In July, the State Council, China's cabinet, unveiled guidelines for the development of the AI industry, which it hopes will motivate the sector to reach the same level as other advanced countries in terms of technology and applications by 2020.

AI was also highlighted in a report delivered at the opening ceremony of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 18, and some provincial governments have announced favorable policies to encourage AI development.

"Different regions have their own edges. For example, Shenzhen [in South China's Guangdong Province] has Tencent and Huawei, and Hangzhou [in East China's Zhejiang Province] has Alibaba," Zhang said, noting that the benchmark will provide a fair evaluation for the overall sector.

By using indicators such as business scale, policy environment, innovative capability and technology support, the AI benchmark can be a reference for top policymakers when granting funds to technology companies, he said.

The benchmark, which is supervised by the research institute of MIIT, could become a national guideline.

Although AI technologies have been booming in recent years, some major challenges exist, industry representatives said during the conference.

For instance, companies have been competing with each other in terms of market scale, which explains Broadcom's bid offer for Qualcomm, Shao Yang, president of strategic marketing at Huawei's consumer business division, told the conference.

"When China embraces the AI boom, we hope companies will not end up 'burning cash' but will invest in a more efficient way," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-09/280237.shtml

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> *Tencent unveils ambitious plans for AI*
> 
> 2017-11-09 09:43
> 
> Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_
> 
> *Benchmark released to guide industry development*
> 
> As major Chinese Internet companies pursue the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an industry benchmark has been established, and Tencent Holdings has unveiled a multibillion-yuan plan to support start-ups while encouraging integration of AI technologies with traditional industries.
> 
> The benchmark was launched by an AI industrial base called China Voice Valley in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province on Wednesday.
> 
> Over the past six years, Tencent has accumulated more than 13 million partners like software and application developers, created 25 million jobs and paid 23 billion yuan in dividends, Lin Songtao, vice president of the company, said during Tencent's seventh global partner conference held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday.
> 
> "In the future, the company will focus on AI-powered technologies and further open up its platform," Lin said.
> 
> Tencent's AI lab has made significant progress in recent years, and the applications it developed have spread to various sectors such as social networks, medical services, retail finance and security products.
> 
> Apart from Tencent, other Internet companies have also been investing heavily in AI in recent years.
> 
> "We'll be the first generation coexisting with AI," Wang Yongdong, chief technology officer of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told the AI World 2017 conference held in Beijing on Wednesday.
> 
> Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent, known as major players in China's Internet sector, have all been actively undertaking research and development (R&D) into AI.
> 
> For instance, using "Knowledge Graphs", an AI platform, search engine Baidu can gather vast amounts of information and organize it by using different algorithms, Wang Haifeng, vice president of Baidu, said during the Beijing conference.
> 
> About 2,000 companies in China are engaged in AI technology. Some are large-scale Internet firms while others are small-sized start-ups, Zhang Yifu, an expert from the electronic technology information research institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), told the Global Times during the Beijing conference.
> 
> "It's necessary to provide a unified benchmark for the further development of the AI industry," Zhang noted.
> 
> In July, the State Council, China's cabinet, unveiled guidelines for the development of the AI industry, which it hopes will motivate the sector to reach the same level as other advanced countries in terms of technology and applications by 2020.
> 
> AI was also highlighted in a report delivered at the opening ceremony of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 18, and some provincial governments have announced favorable policies to encourage AI development.
> 
> "Different regions have their own edges. For example, Shenzhen [in South China's Guangdong Province] has Tencent and Huawei, and Hangzhou [in East China's Zhejiang Province] has Alibaba," Zhang said, noting that the benchmark will provide a fair evaluation for the overall sector.
> 
> By using indicators such as business scale, policy environment, innovative capability and technology support, the AI benchmark can be a reference for top policymakers when granting funds to technology companies, he said.
> 
> The benchmark, which is supervised by the research institute of MIIT, could become a national guideline.
> 
> Although AI technologies have been booming in recent years, some major challenges exist, industry representatives said during the conference.
> 
> For instance, companies have been competing with each other in terms of market scale, which explains Broadcom's bid offer for Qualcomm, Shao Yang, president of strategic marketing at Huawei's consumer business division, told the conference.
> 
> "When China embraces the AI boom, we hope companies will not end up 'burning cash' but will invest in a more efficient way," he said.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-09/280237.shtml



China's BAT is creating an amazing new economy, at least, on par with the advanced Western counterparts. 

That's amazing, given that China has started industrialization (in the modern sense) quite late and the West had comparative advantage.

Give the government of China a round of applause, which enabled and laid down the conditions for national tech champions to thrive and prosper.

No other developing nation enjoy an internet industry as complete as that of China. Good, pragmatic government+hard working, smart people.

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## TaiShang

*iFlytek releases new AI products*
By Guo Yiming


The 10 new products were displayed during the company's annual product release conference with the theme of "AI: Enabling Industries, Empowering Individuals."

AI has been adopted in an increasing number of daily activities and used across many industries, said Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek.

He said the company's AI-enabled platform had so far been used over four billion times by a wide range of people; 20 percent of the applications involved education, and the rest covered social communications, shopping, medicine, etc.

The company's robotic medical assistant recently passed China's national qualification test for doctors with a score of 456, much higher than the national pass mark of 360. The robot will be used to assist doctors in clinical diagnosis, the company said.

Liu and his team believe half the current jobs in existence would be replaced by AI over the next 10 years.

While some pessimists, like business magnate Elon Musk, have warned of the looming threat of AI and possible outbreak of a third world war resulting from its development, Liu thinks constant technological breakthroughs in this field, if well-regulated, will relieve ordinary people from repetitious and boring work, allowing make them to focus on meaningful, interesting and creative tasks.

The company, which has prospered on its voice recognition technology, is heavily involved in such sectors as medicine, the judiciary and education, and has incorporated its AI-enabled system in translation, automobiles, toys and smart home appliances.




iFlytek chairman Liu Qingfeng gives a speech during the company's annual product release day on Nov. 9, 2017. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]


http://china.org.cn/business/2017-11/10/content_41872338_2.htm

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## cirr

*Writing gets new tech edge from AI*

2017-11-13 10:03

China Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

Handwriting, which has evolved over aeons, is receiving a tech edge in China from the boom in artificial intelligence or AI-enabled educational services.

Thanks to the rapid advances in image-recognition technologies, emerging smart hardware is reshaping how China's 188 million pupils will write and interact with teachers.

T-One, an AI-enabled smart pen, can instantly digitalize students' handwritten notes, automatically evaluating their answers, potentially reducing the workload of both teachers and students.

T-One was developed by Master Learner, a Beijing-based online education startup which has a valuation of more than $100 million.

Equipped with a built-in mini camera, the pen can click up to 240 images per second, and store content handwritten on 400 A4-sized pages or equivalent.

When students write with the smart pen on a piece of specially produced paper, which is printed with an invisible dot code pattern, the high-speed camera at the front of the pen can capture the movement of the nib. And the pressure sensor will record all the information such as writing time and speed, motion trajectory and page number.

Information thus collected is transmitted via Bluetooth to computers or other hand-held devices like tablets, which are equipped with Master Learner's "super teacher" system. The system can automatically review students' homework on behalf of teachers.

The system is said to be able to evaluate answers. Zhang Kailei, founder and CEO of Master Learner, said, "Handwriting has always played an irreplaceable role as a medium of interaction between teachers and students. Unlike typing on the keyboard, writing on paper is still the most preferred way in Chinese classrooms and examinations."

According to him, the smart pen is meant to digitalize the education process, and boost efficiency while protecting the traditional writing habits.

"We are starting to mass-produce the smart pen," Zhang said, without disclosing its price.

Smart pens function as information collectors in the education process. In the future, their appearance, weight and feel will be similar to that of conventional pens, analysts said.

Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said education would be one of the industries to be revolutionized by AI, which would help both teachers and students, but the essence of education won't change.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-13/280688.shtml

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## JSCh

*Alibaba’s AI Fashion Consultant Helps Achieve Record-Setting Sales*
*AI will blur the line between online and offline retail.*

by Yiting Sun
November 13, 2017
On the third floor of a shopping mall in the heart of Shanghai last week, Xiaolan He, a woman in her 50s, took an olive-green down jacket to a fitting room. To her surprise, she found a screen about the size of a large poster on the wall. It recognized the item of clothing in her hands through a tiny sensor embedded in the garment, and showed several options for matching items that she could flip through like a photo album. The screen, and the system that powers it, make up FashionAI—which essentially became He’s personal stylist. 

FashionAI received its first big wave of customers on Saturday during Singles’ Day, a Chinese shopping festival started by Alibaba in 2009 and held on November 11 each year. This year’s event set a record, with a staggering $25 billion worth of goods sold. And the company hopes the technology it rolled out could help it reinvent retail using artificial intelligence.


--> Alibaba’s AI Fashion Consultant Helps Achieve Record-Setting Sales - MIT Technology Review

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## cirr

*China is building a police station powered by AI, not humans*

by TRISTAN GREENE — 4 days ago in ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE





Credit: Caijing Neican

China this week announced an AI-powered unmanned police station will open in one of its capitol cities, proving once again that no other country quite embraces artificial intelligence like it does.

The station appears to be designed with driver and vehicle related matters in mind, making it more like a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) than a cop shop. It will provide driver’s examinations via simulator, registration services, and feature advanced face-scanning technology developed by Tencent, according to a report from Chinese financial paper _Caijing Neican_.





Credit: Caijing Neican

Setting aside the myriad of law enforcement related implications, there’s still plenty to unpack concerning the idea of unmanned government buildings. This station will be open to the public 24/7, and since citizens will presumably be dealing with dedicated hardware there should be far less points of failure than web-based solutions tend to have.

Can you imagine what it would be like to deal with government bureaucracy without becoming frustrated?

Citizens will use their face as an ID Card. While the report wasn’t specific, it seems to indicate that those using the services won’t have to sit at stations and sign up for accounts, or download apps to generate logins. Image recognition AI will have access to all the pertinent information needed — it all sounds very elegant and smooth.

I have to admit I’m a little jealous. As an American who lives pretty far off the beaten path, I basically have to take half a day off work in order to conduct any business at the DMV. I’m eager for a future where I can get my photo ID renewed at 7PM on a Sunday without having to fill out any paperwork or talk to government employees.

And, while there’s a lot of understandable fear that robots will take positions away from people, sometimes humans aren’t the best suited candidates for a job.

In the US, places like the department of Veteran’s Affairs can’t possibly get any worse if we start replacing government employees who fail to meet the meekest of taxpayers’ expectations with more capable machines. Maybe we should try it out, like China, and see what happens.

https://thenextweb.com/artificial-i...ng-a-police-station-powered-by-ai-not-humans/


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## JSCh

*AI-Powered Microscope Counts Malaria Parasites in Blood Samples*
By Jeremy Hsu
Posted 13 Nov 2017 | 8:00 GMT





Photo: Andrew H. Kim/Intellectual Ventures
Roxanne Rees-Channer, a research biochemist, inserts a cassette into the EasyScan GO at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, where the AI-powered microscope is being tested.

Today, a Chinese manufacturer and a venture backed by Bill Gates will announce plans to commercialize a microscope that uses deep learning algorithms to automatically identify and count malaria parasites in a blood smear within 20 minutes. AI-powered microscopes could speed up diagnosis and standardize detection of malaria at a time when the mosquito-borne disease kills almost half a million people per year.

An experimental version of the AI-powered microscope has already shown that it can detect malaria parasites well enough to meet the highest World Health Organization microscopy standard, known as competence level 1. That rating means that it performs on par with well-trained microscopists, although the researchers note that some expert microscopists can still outperform the automated system.

That previous research, presented at the International Conference on Computer Vision [pdf] in October, has inspired the Global Good Fund—a partnership between the company Intellectual Ventures and Bill Gates—and a Chinese microscope manufacturer called Motic to take the next big commercialization step.





--> AI-Powered Microscope Counts Malaria Parasites in Blood Samples - IEEE Spectrum

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## JSCh

* 2017 a key year for China’s AI industry as it begins to outperform the US in tech breakthroughs *
By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2017/11/13 17:23:39
*
China’s quest for global AI dominance *


A boy holds hands with an AI robot at a conference held in Beijing on August 24. Photo: IC

_China and the US are now the two world leaders in pursuing AI development. 2017 in particular has been a key year for China's AI industry, as more and more domestic companies have been making technological breakthroughs within the sector and as the application of AI has been penetrating all aspects of daily life in China. During the AI World 2017 summit held in Beijing on Wednesday, experts discussed what milestones the domestic AI industry has reached so far._ 

While Saudi Arabia was busy considering a female robot named Sophia as a Saudi citizen, some Chinese companies were busy advancing their artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. 

For example, one company unveiled the first robot that can work as a certified doctor in a Chinese hospital, while another announced an ambitious multibillion-yuan AI plan. 

For both investors and tech geeks, 2017 is the year China is experiencing a boom in its AI industry, representatives said during the recent AI World 2017 conference, an industry event held on an annual basis. 

Three factors - massive data, cloud computing and strong algorithms - have led to the rise of AI technologies, particularly in China, Wang Yongdong, vice president of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told the audience at the event held at Beijing's National Convention Center on Wednesday. 

In 2016, Microsoft established an AI business division to bring scientists and technicians together to improve both basic infrastructure building and services, Wang noted. "AI is not a topic in the lab anymore, it's now in every industry… and we'll be the first generation to co-exist with AI." 

China's three Internet giants - Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent - have all demonstrated their passions for pursuing AI technologies. 

Starting out as just a search engine, Baidu Inc has been tapping into the AI sector for about seven years, Wang Haifeng, head of the company's AI department, was quoted as saying in an e-mail sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. 

And the company's research presence has expanded from just natural language processing and machine learning to a multi-layer AI ecosystem. 

Meanwhile, Tencent's image recognition technology is being widely used by Chinese car-hailing services provider Didi Chuxing, according to a document the Internet firm sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. Didi has also introduced a credit-scoring system to verify drivers' information, the accuracy rate of which could soon reach 99.5 percent, the document noted. 

In July, Alibaba also unveiled its AI ambitions by outlining a slew of detailed targets in cloud computing, high-performance computing and other AI-related projects. 

Many industry representatives have applauded the Chinese government's efforts to integrate AI into the strategy of a national development plan, which has become a major driving force for the industry as a whole. 

After the State Council, China's cabinet, in July released AI guidelines and set a 2020 target, some provincial governments came up with their own plans to develop local AI industries. 

"For now, there are more than 2,000 enterprises in the country engaged in AI technologies, and different regions have their own edges," Zhang Yifu, an expert from the Electronic Technology Information Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Global Times Wednesday. 

"With the central government's guidelines, the AI sector has been attracting a lot of attention. Authorities will soon grant special funds to some AI projects," he said.

China's "AI 2.0" blueprint was incorporated into the key 2030 scientific and technological innovative projects led by the Ministry of Science and Technology in February.

With strong central government support, China is outperforming with regard to the output of academic papers on AI, and some research teams have scored highly in globally recognized AI competitions, helping the country to rank No.1 ahead of the US and India in AI global power, Yang Jing, the host of the AI World 2017 summit, told the Global Times. 

*Increasing global presence* 

More and more China-based research teams have been taking over global AI competitions. 

In April, a joint laboratory between the Harbin Institute of Technology in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Hefei-based AI firm iFlytek in East China's Anhui Province took the lead on Stanford reading comprehension tasks, Hu Yu, executive director of iFlytek, noted during the conference. 

In a recent Microsoft Common Objects in Context dataset studying object recognition on October 29, Beijing-based Megvii Technology Inc beat its foreign competitors such as Facebook and Google, ranking first. 

"China, with its huge population that can generate a tremendous volume of data, has now become the only one country that can be compared with the US in terms of AI development," Shao Yang, president of strategic marketing at Huawei's consumer business diion, said at the conference. 

China was ranked as the top country in terms of numbers of AI publications cited worldwide in 2015, followed by the US and India, worldwide management consultancy McKinsey said in a report released in April. 

Although China does not yet have the same kind of vibrant AI ecosystem as the US, the country is on a par with others in terms of algorithm development, particularly in voice recognition and targeted advertising, the report noted. 

*Optimizing core chips*

While Google's tensor processing unit (TPU), a cloud system combined with software and hardware designed for machine learning, has been rattling the AI industry over the past year, more questions have been raised regarding which cutting-edge AI platforms, such as graphics processing unit (GPU) or field-programmable gate array (FPGA), are more suitable for deep learning. 

"It's hard to design a specific platform for the purpose of 'training' AI systems, we always expect maximized flexibility in an algorithm. So the best model is likely to be equipped with both CPU [central processing unit] and GPU," said Hu Leijun, vice president of Chinese information technology firm Inspur. 

The core technology in the AI sector is based on computing capacity, but sustainability should also be built on a friendly ecosystem, Wang Zai, vice president of Chinese AI chipmaker Cambricon Technologies Corp, said at the conference. 

The company was the first "unicorn" in China's AI semiconductor sector to be worth more than $1 billion. After it released the first AI chip in the country in 2016, it teamed up with Huawei and found a way to commercialize its core technologies. 

"As the smartphone maker's flagship product Mate 10 is equipped with Cambricon's neural processing unit, we have to constantly upgrade our technologies to improve user loyalty," Wang said. 

Over the next five years, China's AI will make even more major breakthroughs in empowering industries, Yang noted. 

"But it might lag behind in developing open-source software as well as general chips," she said. 

Also, the US has a more robust AI ecosystem than China, industry representatives noted during the conference. In terms of basic research, US scholars demonstrate much deeper study and understanding of fundamental fields, for example, the study of math. 

"Chinese scientists are very smart, but some are too eager to turn their research into profits," said Micree Zhan, CEO of Beijing-based custom chip manufacturer Bitmain.

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## cirr

*Shanghai’s AI sector set to flourish*

2017-11-15 14:29

Shanghai Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

Shanghai's artificial intelligence industry revenue will hit 100 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) by 2020, and likely become the city's new growth engine, top government officials said yesterday.

It will be a big market because AI is set to integrate with many sectors, including finance, transport, agriculture, healthcare and medical and automotive industries.

Shanghai plans to incubate AI "unicorns," which are private firms with market value of over US$1 billion each, Chen Mingbo, chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said.

The city will build six industrial zones focusing on AI applications, establish a government-backed fund and open up data from government and telecommunications carriers. By 2020, Shanghai will be home to 10 global AI giants, according to a new government AI blueprint released yesterday.

"Shanghai doesn't have BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) now but I am confident we will own world-class AI unicorns in the future," Chen said during a city government-held conference.

Open data, high-end talent and eco-systems covering finance and information infrastructure are Shanghai's unique advantages, Chen added.

So far, Shanghai has opened up 17,000 categories of government data containing 260,000 projects, covering e-government and telecom data — more than other Chinese cities have released.

Shanghai firms have invested heavily in intelligent connection, robotics, smart devices and industrial-use sensors based on advanced smart manufacture and chip industries.

Meanwhile, Shanghai is drafting plans to attract overseas AI giants to set up facilities in the city as AI is a "globalization industry," Chen added.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-15/281055.shtml

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## cirr

*Alibaba's AI-powered fashion consultant serves up suggestions from your dressing room*

2017-11-15 13:28 CGTN _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group. (Photo provided to CGTN)

Chinese online retail giant Alibaba tested its AI-powered deep learning machine on "Double 11", or Singles' Day, marking its move into the physical retailing industry.

This year's Double 11 saw 25 billion U.S. dollars in sales, quadruple the sales on Black Friday in the U.S. last year. While shopping online made up the majority of sales, FashionAI, Alibaba's AI machine, debuted in 13 stores across China to play its part in the annual shopping spree.

The machine is a full size interface installed in fitting rooms of brick-and-mortar stores to give shoppers suggestions. When customers bring in clothing items of their choices, the machine will recognize the items through the sensors embedded in the tags and recommend matching items. Shoppers can go through the suggestions on the screen like flipping through a photo album. They can also summon a store clerk to bring in items by pressing a button on the screen.

FashionAI, developed by a team within Alibaba, is able to offer a seamlessly integrated online and offline shopping experience for shoppers. The machine has learned to recognize millions of items and styles on Alibaba's shopping sites including Taobao.com.

The company's CEO, Daniel Zhang, told MIT Tech Review that Alibaba is seeking to "digitize the offline retail world."

Unlike the store clerks, FashionAI can remember thousands of millions of customers' tastes, which make physical shopping experience less tedious and make up for a setback in online shopping, where people cannot try on the clothes.

By including store staff service as a feature, the robotic consultant will not replace human in the jobs.

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## cirr

*Courts embrace AI to improve efficiency*

2017-11-16 10:05 China Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_





Xiao Fa, a robot assistant, is surrounded by officials during its first day at Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court last month. (Zou Hong/China Daily)

*Robots and online databases are increasingly being used to bolster the judicial system, as Cao Yin reports.*

China's courts are embracing new technology and artificial intelligence in a bid to speed up judicial procedures and ensure that verdicts are more accurate and equitable.

Last month, the lawsuit center at Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court attracted widespread attention when a robot called Xiao Fa was put into operation.

Members of the public and court officials can ask the robot questions verbally and obtain a spoken reply, and also make queries via a regular computer keyboard or by writing Chinese characters on its screen on it's front, and receive a printout.

"Xiao Fa attracts a lot of attention, partly as a result of its appearance, but mainly because it can provide essential details, such as how to bring a lawsuit, and also retrieve case histories, verdicts and laws. It reduces our workload and improves the efficiency of our services," said Zhao Lan, head of the lawsuit center.

The robot, which has a vaguely humanoid appearance and boasts speech circuits, was designed by Aegis, a technology company in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. It first came to public attention in July, after undergoing six months of tests.

It is being used at more than 100 courts nationwide, but its use is expected to become more widespread rapidly. However, at a cost of 50,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan ($7,528 to $22,585), depending on size, Xiao Fa isn't cheap.

Aegis just one of a number of businesses in the internet and technology sectors applying AI to the legal sector. For example, Wu Song Network Technology Co unveiled Fa Xiaotao, a robotic research assistant, in October last year. Unlike Xiao Fa, it is rarely used in courts.

Du Xiangyang, CEO and founder of Aegis, stressed the differences between the robot assistants.

"Fa Xiaotao mainly serves law firms and company lawyers, while Xiao Fa is used by litigants, judges and court officials. We want our robot to help solve disputes in a way that people find easy to understand," he said.

*Legal assistance*

When people are investigating their legal rights or considering bringing a lawsuit, some consult lawyers, while others look for answers on the internet, but neither method is perfect, according to Du.

"Most answers provided by search engines are based on other people's experiences, and are not professional opinions, while consulting a lawyer costs a lot of money," said the 37-year-old, who majored in business management.

Xiao Fa is designed to solve both problems because its database contains authorized judgments and its services are free.

In addition to using Aegis' robots in court centers, the public can also search for information via the company's WeChat account, which was established in July.

"It's a cloud computing platform which is aimed at providing more convenient legal services for users," Du said.

For example, if someone sustains injuries in a traffic accident, the platform can provide information about procedures, such as how to contact the police and request to see relevant footage captured by surveillance cameras.

"The public has given a warmer welcome to our WeChat platform than to our robots because the online platform can provide information at any time," Du said, adding that the system is linked to more than 350 judicial authorities, including courts and justice bureaus.

Company statistics show that the platform receives more than 30,000 requests every day, and can provide immediate answers for 85 percent of the questions.

Both Xiao Fa and the WeChat platform have access to a database that is constantly updated and contains details of more than 40,000 legal procedures, and answers to about 30,000 frequently asked legal questions. It also holds information about more than 7,000 laws and 5 million cases.

"We build a computer algorithm to seek answers in the database in line with the questions, but we only provide possible solutions, not model answers," Du said.

He compared Xiao Fa with court officials who assist both judges and litigants.

"It helps litigants to understand their disputes, while its responses to legal queries can provide judges with more time to work on complicated cases," he said.





A robot is available to help customers at a store that sells legal books in Beijing owned by the Supreme People's Court, China's highest legal chamber. (Zhao Chengshun/China Daily)

*A 'smart' friend*

Jiang Youyi, CEO of Wu Song, said Fa Xiaotao is programmed to select attorneys from a database of more than 60,000 lawyers who have experience in various fields. So, if a company has a problem related to contract law, the robot can provide details of lawyers for hire who have acted in similar cases.

Wu Song plans to focus the robot on providing companies with advice in a range of legal fields.

So far, it has provided services for about 10,000 companies, and its database contains details of more than 43 million verdicts, he said.

*Relevant information*

By contrast, Xiao Fa is designed to provide advice to individuals, according to Du: "Its algorithm is designed to reflect the most-frequently-asked questions in specific regions to ensure the answers it provides are relevant and accurate."

For example, the Xiao Fa robot in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which is home to a large number of migrant workers, is programmed to provide employees with information about labor-related disputes, while the robots used in Beijing's courts focus mainly on civil and commercial law, he said.

"As a friend of the public, the robot must understand their problems and suit its searches to their cases," he said. "We're also studying how laws can be explained more easily, because regular people rarely understand concepts when the language is too complex or legalistic."

Du, a native of Jinhua, Zhejiang province, started Aegis shortly after graduating from Nanjing University in 2006, despite having no experience of either computing or the law.

First, he used big data to analyze public responses to judgments made by a court in Nanjing. "At the time, I was interested in the combination of the internet and laws, realizing it would be significant in both fields," he said.

In the past decade, he has witnessed the growing influence of technology in the legal sector, and his original team of three has grown into a company with more than 120 employees.

Although he believes that AI's time in the legal spotlight has definitely arrived, he dismissed the notion that robots will eventually replace lawyers.

"The goal of providing justice by upgrading technologies does not mean lawyers will disappear. However, attorney's assistants may be replaced because robots can easily search for case materials and locate specific laws. I believe AI will bring many more changes," he said.

"I suggest that people consult a lawyer for all complicated disputes, such as criminal cases, because they are affected by many things, such as emotions, which robots cannot understand."

*Future challenges*

Most people engaged in the AI sector are age 30 or younger. "Their innovative attitude and passion push forward technological change in the sector," Du said.

He noted that the average age of his employees is 28, and he employs twice as many technicians than people who to collate lists of laws and legal definitions.

He Weican, 22, a law graduate from Guangdong University of Finance, said his job is a little like "fighting monsters. New problems are always emerging in the AI industry. What we do is figure them out and combat them by updating the technology. It's fascinating."

For Wang Yizhen, a technician with Aegis, the challenge is the most rewarding aspect of his job.

"Explaining difficult laws through specific computer algorithms is a real challenge for me, but if I can solve the problems more people will benefit," the 25-year-old said.

He added that no one can predict how the growth of AI will change the world, but he and his colleagues are determined to play their part.

"Using technology and the law to help others will remain our long-term goal," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/11-16/281170.shtml

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## qwerrty

*Qualcomm invests in Chinese AI facial recognition startup SenseTime*
November 15, 2017 / 3:56 PM / a day ago

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup SenseTime Group said on Wednesday it has sealed an investment from chipmaker Qualcomm Inc as part of a funding round that will close later this year.

*SenseTime and Qualcomm had announced a strategic tie last month to collaborate on AI, which will see SenseTime’s proprietary algorithms deployed in smart devices.*

Qualcomm, in a statement, confirmed the investment in SenseTime. The two firms did not disclose the size of the investment.

Reuters reported earlier in November that *SenseTime plans to raise about $500 million in a new funding round, in what would be the biggest ever such fundraising by an AI startup. The fundraising will value SenseTime at about $2 billion* and has drawn interest from prospective investors, including Singapore state investor Temasek [TEM.UL], the report said.

The startup is one of several AI facial recognition firms in Greater China that are rapidly raising capital from local and foreign investors amid a multibillion dollar global drive to develop advanced facial recognition technology.

It raised $410 million in July in a funding round led by its main backer, Chinese buyout firm CDH Investments, and China’s state-backed fund Sailing Capital.

*SenseTime is developing technology that employs AI to quickly identify and analyze identities using cameras, and has been used in limited tests by Chinese authorities to track and capture suspects in public spaces such as airports and festivals. *

The startup, which is based between Beijing and Hong Kong, counts 40 local Chinese governments as clients. It is seeking to expand overseas, including possible plans for an ASEAN headquarters in Singapore.

Qualcomm said earlier this month it signed $12 billion worth of deals with three Chinese mobile handset makers on the sidelines of a state visit to Beijing by U.S. President Donald Trump. The chipmaker is facing a $103 billion takeover bid from rival Broadcom Ltd, which it rejected on Monday.








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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sensetime-fundraising-qualcomm/qualcomm-invests-in-chinese-ai-facial-recognition-startup-sensetime-idUSKBN1DF0HE?il=0


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Facial recognition firm Megvii raises $460m*

By Justin Lee 
November 1, 2017

Chinese facial recognition startup Megvii, the developer of Face++ facial recognition software, has raised $460 million in its latest financing round from several investors including a Chinese state fund, Ant Financial and Foxconn Technology, according to a Reuters report.

A previous round of financing last December valued Face++ at $2 billion. For that round, Megvii raised at least $100 million from several investors led by Foxconn Technology Group and CCB International Holdings Ltd.

The Beijing-based startup developed Alipay’s “scan your face to pay” face recognition feature.

The latest funding round was led by the China State-owned Venture Capital Fund — a 200 billion yuan ($30.17 billion) state-controlled fund set up in 2016 to invest in the country’s startups — as well as existing investors Alibaba Group Holding Ltd affiliate Ant Financial and Foxconn.

Rounding out the group of investors are Russia-China Investment Fund, a joint venture of sovereign wealth funds, and South Korea’s SK Group, according to the source, who asked not to be named.

The funding round of Face++ comes as the country is seeing a significant boom in facial recognition startups.

In July, Sensetime Group raised $410 million from Chinese investors, which, at the time, was reportedly the largest single financing round for any artificial intelligence company.








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http://www.biometricupdate.com/201711/facial-recognition-firm-megvii-raises-460m

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## cirr

*Firms launch AI clinic alliance to meet growing demand*

2017-11-17 10:18 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*High-tech medical diagnosis set to meet growing demand*

Several Chinese tech startups and hospitals formed the first alliance for artificial intelligence (AI) application in healthcare on Wednesday, with the aim of meeting growing demand for medical services in the country.

Zhejiang University, along with several hospitals across the country and online medical service provider We Doctor Group, jointly launched the alliance on Wednesday in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang and set up special funds for AI-related clinical and medical projects.

"The move aims to push forward AI adoption in the healthcare sector in China, and enhance the connection among hospitals, research institutions and investors," Wu Jian, a professor specializing in AI medical services at Zhejiang University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

AI is changing the landscape of medical services in China, Wu noted. "For example, machine learning algorithms can be used in improving the accuracy of medical imaging and diagnostic procedures."

With the help of breakthroughs in some major areas including image recognition, deep learning and neural networks, AI has become vital disruptive technology for the healthcare sector. In 2016, the value of AI-related healthcare deals soared 31 percent year-on-year to $794 million across the globe, according to industry consultancy CB Insights.

There were also a record amount of healthcare AI deals in the second quarter of 2017, mainly boosted by four firms in India and three in China funded by venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital China and Northwest Venture Partners.

AI adoption will help accelerate reform and innovation in medical services in China, and tackle issues such as the shortage of nursing, particularly in family healthcare. In China, primary-care doctors account for only about 7 percent of the total number of doctors, much lower than the percentage in advanced economies where the proportion is 30 percent to 50 percent, so smart healthcare products can play the role of filling this gap, We Doctor said in a document sent to the Global Times.

The company has set up a cloud base for healthcare documents, which can be connected with smart wearable devices to monitor blood pressure, heart rate and sleep patterns.

*Major breakthroughs*

Abundant data and high-speed computing capacity have provided a platform for AI technologies to be used in different scenarios.

Also, the increasing need for healthcare services in China generates a large amount of data, which can be used for training purposes in labs. And the main use in China is in screening and diagnosis.

Several machine learning-powered diagnosis models developed by research teams in the AI lab at Zhejiang University have been rapidly catching up with overseas tech giants like Google. For instance, the specificity and sensitivity metrics for detecting diabetic retinopathy have reached 99 percent and 95 percent, respectively, which has surpassed Google AI diagnosis, according to the document.

*Industrial standard needed*

Despite the rapid growth of smart medical services, the Chinese authorities have not yet come up with an industrial standard for the sector, which may raise concerns over administrative supervision in the near future, experts noted. "If two research teams both claim they have reached a very high accuracy rate in diagnosing certain diseases, how to distinguish one from another remains uncertain if there is not a unified industrial standard," Wu said.

Although the National Health and Family Planning Commission handed out a draft for feedback on Internet clinical services and management earlier this year, there have been no more updates on it, said an industry insider, who preferred not to be named.

Compared to China, the U.S., which is the leader in the AI sector, holds a more cautious attitude as its regulators oversee AI application, he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/11-17/281319.shtml

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## cirr

*新一代人工智能发展规划推进办公室成立 建设四大国家级开放创新平台*

2017-11-17 15:49:45

关键字:中国工程院

如果评选近年的热门词汇，“人工智能”一定入围前三。作为一项引领未来的战略性技术，我国在这个领域取得了重要进展。我们的专利和论文已经局域在国际上居于前列，在语音识别、机器视觉、机器翻译领域全球领先，人工智能创新创业也非常活跃。

但是，我们有明显的短板，比如，在研发上，基础理论、核心算法、关键设备、高端芯片、重大产品和系统方面的原始创新成果还比较少；在人才储备上，无论规模还是质量远远满足不了需求，特别是高端领军人才比较缺乏；在产业生态上，我国的科研机构和企业还没有形成具有国际影响力的生态圈和产业链。

中国的人工智能下一步怎么走？

11月15日，中国科技部在京召开*新一代人工智能发展规划暨重大科技项目启动会*。

出席会议的领导不可谓不高：

科技部部长万钢，

科技部党组书记、副部长王志刚，

中国工程院院长周济，

教育部副部长杜占元，

工业和信息化部副部长罗文，

交通运输部党组成员李建波，

卫生计生委副主任曾益新，

军委装备发展部副部长王力，

科技部副部长李萌，

部分战略咨询委员会专家，

此外，地方科技部门、产业技术创新战略联盟的代表，以及人工智能研发应用方面领先的部分企业、高校、科研院所代表，科技部有关司局和事业单位负责同志也参加了会议。






科技部15日召开新一代人工智能发展规划暨重大科技项目启动会，宣布成立新一代人工智能发展规划推进办公室，并公布首批国家新一代人工智能开放创新平台名单。

*成立一个推进组织机构*

*新一代人工智能发展规划推进办公室*（在国家科技体制改革和创新体系建设领导小组领导下，在国家科技计划管理部级联席会议框架内）

职责：负责推进新一代人工智能发展规划和重大科技项目的组织实施

参与部门15个：

*科技部、发展改革委、财政部、教育部、工业和信息化部、交通部、农业部、卫生计生委、*

*中科院、工程院、自然科学基金会、*

*中央军民融合发展委员会办公室、军委装备发展部、军委科技委、*

*中国科协*

*成立一个顾问机构*

*新一代人工智能战略咨询委员会*

职责：为规划和重大科技项目实施，以及国家人工智能发展的相关重大部署提供咨询。

组长：*潘云鹤院士*（中国工程院院士、原常务副院长，浙江大学原校长）

成员：

陈纯院士、李未院士、高文院士、郑南宁院士、吴澄院士、李伯虎院士、吕跃广院士、梅宏院士、曹雪涛院士、王天然院士、吕建院士、吴志强院士、黄如院士、刘明院士、徐宗本院士、吴曼青院士、徐波研究员、李斌研究员、赵春江研究员、刘忠教授、薛澜教授，

以及来自企业的闵万里先生（阿里云人工智能首席科学家）、王海峰先生（百度副总裁及AI技术平台体系总负责人）、姚星先生（腾讯副总裁）、胡郁先生（科大讯飞执行总裁）、余凯先生（前百度研究院副院长，现为地平线创始人）共27名专家。

*三大原则*

政府统筹重点突破、市场主导产业链结合、军民融合开放共享

*“三步走”目标*

项目实施到2030年，将历经十三五、十四五、十五五三个五年计划。

2020年，人工智能总体技术和应用要与世界先进水平同步，基础理论及核心技术取得重要进展，初步建立人工智能产业链、技术标准和法律法规体系，从而支撑我国人工智能产业竞争力进入国际第一方阵；

到2025 年，人工智能基础理论实现重大突破，技术与应用部分达到世界领先水平，在重点应用领域初步形成我国自主的新一代人工智能应用技术体系，建立较为完整的法律法规伦理规范和政策体系；

到 2030 年，人工智能理论、技术及应用总体达到世界领先水平，建立系统的新一代人工智能理论与技术体系，占据人工智能技术制高点，成为世界主要人工智能创新中心，为跻身创新国家前列和基本实现社会主义现代化奠定重要基础

*五大主力方向*

大数据智能、跨媒体智能、混合增强智能、群体智能、自主智能系统

*四个层面*

基础理论、支撑体系、关键技术、创新应用

*国家级四大开放创新平台*

*依托百度公司建设自动驾驶国家新一代人工智能开放创新平台，*

*依托阿里云公司建设城市大脑国家新一代人工智能开放创新平台，*

*依托腾讯公司建设医疗影像国家新一代人工智能开放创新平台，*

*依托科大讯飞公司建设智能语音国家新一代人工智能开放创新平台。*

*重大项目支撑单位*

*人工智能产业技术创新战略联盟*（2017年7月23日成立），负责新一代人工智能重大科技项目具体项目管理

*“一体两翼”工作部署*

“一体”是指人工智能开源开放平台。

人工智能需要一个开放透明的基础技术平台，而打造这样的公益平台，需要新一代人工智能重大科技项目引领，也需要汇聚全国以及全球的人力资源和社会力量，并向全球各种人工智能应用开放。

“两翼”

左翼为以专家为主体的多个工作组，包括标准工作组、知识产权工作组、投融资工作组等。标准工作组以 AVS 十五年标准制定和知识产权管理经验为基础，已经开始制定《神经网络表示与压缩》、《深度学习特征编码》、《人脸识别评测》等标准的制定工作。

右翼为以企业为主体的应用推进组，目的是深化人工智能应用，促进产业发展，例如智能物流、智能医疗、智能政府、智能教育等。

这次会议的召开标志着新一代人工智能发展规划和重大科技项目进入全面启动实施阶段。






央视与中科院共同主办的大型科学挑战类节目《机智过人》

“打造我国人工智能先发优势。”科技部部长万钢在会议上强调，要突出基础前沿和高端引领，牢牢把握创新源头和方向，实施好重大科技项目，形成新一代人工智能技术体系的前瞻布局。要大规模推进人工智能创新应用，促进人工智能与实体经济深度融合，引领带动智能经济和智能社会发展。

据观察者网查询，2017年7月，国务院印发《新一代人工智能发展规划》，提出

构建开放协同的人工智能科技创新体系、

培育高端高效的智能经济、

建设安全便捷的智能社会、

加强人工智能领域军民融合、

构建泛在安全高效的智能化基础设施体系，

前瞻布局新一代人工智能重大科技项目等六项重大任务。

其中新一代人工智能重大科技项目，*聚焦基础理论和关键共性技术的前瞻布局，包括研究大数据智能、跨媒体感知计算、混合增强智能、群体智能、自主协同控制与决策等理论，研究知识计算引擎与知识服务技术、跨媒体分析推理技术、群体智能关键技术、混合增强智能新架构与新技术、自主无人控制技术等，开源共享人工智能基础理论和共性技术。持续开展人工智能发展的预测和研判，加强人工智能对经济社会综合影响及对策研究。*

2017年10月，习近平在十九大报告中要求“加快建设制造强国，加快发展先进制造业，推动互联网、大数据、人工智能和实体经济深度融合，在中高端消费、创新引领、绿色低碳、共享经济、现代供应链、人力资本服务等领域培育新增长点、形成新动能。”

据悉，新一代人工智能重大科技项目实施方案已经印发，年底前，相关项目指南将编制完成。

可以预见，一场开放创新的人工智能盛宴正在开启！

观察者网综合中国政府网、新华社、科学网、雷锋网等报道

http://www.guancha.cn/Industry/2017_11_17_435296_2.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Hi-tech Fair displaying robot and AI projects held in S China*
Source: Xinhua Published: 2017/11/21 






People operate a robot to pick dolls during the 19th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 17, 2017. Over 3,000 exhibitors participated in the hi-tech fair displaying a lot of robot and artificial intelligence projects. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)






People look at a nuclear power robot during the 19th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 19, 2017. Over 3,000 exhibitors participated in the hi-tech fair displaying a lot of robot and artificial intelligence projects. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)







People watch a robot painting demonstration during the 19th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 16, 2017. Over 3,000 exhibitors participated in the hi-tech fair displaying a lot of robot and artificial intelligence projects. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)







Children interact with robots during the 19th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 19, 2017. Over 3,000 exhibitors participated in the hi-tech fair displaying a lot of robot and artificial intelligence projects. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1076330.shtml


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## F-22Raptor

Intelligence agencies have a limited number of trained human analysts looking for undeclared nuclear facilities, or secret military sites, hidden among terabytes of satellite images. But the same sort of deep learning artificial intelligence that enables Google and Facebook to automatically filter images of human faces and cats could also prove invaluable in the world of spy versus spy. An early example: US researchers have trained deep learning algorithms to identify Chinese surface-to-air missile sites—hundreds of times faster than their human counterparts.

The deep learning algorithms proved capable of helping people with no prior imagery analysis experience find surface-to-air missile sites scattered across nearly 90,000 square kilometers of southeastern China. Such AI based on neural networks—layers of artificial neuron capable of filtering and learning from huge amounts of data—matched the overall 90 percent accuracy of expert human imagery analysts in locating the missile sites. Perhaps even more impressively, the deep learning software helped humans reduce the time needed to eyeball potential missile sites from 60 hours to just 42 minutes.

"The algorithms were used to find the locations where they said there is a high confidence of a missile site, and then humans reviewed the results for accuracy and figured out how much time the algorithms saved," says Curt Davis, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence, at the University of Missouri. "To my knowledge that’s never been studied before: How much time did you save, and how does that ultimately impact the human performance?"

The University of Missouri study, published on October 6 in the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, comes at a time when satellite imagery analysts are figuratively drowning in a deluge of big data. DigitalGlobe, a leading commercial satellite imagery company, generates about 70 terabytes of raw satellite imagery each day, never mind all the imagery data coming from other commercial satellites and government spy satellites.

Davis and his colleagues showed how off-the-shelf deep learning models—heavily trained and modified for satellite imagery analysis—could identify objects of potentially great interest to intelligence agencies and national security experts. The deep learning models, including GoogleNet and Microsoft Research's ResNet, were initially created to detect and classify objects in traditional photo and video imagery. Davis and his colleagues adapted such models to the challenges and limitations of interpreting satellite imagery, such as training some deep learning models to interpret both color and black-and-white imagery, in case only black-and-white images of SAM sites were available.

They did so with satellite imagery representing a huge swath of Chinese territory, not that much smaller than the entire country of North Korea.

And in fact, analysts rely extensively on satellite imagery to keep track of how North Korea's weapons programs evolve. Human analysts have already likely identified most, if not all, existing SAM sites within the relatively small country. But similar deep learning tools could help automatically flag new SAM sites that appear in North Korea or other countries. Knowing the location of existing and new SAM sites can sometimes lead analysts to other locations of interest, because countries often place SAM sites in specific areas to defend valuable nearby assets from air attack.

The latest study also illustrates the challenges of applying deep learning AI to satellite imagery analysis. One major problem is the relative lack of large training datasets that include the hand-labeled examples needed to train deep learning algorithms to accurately identify features in satellite imagery. The University of Missouri team combined public data on the worldwide locations of about 2,200 SAM sites with DigitalGlobe satellite imagery to create their training data, and then tested four deep learning models to find the best-performing one.

The researchers ended up with only about 90 positively identified Chinese SAM site examples to train their AI. Such a puny training dataset might normally fail to yield accurate deep learning results. To get around that problem, Davis and his colleagues transformed the 90-odd training samples into about 893,000 training samples by shifting the original images slightly in different directions.

The impressive deep learning performance in the study likely benefited from SAM sites being fairly large, and having distinctive patterns when viewed from above in satellite images. Davis cautioned that deep learning algorithms face a much greater challenge when trying to analyze smaller objects such as mobile missile launchers, radar antennas, mobile radar systems, and military vehicles, because the available satellite imagery data will have fewer pixels to work with in extracting identifying features.

"It is an open question in our mind how well convolutional neural networks will work on smaller scale objects like this, especially when tested against large area datasets like we did with the China study," Davis says.

Even imperfect AI tools could prove incredibly helpful for intelligence gathering. For example, the International Atomic Energy Agency has the unenviable task of monitoring all declared nuclear facilities and also searching for undeclared facilities among nearly 200 countries. Deep learning tools could help the IAEA and other independent organizations use satellite imagery to monitor development of nuclear power and related weapons of mass destruction, says Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate in the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Calif.

"We're in a world where there is just so much data that the best way to approach it is to do a good job on a lot of it rather than a perfect job on a small bit of it," Hanham says. "I'm looking forward to automating all the tedious and redundant parts of my job."

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-can-help-hunt-down-missile-sites-in-china/


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## Martian2

ITRI is Taiwan's most important research organization.

"ITRI has over 5800 employees; over 60% of them hold advanced degrees.

R&D in ITRI encompasses six technology areas: Information & Communications, Electronics & Optoelectronics, Advanced Manufacturing, Biomedical & Devices, Material & Chemicals, and Energy & Environment. ITRI produces over 1,000 patents annually, with an accumulated total number of over 19,000." (See Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI))

ITRI has developed a new "*AI software that can predict breakdowns in production-line equipment, helping to eliminate factory downtime and boost human productivity.*
...
ITRI has conducted trials of the PHM software with seven companies, one of which is Winbond, a memory chip manufacturer in Taiwan. Another company that has implemented the software is Marketech International Corp., an LED manufacturer.
...
PHM can predict when a hardware component or software indicator will fail, giving a technician or engineer enough time to eliminate problems and take corrective measures before damage is done, according to ITRI.

*The PHM software can achieve more than 90 percent to 95 percent prediction accuracy in different production situations, ITRI says.* The AI software effectively ensures product quality especially for high-mix, low-volume operations, according to the Taiwan government-funded R&D institute.

While Lin declined to disclose the cost of the software to a potential customer, he said that after implementation, the software can reduce manpower requirements by about 15 percent, allowing engineers and equipment operators to spend time on higher priority tasks.

ITRI aims to license the software to more manufacturers in the electronics industry.

'Generally, we need three months to run our trial program to evaluate whether our solution is suitable for their production line,' Lin said. 'Then it takes one to two years to deploy the solution in production.'" (See article below)
----------

Taiwan R&D Group Rolls AI for Fault Prediction | EE Times

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## cirr

*China's first AI-based TCM clinic opens in Wuzhen*

2017-11-27 09:06 chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Li Yan_

China's first Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic based on an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnosis system opened in Zhejiang Province on Saturday, November 25, 2017, zjol.com.cn reported.

Using AI technology containing a large number of clinical cases from experienced TCM practitioners, the 4,500-square-meter clinic in the historic town of Wuzhen is the first of its kind in China.

After a human doctor inputs a patient's condition, the system can deliver a diagnosis and write a fundamental prescription based on cases in its huge database. The human doctor can then modify the prescription to make it suitable for the patient.

"The platform allows doctors to receive back up from famous TCM masters from both ancient and modern times," said Nie Rong, chief designer of the program.

Apart from a diagnosis, the platform helps to facilitate the dispensing process. It can automatically prepare convenient traditional medicines within 10 minutes.

TCM physicians can also take advantage of the system to consult with other doctors.

China is making efforts to increase data sharing between hospitals to improve the country's healthcare system.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/11-27/282331.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Honor unveiled new AI smartphone*

By Ma Si | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-11-29 





Zhao Ming, president of Honor, a smartphone brand of Huawei Technologies, unveiles AI-enabled smartphone V10 in Beijing, Nov 28, 2017. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]


Honor, a smartphone brand of Huawei Technologies, has unveiled a new artificial intelligence handset to tap into consumers' growing demands for intelligent services amid mounting competitions from domestic rivals.

The new gadget called V10 is *equipped with Huawei's first AI-enabled chipset Kirin 970, and a 5.99-inch full-display screen.* It came at a time when AI is seen as one of the key areas for players to stand out from a crowded market, where handsets look increasingly similar in both design and services.

Zhao Ming, president of the Honor brand, said companies usually upgrade smartphones by constantly improving the processing speed of the hardware and optimizing software. But the approach is starting to hit a bottleneck.

"AI offers a new direction, which can help smartphones understand users and then optimize services in response to consumers' specific needs," Zhao said.

According to him, AI-enabled smartphones can help narrow the capability gap between ordinary people and professionals.* For instance, V10's cameras can identify 13 types of objects, such as people and plants, when being photographed, and can adjust settings such as correction filters in accordance with the surrounding environment.* This can help people shoot better pictures, even though they don't have professional knowledge about photography.

Starting from 2,699 yuan ($409) in China, V10 is also designed to better meet gaming enthusiasts' demands by enabling faster operational speeds.

Kirin 970 is the first AI-enabled chipset unveiled by Huawei. It is powered by an 8-core CPU and a new generation 12-core GPU. Built using a 10-nanometer manufacturing process, the chipset packs 5.5 billion transistors into an area of only 1 square centimeter.

The Mate 10 series, Huawei's flagship smartphones which were launched in October in China, are also equipped with the Kirin 970 chip.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2017-11/29/content_35123599.htm

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## onebyone

*US Think Tank fears world economic and military domination from China’s AI*
brian wang | November 30, 2017 | 





The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a research arm of the US intelligence community is warning that if China is successful in developing superior Artificial Intelligence the balance of economic and military power will be shifted.

The report said China is no longer in a position of technological inferiority relative to the United States but rather has become a true peer that may have the capability to overtake the United States in AI.

China’s military thinkers anticipate the approach of a “singularity” on the battlefield, where humans can no longer keep pace with the speed of machine-led decisions during combat.

Baidu alone has more than 60 different AI platforms and has spent $1 billion buying up Western AI firms.

China’s government and leading technology companies will be putting tens of billions of dollars towards the race to become dominant in Artificial Intelligence.

McKinsey reported that Global venture capital funding for AI had grown from $589 million in 2012 to over $5 billion in 2016. McKinsey estimates that the total market for AI applications will reach $127 billion by 2025.

Much of the momentum behind AI in China is being driven by private-sector tech firms. Aided by huge volumes of search data and their many product lines, some of China’s Internet giants are on the cutting edge of technologies such as image and voice recognition. These capabilities have been integrated into new products, including automated personal assistants, autonomous cars, and so forth.











China AI startup Sensetime will be launching an IPO that is expected to raise $2 billion in early 2018.

There are several other China AI startups.

*US Currently has more AI technical talent*

The US currently has 850,000 AI technical people while China has about 50,000.There are 70,000 overseas chinese AI technical talents working in the US and China is lobbying to win them back.

Baidu plans to train 100,000 more AI technical talents within 3 years.

China annual graduates four times as many students as the United States (1.3 million vs. 300,000).






*China has taken the lead in supercomputers*

China has 202 of the top 500 supercomputers versus the US with 143 of the top 500.

Just six months ago, the US led with 169 systems, with China coming in at 160. Despite the reversal of fortunes, the 144 systems claimed by the US gives them a solid second place finish, with Japan in third place with 35, followed by Germany with 20, France with 18, and the UK with 15.

China has also overtaken the US in aggregate performance as well. The Asian superpower now claims 35.4 percent of the TOP500 flops, with the US in second place with 29.6 percent.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/...c-and-military-domination-from-chinas-ai.html

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## DoTell

Well I suggest the American think tank seek comfort from our Indian friends. Theyll tell you that all we do is making low quality stuff using stolen technologies. Please go back to sleep, no worries

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## Daniel808

*China have 202 Supercomputer 
US have 143 Supercomputer
Japan have 35 Supercomputer
Germany have 20 Supercomputer
France have 18 Supercomputer
and..
UK only have 15 Supercomputer*

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/...c-and-military-domination-from-chinas-ai.html



But but but but
Heloooo...Where is Supa powah India??? 
Who claim to be a Supa Powah country since 2012, and also claimed Supa powah in IT Technology and Industry 

I think Indian need to differentiate between Low IT Technicians and Scientist & Researchers in IT Technology Industry.

@SOUTHie @Hellraiser007 @madokafc @katarabhumi

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## 52051

Last time China teams dominates world AI competition in one of the hardest AI problem: natural language understanding at Stanford University USA.

Now it seems that when it come to computer vision, another AI-complete problem,* teams from big players in the US lose again, to a Chinese AI start-up company this time.*

It seems that AI is most likely an area China will leave the US in the dust very very soon if not already: when it comes to brags the US act as if they are the world leader, but when it come to real deal like puting your much-hyped AI machines/algrothims in an open competition, they fall short against the real champion which is China.

http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/jssd/2017-12-01/doc-ifypikwt0155109.shtml

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## AndrewJin

They got too many 82?

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## Yukihime

No surprise, the aim of this competition is just to spot achievements from small initial companies worldwide and than transfuse fresh blood to huge companies and high tech realm...

same old wallstreet harvesting game~
no country boundary for the capital

we can guess that with investment and share control/cooperation afterward, western world again seized their top level position on one of the human technology aspects.

congr...congr...


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## ZeEa5KPul

TaiShang said:


> But they will have the fastest supercomputer. SP2012 style.


It really is amazing how the US is becoming more and more like India with each passing year. Rampant corruption, growing wealth divide, simmering public anger, political paralysis, etc.
I expect them to shout and holler from the rooftops about how they're back and "'Murica #1 " when they manage to briefly squeeze into first place before Tianhe-3 comes online.

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## F-22Raptor

China is suffering from a serious shortage of qualified people to staff its ambitions to become a leader in artificial intelligence, part of a global mismatch as countries employ advanced computing sciences to drive the next stage of growth, according to a report released Friday.

There is a global AI talent pool of about 300,000 people, while the actual needs by industry number in the millions, according to a 73-page report released by Tencent Research Institute. Competition for the top tier of talent is the most intense, as there are fewer than 1,000 people who are considered capable of steering the direction of AI research and development, according to the report.

The US leads other countries in both the quantity and quality of AI personnel, and China won’t be able to immediately solve the talent shortage despite elevating AI to a national priority, Tencent said in the report co-authored with Beijing-based recruitment portal zhipin.com.

About one-third of the available AI talent pool is spread across 367 colleges or universities around the world, with the US accounting for about 46 per cent of those. However, China only has 20 universities doing AI research and these also have weaker academic study capability as they developed much later than US, according to the study.

Not only does the US lead in AI academic research but it also has the most AI start-ups globally, accounting for 41 per cent compared with China’s share of 22.6 per cent.

The large tech companies in both countries, including Google and Facebook in the US and Tencent and Baidu in China, have invested billions of dollars into research and development to develop AI technologies.

Dubbed the fourth industrial revolution, technology related to artificial intelligence is expected to boost global economic output by a further 14 per cent by 2030 – the equivalent of an additional US$15.7 trillion – and China, as the world’s second largest economy, will see an estimated 26 per cent boost to its economy by that time, PwC said in a report in June.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, laid out goals in July to build a domestic AI industry worth almost US$150 billion in the next few years and to make the country an innovation centre for the technology by 2030.

http://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation...d-shortage-talent-us-home-lions-share-experts


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## eldamar

There is nth surprising about the US having more AI capabilities in terms of the quantity of experts in the field for now(quality? How do u define 'quality' in the first place anyway?)

Im would be more concerned if developing China still has not overtaken the US in the field of AI in the next decade by 2030.

Will that happen? We just gave to take a look at China's track record n the Chinese way of doing things.

In other words, the US(and specifically you) should be the 1 praying to god that China will not progress any further in AI.

Haha thanks.

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## F-22Raptor

eldarlmari said:


> There is nth surprising about the US having more AI capabilities in terms of the quantity of experts in the field for now(quality? How do u define 'quality' in the first place anyway?)
> 
> Im would be more concerned if developing China still has not overtaken the US in the field of AI in the next decade by 2030.
> 
> Will that happen? We just gave to take a look at China's track record n the Chinese way of doing things.
> 
> In other words, the US(and specifically you) should be the 1 praying to god that China will not progress any further in AI.
> 
> Haha thanks.



The track record you should be paying attention to is the US. The US has a long history of producing/inventing technological revolutions on a global scale. You can't say the same for China in the last couple hundred years. 

An considering its resources, the US is well positioned to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence development.

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## bobsm

*Why AI could make the US and China the two biggest superpowers and change warfare as we know it*

After stealing the lead from the US in 2014, China continues to grow its AI capabilities, potentially meaning a more advanced military

*
By Olivia Krauth | November 28, 2017, 7:07 AM PST


After continued artificial intelligence (AI) growth, China may use its expertise to improve its military, according to a Center for a New American Security (CNAS) report expected Tuesday. The result: A potential shift in economic and military balances of power between China and the US.

"China is no longer in a position of technological inferiority relative to the United States but rather has become a true peer (competitor) that may have the capability to overtake the United States in AI," the report said.

China has been the world leader in AI since 2014, when it took the title from the US, according to the MIT Technology Review. Since then, the two nations have dominated the race, with MIT stating that the West shouldn't be afraid of China's growth, but rather, should aim to copy it.

This new report isn't the first time similar claims about China's power have been made. A 2017 unreleased Pentagon document, viewed by 

Reuters, said Chinese firms were accessing US AI technology by buying into the US companies. Alphabet's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said that he expects China and the US to be at the same technological level, if accurate, when it comes to AI within five years.

While AI has been a driving force in the tech industry recently, its impact can extend past enterprise use and development to the battlefield. 

According to public documents made available in the CNAS report, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is working on AI-driven projects alongside the Chinese defense industry.

The US has also been working on defense-focused uses for AI, including machine learning technology that sorts through military drone footage. However, US policy requires a human role in machine-driven offensive actions—a policy China may not adopt.

"The PLA may leverage AI in unique and perhaps unexpected ways, likely less constrained by the legal and ethical concerns prominent in US thinking," the report said.

The 3 big takeaways for TechRepublic readers

After leading the AI race since 2014, China may be looking to use the tech to modernize its armed forces, according to an upcoming report from the Center for a New American Security.

The report warned that China may be able to overtake the US in AI, and the Chinese defense industry has been working with their army to develop military uses for AI.

The US has also been working to add AI to its defense capabilities, but requires a human role in offensive actions caused by machines. China may not adopt a similar policy, leading them to greater freedom in terms of AI's use in the military.







https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...superpowers-and-change-warfare-as-we-know-it/*

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## qwerrty

it doesn't matter. most of the so-called ai american experts are of chinese origin anyway..

here's a picture of americans ai experts working at baidu ai lab in silicon valley 






---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*China vs US: Who is winning the big AI battle?*
Oct 22, 2017
Masha Borak






China and the US are becoming the world’s biggest rivals in artificial intelligence: it’s Luke vs Darth Vader, Alien vs Predator, Rocky vs Ivan Drago. The Chinese government’s pivot to become the leader in this technology has created plenty of hype, but how are China’s ambitious AI aspirations playing out on the ground? Research by startup database IT Juzi and Tencent News offers a new view of China’s AI industry’s strengths and weaknesses.

The US is currently the definite champion in AI development, according to the data. There are 1.82 times more American AI companies than Chinese. Investments in the US are 1.54 higher than in China and the talent pool is 2.01 times larger. Out of the total number of AI companies in the world (2542 according to data from June 2017), the US hosts 42% of them, while China ranks second with 23%. The two countries beat Britain, Australia, Japan, Sweden, Singapore and other developed countries.

These strong AI foundations were built with the help of companies such as Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft which started their ascendance early. But that gap could close soon: China’s tech trinity BAT is also building its AI ecosystems. There is Baidu’s AI assistant/platform DuerOS, self-driving platform Apollo and deep learning platform Paddle Paddle. Alibaba has its Platform of Artificial Intelligence (PAI 2.0), the Tmall Genie voice assistant, and customer service chatbot Dian Xiaomi. Tencent has developed a cloud service, an open-source computing platform called Angel, Wechat AI, and robot reporter Dreamwriter.

Giants aren’t the only ones wrestling in the ring: AI companies in China are springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

“China’s artificial intelligence can basically rival the world’s, but the dividends brought by industrial revolutions over the past 10 years will eventually be gone,” said Yao Qizhi, the first Asian winner of the Turing award, adding that supercomputers and theory are China’s biggest shortcomings.

These are not the only areas lagging behind the US, according to the report. A major impediment is the lack of AI talent. The numbers show that the US AI talent pool is 78,000-strong, while in China, that number is more than half lower—it has 39,200 AI experts. The reason behind this is the lack of quality training: out of the top 20 universities in the world in AI, 16 are affiliated to the US. Current academic capacities in China simply do not meet the demand.

The divide is also visible within the industry: China’s AI development will have to bridge the technology gap while paying attention to product differentiation and market demand. These are the three thresholds for AI startup development, the report states.

“For investors, the artificial intelligence technology industry is a promising tech industry, both large and small companies have begun to rise,” according to IT Juzi analyst and study co-author Li Jingwang. “But like the Internet bubble of 2000, they should be more cautious in choosing the right company.”

Chinese and American AI experts will have plenty of opportunities for a rematch. The most important areas in AI in the near future will be network security and fraud prevention, unmanned convenience stores, machine translation, the medical and pharmaceutical industry, and intellectual right protection. The two countries are currently building their strengths in different fields while AI startups are growing with their local financing trends.

Here are some more interesting numbers on China’s AI industry from the “2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report” (2017中美AI创投现状与趋势研究报告).

*What are Chinese and American AI companies researching?*




_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report._

Thanks to advances in three crucial areas for AI development—algorithms, data and high-performance chips—the world is discovering new applications in the field. In China, the most popular growth areas are proving to be smart robots with companies such as Ubtech, Roobo, and Cloudminds, as well as unmanned areal vehicles (UAV) with drone giant DJI as the biggest player in the field.

Natural language processing (NLP), including semantic analysis, speech recognition, and chatbots have also proven a hot spot with Jinri Toutiao, iFlytek and Unisound as some of the more famous representatives.

The third popular category—face and image recognition—hosts companies such as Face++ and SenseVision. It covers video surveillance, automatic driving, and computer vision.

But what are China’s AI strengths comparing to the US? The research lists nine areas in AI according to the difficulty of starting a business. For instance, NLP and computer vision have lower technical difficulty, which is why this area is a common hotspot both in China and the US. The most difficult part of AI is processor and chip development due to the amounts of funding needed, long cycle of development, and fewer talents.

According to the research, China’s main strength lies in intelligent robots, while the US stands as the world’s machine learning application champion.





_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report_

*What industries are most affected by AI in China?*
In China, the medical industry has become an interesting area for AI applications, including medical imaging and medical record analysis. This field has so far largely benefited from weak artificial intelligence, a form of AI specifically designed to focus on narrow tasks.

The automobile industry ranks second with self-driving and assisted driving, followed by education, finance, manufacturing, security, home and other industries.





_Image credit: 2017 China-US AI Venture Capital State and Trends Research Report_

*How much money does the AI industry get?*
Since the first AI investments in the US in 1999, the amount invested in AI globally has risen to RMB 191.4 billion. As of June 31st, 2017, Chinese AI companies received RMB 63.5 billion or 33.18% of the world’s AI funding, The US takes the lead with 51.10% (RMB 97.8 billion), while the rest of the world carved up the remaining 15.73%.

In 2016, China managed to edge closer to its main rival, but thanks to several big deals in the US, China’s total AI financing significantly lagged in H1 2017.

Another interesting piece of data is that China has a higher percentage of AI companies that have received investments (69%) than the US (51%). This shows that the main problem for AI development in China is not the lack of funds but the lack of technology and talent.





_Image credit: China has a higher percentage of AI companies that have received investments (69%) than the US (51%)._

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## F-22Raptor

bobsm said:


> *Why AI could make the US and China the two biggest superpowers and change warfare as we know it*
> 
> After stealing the lead from the US in 2014, China continues to grow its AI capabilities, potentially meaning a more advanced military
> 
> *
> By Olivia Krauth | November 28, 2017, 7:07 AM PST
> 
> 
> After continued artificial intelligence (AI) growth, China may use its expertise to improve its military, according to a Center for a New American Security (CNAS) report expected Tuesday. The result: A potential shift in economic and military balances of power between China and the US.
> 
> "China is no longer in a position of technological inferiority relative to the United States but rather has become a true peer (competitor) that may have the capability to overtake the United States in AI," the report said.
> 
> China has been the world leader in AI since 2014, when it took the title from the US, according to the MIT Technology Review. Since then, the two nations have dominated the race, with MIT stating that the West shouldn't be afraid of China's growth, but rather, should aim to copy it.
> 
> This new report isn't the first time similar claims about China's power have been made. A 2017 unreleased Pentagon document, viewed by
> 
> Reuters, said Chinese firms were accessing US AI technology by buying into the US companies. Alphabet's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said that he expects China and the US to be at the same technological level, if accurate, when it comes to AI within five years.
> 
> While AI has been a driving force in the tech industry recently, its impact can extend past enterprise use and development to the battlefield.
> 
> According to public documents made available in the CNAS report, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) is working on AI-driven projects alongside the Chinese defense industry.
> 
> The US has also been working on defense-focused uses for AI, including machine learning technology that sorts through military drone footage. However, US policy requires a human role in machine-driven offensive actions—a policy China may not adopt.
> 
> "The PLA may leverage AI in unique and perhaps unexpected ways, likely less constrained by the legal and ethical concerns prominent in US thinking," the report said.
> 
> The 3 big takeaways for TechRepublic readers
> 
> After leading the AI race since 2014, China may be looking to use the tech to modernize its armed forces, according to an upcoming report from the Center for a New American Security.
> 
> The report warned that China may be able to overtake the US in AI, and the Chinese defense industry has been working with their army to develop military uses for AI.
> 
> The US has also been working to add AI to its defense capabilities, but requires a human role in offensive actions caused by machines. China may not adopt a similar policy, leading them to greater freedom in terms of AI's use in the military.
> 
> View attachment 440372
> 
> 
> https://www.techrepublic.com/articl...superpowers-and-change-warfare-as-we-know-it/*



There were points in the 60's, 70's, and 80's where it was proclaimed that the Soviets and Japanese had or would pass the US in technological capability. It never happened. These types of reports are ultimately meant for increased defense funding. It reminds me of the "bomber and missile gap" relative to the Soviets that never existed.

US companies and military are spending billions on AI development. AI is already being implemented to locate fixed and mobile missile systems throughout East Asia. AI is the centerpiece of the new Long Range Anti-Ship Missile(LRASM) which will debut aboard B-1 bombers next year. AI is incorporated in the F-35 through its ability to soak in huge amounts of information, fuse it, and distribute it to the force.

All the top US tech companies are investing heavily in AI. That info is easily accessible.


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## bobsm

F-22Raptor said:


> There were points in the 60's, 70's, and 80's where it was proclaimed that the Soviets and Japanese had or would pass the US in technological capability. It never happened.



When you start to group China with Japan and the soviets, I stopped reading. The Chinese have way more talented people and think far more ahead than those two nations in the 60's, 70's and the 80's.

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## nang2

All of the far cry for talent shortage is nothing but smoke screen. If the technology has revenue perspective, companies can simply pay enough to attract talents. Stop being cheap, then talent shortage will be cured naturally.

Nowadays, IT specialists in Shanghai are paid at similar level as those in Boston. So are the life expenses, except hiring a nanny is far cheaper in Shanghai.

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## shadows888

F-22Raptor said:


> There were points in the 60's, 70's, and 80's where it was proclaimed that the Soviets and Japanese had or would pass the US in technological capability. It never happened. These types of reports are ultimately meant for increased defense funding. It reminds me of the "bomber and missile gap" relative to the Soviets that never existed.
> 
> US companies and military are spending billions on AI development. AI is already being implemented to locate fixed and mobile missile systems throughout East Asia. AI is the centerpiece of the new Long Range Anti-Ship Missile(LRASM) which will debut aboard B-1 bombers next year. AI is incorporated in the F-35 through its ability to soak in huge amounts of information, fuse it, and distribute it to the force.
> 
> All the top US tech companies are investing heavily in AI. That info is easily accessible.



I find it hilarious when People compare China to Japan or the Soviet Union. The soviets never stand a chance, they lost 30 million at the end of WWII, and always had only 1/2 of the population of the US. Japan is even more of an hilarious comparison. China is Japan on steroids x 11 population size and x25 land area size with immense natural resources. China is a different beast altogether.

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## Bussard Ramjet

nang2 said:


> All of the far cry for talent shortage is nothing but smoke screen. If the technology has revenue perspective, companies can simply pay enough to attract talents. Stop being cheap, then talent shortage will be cured naturally.
> 
> Nowadays, IT specialists in Shanghai are paid at similar level as those in Boston. So are the life expenses, except hiring a nanny is far cheaper in Shanghai.



AI doesn't have enough talent for meeting demand. And after one point money is not necessarily the only thing that people seek.


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## F-22Raptor

bobsm said:


> When you start to group China with Japan and the soviets, I stopped reading. The Chinese have way more talented people and think far more ahead than those two nations in the 60's, 70's and the 80's.



Your kidding right? China doesn't come close to the level of military power projection capability or global influence they had through their Marxist/Communist ideology. You overestimate yourself...


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## Bussard Ramjet

qwerrty said:


> it doesn't matter. most of the so-called ai american experts are of chinese origin anyway..
> 
> here's a picture of americans ai experts working at baidu ai lab in silicon valley



But it does. The best Chinese talent these days is not inside China but in the US. 
This makes it tough for local Chinese companies to hire them, and most of all retain them. 
Apart from that these people further train people and collaborate with Americans not Chinese. 
And finally, there's chance that US can make it tough to access and tap this talent. US is already passing a law that would essentially make it illegal for Chinese companies to invest in US startups. So now China will lack access to startups that it's own citizens create in the US in AI. 

Apart from that during a crisis this access will be totally cut off.


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## F-22Raptor

shadows888 said:


> I find it hilarious when People compare China to Japan or the Soviet Union. The soviets never stand a chance, they lost 30 million at the end of WWII, and always had only 1/2 of the population of the US. Japan is even more of an hilarious comparison. China is Japan on steroids x 11 population size and x25 land area size with immense natural resources. China is a different beast altogether.



Your exactly right, China is Japan on steroids. In other words, a nation facing a long term demographic crisis and stagnation. In about thirty years, a third of your population will be over the age of 65, and in overall decline. Growth will stagnate, and huge amounts of money will have to be allocated towards health and social safety nets. This means less money for defense and S&T accounts. 

In the last 5 years alone China has lost ground to the US in GDP and total national wealth. Your not catching up like you once were.


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## kankan326

China's education machine works very efficiently. Give it some more time.



F-22Raptor said:


> Your exactly right, China is Japan on steroids. In other words, a nation facing a long term demographic crisis and stagnation. In about thirty years, a third of your population will be over the age of 65, and in overall decline. Growth will stagnate, and huge amounts of money will have to be allocated towards health and social safety nets. This means less money for defense and S&T accounts.
> 
> In the last 5 years alone China has lost ground to the US in GDP and total national wealth. Your not catching up like you once were.


China has a last or worst choice left(I don't think it will happen): Letting immigrants in. Which is happening in US. 30 years later, over 50% US population will be non white. China could be next Japan. US could be next South Africa.

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## JSCh

*Five reasons why China is backing AI with billions of yuan *

CGTN's Nicholas Moore
2017-12-03 10:59 GMT+8
Updated 2017-12-03 11:39 GMT+8
The Fourth World Internet Conference is taking place in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, with artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the topics. 

Earlier this year, China’s State Council laid out ambitious plans for China to become the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI), with AI to become a 150-billion-US-dollar industry by 2030. 

The State Council called AI “a new engine of economic development,” and while its potential is widely accepted, why is China looking to pump so much money and effort into a technology that largely remains in a stage of infancy?

*AI to put Made in China 2025 on the map*

For China’s key manufacturing strategy – Made in China 2025 – AI has been singled out as an important area for boosting production, efficiency, innovation and overall quality. 

Autonomous vehicles are just one example of how AI will be used in more and more products that can be developed and sold to the world, bolstering long-term economic growth and upgrading China “from a manufacturer of quantity to one of quality,” as Premier Li Keqiang said in 2015.

*Automation offsets labor costs, ageing population*

When it comes to manufacturing, China will not only be producing AI technology, AI will play a key role in the production line itself. 



VCG Photo‍

With the country looking to move to an economic model based on consumption and services, AI can be used to offset rising labor costs and an expected decrease in the workforce due to China’s rapidly ageing population.

Automation will rely heavily on AI and deep learning, and affect workplaces well beyond factories – AI is already being used in customer-facing roles, managing financial assets and other areas of monotonous work which until now required human employees.

While some argue that globally this will free up workers to focus on innovation rather than number-crunching and spreadsheets, a report released in late November by McKinsey suggested that 800 million workers would be replaced by AI robots by 2030 – one fifth of the entire global workforce.

*AI and national security*

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China saw a lot of focus on the development of China’s military, and again, AI technology has a key role to play in national defense. 

In November, Chinese company Yitu Tech’s facial recognition technology won a competition organized by a research arm of the US intelligence community, showing how China’s AI is already being considered as world-leading.



Drones are just one example of how AI is being applied in the military. /VCG Photo

According to China Daily, “AI has the potential to reshape defense technology,” and that goes beyond the military. The vice-minister of science and technology Li Meng has said that AI will be a key tool in crime prediction for the government, while facial recognition technology was used by police in Shenzhen this year to find an abducted child and arrest the suspected kidnappers.

*AI will change the way China does finance*

AI, machine learning and big data will all be key players as the burgeoning fintech sector continues to develop in China. Fintech led by AI will allow the financial sector to automate a significant portion of work, manage assets, deal with clients and handle transactions for 24 hours a day at a pace much faster than any human worker.



VCG Photo

China’s economic growth in the last four decades can be attributed to impressive man power and human effort – the next few decades should see AI handle and deliver further financial development, with technology key to opening up sectors of the economy like SMEs, services and personal finance.

*China has everything in place for AI to develop*

The push for AI is not only underway in China – Europe, the US and other major economies are all vying to get on the front foot. But China has significant advantages that can propel it way ahead of the competition.

By the end of June this year, China had 751 million people online, and 724 million of those have access to the Internet via mobile phones. Meanwhile, more than 520 million people use mobile payment platforms. This means not just an enormous market for AI Internet technology, but also access to huge amounts of user data, aiding tech developers in their development of new innovations.

The unique online ecosystem in China, which has seen giants like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent grow at an enormous rate, means there is ample competition, funding and impetus to fuel research in AI. 

Alongside government support for AI development, this push in the private sector gives research into the technology a forward motion that other countries can’t compete with.

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## TaiShang

*Global Tech 2017 envisions how AI will shape life*
By He Shan
China.org.cn, December 02, 2017

Global Tech 17, an AI-themed technology conference, was held in Beijing on Thursday, bringing together home-grown technology giants such as Alibaba and Huawei and multinationals like Microsoft and Samsung to discuss how artificial intelligence will shape future life.






Global Tech 17, an AI-themed technology conference,isheld in Beijing Thursday.[Photo/China.org.cn]

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Dr. Zhou Li said the most important direction of AI is in the ability of conversation and understanding human emotions, and that is the biggest difference between AI and current human-machine interaction.

"When it comes to 'smiles,' there are many different kinds of expressions such as grinning, and even bitter smiling," he explained.

"We hope that through calculating human feelings, we can explore more uncharted areas and needs, unleashing the imagination of the AI industry and anticipating the earlier arrival of the era of intelligent life," he added.

*Speaking of the AI trend in the future of the smart city, Alibaba Vice President Hua Xiansheng commented that the "city brain" has become just as much an infrastructure facility as electricity, and it can't be accomplished only by human beings; there is an extremely large value placed on AI to deeply analyze the big data.*

The management consultancy McKinsey & Company estimates that as many as 60 percent of today's professions could outsource almost a third of their workload to AI. The global market of AI is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 36 percent, reaching a value of US$3 trillion by 2025 from US$126 billion in 2015.

Qin Liang, a manager of Huawei Wireless Products Line, said the commercial application of 5G technologies will witness a boom in 2019. 

In the transport area, for example, 5G technologies would be able to meet needs from such areas as driverless vehicles, while they would also be able to gather and process enough data to build the infrastructure of a smart city. 

Professor Li Jinliang, a pioneer of China's mobile communications sector, also offered his ideas at the conference. 

He said 5G technologies had solved the issue of ultra-fast transmission of data and laid the foundation for the construction of the internet of things. 

Science-fiction author Hao Jingfang, the first Chinese woman to win a Hugo Award, offered a different perspective on how to apply AI to education. 

"AI can promote education equality and give children in poverty-stricken families access to education," she said. However, she added that AI still faces challenges such as how to coordinate student activities, how to get them to express personal feelings, and how to stimulate innovation.

She advised future teachers to work harder to stimulate the interest of students in learning, encourage them to think and innovate, and organize them to cooperate.

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## bobsm

F-22Raptor said:


> Your kidding right? China doesn't come close to the level of military power projection capability or global influence they had through their Marxist/Communist ideology. You overestimate yourself...


 
Actually, no, but if it makes you sleep better at night, so be it. I truely hope the US feels the same as you, for China's sake.



> You overestimate yourself



When did I talk about myself, a Taiwanese? Unless, of course, you think, like some members in this forum, it is impossible for any Taiwanese to be critical of americans.

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## 大汉奸柳传志

ai is overhyped anyway...machine mimicking human intelligence does not equal to true intelligence


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## Menthol

It's hardly to compare USA with China today... As USA is already decades building computer and then continue with AI, while China is just joined in the past several years.


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## cirr

*E-shoppers embrace smart apps*

2017-12-04 08:56 China Daily _Editor: Li Yan_






A fish-eye view of customers experiencing 'New Retail' hall of Tmall in Hangzhou in October. (Photo by Li Zhong/For China Daily)

*Intelligent software helps customize product recommendations and sales*

*Chinese e-retailers are using artificial intelligence or AI to enhance and redefine the entire shopping experience for the consumer.* _*[Special coverage]*_

In doing so, they are dispelling the notion that the newage technology is all about driverless cars, futuristic robots and supercomputers such as the Go (that beat human players in a complex board game).

For instance, Tencent Holdings Ltd, known for its killer app WeChat and video game apps, is deploying AI to recommend products and services to users of its mobile wallet WeChat Pay.

Such users win virtual red packets containing real cash for offline purchases, which can be redeemed later in online shopping at partner sites.

According to Ren Yuxin, Tencent's chief operating officer, the company is also empowering partner merchants to personalize their virtual storefronts for individual visitors. The idea is to offer real-time, tailor-made product recommendations based on a variety of factors like age, gender, location and purchasing power.

Tencent has also teamed up with China's second-largest online site JD.com, offering merchants customized content marketing opportunities via WeChat's Moments, an information-sharing function, banking on algorithms that analyze a person's interests, location and purchasing power.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the world's largest e-commerce site by transaction volume, has embedded AI into its digital infrastructure, aiming to provide more precise search results and relevant product recommendations to users, and thus drive sales.

The tech giant has developed a so-called "E-commerce Brain" to understand people's needs and deliver relevant holistic recommendations.

By adopting real-time online data to build models to predict what consumers want, the system generates recommendations for not only products they have shown an interest in but related products and other information.

"Alibaba's Brain can home in on a consumer's predilections for certain products, price ranges, brands, product specifications and other key parameters," said Zhao Binqiang, an algorithm expert at Alibaba who now leads the firm's digital marketing unit.

The software works in tandem with Alibaba's vast social media networks. Algorithms allow the system to determine correlations between content consumption and purchasing behavior.

For example, if a mother has purchased diapers via Alibaba's Taobao site, she is likely to receive maternity and child-care related content from Weitao, a micro-blogging service for brands, or from Taobao Headlines, a sister newsfeed. Via such online destinations, she might receive sponsored content on products such as infant formula or supplements.

Alibaba also introduced an AI-powered electronic assistant or chatbot called Ali Xiaomi (Ali Assistant) to handle up to 95 percent of general inquiries ranging from refunds to complaints.

According to Alibaba, the chatbot, when provided with a text or voice description or even a photo, can even help users find products, returning a list of recommendations that they could filter by brand, color and other characteristics.

A Goldman Sachs report earlier this year said, "Big data, cloud services and the coming of age of machine learning technology should continue to deliver a personalized shopping experience to consumers and targeted marketing solutions to brands and merchants."

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-04/283028.shtml

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## cirr

*iFlytek boosts use of AI in healthcare sector*

2017-12-04 09:24 China Daily _Editor: Wang Zihao_





People interact with robots at the 301 Hospital in Beijing. The robots provide basic medical consultation services for people. (Photo by Fan Jiashan/for China Daily)

The digital-age marriage of business with high-tech is helping improve services in China's healthcare sector. A shining example is the Anhui Provincial Hospital of Central China._*[Special Coverage]*_

Doctors there are well served by a smart, well-qualified assistant. 'She' records patients' symptoms, reviews computerized tomography scan images and makes initial diagnosis. Only, she is not human but a robot that runs on artificial intelligence.

Developed by iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese AI company, the robot aced the written test of China's national medical licensing examination－it is a test that aspiring doctors need to pass－in November, thus becoming the first device in the world to achieve the feat. It received 456 marks, 96 more than the minimum required to qualify.

The robot is iFlytek's pilot project at the Anhui hospital. It is meant to see how the robot could help in real-life medical cases.

The initiative is part of broader efforts by China to accelerate the application of AI in healthcare. This has become necessary as China's aging society struggles to find adequate number of high-quality medical facilities.

Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek, said, "We will officially launch the robot in March 2018. It is not meant to replace doctors. Instead, it is meant to promote better people-machine cooperation so as to boost efficiency."

Unlike the AI-enabled Watson system of U.S. tech company IBM, which only focuses on the treatment for cancer and major diseases, iFlytek is exploring how to use AI to both treat cancer and train general practitioners.

"General practitioners are in severe shortage in China's rural areas. We hope AI can help more people access quality medical resources," Liu said.

Jin Xiaotao, deputy head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said more efforts are needed to advance the application of AI in the medical sector.

In November, iFlytek was chosen by the central government as one of the four tech heavyweights to build the national AI open innovation platform by leveraging voice computing technologies.

The move put the Hefei-based company on a par with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's "Big Three" internet players.

iFlytek was formed at the University of Science and Technology of China in 1999, and has been focusing on voice recognition technologies for 18 years now.

Its AI-enabled user interface platform has accumulated 460,000 third-party developer teams in the past seven years.

In April, the company started a partnership with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, a premier medical university in the country.

The two sides set up a research center in Beijing to explore how to apply AI in medical treatments and training. Findings of research into brain science, neuroscience and other areas will be first tested in the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences' affiliated hospital before being promoted at other medical institutions.

Cao Xuetao, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said AI can help accelerate medical research by boosting computing capabilities, and it can also efficiently use limited resources by offering partly automated solutions.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-04/283043.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Top executives: AI expected to reshape China's business sectors*

By Ma Si in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-12-04 






Robots work at a restaurant in Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu province, Dec 7, 2015. [Photo/IC]


*Artificial intelligence will play an important part in China's supply-side reform as the cutting-edge technology is expected to reshape various sectors such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare, top company executives said Monday at a forum of the fourth World Internet Conference.*

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine provider, said in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, that in comparison with the mobile internet technology that has revolutionized consumer services, AI will exert a far bigger influence over how enterprises run their businesses.

"For instance, Baidu is leveraging AI to help supermarkets better manage their supply of fresh food by analyzing and predicting which products are most popular," Li said.

According to him, such solutions have effectively reduced the food waste ratio and boosted profit growth at pilot stores. AI can also be used to help coal mining companies step up precautionary measures against accidents and assist steel mills to automatically check product defects.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi Inc, said internet companies can leverage the huge number of users and devices they have accumulated in the past several years to find new growth momentum with AI.

"A key factor in the digital economy is integration. Only by integrating AI with various sectors can we give full display of the technological advancements the world has made," Lei said.

Xiaomi said it has over 85 million consumer electronic devices on its internet of things platform as of November.

Fu Sheng, CEO of Cheetah Mobile, a major mobile app publisher in China, said it is very important to have abundant application scenarios to promote the development of AI.

"Technology must be efficiently integrated into products. AI is reshaping industries which used to be far away from the internet," Fu said.

By applying image recognition technologies to Live.me, a livestreaming platform which is ranked as the most popular social-networking app on the Google Play app store in the United States, Cheetah Mobile said it can now automatically track user-generated content. The move has greatly boosted work efficiency and lowered labor costs.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/4thwic/2017-12/04/content_35199367.htm

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## JSCh

*Yitu to power finance and medical services*
By Fan Feifei | China Daily | Updated: 2017-12-04 08:22














Shanghai-based Yitu Technology, a startup engaged in artificial intelligence or AI and facial recognition technologies, is ramping up efforts to expand its presence in overseas markets.

It will apply AI to fields like urban public safety, healthcare and finance.

It plans to set up a research and development hub in Singapore, its first such facility outside of China.

The hub is expected to bolster Singapore's applications of AI in the areas of security and finance. Singapore will likely act as a gateway for the startup to expand across the world.

"Singapore is a strategic location for us to begin our overseas ventures," said Leo Zhu, CEO and founder of Yitu. Europe and Africa will be tapped next, he said.

The company's AI technologies have been used in a wide range of areas like security, finance, transportation and healthcare. It has formed partnerships with leading companies in these fields to provide integrated solutions.

For instance, its advanced facial recognition technology has been adopted by China Merchants Bank at over 1,500 outlets nationwide, enabling cash withdrawals at ATMs.

Similarly, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank has adopted Yitu's technologies in its video teller machines or VTMs for online banking.

Lin Chenxi, co-founder of Yitu, said there is still a long way to go before AI plays a significant role in rejuvenating any industry.

"There is still much potential for AI's applications in the healthcare sector. That will mean an improvement not only in the efficiency of treating illnesses but also the efficiency of doctors learning about how diseases can be cured," said Lin in an interview with Global Times newspaper.

Lin told GT this will require technology breakthroughs not just in computer vision, but in natural language processing, semantic comprehension and healthcare knowledge mapping.

Data accumulated over the course of unleashing the potential in AI's healthcare applications could also influence drug development.

Its intelligent diagnostic assistance system has been under clinical trials in dozens of hospitals in Shanghai and Zhejiang province.

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## ashok321

China gains in race to develop AI-enabled weapons






https://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Co...05.2017&utm_term=Editorial - Early Bird Brief


HONG KONG -- There were 1,000 of them dotting the night sky, floating gracefully like glowing purple, red and blue Chinese lanterns. It was the largest-ever demonstration of drones flying in formation, a spectacle that drew gasps from the crowd gathered in Guangzhou, China, to mark the end of the Lunar New Year.

Though it had the festive air of a holiday fireworks display, the Guangzhou drone show in February would be cited less than two weeks later in a U.S. congressional hearing on advanced Chinese weaponry. In testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Elsa Kania, a former Pentagon analyst and expert on China's military technology, referred to the performance as a "demonstration of swarming techniques" with clear military applications. Chinese experts, she noted, said the same technology behind the stunning air show could be used in a deadly "distributed system with payload modules mounted on small drones."

The February drone show was a perfect illustration of China's progress in developing "dual-use" technologies -- cutting-edge tech that has both civilian and military applications. China, like the U.S., is pushing hard to develop dual-use technologies in areas from artificial intelligence and robotics to virtual reality and gene editing. Such investments can have twin payoffs for the military and the overall economy. The U.S. Department of Defense can spend its budget dollars on research into unmanned flight technology that benefits the military, for instance, and the resulting advances could end up in private-sector drones that will one day deliver parcels to e-commerce customers. The transfer of technological know-how can also flow from the private sector back to the military.





A Guangzhou light show using 1,000 drones in February was referred to in a U.S. congressional hearing as a "demonstration of swarming techniques" with military applications. © Getty Images

Kania, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, testified that China's military is seeking to use dual-use technologies such as drones, artificial intelligence and automation as "force multipliers" for its military power. If the People's Liberation Army mastered such technologies, she said, it could alter the military balance in the Asia-Pacific and intensify the challenges facing the U.S., Japan, South Korea and their other allies in the region.

Swarming drones are just the start. Other Star Wars-like weapons that are raising concerns across the Pacific include laser-guided bombs, "jammers" that disrupt satellite communications, particle-beam armaments, and electromagnetic and microwave instruments of destruction. Richard Fisher, an analyst at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, spotted Chinese fiber-optic lasers -- a technology vital for laser combat satellites -- at an exhibition this year in Abu Dhabi. Other experts say China would like to establish base stations on the moon with both military and civilian objectives.







"China is progressing in a very wide range of major military technological megaprojects," Andrew Erickson, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said.

For the first time since the end of the Cold War, U.S. military supremacy is no longer unchallenged -- a fact that has massive implications for the U.S. economy and its security alliances around the world. China's advances in such futuristic technologies -- and U.S. efforts to counter them -- will have ripple effects on the entire Asian region. Increasing tensions could draw in Japan as it reconsiders its military stance.





Boys do virtual battle at the China International Big Data Industry Expo in the southwestern city of Guiyang in May. © Getty Images

For years, Asia has been the beneficiary of relative peace, which means that it has been able to dedicate its burgeoning reserves to the prosperity of its people rather than to weapons spending. Now, some are asking if this is about to change.

Ash Carter, U.S. defense secretary under President Barack Obama, described Asia earlier this year as "the single most consequential region for America's future." "It will be necessary for the U.S. to continue to sharpen our military edge so we remain the most powerful military in the region and the security partner of choice," he said, adding that China was "far and away the largest transgressor of the principle of nonmilitarization."

This little-acknowledged arms race is part of a technological competition between the two largest economies on the planet. While tempting to portray that competition as the 21st-century equivalent of the Cold War 60 years ago, such analogies are inaccurate because the nature of war has fundamentally changed.


New technologies "will perhaps give future warfare unmanned, intangible and silent" characteristics, the most recent edition of "The Science of Military Strategy," a Chinese textbook, states. China is hastening the advent of such warfare based partly on its estimates of how the U.S. military will look in the future. One study cited in the PLA Daily last year suggested that by 2040, robots and other unmanned systems will outnumber people within the American armed forces.

Today's conflicts increasingly take place in what military parlance labels a "gray zone." In the past, war was waged between governments or identifiable groups with clear motivations, but now nonstate actors or even individuals can launch what would traditionally be considered acts of war without revealing who they are or even what their objectives might be. If, for example, a military communications satellite is hacked, is it an act of war? And how does a country retaliate if no one claims credit for it?

*Soar dragon, divine eagle*

In February, a research paper called "China's Technology Transfer Strategy" detailed the risks of China's accessing "the crown jewels of U.S. innovation." Produced for the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), an arm of the Defense Department, the report depicts a future in which supply chains for U.S. military equipment and services are increasingly owned by Chinese companies. It said that 10% of Chinese venture investing recently went into U.S. tech companies, adding that this was "only a piece of a larger story of massive technology transfer from the U.S. to China which has been ongoing for decades."

In the past, research grants were awarded in China on the basis of party loyalty. That policy helped drive out eminent scientists, said the physicist Shoucheng Zhang, who himself left the country to teach at Stanford University. But now grants are more merit-based. One government-sponsored think tank says that it is no longer required to have firewalls -- a major exception in a country where internet access is restricted. Officials in Beijing are beginning to understand that blocking web access is an impediment to leading-edge research, says Xiaodong Wang, director of the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing.

Beijing's progress in dual-use tech is particularly striking when it comes to unmanned vehicles. Kania described some of these vehicles -- with names such as Xiang Long (soar dragon), Li Jian (sharp sword) and Shen Diao (divine eagle) -- as "supersonic stealth vehicles which are on track to expand the PLA's capacity to engage in long-distance precision strikes and could alter the military balance in the region."

China's technological advances, particularly in AI, mean "the PLA may have the potential to mimic, match or even exceed U.S. advances," she said.

Many experts believe this is already happening. China has moved well beyond imitation, which means that there is little the U.S. can do at this point. "They've gone from a phase of making mimic-type systems to really moving to leap ahead in advanced technologies," said Timothy Grayson, president of Fortitude Mission Research, in a congressional appearance.

Midea Group. Among potential competitors in China is Shanghai Siasun Robot & Automation, which came out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to Henrik Christensen, director of the Contextual Robotics Institute and a professor of computer science at the University of California, San Diego.

Alibaba Group Holding, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The new research facility aims to advance the study and applications of quantum theory and develop new platforms for information security, connectivity and computing.

Aliyun has become among the most potentially lucrative units in Alibaba, an outcome of Beijing's preference to work closely with a few companies and help them grow. "The Chinese government seems to prefer a few centralized systems as opposed to enabling technologies to be distributed throughout the economy," Snell testified. "That allows them to control investment and access a little more tightly in contrast to a U.S. model."

It is a relationship that recalls earlier days in the U.S., when DARPA -- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an arm of the Pentagon -- worked closely with universities such as Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and research institutes such as Bell Labs. Such collaborations led to breakthrough technologies, including the internet, AI and robotics, speech recognition and GPS systems. But the ties between the Pentagon and the U.S. tech industry have weakened since their peak in the 1970s and 1980s.

The U.S. has been trying to re-establish that sort of productive relationship, an initiative that began under former Defense Secretary Carter. His successor, James Mattis, paid his first visit to Silicon Valley in August -- making him the first Trump cabinet member to do so.

Mattis' trip included a stop at DIUx, the Pentagon's two-year-old innovation hub, which has awarded $100 million in contracts for projects in AI, autonomous machines and space technology. "We will get better at integrating the advances in AI that are being taken here in the Valley into the U.S. military," he said.

If Mattis and the Pentagon succeed in repairing ties with Silicon Valley, the result could be more innovations that make consumers' lives easier. But it could also accelerate an arms race that will usher in a new era of warfare powered by robots, AI and swarming drones.

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## ashok321

Tiny Singapore is active but not Modi's India.


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## cirr

ashok321 said:


> China gains in race to develop AI-enabled weapons
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> https://asia.nikkei.com/Features/Cover-story/China-gains-in-race-to-develop-AI-enabled-weapons?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB 12.05.2017&utm_term=Editorial - Early Bird Brief
> 
> 
> HONG KONG -- There were 1,000 of them dotting the night sky, floating gracefully like glowing purple, red and blue Chinese lanterns. It was the largest-ever demonstration of drones flying in formation, a spectacle that drew gasps from the crowd gathered in Guangzhou, China, to mark the end of the Lunar New Year.



The above is nothing compared with what's reported in the following:

http://news.ifeng.com/a/20171205/53860628_0.shtml

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## cirr

*Chinese university develops soft-body robotic manta ray*

2017-12-05 15:50 CGTN _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





A soft-bodied robot that can swim like a manta ray has been created at China's Zhejiang University. (Photo/CGTN)

A soft-bodied robot that can swim like a manta ray has been created at China's Zhejiang University.

The less than 20 centimeter robots that can swim as fast as six centimeters per second have been developed for information gathering in lakes and oceans.

They can also closely observe marine life and survey fishery resources without disturbing them, said project leader Li Tiefeng.

Robots are increasingly being constructed from soft materials to make them more resilient, but many still need to be powered by rigid circuit boards and motors, something this robotic manta ray does not have.

The secret is its soft belly which flexes when powered by electricity and acts exactly like a muscle.

Li said the new material is called Dielectric Elastomer (DE), a kind of artificial muscle that is deformed by electrical signals.

This material consists of two layers of film as electrodes, sandwiching the middle layer of conductive hydrogel.

When voltage is applied to the electrode, it attracts electrons, making the rest of the hydrogel positively charged.

The gel is then attracted to negatively charged electrons, and the two dielectric films will be compressed to the center and the middle layer will be squeezed.

Using DE underwater was thought to be impossible, because the thick electrical insulation required would have hampered flexibility.

But the team at Zhejiang University came up with a counter-intuitive solution. They took advantage of the water's own conductive properties as the negative electrode for the entire circuit system.

The hydrogel part is positively charged. The gel is then attracted to negatively charged electrons in the water outside the robot, squeezing the fish body in between and causing movement of the fins.

The final result is that the electricity pulses make the fins flap up and down and move the fish forward.

The technology may free designers from the rigid constraints of construction, making new types of wearable devices or soft exoskeletons possible.

For example, knee pads that are applied with this technology could help improve stability among elderly people while gloves using this tech could give users a stronger grip.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-05/283311.shtml

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## JSCh

*Cheetah banks on artificial intelligence to spread reach*
By Ma Si | China Daily | Updated: 2017-12-05 07:21

















A Cheetah Mobile stand at an internet and information security expo in Beijing. Cheetah Mobile is stepping up efforts to expand its presence in overseas markets. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese internet and mobile app publisher Cheetah Mobile Inc is stepping up efforts to expand its presence in overseas countries by upgrading its products and services with artificial intelligence technologies.

Fu Sheng, CEO of the Beijing-based company, said it is very important to have abundant application scenarios and a large number of users to achieve breakthroughs in AI and this is exactly in line with the company's edge.

By applying image recognition technologies to Live.me, a live streaming platform which is ranked as the most popular social-networking app on Google Play app store in the United States, the company said it can now automatically track user-generated content. The move has greatly boosted work efficiency and lowered labor costs.

Cheetah Mobile has also invested $400 million into an AI startup called Beijing Orion Star Technology Co Ltd, in a move to beef up its technology prowess.

Unlike the first-wave of Chinese internet players such as Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd which rely on the domestic market to thrive, Cheetah Mobile gets 75.4 percent of its nearly 600 million monthly active users from abroad. The firm has managed to achieve that within just six years.

The Beijing-based company started to zero in on overseas markets after competition in the domestic market intensified in 2012. It worked hard to adapt itself to foreign markets.

"Our strategy is straight-forward: develop utility apps, which are hardly subject to cultural influences and enjoy universal, steady demand," Chen Bo, a software developer at Cheetah said.

The Beijing-based company quickly gained a presence by rolling out Clean Master, the Android junk cleaning app, and CM Security, which protects smartphones with anti-virus software and privacy.

But unexpectedly, cultural obstacles still popped up. "Users in the Middle East complained against an ad on our app because the girls on that ad wore off-shoulder tops," Chen said. "We then worked hard to localize our apps as per overseas sensibilities."

Cheetah Mobile found advertisement revenue hard to come by as users generally don't use e-tools and apps of the kind it develops every day. As a result it has been transforming itself into a content business through research and acquisitions.

"Apps that provide content and services, such as social media apps, live streaming apps, maps, mobile payments apps and online shopping apps have become the new trend for Chinese developers who are targeting emerging and developed markets," said Wei Fangdan, CEO of Baijingapp, an online community of more than 40,000 domestic app developers who have global aspirations.

In the third quarter of this year, Cheetah Mobile generated 154 million yuan ($23.4 million) in operating profit, marking a 303 percent year-on-year growth.

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## cirr

*China showcases AI breakthroughs as WIC concludes*

2017-12-06 08:59 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*Chinese tech could become benchmark*

Rising artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, big data and open source platforms have boosted technological breakthroughs in China, showcasing the country's impressive and innovative Internet development, said experts attending an international conference here. _*[Special Coverage]*_

A slew of breakthroughs have been made in the information technology (IT) sector, with 60 percent of technology achievements unveiled at the 4th World Internet Conference (WIC) made by Chinese companies. The three-day conference ended on Tuesday in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province.

"This progress reflects the overall development of China's IT sector," Wu Hequan, president of the Internet Society of China, told the Global Times following the closing ceremony of the WIC.

The achievements include Huawei Technologies Co's 5G mobile data system that has yet to go into commercial use; Alibaba Group Holdings' self-learning cloud computing system that might be used to ease traffic congestion; and the world's fastest supercomputer the Sunway TaihuLight, which can make 18.9 quadrillion calculations per second, developed by the National Supercomputer Center in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province.

The Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer's earthquake simulation is this year's recipient of the Gordon Bell Prize which is awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery. The association said the simulation program might help predict and prepare for earthquakes.

Over the past five years, the Chinese government has established guidelines to strengthen China's Internet development and its cyber governance, according to the China Internet Development Report 2017, released by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies on Monday.

The country has seen its network infrastructure grow rapidly over the past few years. By June 2017, the number of broadband users reached 322 million and 4G users grew to 890 million, the report showed.

The number of patents issued in the computer, communication and other electronic equipment sector reached 227,365 by the end of 2016, the highest in the world.

"While the Internet sector maintains its growth momentum, the era of AI and 5G have already become a reality and will be seen as disruptive technologies," a senior executive from Huawei, who asked not to be identified, told the Global Times on Monday. Huawei invests 10 percent of its annual revenues in research and development, he said.

"The IT sector in China has accumulated experiences in embracing AI, big data platforms and open source platforms," he told the Global Times.

In some other sectors like supercomputing, Chinese research teams are now in a leading position in scientific discoveries. The Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer shows Chinese technology could one day become a benchmark, Yang Guangwen, director of the project, told the Global Times in an earlier interview.

*Innovation and openness*

China, which has benefited greatly from the IT boom, has now become an active leader in further cooperating with the international community in Internet development and management, Ren Xianliang, deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China, told a press briefing after the closing ceremony of the WIC.

During the conference, some foreign industry representatives said that they were amazed by China's innovative spirit and the speed of growth in the world's second-largest economy. Some have said they intend to team up with Chinese tech companies in more sectors.

The use of AI technologies in products such as DJI's consumer drones are phenomenal, RJ Pittman, chief product officer of eBay, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"They're one of the leaders in AI, they're using that technology to make these products more fun, more useful, more consumer-friendly. It's absolutely a breakthrough," Pittman said, adding that there will be tremendous opportunities in the AI sector and eBay is looking forward to working more with Chinese tech firms. EBay will continue to strengthen partnership with its Chinese counterparts with more domains beyond e-commerce, he added.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-06/283356.shtml

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## TaiShang

JSCh said:


> The Beijing-based company quickly gained a presence by rolling out Clean Master, the Android junk cleaning app, and CM Security, which protects smartphones with anti-virus software and privacy.



Clean Master is China made?

I did not know it. 

***

*Sogou debuts real-time speech translation system*
By Guo Yiming





Sogou's exhibition booth at the Light of the Internet Expo during the 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China. [Photo by Guo Yiming/China.org.cn]

Speaking during a panel discussion via the company's new translation system, Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan said the product enables users to hear the content of his speech translated into English in both male and female voices with the click of button.

The new system can also analyze and replicate features of the speaker's voice, thus translating both semantically and phonetically.

This comes after last year's conference when Wang stunned the crowd with a similar real-time translation system which transcribed spoken Mandarin into English text.

Sogou raised US$585 million in its initial public offering after debuting on the New York Stock Exchange earlier last month in a bid to accelerate its AI development.

Wang said he hopes the new product will help to enhance cross-cultural communication and mutual understanding.

A subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Sohu, Sogou is also known for its popular Pinyin input system, used every day by millions of desktop and smartphone users to type Chinese characters using Latin-alphabet keyboards.






Wang Xiaochuan, CEO of Sogou [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2017-12/06/content_50088784_2.htm

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## cirr

*Facial recognition identifies unlicensed drivers in Shanghai*

2017-12-06 14:56 Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_






It used to be a difficult task for Chinese traffic police to catch people driving without a valid license, but in Shanghai high-tech systems have proven to be efficient in handling such traffic violations.

Some 835 drivers have been caught and penalized for driving without a valid license since a citywide traffic regulation campaign began in 2016, Shanghai traffic police announced on Tuesday.

Police said a combination of facial recognition, big data and other high-tech solutions have assisted them in identifying unlicensed drivers.

Some drivers whose licenses had been revoked or temporarily suspended previously took their chances and continued to drive, presuming that the police would not find out.

However, a facial recognition system now compares and analyzes every driver's face with their profile information and detects any violations, allowing Shanghai traffic police to keep an eye on all motorists.

Officers said that none of the 835 drivers tried to drive again after they were caught.

Shanghai has adopted the facial recognition technology to assist with various traffic violations including jaywalking and driving in the wrong direction.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-06/283449.shtml

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## JSCh

* Honda, SenseTime to pursue joint R&D *
Source:Global Times Published: 2017/12/7 22:28:39

Honda R&D Co, a subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Co, announced Thursday that it signed a five-year contract with SenseTime Group, a China-based company that specializes in artificial intelligence (AI).

The two will focus on joint research and development (R&D) in automated driving technologies by combining SenseTime's moving object recognition technologies with the Japanese automaker's AI algorithms, according to a post on Honda's website on Thursday.

Their R&D cooperation will also expand into robotics, said the post.

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## onebyone

Beijing is harnessing government and commercial entities in pursuit of a once-in-a-generation technological kingmaker.

*China has made no secret of its *ambitions to lead the world in artificial intelligence, nor of the military and geopolitical advantage it hopes to gain from this rapidly advancing technology. A closer look at Beijing’s whole-of-nation AI strategy shows the challenge to the United States — and suggests what America must do lest it be eclipsed in this latest round of great-power competition.

China’s vision came into focus over the summer with the release of the New Generation AI Development Plan, which articulates an ambitious agenda to “lead the world” in the field. Chinese leaders, no longer content to copy Western technologies, are aiming to become the world’s “premier AI innovation center,” advancing an “innovation-driven” strategy for civilian and military development.

The implementation of this agenda will be a whole-of-government endeavor involving 15 central agencies and a growing number of local governments. Their efforts will foster the growth of a robust AI industry and ecosystem and pour billions into longer-term research and development of next-generation technologies. The plan will tap the dynamism of national tech champions, such as Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and iFlytek, that have been leading China’s AI revolution.

Under the national strategy of “military-civil fusion,” their breakthroughs can also be put to military use.

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It is telling that the agencies responsible for the plan include the Central Military-Civil Fusion Development Commission and both the Equipment Development Department and Science and Technology Commission of the Central Military Commission, or CMC. The strategic advisory committee responsible for supporting the new plan’s implementation also includes several PLA civilians (in uniform). And China’s AIagenda has the very highest support, in the country’s leader — and CMC Chairman — Xi Jinping, who has urged his country to advance military innovation and highlighted the strategic significance of AI.

PLA thinkers expect AIto reshape the character of war itself, from today’s ‘informatized’ (信息化) ways of warfare into ‘intelligentized’ (智能化) warfare.

PLA thinkers expect AI to reshape the character of war itself, from today’s “informatized” (信息化) ways of warfare into “intelligentized” (智能化) warfare, in which AI is critical. According to Lt. Gen. Liu Guozhi, who leads the CMC Science and Technology Commission, AI could accelerate military transformation, reshaping military units’ programming, operational styles, equipment systems, and models of combat power generation, ultimately leading to a profound military revolution. He warns, “facing disruptive technology, [we] must…seize the opportunity to change paradigms. If you don’t disrupt, you’ll be disrupted!” So the PLA is pursuing intelligent and autonomous unmanned systems; AI-enabled data fusion, information processing, and intelligence analysis; war-gaming, simulation, and training; defense, offense, and command in information warfare; and intelligent support to command decision-making, among other applications. In particular, the CMC Joint Staff Department has called for the PLA to leverage the “tremendous potential” of AI in planning, decision support, and operational command. This fall, in his report at the 19th Party Congress, Xi Jinping himself called for the acceleration of this agenda of military “intelligentization.”

Given this high-level focus on defense and military innovation, the PLA is funding and the Chinese defense industry is pursuing a range of research and development, while Chinese defense academics start to explore and experiment with new potential concepts, including through war-gaming. As AI and robotics start to become more pervasive on the future battlefield, certain PLA thinkers even anticipate the approach of a battlefield “singularity.” At such a point, human cognition might no longer be able to keep pace with the speed of decision and tempo of combat. That could require that humans no longer remain directly “in the loop” but instead shift to command and supervisory roles. Certainly, current limitations in the capabilities of AI systems may preclude higher degrees of autonomy and automation for the time being, but there will be missions and contexts in which they are desirable or imperative. This is already is the case in air and missile defense and could soon be for cyber operations.

Although there have been predictions and expectations that authoritarian regimes may opt for fully automated approaches, while neglecting the human factor, PLA thinkers have, in fact, highlighted the importance of human-machine collaboration and manned-unmanned teaming. Lt. Gen. Liu has even anticipated that human-machine hybrid intelligence will be the highest form of future intelligence. The PLAcould also be unwilling to remove humans from key aspects of command decision-making _because of _the preference for centralized authority and concerns over controllability. Concurrently, the PLA could face considerable human challenges in its introduction of such new, highly complex systems.

The U.S. military must also focus on leveraging its enduring advantage in the human element of military power, which will face even more complex challenges in an age of automation and autonomous systems.

At this point, the future trajectory of U.S.-China strategic competition in AI remains uncertain. However, it is clear that the U.S. military must recognize the PLA’s emergence as a true peer competitor and reevaluate the nature of U.S.-China military technological competition accordingly. As the PLA attempts to overtake, rather than just catch up with or match, U.S. progress in these emerging capabilities, it will be vital to understand and take into account the PLA’s evolving approach and advances. For instance, since the locus of innovation has shifted to the private sector in these emerging technologies, China’s implementation of military-civil fusion in AI could provide the PLA a structural advantage in rapidly adapting the latest advances for military purposes.

U.S. competitive strategy and defense innovation initiatives should be informed by a more nuanced understanding of the PLA’s strategic thinking on and development of military applications of AI. The U.S. military should also continue to explore the risks and advantages of developing “counter-AI” capabilities. While seeking to develop appropriate concepts of operations for the AIrevolution, the U.S. military must also focus on leveraging its enduring advantage in the human element of military power. This remains vital and faces even more complex challenges in an age of automation and autonomous systems.

The future trajectory of U.S. defense and military innovation will depend upon a closer partnership with the private sector and the pursuit of long-term strategies to increase national competitiveness in AI, especially boosting spending on research and education. U.S.-China military and strategic competition could turn on their relative success in using this disruptive technology to increase national power and military capabilities.

_*Related video:*_






Elsa B. Kania is an Adjunct Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, where she focuses on Chinese defense innovation and emerging technologies. She is the author of “Battlefield Singularity: Artificial Intelligence, Military Revolution, ... FULL BIO

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## onebyone

http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2017/12/us-china-artificial-intelligence/144414/

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## ZeEa5KPul

onebyone said:


> However, it is clear that the U.S. military must recognize the PLA’s emergence as *a true peer competitor* and reevaluate the nature of U.S.-China military technological competition accordingly


Oh, how much it must have hurt the author to think -- let alone write -- that. I wish I could have seen the expression on her face.

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## terranMarine

Ouch, that must have hurt the average Americans. Still deluded being the sole super power while being surpassed from all directions by China

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## cirr

*Google to open AI center in Beijing*

2017-12-13 14:46

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Liang Meichen_

Global technology giant Google announced on Wednesday the opening of its artificial intelligence (AI) center in China during its second developers conference in Shanghai.

The new AI center will be based in Beijing. A small group of researchers supported by hundreds of Chinese engineers will be working there. Basic AI research will be the main area that the center will be focusing on.

Li Feifei, chief scientist of AI and machine learning at Google Cloud, will lead the research group of this new center. The center will seek cooperation with the local academia and other possible partners since China is one of the world leaders in AI technology development with ample supply of top talents in this area, she said.

"The center is a corporate-level effort. It is one of the first steps for Google to carry out long-term research in the Chinese market," she said.

The preparation for this center started in January. A number of Google's teams, such as the one for Tensor Flow - computation using data flow graphs for scalable machine learning, have taken part in the establishment of this center.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-13/284324.shtml

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## cirr

*Domestic big data companies search for British partners*

2017-12-14 09:31

China Daily _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

Big data companies from China are on the hunt for cutting-edge technology from the United Kingdom that can be upscaled and commercialized for use in the country's huge domestic market.

A group of about 15 Chinese companies have started a weeklong visit to the UK in search of such partnerships. The enterprises have already visited leading British universities and research labs, including University College London and the Future Cities Catapult.

"We anticipate strong demand from our clients for implementing cutting-edge innovation, so we are in the UK to look for that expertise," said Xin Haowen, deputy general manager of Sichuan Wisesoft System Integration, which uses big-data technology to provide smart city solutions.

Zhou Yuanbo, secretary-general of the Chengdu Big Data Industry Alliance, said China and the UK's data work could complement each other.

"China has an abundance of consumer data available, which forms the basis for data analytics development," Zhou said. "The UK has the infrastructure, talent, and expertise to produce cutting-edge research and technology."

The trip, organized by the UK's Department for International Trade, follows successful visits made by British big data companies to China last year and earlier this year. Two British companies on the 2016 trip are now close to setting up offices in China, and another UK company is working with a Chinese supplier.

Big data is one focus of the "golden era" of China-UK relations that began in 2015 with President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK. It is also an important part of the UK economy and a major component of its latest industrial strategy, which was unveiled last month.

Meanwhile, China plans to grow sales from its big data sector to 1 trillion yuan ($151 billion) by 2020, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Existing bilateral cooperation on big data includes the Chengdu-based big data company BBD launching a London office last year, and joint research into the next generation of big data applications carried out by Chinese telecom giant Huawei and Imperial College, which began in 2014.

Despite these early results, large-scale big data cooperation has yet to take off.

Andrew Cockburn, head of trade for technology and smart cities at the Department for International Trade, said mentality is a part of the challenge, and bilateral visits will help to alter perceptions.

"Many British data science companies seem to default to the US, but that's not always the right opportunity for them," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-14/284411.shtml

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## cirr

*China to boost competitiveness in AI*

2017-12-15 08:58 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_






Visitors interact with an intelligent robot at the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Tongxiang City of east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 4, 2017. (Photo: China News Service/Du Yang)

China has moved to forge new competitive advantages in artificial intelligence (AI), with goals to allow homegrown businesses to take on global rivals by 2020.

*The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Thursday released an action plan to substantially improve the emerging technology in the next three years, eying breakthroughs in basic research and wide application in multiple areas ranging from smart automobiles to robots and drones.*

AI and manufacturing will be deeply integrated, according to the document.

Platforms of intelligent connected vehicles will be reliable and safe enough to support highly automated driving, and large-scale production and application of smart robots used for household and public services will be achieved.

Specific targets were also unveiled in areas including facial recognition, AI medical diagnosis, speech recognition and smart translation.

The MIIT promised more policy support, including special funds, talent cultivation and a better business environment. Measures will also be rolled out to build industry clusters, set up key laboratories and encourage data sharing.

AI is developing rapidly in China. From Internet giants to startups, an increasing number of tech firms are geared up to stretch wings in the area. Google has announced a new AI research center that primarily focuses on basic research in Beijing.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-15/284556.shtml

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## cirr

*Baifendian releases China's 1st industrial AI decision-making system*

2017-12-15 15:49 

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_





Su Meng, chairman and CEO of Baifendian Group. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Beijing-based big data technology and application services provider *Baifendian Group* announced Thursday it has launched China's first industrial artificial intelligence decision-making system, aiming to help companies span the intelligent divide and drive better business decisions.

Su Meng, chairman and CEO of Baifendian, said the company will drive the development of AI technologies to meet the growing need for intelligent analysis and application of data, enabling enterprises to efficiently manage data assets.

"For enterprises and organizations, the ultimate intelligence is to be able to solve problems. Powered by big data and AI, intelligent decisions will be the direction for future corporate decision-making evolution," Su added.

Dubbed Deep Matrix, the new system, which incorporates big data and AI technologies, supports the automatic identification, judgment and inference of complex business issues and then is able to make decisions and predictions.

To better cater to different clients' specific needs, the company released five application products, including the intelligent security analysis system Deep Finder, intelligent government decision-making system Deep Governor, intelligent multimedia service system Deep Editor, smart marketing system Deep Creator and smart manufacturing system Deep Sensor.

Su said under the support of Baifendian's system, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has improved its decision-making on automobile recalls.

"Previously, the AQSIQ Defective Product Administrative Center had to organize more than 10 experts to spend hundreds of hours on the quarterly consultation. Now, they have a real-time decision-making system, which only needs one person to work with the machine," Su added.

Buoyed by supportive government policies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the company has expanded the business to overseas markets. According to the company, it has established national-level big data and AI platforms in countries and regions in Africa and Latin America, to empower local governments' social governance and services.

On Thursday, Baifendian also announced a strategic partnership with Chinese e-commerce titan JD, saying it will cooperate with the latter's cloud unit at the technical and market level to better meet different customer needs.

Founded in 2009, Baifendian Group has raised 1 billion yuan ($151 million), including the latest 400-million-yuan Series D round of financing led by Everbright Securities in 2015, according to company figures. Currently, it has provided big data services to more than 2,000 companies, including Huawei Technologies and TCL Corporation.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-15/284676.shtml

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## cirr

*Scientist Andrew brings AI to manufacturing industry*

2017-12-15 14:26

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Liang Meichen_

Artificial intelligence pioneer Andrew Ng launched a new AI company Landing.ai on Thursday.

On the same day, the company announced a strategic cooperation with electronics contractor Foxconn to develop a program that aims to bring AI and machine learning technologies to the manufacturing industry.

According to Ng's statement, his company is developing a series of programs to help enterprises transform for the age of AI, including providing new technologies to optimize companies' organizations structures, train employees, and more. The company's businesses will start in the manufacturing industry.

Ng said the AI technology is conductive to manufacturing enterprises to improve quality testing process, shorten products' design cycle, remove bottleneck of supply chain, reduce waste on materials and energy and raise output.

AI will revitalize manufacturing industry and generate jobs in the industry, he said. I In the age of AI, the employees need to accept new skills training to fit jobs that will be more complex than before, Ng added.

Landing.ai will provide solutions to some employees who are likely to be laid off, Ng said. Currently, the company is discussing the training plan with some potential partners including local governments.

Landing.ai is Andrew Ng's second AI program. Earlier, he built an AI-based online courses learning platform Deeplearning.ai. As a well-known figure on AI and machine learning areas, he participated in the Google Brain project and worked for Baidu's AI group.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-15/284661.shtml

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## cirr

*China to build first big data service center in FPD Industry*

2017-12-16 09:29 Xinhua _Editor: Li Yan_

China's first big data service center in the flat panel display (FPD) industry will be built in central China's Hubei Province to help boost the industry's development.

The center will be set up under cooperation between China Video Industry Association and the Administration Committee of Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development zone.

It will collect figures from the industry's output capacity, delivery, business cycle index, and panel transaction information, said Dong Min, vice president of All View Cloud, a partner in the project.

The center will also help gather manufacturing information not only about Chinese FDP factories, but overseas plants in countries such as the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-16/284710.shtml

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## cirr

*New tech to read human emotion via camera*

2017-12-17 07:38

Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_






A Chinese firm announced Saturday it had developed technology to efficiently detect human emotion, even through using cameras on mobile phones.

The technology, the first of its kind in China, can detect and analyze human emotion in videos and images captured by cameras, according to a *China Electronics Technology Group Corporation* statement.

"Human facial data, collected by cameras enhanced by the software, will be transferred to a server and analyzed through algorithms," the statement said. "It can read a person's cardiac rate based on changes of color in a certain area on a human face."

It is based on the development of facial recognition technology and the expansion of databases.

The company's facial recognition software has recognized over 98.23 percent of 500,000 human faces it has tested so far, the company said. The accuracy rate reached 99.5 percent when the software was used to identify certain facial features and compared them with different faces.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-17/284771.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Baidu, China Life Unveils $2 Billion Tech Investment Fund*

Search-engine operator Baidu Inc. and state-owned insurer China Life Insurance on Friday signed an agreement to jointly set up a 14 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) investment fund, targeting internet, artificial intelligence and other tech-related projects.

The fund will be managed by Baidu Capital, the tech giants’ investment arm, and focus on middle to later stage investment, according to the agreement.

Baidu and China Life entered a strategic partnership in February to jointly develop solutions to adopt AI, big data, cloud-computing technologies in financial area.

https://k.caixinglobal.com/#anchor1513347287000

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## cirr

*China launches first AI lab for broadcasting*

2017-12-19 07:10

Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

China's first artificial intelligence (AI) laboratory for broadcasting opened on Monday.

The lab, in Changsha, capital of the central province of Hunan, is a project between the provincial broadcaster and leading Chinese AI firm *iFlytek*.

The lab will focus on research on products to help journalists transcribe their Chinese-language interview recordings and produce tailor-made broadcasting programs, said sources with the broadcaster, the Hunan Broadcasting System.

Hu Yu, chief executive of iFlytek, said the lab will show how AI can ease the workload of journalists and make their work more efficient. The AI technology, through smart speakers and robots, can offer an interactive experience for users.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-18/284945.shtml

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## qwerrty

another brand new ai chip startup


----
*AI Chip Maker ThinkForce Raises RMB 450 Million from YITU Tech, Yunfeng Fund, Sequoia Capital and Hillhouse Capital*

PR Newswire Asia
Dec 18, 2017

SHANGHAI, Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ThinkForce, a Shanghai-headquartered startup company specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) semiconductor chips, announced RMB 450 million in Series A funding. YITU Tech, Yunfeng Fund, Sequoia Capital and Hillhouse Capital participated in the fund raised. 

AI chips have become an important area of focus in the industry and have attracted venture capitalists across the world. YITU Tech's strategic investment on ThinkForce showcased YITU's commitment to developing an AI ecosystem.


*ThinkForce is staffed by a strong technical team to ensure successful integration of technology and industrialization*


As one of the leading startup companies in AI Chip R&D and manufacturing, ThinkForce possess world-class talents with years of experience not only in management, as well as technical and product development capability. In fact, the core members of the team were directly responsible for some of the most successful semiconductor chipset launches that can be found in products such as the IBM PowerPC, Sony PS3, Microsoft XBOX and the world's fastest 56G Serdes, etc., resulted in billions of USD sales. With a proven track record, ThinkForce is posed to lead the way in the development and advancement of AI Chips.

ThinkForce plans to launch its AI chip based on the industry leading semiconductor process technology, "ManyCore" architecture. Developed in-house by ThinkForce, it helps to complete and optimize the AI cloud virtualization scheduling during the chip-level implementation. Furthermore, when combined with self-developed firmware and TFDL software SDK, "ManyCore" can accelerate computation for various neural network models. Currently, the efficiency of ThinkForce accelerators is between 90% and 95%. When compared with Nvidia mainstream computing card, it is over five times more efficient in power consumption and cost savings. With extensive experience in silicon development, ThinkForce is also able to minimize the risk of production error while optimizing the chip's performance and power consumption.

Additionally, ThinkForce has now partnered with industry leaders including IBM and Cadence.

*AI era is the "Intelligent algorithm in the chip" era*

While the development of AI chips is still in its infancy, the complexity and momentum in technology innovation will continue to generate breakthroughs constantly.

"The AI era is the Intelligent algorithm in the chip era", said Zhang Zhenning, vice president of marketing at ThinkForce. An AI chip includes the architecture of an AI algorithm model calculation and the design to schedule the calculation. As a leading company with tremendous expertise in the area of cloud computing, YITU Tech will definitely help Thinkforce to strengthen its industry competitiveness through the strategic partnership.

As capital investment on AI is on the rise, YITU Tech has also been quite active in terms of investments and activities. YITU Tech has recently engaged in a joint investment with IDG Capital in AccutarBio, an international pharmaceutical company. This is one of the largest investments in the AI pharmaceutical field in China thus far.

"Our collaboration with ThinkForce is a strong statement of our pure interest and enthusiasm for cutting-edge technologies and scientific researches in the AI sector. We believe that Thinkforce's talented team and its years of experience and reputation in this field will create multiplier effects and improve efficiency during our common exploration in AI technologies. We are facing global competition in the making of AI chips, and we need a strategic plan domestically in China in order to stay abreast. We believe ThinkForce will contribute to the growth and prosperity of China's overall AI strategy initiative", said Jiao Hui Ru, director of technology strategy at YITU Tech.

*About ThinkForce*

Shanghai ThinkForce Electronic Technology Co. Ltd is founded by experts from silicon design, software algorithm and system development in 2017. We aspire to provide world class intelligent semiconductors with leading AI algorithms and most advanced silicon art, upon which we build AI hardware platform and offer turn-key industry solution. By cooperating with vertical industry leaders, we will jointly build the eco-system and the future of AI. With the support from our business partners and top VCs, we will offer the most intelligent calculation power with our product roadmap.

*About YITU Technology*

YITU Technology (YITU) is a pioneer in practical artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation that provides advanced AI-based business solutions to build a safer, better and healthier world. YITU boasts a world-class R&D team that drives industrial development to find comprehensive solutions in the areas of machine vision, speech and language understanding.

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## onebyone

by Xinhua Writers Xiong Maoling, Liu Si and Huang Kun

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- "China is a rising country of AI work and research," said Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist of Artificial Intelligence (AI)and Machine Learning (ML) at Google Cloud, calling for enhanced AI cooperation between major countries.

Li made the remarks in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua at Google's Beijing office. Just last week, Li announced that Google would launch a new AI research center in Beijing, as part of its AI First strategy.

*WHY GOOGLE AI CHINA CENTER?*

When asked what prompted Google to make the decision to open its center in the Chinese capital, Li said: "We all recognize the importance of China because of its talent, because of the incredible creativity and innovation that are already going on here."

The Google AI China Center, the first of its kind in Asia, will primarily focus on basic AI research.

"We've seen China is paying a lot of attention to AI in terms of research, entrepreneurship, usage in industry as well as government support," Li said, noting that the Chinese government issued a plan for the development of "the new generation of AI" in July, and recently announced a three-year action plan.

"China is really a rising major country, with more prominent global responsibility in technology, politics and culture," said the leading AI expert, adding that promoting cooperation between major countries will bring "extraordinary benefits" for all human beings.

She acknowledged that AI is viewed by some as a new source of compeition between countries. However, as a scientist, Li said she believes science has no national boundary, and she hopes to see more cooperation and communication across borders.

Li also noted there is a shortage worldwide for AI talents, no matter in the United States or China.

"I hope to mobilize global talents to participate in the research of AI because it's such an important science and technology field," she said.

When asked about the potential for women in the field, the female scientist said more work is needed. "AI will change the world, but who will change AI? We want AI to be more inclusive and diverse."

*HISTORIC MOMENT: FROM LAB TO INDUSTRY*

Li, who is also the Director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab, has made a successful transition from academics.

"I've seen the historical moment AI is going through: it has stepped out of the lab and has entered the stage of industrial application," she told Xinhua.

Li is certainly at the heart of the historical moment.

"I hope to bring AI technology to the most people and the most industries," she said, adding that this will have a profound impact on day-to-day living.

Known for AI research in computer vision, Li said technology in this area has become relatively mature, especially facial recognition and object tracking technology, which have been used in smart shopping, driverless cars and medical imaging and pathological analysis.

Potential application scenarios for AI are beyond count, Li said.

Financial services, media and entertainment, business, medical treatment, energy, education and manufacturing, among others, are deemed especially ripe for future growth.

"AI's promoting for the development of these industries has just started, but look at the massive demand."

What about entirely new industries that might be spawned through AI?

"When John von Neumann generated the idea for a computer, people never thought of software engineering as an industry," she said. "We need an adequate imagination."

*SMART MACHINE VS SMART HUMAN*

Commenting on the recent debate on whether AI will one day replace human intelligence, Li said the threat is overblown.

She cited a famous saying in the 1970s to clarify her view: The definition of today's AI is a computer that can make a perfect chess move while the room is on fire.

This means AI can accomplish plenty, such as memorizing 3,000 car models, but it doesn't understand the environment and context of every scenario, Li said.

"As a scientist, I want to keep the humbleness when I think about AI as a science as well as a technology," Li said. "So it's important to recognize AI as a very very young field. It still has a lot of open questions and challenges."

However, AI can play an important role in many areas with more human-machine cooperation, Li noted.

In cases such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, robots would have been more ideal to replace human beings in dangerous disaster relief work, she said.

Smart machines can also assist human beings in repetitive labor, Li said. For example, doctors can only diagnose a limited number of medical images, but machines can process a lot more at a likely lower cost and within a shorter time. This would allow doctors to conduct more valuable research and communicate more with patients, work that can't be replaced by AI.

"Machines don't have independent value," Li said. "The value of machines is the value of human beings."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/20/c_136839581.htm


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## MultaniGuy

Good news. The Rise of China is a good thing for the world.


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## TaiShang

Dec 20, 2017 07:30 PM

*Tencent Finds Vulnerabilities in Google’s AI System*
By Mo Yelin






Tencent Holdings Ltd. said it discovered security flaws in Google LLC's TensorFlow software while conducting code reviews on the open-source platform. Above, Google CEO Sundar Pichai talks about TensorFlow's processor unit architecture on May 17 in Mountain View, California. Photo: Visual China

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. claims* it has found a “significant security loophole” in Google LLC’s machine-learning platform, TensorFlow, which could expose programmers to “huge risks” when editing code using the system.*

This is possible because hackers could create malicious software to control or destroy the users’ original artificial intelligence (AI) program, Tencent said in a statement to Caixin on Wednesday.

@Martian2 , @AndrewJin , @cirr , @GS Zhou 

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-1...abilities-in-googles-ai-system-101187514.html

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## TaiShang

*Baidu to roll out AI lab, smart transportation in Xiongan*
December 21, 2017

Chinese *internet search giant Baidu Inc inked a strategic partnership with the government of Xiongan New Area on Wednesday, pledging to establish the country's artificial intelligence laboratory and build a city featuring smart transportation in line with its ambition to develop self-driving vehicles.*

The tech giant said it will carry out cooperation with the local authority to develop the new economic zone into a smart city by virtue of its cloud computing, conversational AI system DuerOS, and to improve the public transportation efficiency with its Apollo project.

The smart city will incorporate a variety of fields such as transportation, education, security, healthcare, environment protection and payment.

Baidu also tested its self-driving vehicles in Xiongan New Area. Two days ago, Beijing released a guideline for road tests of self-driving cars, which shows the authorities' support for technological innovation through systematic innovation.

The company also plans to cooperate with the authorities from Baoding, Wuhu, Chongqing and Shanghai to build smart cities with its AI-powered technologies.

Last month, Baidu’s Chairman and CEO Robin Li said the company’s annual conference that Baidu’s autonomous driving open platform Apollo will work with Xiong'an New Area in intelligent transportation to develop the area into a smart city.

*Tencent Holdings Ltd also signed strategic cooperation agreement with the government of Xiongan in November, to set up a financial technology lab and digitize public medical services.*

*Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced in September that it will set up three subsidiaries in Xiongan with a total registered capital of 160 million yuan ($24 million). It will cooperate with the local government mainly in artificial intelligence, fintech and intelligent logistics.*

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2017-12/21/content_50116933.htm

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## qwerrty

i bet it's intentional for the NSA to snoop 


-------

*Tencent discovers major loopholes in Google's AI platform TensorFlow*

Dec 18, 2017Rita Liao
TencentSecurityNews

Google has been recognized as a leader driving the global AI revolution, but the tools it offers to developers might not be as safe as many thought. A security team of China’s social and gaming giant Tencent recently claimed (in Chinese) that it had found a “significant security loophole” in Google’s machine-learning platform TensorFlow and that programmers are prone to malicious attack when editing codes using the platform.

“Simply put, if the design professionals happen to be using the vulnerable component when coding a robot, it’s likely that the hacker can control the robot through that loophole. This is very scary. So far we have only made a small step in security for AI. We look forward to making AI better and safer with the help of more technical talents,” says Yang Yong, head of Blade, a team under Tencent’s security division.

If an unsafe code is edited into an AI use case such as face recognition, the hacker can gain full control over the system, steal the design model from the designer, invade user’s privacy and cause even more serious damage, Yang adds.

In 2015, Google unveiled the free, cloud-based machine-learning platform TensorFlow to simplify programming steps for AI. Blade discovered security vulnerabilities while conducting code reviews on TensorFlow and has reported the matter to Google, who officially opened its AI center in Beijing less than a week ago.

This isn’t the first time Chinese hackers have safety flaws in overseas players products. In 2014, security company Qihoo 360 claimed (in Chinese) it gained control of some Tesla Model S functions including the lock, horn, flashing lights and sunroof. This July, Tencent’s renowned Keen Security Lab managed to remotely hack a Tesla for the second year in a row. The lab reported all related exploits to Tesla.



Code:


https://technode.com/2017/12/18/tencent-tensorflow/

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## qwerrty

good thing is that none of chinese tech titans using their ai platform. baidu have their own paddlepaddle, alibaba with their DT PAI and tencent using thier own DI-X platform. all the other companies with no ai tech like: insurance, rail, airport, police, bank, etc.. are either using alibaba's or baidu

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## cirr

*Baidu, Huawei in strategic pact to foster AI development*

2017-12-22 09:28 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

Baidu Inc on Thursday reached a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei Technologies Co to build a mobile and artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, said a statement Baidu sent to the Global Times.

The companies will create a new mobile and AI ecosystem by leveraging Huawei's HiAI platform and Baidu Brain, a compendium of the company's AI assets and services, and combine hardware and software to provide global consumers with new smart service experiences, according to the statement.

The partnership is not surprising because the two companies have very strong "technology genes" and grow through independent research and development technology, Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong said.

Li said that the Internet era is giving way to the AI era, and as Baidu has long explored in the AI sector and Huawei has a large customer base, the cooperation will allow them to do many things that were impossible in the past, according to the statement.

Huawei will work with Baidu to promote industrial innovation and the maturing of next-generation smartphones, aiming to create "smart life experiences" for global consumers, Yu Chengdong, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on December 14 rolled out an action plan to improve the AI sector in the next three years, eying breakthroughs in basic research and wide applications in multiple areas ranging from smart automobiles to robots and drones.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-22/285453.shtml

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## cirr

*Chinese chip maker demos an AI camera that can track 200 objects simultaneously*

2017-12-22 13:02 CGTN _Editor: Gu Liping_

A Chinese start-up chip company has demonstrated their latest product: A camera chip that can recognize 200 objects or people at the same time.

The company, *Horizon Robotics*, claimed this is six times more than their competitors.

"The previous industry leader in AI can recognize 30 people. Our chip can do 200 people at the same time," said Huang Chang, co-founder and VP of algorithms at the company, at the press release in Beijing on Wednesday.

*Small and fast*

Huang explained the company's approach to computer vision is a bit different from other firms.

AI programs, like computer vision, require a lot of computing power. Previous solutions employed supercomputers to do all the calculations.

In the case this smart camera, the video data must be streamed to a central server to get processed, and this can result in a huge data cost.

"But Horizon's Sunrise chip is so small and efficient that it can process all the videos on the camera side," Huang told CGTN.

In the demo area, the company set up some scenarios to demonstrate their products to potential customers. These included a mass facial-recognition system, a road traffic interpretation system and a on-vehicle chip, named "Journey", that can understand what's going on in the front.

"Our chip is also efficient in terms of energy," Huang added. "It operates at only 1.5 watts for typical applications."

Horizon's core members are mainly from Baidu, Facebook and Nokia. They quit their jobs to form Horizon in 2015 and "build a complete AI solution," according to CEO Yu Kai.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-22/285517.shtml

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## cirr

*Tencent and Alibaba valuations rocket to new …*

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## TaiShang

qwerrty said:


> good thing is that none of chinese tech titans using their ai platform. baidu have their own paddlepaddle, alibaba with their DT PAI and tencent using thier own DI-X platform. all the other companies with no ai tech like: insurance, rail, airport, police, bank, etc.. are either using alibaba's or baidu



That's a practical outcome of China's fierce independentism and sovereigntism. Since 1949. I read political writings of every leaders of modern China and it is unbelievable to see how pragmatically and politically enlightened they were/are.

Of course, often times, it is not what we want, but what we are capable of doing.

Relying on foreign key technologies and then preaching of sovereignty would look funny and foolish.

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## TaiShang

*Chery, NQ Mobile to develop connected-car technology*

Automotive News China | 2017/12/22

BEIJING -- Chery Automobile Co. and a subsidiary of NQ Mobile Inc. have formed a partnership to develop an operating system for connected cars.

The subsidiary, Linkmotion Holdings, will create a Linux-based operating system that draws on its expertise in cybersecurity and over-the-air diagnostics.

*"We are excited to be working together with Chery to develop this technology platform for the future of new lines of connected and autonomous cars," *said Linkmotion President Chen Bo.

*State-owned Chery* is headquartered in Wuhu, Anhui province. The company produces passenger vehicles and commercial trucks, and it operates a joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover and Singaporean investment company Kenon Holdings.

NQ Mobile markets mobile Internet services, games, entertainment and advertising.

http://www.autonewschina.com/en/article.asp?id=17038

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## cirr

*Chinese banks adopt facial recognition to enhance customer experience*

2017-12-22 13:48

People's Daily Online _Editor: Li Yan_

The Construction Bank of China has recently introduced facial recognition technology at its automatic teller machines (ATM), according to Xinhua.

The bank limits the daily withdrawal to 2,500 yuan ($380) via the technology. Other banks, such as the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and China Merchants Bank have also introduced similar technology at their ATMs.

*Without a bank card, customers can press the facial recognition withdrawal button, scan their face, enter their phone number or ID number, and enter their transaction amount and password, said a staff of ABC.*

The technology eliminates the risk of having bank cards illegally copied and lowers the possibility of cards getting eaten by ATMs, said industry insiders.

The technology is safe, because it also requires ID numbers or phone numbers and passwords. Banks have adopted infrared cameras to lower the risk of illegal activities.

Videos and photos of customers withdrawing money will be encrypted by the banks, in a bid to protect their personal information. Chinese scientists are working on quantum encryption technology to better protect personal information.

Liu Feng, an AI expert, said the risks of personal information leaks are not high, because banks already have mature safety precaution mechanisms, and the photos and videos would not cause very serious consequences even if they were leaked.

ABC reportedly plans to install facial recognition technology at 24,064 ATMs across the country. In 2016, China Merchants Bank expanded facial recognition technology to about 1,000 ATMs in 106 cities.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2017/12-22/285520.shtml

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## JSCh

*China launches world's first AI research center for neurology *
By Fan Yixin
2017-12-23 15:09 GMT+8 




China's Beijing Tiantan Hospital on Friday set up an AI research center in collaboration with Singapore’s artificial intelligence start-up Hanalytics. 

The center, the first in the world to apply machine-learning technology in the field, will focus on neurology. 

Hanalytics said in a press release that it would provide an “exclusive cooperation” to the hospital in diagnosis, prevention, prognosis and patient rehabilitation.

"In the future, AI-powered robots will help with diagnosis, prognosis, patient rehabilitation and many other medical practices," a neurology expert and the vice president of Tiantan Hospital, Wang Yongjun said at the launch event on Friday. 

"The complex diseases of human brains will be diagnosed by the electronic brains," he added.

The accuracy rate of the AI system’s diagnosis has reached as high as 95 percent, equals to the rate of an experienced doctor, said Wang. 



Beijing Tiantan Hospital's vice president Wang Yongjun and Hanalytics CEO Raymond Moh signed the agreement of the research center on Friday. /Xinhua Photo

The hospital and company will work together on many ongoing projects including brain tumors, cranial blood vessels and biopsy, Hanalytics’ spokesperson Ong Yi Lin told Channel NewsAsia in an email.

All data acquisition, identification and diagnosis of the data will be performed within the premise of the hospital, said the spokesperson, adding that all patient data will be confidential.

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## TaiShang

*Huawei and Baidu Sign Strategic Agreement to Lead the New Era of Mobile AI*

2017-12-21

*Huawei and Baidu will build an open AI ecosystem, bringing global consumers an improved AI experience*

[Beijing, China, December 21, 2017] Huawei and Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) have announced a *comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement that spans from artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and technology, to internet services and content ecosystems. *The two companies aim to cultivate an open mobile and AI ecosystem built on shared success, while spurring the development of new AI applications and providing global consumers with AI that “knows you better.”






CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, Richard Yu(right), and Baidu Chairman and Group CEO, Robin Li(left) announced a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement

“*The future is all about smart devices that will actively serve us, not just respond to what we tell them to do*,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group. “With a strong background in R&D, Huawei will work with Baidu to accelerate innovation in the industry, develop the next generation of smartphones, and provide global consumers with AI that knows you better.”

“It should come as no surprise that Baidu and Huawei are working together, because we have many similarities - *technology is embedded in our DNA and we have developed our own technologies in order to grow*,” said Robin Li, Baidu Chairman and CEO. “The Internet era is evolving into the era of AI. Baidu has been dedicated to the field of AI for a long time. Huawei has a large user base. Together, Baidu and Huawei can do many things which we were not able to do in the past. The Chinese saying ‘let a hundred flowers bloom’ is a good way to describe our cooperation – today we planted the seeds, and I believe soon they will grow into many flowers.”

*Huawei and Baidu plan to build an open ecosystem using Huawei’s HiAI platform and Baidu Brain, a compendium of the company's AI assets and services. *The open ecosystem will leverage Huawei’s Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) and Baidu’s PaddlePaddle deep learning framework to empower AI developers, and provide consumers with a broad range of AI offerings and new smart service experiences.

The two companies will work together on voice and image recognition for smart devices to enable more seamless human-machine interaction. They will also jointly build an augmented reality (AR) ecosystem, combining hardware and software to create a more immersive and accessible AR experience for everyday consumers.

Regarding internet services and content ecosystems, the companies will strengthen cooperation in areas such as search and feed to bring consumers a wealth of quality content with a more intuitive and convenient service experience.

Huawei is a leading smartphone manufacturer in the world. With a strong belief in the importance of customer-centricity, Huawei is actively exploring the future of smart technologies to help improve people's digital experience, which includes innovation in the 5G, AI, AR, virtual reality (VR), and other related domains. In 2017, Huawei released the Mate 10, the world's first smartphone powered by an embedded AI chipset, the Kirin 970. Huawei has been actively building the HiAI ecosystem based on these chips.

Baidu is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider and, since 2016, its strategy has focused on two core pillars: strengthening its mobile foundation and leading in AI. *Baidu is using AI to elevate its current core business, and in parallel, building out new AI-enabled initiatives through an open platform and ecosystem approach.* For the third quarter of 2017, Baidu’s feed revenue on an annualized basis exceeded $1 billion USD, and daily user time spend on its flagship app Mobile Baidu grew 15 percent sequentially, the fastest among apps in China with daily active users over 100 million, according to QuestMobile.

After a decade of rapid progress, the mobile phone industry has reached a critical point in its development, and the next generation of smartphones is just over the horizon. Interactive technologies including voice, machine vision, and AI will drive the industry forward. Originally developed to be personal tools, mobile phones will become a natural extension of the human body and AI-powered assistants for consumers. At this critical inflection point in the industry, Huawei and Baidu will continue to prioritize consumer needs and leverage each other's strengths to form a partnership that benefits everyone.

AI is driving a new round of industry transformation. In-depth strategic cooperation between Huawei and Baidu will open up more possibilities for the development of AI and other technologies. It will help lay the foundation for a sustainable mobile and AI ecosystem, so that future technology can better understand users, better serve people, and promote better economic and social outcomes around the world.

http://www.huawei.com/en/news/2017/12/Huawei-Baidu-Strategic-Agreement-MobileAI

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## TaiShang

*Ke Jie to face AI opponent again*

By Hu Shichen

2017-12-28 12:22 GMT+8









The AlphaGo from Google, an AI algorithm that is part of DeepMind, defeated the human world champion Ke Jie in a three-part match in May this year.

*After the loss, Ke vowed he would never play a computer again. However, something has changed his mind.* Chinese news sources report that Ke will once again play an artificial intelligence at an AI tournament to be held in China in April 2018.

Ke Jie is one of the tournament's ambassadors, who took the victory of ENN Cup World Weiqi Open Tournament in Hebei Province in China. And he will play against the AI Tianrang.





World Champion Ke Jie. /VCG Photo‍

*Normally, a human representative would place pieces on behalf of AI, but in this case, a robotic arm developed by Fuzhou University will fulfill that role.* Tianrang previously ascended to the semi-finals of Japan's AI Go tournament, called AI Ryusei, earlier this month. *Tencent's AI was the ultimate winner.*

*The complements of AI competitors for the Chinese tournaments are Tianrang from Shanghai China, Japan’s DeepZenGo and more.* Google DeepMind's AlphaGo has since retired from competition, so it will not be playing in the tournament.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3563444e34637a6333566d54/share_p.html

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## cirr

*World's No. 1 Go player to compete against Chinese AI*

2017-12-30 10:09

chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Yao Lan_






Ke Jie, the world's top-ranked player of the Chinese chess game Go, announced that he will resume playing against Artificial Intelligence (AI) Go players and will battle with domestically developed AI player Tianrang in April 2018, according to China Youth Daily.

In May 2017, Ke Jie announced that he would never again compete with AI Go players after a 0-3 defeat by Google's AlphaGo. He said that the experience of playing against an AI opponent was too painful.

Ke Jie announced that he will play against AI Go player Tianrang, developed by Shanghai Tianrang Inc., in the 2018 world AI Go competition, after getting his fifth world championship in Langfang, Heibei Province on Tuesday.

Ke, the world's youngest Go champion, said that 2017 had been a period of self-doubt after his defeat by the Google AI. But he said that he has recognized it is as important to try one's best as it is to win the game.

The 2018 world AI Go competition will be held in Fuzhou, capital city of China's Fujian Province, in late April 2018. AI competitors for the tournament include Tianrang from Shanghai, DeepZenGo from Japan, and CGI from Taiwan.

The AI Go player Tianrang will be helped by a mechanical arm developed at China's Fuzhou University, instead of relying on a human to place the chess pieces on the board.

Google DeepMind's AlphaGo has since retired from competition, and will not be playing in the tournament.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-30/286473.shtml

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> The 2018 world AI Go competition will be held in Fuzhou, capital city of China's Fujian Province, in late April 2018. AI competitors for the tournament include Tianrang from Shanghai, DeepZenGo from Japan, and CGI from Taiwan.



All East Asian AI competitors (Two from China, one from Japan)  .

Let's see how Ke Jie will do this time.

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## cirr

*Knowing you better than you know yourself*

2017-12-29 17:03

China Daily _Editor: Zhang Shiyu_

Experts say that the adoption of AI in China's retail sector is only going to become more prevalent, and consumers can look forward to a shopping experience that is highly customized to their needs and habits.

The term "artificial intelligence" is often associated with driverless cars and highly sophisticated machines that can outsmart even the best of human minds in complicated tasks like the strategy board game Go.

But the application of artificial intelligence (AI) goes far beyond these attention-grabbing examples. In China, for example, AI is playing a less visible albeit vital role in changing online shopping experiences by using algorithms to track, analyze and satisfy each consumer's specific needs.

Online shoppers these days can often find similar alternatives appearing on their screens after searching for a particular product. Virtual shop fronts could also display different products according to each customer's buying habits and preferences. All these are made possible with the application of AI.

"Simply put, AI technology takes a big data set about something, runs it through algorithms such as neural networks and then produces a model which can provide answers like a real human," said Wang Xin, a Shanghai-based partner covering the technology industry at global consultancy Roland Berger.

"The computer then learns to recognize patterns in the data and builds up a base of experiences that can be applied to solve problems in new situations," he added.

RJ Pittman, senior vice-president and chief product officer at eBay, likened AI to an experienced salesperson at a physical store. He also expects the application of such technology to become prevalent in online retail.

In a new report released in November, Roland Berger placed retail on par with finance, medicine and automobile as the industries in China that are most likely to benefit from the adoption of AI. The technology is also expected to help retailers in the country trim 420 billion yuan ($63.5 billion) in operating costs by 2030.

Within retail, e-commerce is the segment that is poised to reap the most benefits. After all, it is a data-rich industry that is well-stocked with information about consumers' browsing histories, purchasing preferences and credit records.

The application of AI in e-commerce is especially important in China because of how Chinese consumers shop, according to a report released in June by Boston Consulting Group.

Research has shown that unlike their Western counterparts who have a more straightforward search-and-buy approach, Chinese consumers have a penchant for exploring during the shopping process.

"Chinese consumers embark on a journey of exploration and discoverythey go online to see what's new or trending, and they interact with fellow buyerssometimes many times a day," according to Chris Biggs, a partner at BCG who leads the digital retail business.

As such, retailers rely on AI to analyze browsing behavior in order to determine the best customized promotions or content to display on each consumer's device.

China's tech giants have wasted little time in placing their chips on AI. According to consultancy Oliver Wyman, Chinese tech companies poured nearly 40 billion yuan into the research and development of this technology last year. E-commerce giants have in turn sought to partner these tech companies and leverage their expertise in AI.

For example, merchants on China's second-largest e-commerce site JD are able to customize their storefront offerings based on each customer's shopping history and preferences, thanks to the site's partnership with Chinese tech company Tencent, the operator of WeChat.

Tencent Chief Operating Officer Ren Yuxin said the company can also offer merchants customized content marketing opportunities via WeChat Moments, which is similar to status updates on Facebook.

"Because if you offer customers exactly what they need at a better price, you start building a personal selling relationship with your customers, therefore boosting sales and deepening customer loyalty," said Ren.

Koubei, a local service platform that provides consumers with discount coupons, offered their merchants similar services that have helped boost their average sales by 20 percent during a three-month trial period that ended in November.

According to the project leader Liang Yong, Koubei enabled merchants to provide consumers with customized deals based on their purchasing preferences and average in-store spending. For example, the system would halve the price of a dish that a customer frequently orders as a form of incentive.

"By providing the most relevant discounts, it helps to draw more recurring customers and boost sales," Liang said.

Over at Alibaba, the world's largest online shopping platform by transaction volume, an "E-commerce Brain" system helps pinpoint people's needs and deliver relevant recommendations.

This is exemplified in the case of Chang Man, the mother of a six-month-old child.

After purchasing diapers on Taobao, one of Alibaba's e-commerce sites, Chang received promotional materials regarding maternity and child-care from Weitao, a micro-blogging service for brands, as well as Taobao Headlines, a sister service. She ended up buying more than just diapers that day.

"All those other items weren't on my shopping list but I found them to be quite relevant. The shopping app is like a mind-reader. It knows me better than I know myself," said Chang.

Alibaba also has an AI-powered virtual assistant called Ali Xiaomi, or Ali Assistant, to handle up to 95 percent of inquiries, said Zhao Binqiang, an algorithm expert at Alibaba who now leads the firm's digital marketing unit.

Zhao said that users can even request for the chatbot to help with their shopping needs. After receiving a text, voice description or image of a user's desired product, Ali Xiaomi can generate a list of options that can be filtered by brand, color and other characteristics.

"In the world of shopping, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is especially so in fashion because it's really hard to describe what you see or desire," said Pittman.

Such image recognition technology can be found in brick-and-mortar stores as well. At Danish apparel brand Vero Moda, the Magic Mirrors system allows customers to view themselves in the clothes they pick. It can also swap those clothes with other recommendations, removing the need to constantly shuttle between clothing racks and changing rooms.

"If you pick a pair of jeans, the machine will present five alternatives in 10 different colors. It can also recommend the most suitable tops, bags and other accessories to match your selection," said Liu Jian, the store chief at Vero Moda's outlet in Joy City, a mall in Shanghai.

Business owners and industry experts have said that it would take at least 10 more years before the impact of AI in retail can be considered truly phenomenal.

"AI can currently identify factors such as brand, size and color, but it is still unable to determine the difference between styles and read the very subtle meanings that are hidden between the lines," said Pittman.

"AI is influencing and changing the physical manifestation of retail stores. In the future, it's going to be a hybrid of physical showroom to get people inspired, and a large, virtual warehouse where the entire inventory is stored," he added.

http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-29/286448.shtml

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> *Knowing you better than you know yourself*
> 
> 2017-12-29 17:03
> 
> China Daily _Editor: Zhang Shiyu_
> 
> Experts say that the adoption of AI in China's retail sector is only going to become more prevalent, and consumers can look forward to a shopping experience that is highly customized to their needs and habits.
> 
> The term "artificial intelligence" is often associated with driverless cars and highly sophisticated machines that can outsmart even the best of human minds in complicated tasks like the strategy board game Go.
> 
> But the application of artificial intelligence (AI) goes far beyond these attention-grabbing examples. In China, for example, AI is playing a less visible albeit vital role in changing online shopping experiences by using algorithms to track, analyze and satisfy each consumer's specific needs.
> 
> Online shoppers these days can often find similar alternatives appearing on their screens after searching for a particular product. Virtual shop fronts could also display different products according to each customer's buying habits and preferences. All these are made possible with the application of AI.
> 
> "Simply put, AI technology takes a big data set about something, runs it through algorithms such as neural networks and then produces a model which can provide answers like a real human," said Wang Xin, a Shanghai-based partner covering the technology industry at global consultancy Roland Berger.
> 
> "The computer then learns to recognize patterns in the data and builds up a base of experiences that can be applied to solve problems in new situations," he added.
> 
> RJ Pittman, senior vice-president and chief product officer at eBay, likened AI to an experienced salesperson at a physical store. He also expects the application of such technology to become prevalent in online retail.
> 
> In a new report released in November, Roland Berger placed retail on par with finance, medicine and automobile as the industries in China that are most likely to benefit from the adoption of AI. The technology is also expected to help retailers in the country trim 420 billion yuan ($63.5 billion) in operating costs by 2030.
> 
> Within retail, e-commerce is the segment that is poised to reap the most benefits. After all, it is a data-rich industry that is well-stocked with information about consumers' browsing histories, purchasing preferences and credit records.
> 
> The application of AI in e-commerce is especially important in China because of how Chinese consumers shop, according to a report released in June by Boston Consulting Group.
> 
> Research has shown that unlike their Western counterparts who have a more straightforward search-and-buy approach, Chinese consumers have a penchant for exploring during the shopping process.
> 
> "Chinese consumers embark on a journey of exploration and discoverythey go online to see what's new or trending, and they interact with fellow buyerssometimes many times a day," according to Chris Biggs, a partner at BCG who leads the digital retail business.
> 
> As such, retailers rely on AI to analyze browsing behavior in order to determine the best customized promotions or content to display on each consumer's device.
> 
> China's tech giants have wasted little time in placing their chips on AI. According to consultancy Oliver Wyman, Chinese tech companies poured nearly 40 billion yuan into the research and development of this technology last year. E-commerce giants have in turn sought to partner these tech companies and leverage their expertise in AI.
> 
> For example, merchants on China's second-largest e-commerce site JD are able to customize their storefront offerings based on each customer's shopping history and preferences, thanks to the site's partnership with Chinese tech company Tencent, the operator of WeChat.
> 
> Tencent Chief Operating Officer Ren Yuxin said the company can also offer merchants customized content marketing opportunities via WeChat Moments, which is similar to status updates on Facebook.
> 
> "Because if you offer customers exactly what they need at a better price, you start building a personal selling relationship with your customers, therefore boosting sales and deepening customer loyalty," said Ren.
> 
> Koubei, a local service platform that provides consumers with discount coupons, offered their merchants similar services that have helped boost their average sales by 20 percent during a three-month trial period that ended in November.
> 
> According to the project leader Liang Yong, Koubei enabled merchants to provide consumers with customized deals based on their purchasing preferences and average in-store spending. For example, the system would halve the price of a dish that a customer frequently orders as a form of incentive.
> 
> "By providing the most relevant discounts, it helps to draw more recurring customers and boost sales," Liang said.
> 
> Over at Alibaba, the world's largest online shopping platform by transaction volume, an "E-commerce Brain" system helps pinpoint people's needs and deliver relevant recommendations.
> 
> This is exemplified in the case of Chang Man, the mother of a six-month-old child.
> 
> After purchasing diapers on Taobao, one of Alibaba's e-commerce sites, Chang received promotional materials regarding maternity and child-care from Weitao, a micro-blogging service for brands, as well as Taobao Headlines, a sister service. She ended up buying more than just diapers that day.
> 
> "All those other items weren't on my shopping list but I found them to be quite relevant. The shopping app is like a mind-reader. It knows me better than I know myself," said Chang.
> 
> Alibaba also has an AI-powered virtual assistant called Ali Xiaomi, or Ali Assistant, to handle up to 95 percent of inquiries, said Zhao Binqiang, an algorithm expert at Alibaba who now leads the firm's digital marketing unit.
> 
> Zhao said that users can even request for the chatbot to help with their shopping needs. After receiving a text, voice description or image of a user's desired product, Ali Xiaomi can generate a list of options that can be filtered by brand, color and other characteristics.
> 
> "In the world of shopping, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is especially so in fashion because it's really hard to describe what you see or desire," said Pittman.
> 
> Such image recognition technology can be found in brick-and-mortar stores as well. At Danish apparel brand Vero Moda, the Magic Mirrors system allows customers to view themselves in the clothes they pick. It can also swap those clothes with other recommendations, removing the need to constantly shuttle between clothing racks and changing rooms.
> 
> "If you pick a pair of jeans, the machine will present five alternatives in 10 different colors. It can also recommend the most suitable tops, bags and other accessories to match your selection," said Liu Jian, the store chief at Vero Moda's outlet in Joy City, a mall in Shanghai.
> 
> Business owners and industry experts have said that it would take at least 10 more years before the impact of AI in retail can be considered truly phenomenal.
> 
> "AI can currently identify factors such as brand, size and color, but it is still unable to determine the difference between styles and read the very subtle meanings that are hidden between the lines," said Pittman.
> 
> "AI is influencing and changing the physical manifestation of retail stores. In the future, it's going to be a hybrid of physical showroom to get people inspired, and a large, virtual warehouse where the entire inventory is stored," he added.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/2017/12-29/286448.shtml



China is blessed to have a very pragmatic and visionary government to enable and nurture a comprehensive internet ecosystem, including the AI and related technologies. For a late industrialized country, this is not an easy feat.

Consider the SP12 call center kingdom. Despite an alleged focus on IT and service industries, they cannot generate one third value in internet economy. What is even more wonderful is their absence in frontier technologies. 

Of course, their failure is indirectly others' success, so, no complaint.

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## TaiShang

*China is stronger in AI production and application than the US*

Source:Global Times Published: 2017/12/28 21:48:39






Hu Xiaoming Photo: Courtesy of Alibaba Cloud








Editor's Note:

In 2017, artificial intelligence (AI) developed rapidly in China, and many Chinese AI companies were inclined to expand their international businesses. It is reported that Alibaba Cloud is going to launch a new data center in India. Global Times reporter Bu Yingna (GT) recently interviewed Hu Xiaoming (Hu), senior vice president of Alibaba Group and president of Alibaba Cloud, to gain more information on the status quo and future trend of AI development in China.

GT: The year 2017 welcomed the high tide of AI. With thousands of newly registered AI enterprises, the media at home and abroad have generally been worried about a possible bubble in the AI industry. Some analysts even hold the view that some related companies will collapse in the next few years. What do you think about this problem?

Hu: The AI industry does exhibit the bubble phenomenon, but not only in China. An AI bubble also exists in other places in the world, including the US. *Since the AI industry is undergoing rapid development, the emergence of bubbles is normal. Without these bubbles, a healthier industry won't develop. *However, what we need to be wary of is where we will be when the bubble eventually bursts. In my opinion, *AI must return to realistic problem solutions to contribute to economic, industrial and agricultural development as well as social governance.*

In the increasingly competitive AI industry environment, companies wanting to avoid failure must often ask themselves three questions: *First, are we problem-oriented and scene-oriented, or, what complex problems can we solve? Second, do we have enough data to drive the idea? Third, is our computational power strong enough to push the data and algorithms to serve the purpose of problem solving? *In my view, AI must be combined with specific industries and will be more meaningful when it is employed to solve practical problems.

GT: China and the US are considered the two largest players in the game of AI, while they are also undergoing fierce competition. In your opinion, what are the advantages of each side and who will be the possible leader in the future?

Hu: Both China and the US have their own advantages in terms of AI development. The US enjoys favorable conditions in its underlying infrastructure, semiconductor and software ecosystems. For example, the current competition is under the GPU system driven by Nvidia, and the programmable chips used by China are also mainly from Nvidia and Intel.* China is weak in these areas and the software ecosystem still needs further construction.*

*However, China is stronger in production and application than the US, which can be reflected by data and practical solutions.* China's Internet development is faster than that of the US, allowing China to rapidly accumulate massive data from multiple industries. This has given China a chance of surpassing the US at the AI application level. For instance, in urban management, in Paris, the original city benchmark, we can see the big city drainage gallery under the Notre-Dame de Paris. But today, as AI's power increases, rainwater and wastewater can be automatically separated and processed. Maybe we can take a new definition of the benchmark city, like the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province.

*Alibaba Cloud has become one of the world's top three cloud computing companies, and in the next few years we hope to catch up with and even overtake Amazon.* I believe China is promising in AI development and it is highly possible that it can become the world leader in this industry. But the outcome also depends on how China fills the gaps in basic science during its next stage of development.

GT: It is reported that Alibaba Cloud will set up a new data center in India and attaches great importance to it. Why set up a data center there? What is the current situation of data centers in India?

Hu: No one is willing to give up the future of AI. We will be the third international cloud computing company to enter the Indian market and our center in Mumbai will start operations in January 2018. With numerous Chinese companies expanding their presence in India, Alibaba Cloud will provide them with convenient infrastructure so they can save costs in the process of localization. India's economy has been soaring. *An increasing number of Indian companies are demanding cloud computing services, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. Alibaba Cloud has thousands of users in India.* India's telecommunication giants (*Tata and Reliance*) are* clients* of ours.

GT: What is your view of the development of AI in China in the coming years?

Hu: Overall, I am very optimistic because the general environment is ideal. First and fortunately, China is one of the socially most stable and environmentally safest countries in the world, giving us opportunities for innovation and development. Second, the Chinese government is increasingly aware of the importance of the internet and is making every effort to promote the development of science and technology in various industries. After the 19th Party Congress, China clarified the role of science and technology in driving data and national development. In particular, the country has proposed the development of the big data industry. All of the above, for the entire science and technology sector as well as the combination of technology and industry, offer great benefits.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1082532.shtml

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## TaiShang

Jan 01, 2018 05:29 AM

*Tech Firms Race to Enable Machines to See – and Understand*

By Qu Yunxu, Ye Zhanqi, Wang Xiaoqing and Han Wei






*Chinese startups have catapulted to the top of the next battlefield of artificial intelligence – computer vision,* which is challenging the human eye in recognizing faces and objects.

The AI-powered technology uses deep-learning programs* to enable machines to understand digital images and accurately recognize and analyze faces and objects.* The cutting-edge AI niche has great potential for a wide range of applications, including in* security surveillance, online financial services, health care, and self-driving vehicles*.

*China is already a global leader in AI, reflecting the country’s emphasis on mathematics education. *Now it’s building off that know-how to expand the possibilities of computer vision and create commercially successful applications.

*“If there are 100,000 people that can be called AI experts in the world, about 30,000 to 40,000 of them are Chinese,”* said Huang Yan, a founding partner of CDH Investments, an investor in Chinese computer-vision developer SenseTime, one of the world's most valuable AI startups.

*China already has 146 computer-vision companies, more than any other sub-sector in the country’s AI industry*, according to a report issued by Tencent Research Institute in August. Those companies have raised a total of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) from investors, or 23% of the total funds raised by all AI startups.

SenseTime, established in 2014, was valued at more that $2 billion in it latest funding round. It and other industry bellwethers Yitu Tech and Megvii Technology have raced for capital since mid-2017. Between May and December, the three companies raised a total of nearly $1 billion.

The takeoff of computer vision reflects the increasing accuracy of machines’ capacity to read images, making them capable of replacing humans in countless tasks, said Xu Li, co-founder and CEO of SenseTime.

The next step, Xu said, is putting the technology into commercial use.

*‘Catching fugitives’*

Computer vision is the next big thing in AI, whose potential burst into the public consciousness in March 2016 when Google’s AlphaGo beat its human rival at the ancient Chinese game of Go. AI has spread into traditional industries like legal services, investment and manufacturing. More recently, Apple showed the world the possibilities of computer vision with its new iPhone X, which allows users to unlock their mobile device via Face ID.

Surveillance is driving a flood of tech startups into computer-vision technology, reflecting the hunger for smarter surveillance systems, more accurate face-recognition technology and stronger data-analyzing capacities to quickly identify and locate people.

The market is huge, as city authorities pour billions of yuan to improve surveillance systems. Amid a push for AI development by the central government, the southern city of Fuzhou recently paid 800 million yuan for a facial recognition project and the financial hub of Shanghai has set aside tens of billions of yuan to upgrade the local police system’s technology, a source close to the public-security system told Caixin.

“Catching fugitives is the most important part where AI is applied in the public security system,” which requires strong capacity of facial recognition and image analysis, the source said.

“All of the most cutting-edge technology was initially used in the richest places. In the past, it was the military industry. And now it is the government-backed public security system,” said Yao Song, founder and CEO of AI startup DeePhi Tech.

Yao estimated that the total annual revenue of China’s public security market reached nearly 700 billion yuan in 2017.

AI-powered computer vision is propeling public security into a new era.

*SenseTime, created by a research team led by Tang Xiaoou, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says it has developed algorithms that can recognize faces more accurately than human eyes, with its systems achieving 98.52% correct recognition compared with 97.53% by the human eye.*

Yitu Tech, set up in 2012, has helped a local public security authority to improve the accuracy of locating a suspect from massive video footage of public surveillance cameras to over 85% from the previous 20%, according to company co-founder Lin Xichen.

Beijing-based Megvii Technology operates Face++, *the world’s largest face-recognition technology platform*, is identifying faces, text and images for more than 300,000 companies and individuals around the world.

The foray of computer-vision tech startups is shaking up a market that has been dominated for more than a decade by traditional surveillance system giants, such Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Dahua Technology Co.

Yitu’s Lin said the rise of AI has prompted the government to see the value of equipping surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, bringing surveillance camera makers and tech startups together.

Surveillance system giants like Hikvision have also made their own AI push by investing in computer vision algorithms, although they have been unable to catch up to tech startups in term of accuracy, according to Lin.

But the traditional giants’ well-established business networks and access to resources in the government-dominated security industry will make it difficult for AI startups to compete, said an industry analyst.

As newcomers, tech firms are spending heavily to expand their sales network to win market share. Companies like Yitu and Megvii have started to develop and promote their own equipment, such as surveillance and access-control systems, to directly compete with traditional giants.

Companies like SenseTime and DeePhi are adopting a different strategy by working with already established equipment makers. SenseTime has set up partnership with seven of the country’s top 10 surveillance system developers, according to Xu.

Hikvision and Dahua have developed complete security systems, and SenseTime is looking at offering added value from AI technology, Xu said.

As the market evolves, it is bringing new opportunities. A source close to public-security authorities told Caixin that China’s public-security system is working to better integrate databases that are currently under different departments’ oversight, such as records on vehicle registration and traffic infractions, residents’ identity, and telecom use. The integration will undoubtedly boost the capacity of surveillance system and create new room for business growth.

*‘A tough endurance race’*

While most computer-vision startups focus on facial recognition and public security, some experts said there are many other potential business opportunities worth exploring.

“Fledging computer-vision firms are too concentrated on public security and the competition is too fierce,” said Hua Xiansheng, head of Alibaba Group’s computer-vision team.

The biggest players have started to expand their territory beyond public security to broader sectors like online financial services, helping internet banking services verify customers’ identities through online interviews. Companies are also searching for new niche markets. SenseTime has focused on facial recognition capacity for mobile phones, while Megvii and Yitu have each developed opportunities in industrial automation and medical services.

As the possibilities for computer vision expand, it appears inevitable that tech startups will find themselves up against deep-pocket internet giants like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, which are gearing up their efforts in the technology to supplement their massive online services.

Alibaba has developed an image-search service helping shoppers to locate items they want to buy on its e-commerce sites. Alibaba is also integrating computer vision capacities with its cloud computing service to develop AI-powered city management system in several cities, according to Hua.

Tencent’s computer vision unit has set up footholds in the public security, financial service and medical care sectors.

The battle in computer vision is really just getting underway. Technology development, data access, fundraising and commercialization are all key factors that will determine the fate of companies, analysts said.

“If internet is revolution, AI is innovation. It will be a tough endurance race for all parties to gradually seek to replace manpower with (their services),” Huang said.

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-0...machines-to-see-and-understand-101191871.html

Population divident?

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## cirr

Interesting time ahead for AI

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## cirr

*AI meets clothing retail in 'magic mirror'*

2018-01-02 09:13 China Daily_Editor: Li Yan_






The application of artificial intelligence has gone far beyond driverless cars or futuristic robotics that outsmart men in the strategy board game Go.

In China, AI is playing a vital role in changing shopping experiences by using algorithms to track, analyze and satisfy each consumer's specific needs.

In the latest instance, shoppers in Guangdong province are among the first group to experience smart clothing recommendation powered by an intelligent fitting room in apparel stores such as Jack & Jones and Vero Moda.

Through facial recognition technologies, a "magic mirror" system allows customers to immediately view themselves in the clothes they pick, according to Bestseller A/S, the company behind the brands.

By factoring in gender, age, climate and other predilections, it can also swap those clothes with other recommendations, removing the need to constantly shuttle between clothing racks and changing rooms.

To enjoy the perks of such services, customers must first activate the brands' virtual membership card via WeChat, China's most popular chat-to-payment app, and allow for facial payment.

China's tech giants have wasted little time in placing their chips on AI-backed retail.

During the annual Nov 11 shopping festival, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd supported Shiseido to install an electronic mirror that allowed customers to try lipsticks virtually and complete the purchase with a few taps on the screen.

Designer apparel shop Alain de has introduced such smart mirrors since October and responses have been brisk, according to Chen Huaiyu, a store chief at the brand's outlet in Joy City, a mall in Shanghai.

"If you pick a pair of jeans, the machine will present five alternatives in 10 different colors," she said. "It can also recommend the most suitable tops, bags and other accessories to go along (with) your selection, effectively boosting our sales."

Smart recommendations and virtual fitting rooms are set to be a huge business reshaping the retail sector, said Huang Zhongsheng, co-founder and CEO of Haomaiyi, which provides such technology for Alibaba's Tmall site.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-02/286609.shtml

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## cirr

*China's AI-powered ammunitions robot force to help triple production of next-gen bombs and weapons*

*One-third of China's ammunition factories have reportedly begun to replace workers with "smart machines".*

By India Ashok

January 2, 2018 06:11 GMT





Over the past few years, China has launched an ambitious plan to modernise its military and defence by developing new missiles, bombers and warships - Representational image iStock

China's ammunition factories will soon reportedly be run by artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robots, which could help Beijing triple its bombs and weapons production within the next decade. China has begun replacing factory workers with robots in efforts to overcome staff shortage issues and the risks associated with such work.

However, in addition to safely and effectively manufacturing weapons, China's new ammunitions robot force could also be used to develop next-generation bombs and warheads to boost the country's military and defence. Specially designed robots could reportedly be used to develop explosives, including bombs and rockets, as well as build more sophisticated weapons, such as bombs with computer chips embedded in them and sensors capable of carrying out precision strikes.

According to Xu Zhigang, lead scientist with China's "high-level weapon system intelligent manufacturing programme", robots could also soon be used to develop sensitive photoelectric spy devices as well as develop massive high-powered diesel engines for China's air force and military vehicles.

Xu told the South China Morning Post that one-third of China's ammunition factories have already begun to replace workers with "smart machines". Xu predicts that once all of China's ammunitions factories have been upgraded within the next 10 years, it will boost weapons production by around 100 to 200%.

China successfully tests new DF-17 hypersonic missile that could reshape nuclear weapons tech

Already, one bomb assembly line in the country, which once employed over 100 workers, is now almost entirely run by robots, with only three human workers reportedly overseeing the production. However, contrary to the idea of robots costing jobs, according to experts, the move could allow for the young Chinese workforce to be spared the risks of weapons production work.

"The robots can free workers from risky, repetitive jobs in the bomb-making process," Professor Huang Dexian from Tsinghua University told the South China Morning Post. "It will create new jobs such as control optimisation, hardware maintenance and technical upgrades. It will give us a stronger, healthier, happier defence workforce."

Over the past few years, China has launched an ambitious plan to modernise its military and defence by developing new missiles, bombers and warships. Most recently, Beijing tested a new hypersonic missile – named DF-17 – which is one among seven other hypersonic weapons China has tested in the past few years, which could reshape weapons technology.

http://www.newsweek.com/china-robots-triple-bomb-ammunition-production-capacity-2028-767625

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## cirr

*China major AI chipmakers maintain parterships with TSMC*

Martin Yao, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES

Tuesday 2 January 2018

China's major AI chipmakers, including HiSilicon, Cambricon Technologies, Horizon Robotics and DeePhi Tech, are expected to reap rich harvests in 2018 from their launch of various AI (artificial intelligence) chipsets, mostly ASICs and NPU (neural processing unit) chips, for a variety of applications in the second half of 2017. They have all contracted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for chip fabrication, and TSMC's orders for AI chip foundry services are expected to grow exponentially in 2018 along with volume shipments of the AI chips by the China makers, according to industry sources.

Huawei's HiSilicon chip design arm worked out the Kirin 970 as the new flagship SoCwith built-in AI computing capabilities and it was adopted in Huawei's Mate 10 and M10 Pro smartphone models launched in mid-October 2017. Official production of the Kirin 970 chips kicked off in mid-2017 using TSMC's 10nm FinFET process at a monthly capacity of 4,000 pieces of 12-inch wafers, placing Huawei among TSMC's top-5 customers.

Huawei, having newly formed a strategic alliance with Baidu SkyDrive, will move to seek further breakthroughs in the capabilities of AI chips for smartphones. While aiming to capture a 40% share of the China smartphone market and advance to the world's No. 1 smartphone brand, Huawei requires stable and sufficient supply of AI chips and even has to seek second supply sources other than TSMC, the sources said.

World's first AI chip unicorn

As the world's first AI chip unicorn after raising US$100 million in series A round funding, Cambricon Technologies released three new AI processor IPs in November 2017: the Cambricon-1H8 for lower consumption computer vision application, the higher-end Cambricon-1H16 for more general-purpose applications, and the Cambricon-1M autonomous driving applications.

While licensing AI processor IPs to end device vendors, Cambricon is selling chips to those in the cloud market. The company has newly debuted MLU100 AI chips to support inference application by datacenters and small- to medium-size servers, and MLU200 chips to support training applications at AI R&D centers of enterprises. These two AI chips will be manufactured using TSMC's 16nm process.

Pioneering the development of AI chips for autonomous driving solutions, Horizon Robotics officially rolled out two Gauss-based AI processors, 1.0 Journey and 1.0 Sunrise, in December 2017 after contracting TSMC to start chip fabrication in August, with the former for image processing and the latter supporting smart city applications with low power consumption. The company plans to introduce Bernoulli-based processor in 2018 and Bayes-based processor in 2019 with higher-performance AI chips.

Horizon has recently raised around US$100 million in series A+ financing led by Intel Capital to support its development of a prototype driverless car and driving technology innovations. The company aims to have its AI chips applied to more than 100 million IoT (Internet of Things) devices by 2020 before realizing the goal as a leading supplier of autonomous driving chipset solutions by 2025.

DeePhi Tech plans to debut two system chipsets in 2018, one for AI cloud services and the other for AI terminal devices applications, with the latter to adopt the firm's in-house-developed Aristotle architecture and manufactured using TSMC's 28nm process.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180102PD205.html

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## cirr

*Beijing to build technology park for developing AI*

2018-01-03 15:02 Xinhua _Editor: Mo Hong'e_

A technology park dedicated to developing artificial intelligence (AI) will be built in Beijing in five years, authorities said.

The park will be situated in suburban Mentougou district in western Beijing, covering 54.87 hectares, Beijing News reported, citing a plan released by Mentougou authorities Tuesday.

With an estimated investment of 13.8 billion yuan (about 2.1 billion U.S. dollars), the park is expected to attract about 400 enterprises, with an estimated annual output value of about 50 billion yuan (about 7.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The park will focus on developing areas such as super high-speed big data, cloud computing, biometric identification and deep learning. Its technological infrastructure includes a fifth generation mobile network, a super computer and cloud services.

The developer of the park, a company of Zhongguancun Development Group, will seek partnership with Chinese and overseas universities, research institutes and large companies to establish various research centers in the park, including a national-level artificial intelligence lab.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-03/286808.shtml

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## TaiShang

Jan 01, 2018 05:29 AM

*Tech Firms Race to Enable Machines to See – and Understand*
By Qu Yunxu, Ye Zhanqi, Wang Xiaoqing and Han Wei






Chinese startups have catapulted to the top of the next battlefield of artificial intelligence – computer vision, which is challenging the human eye in recognizing faces and objects.

The AI-powered technology uses deep-learning programs to enable machines to understand digital images and accurately recognize and analyze faces and objects. The cutting-edge AI niche has great potential for a wide range of applications, including in security surveillance, online financial services, health care, and self-driving vehicles.

*China is already a global leader in AI, reflecting the country’s emphasis on mathematics education. Now it’s building off that know-how to expand the possibilities of computer vision and create commercially successful applications.*

“*If there are 100,000 people that can be called AI experts in the world, about 30,000 to 40,000 of them are Chinese,*” said Huang Yan, a founding partner of CDH Investments, an investor in Chinese computer-vision developer SenseTime, one of the world's most valuable AI startups.

*China already has 146 computer-vision companies, more than any other sub-sector in the country’s AI industry, *according to a report issued by Tencent Research Institute in August. Those companies have raised a total of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) from investors, or 23% of the total funds raised by all AI startups.

SenseTime, established in 2014, was valued at more that $2 billion in it latest funding round. It and other industry bellwethers Yitu Tech and Megvii Technology have raced for capital since mid-2017. Between May and December, the three companies raised a total of nearly $1 billion.

The takeoff of computer vision reflects the increasing accuracy of machines’ capacity to read images, making them capable of replacing humans in countless tasks, said Xu Li, co-founder and CEO of SenseTime.

The next step, Xu said, is putting the technology into commercial use.

*‘Catching fugitives’*

Computer vision is the next big thing in AI, whose potential burst into the public consciousness in March 2016 when Google’s AlphaGo beat its human rival at the ancient Chinese game of Go. AI has spread into traditional industries like legal services, investment and manufacturing. More recently, Apple showed the world the possibilities of computer vision with its new iPhone X, which allows users to unlock their mobile device via Face ID.

Surveillance is driving a flood of tech startups into computer-vision technology, reflecting the hunger for smarter surveillance systems, more accurate face-recognition technology and stronger data-analyzing capacities to quickly identify and locate people.

The market is huge, as city authorities pour billions of yuan to improve surveillance systems. Amid a push for AI development by the central government, the southern city of Fuzhou recently paid 800 million yuan for a facial recognition project and the financial hub of Shanghai has set aside tens of billions of yuan to upgrade the local police system’s technology, a source close to the public-security system told Caixin.

“Catching fugitives is the most important part where AI is applied in the public security system,” which requires strong capacity of facial recognition and image analysis, the source said.

“All of the most cutting-edge technology was initially used in the richest places. In the past, it was the military industry. And now it is the government-backed public security system,” said Yao Song, founder and CEO of AI startup DeePhi Tech.

Yao estimated that the total annual revenue of China’s public security market reached nearly 700 billion yuan in 2017.

AI-powered computer vision is propeling public security into a new era.

*SenseTime, created by a research team led by Tang Xiaoou, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says it has developed algorithms that can recognize faces more accurately than human eyes, with its systems achieving 98.52% correct recognition compared with 97.53% by the human eye.*

Yitu Tech, set up in 2012, has helped a local public security authority to improve the accuracy of locating a suspect from massive video footage of public surveillance cameras to over 85% from the previous 20%, according to company co-founder Lin Xichen.

*Beijing-based Megvii Technology operates Face++, the world’s largest face-recognition technology platform, is identifying faces, text and images for more than 300,000 companies and individuals around the world.*

The foray of computer-vision tech startups is shaking up a market that has been dominated for more than a decade by traditional surveillance system giants, such Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Dahua Technology Co.

Yitu’s Lin said the rise of AI has prompted the government to see the value of equipping surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, bringing surveillance camera makers and tech startups together.

Surveillance system giants like Hikvision have also made their own AI push by investing in computer vision algorithms, although they have been unable to catch up to tech startups in term of accuracy, according to Lin.

But the traditional giants’ well-established business networks and access to resources in the government-dominated security industry will make it difficult for AI startups to compete, said an industry analyst.

As newcomers, tech firms are spending heavily to expand their sales network to win market share. Companies like Yitu and Megvii have started to develop and promote their own equipment, such as surveillance and access-control systems, to directly compete with traditional giants.

Companies like SenseTime and DeePhi are adopting a different strategy by working with already established equipment makers. SenseTime has set up partnership with seven of the country’s top 10 surveillance system developers, according to Xu.

Hikvision and Dahua have developed complete security systems, and SenseTime is looking at offering added value from AI technology, Xu said.

As the market evolves, it is bringing new opportunities. *A source close to public-security authorities told Caixin that China’s public-security system is working to better integrate databases that are currently under different departments’ oversight*, such as records on vehicle registration and traffic infractions, residents’ identity, and telecom use. The integration will undoubtedly boost the capacity of surveillance system and create new room for business growth.

*‘A tough endurance race’*

While most computer-vision startups focus on facial recognition and public security, some experts said there are many other potential business opportunities worth exploring.

“Fledging computer-vision firms are too concentrated on public security and the competition is too fierce,” said Hua Xiansheng, head of Alibaba Group’s computer-vision team.

*The biggest players have started to expand their territory beyond public security to broader sectors like online financial services, helping internet banking services verify customers’ identities through online interviews.* Companies are also searching for new niche markets. *SenseTime has focused on facial recognition capacity for mobile phones, while Megvii and Yitu have each developed opportunities in industrial automation and medical services.*

As the possibilities for computer vision expand, it appears inevitable that tech startups will find themselves up against deep-pocket internet giants like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, which are gearing up their efforts in the technology to supplement their massive online services.

*Alibaba has developed an image-search service helping shoppers to locate items they want to buy on its e-commerce sites. *Alibaba is also integrating computer vision capacities with its cloud computing service to develop AI-powered city management system in several cities, according to Hua.

*Tencent’s computer vision unit has set up footholds in the public security, financial service and medical care sectors.*

The battle in computer vision is really just getting underway. Technology development, data access, fundraising and commercialization are all key factors that will determine the fate of companies, analysts said.

“If internet is revolution, AI is innovation. It will be a tough endurance race for all parties to gradually seek to replace manpower with (their services),” Huang said.

https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-0...machines-to-see-and-understand-101191871.html

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## cirr

TaiShang said:


> Jan 01, 2018 05:29 AM
> 
> *Tech Firms Race to Enable Machines to See – and Understand*
> By Qu Yunxu, Ye Zhanqi, Wang Xiaoqing and Han Wei
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Chinese startups have catapulted to the top of the next battlefield of artificial intelligence – computer vision, which is challenging the human eye in recognizing faces and objects.
> 
> The AI-powered technology uses deep-learning programs to enable machines to understand digital images and accurately recognize and analyze faces and objects. The cutting-edge AI niche has great potential for a wide range of applications, including in security surveillance, online financial services, health care, and self-driving vehicles.
> 
> *China is already a global leader in AI, reflecting the country’s emphasis on mathematics education. Now it’s building off that know-how to expand the possibilities of computer vision and create commercially successful applications.*
> 
> “*If there are 100,000 people that can be called AI experts in the world, about 30,000 to 40,000 of them are Chinese,*” said Huang Yan, a founding partner of CDH Investments, an investor in Chinese computer-vision developer SenseTime, one of the world's most valuable AI startups.
> 
> *China already has 146 computer-vision companies, more than any other sub-sector in the country’s AI industry, *according to a report issued by Tencent Research Institute in August. Those companies have raised a total of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) from investors, or 23% of the total funds raised by all AI startups.
> 
> SenseTime, established in 2014, was valued at more that $2 billion in it latest funding round. It and other industry bellwethers Yitu Tech and Megvii Technology have raced for capital since mid-2017. Between May and December, the three companies raised a total of nearly $1 billion.
> 
> The takeoff of computer vision reflects the increasing accuracy of machines’ capacity to read images, making them capable of replacing humans in countless tasks, said Xu Li, co-founder and CEO of SenseTime.
> 
> The next step, Xu said, is putting the technology into commercial use.
> 
> *‘Catching fugitives’*
> 
> Computer vision is the next big thing in AI, whose potential burst into the public consciousness in March 2016 when Google’s AlphaGo beat its human rival at the ancient Chinese game of Go. AI has spread into traditional industries like legal services, investment and manufacturing. More recently, Apple showed the world the possibilities of computer vision with its new iPhone X, which allows users to unlock their mobile device via Face ID.
> 
> Surveillance is driving a flood of tech startups into computer-vision technology, reflecting the hunger for smarter surveillance systems, more accurate face-recognition technology and stronger data-analyzing capacities to quickly identify and locate people.
> 
> The market is huge, as city authorities pour billions of yuan to improve surveillance systems. Amid a push for AI development by the central government, the southern city of Fuzhou recently paid 800 million yuan for a facial recognition project and the financial hub of Shanghai has set aside tens of billions of yuan to upgrade the local police system’s technology, a source close to the public-security system told Caixin.
> 
> “Catching fugitives is the most important part where AI is applied in the public security system,” which requires strong capacity of facial recognition and image analysis, the source said.
> 
> “All of the most cutting-edge technology was initially used in the richest places. In the past, it was the military industry. And now it is the government-backed public security system,” said Yao Song, founder and CEO of AI startup DeePhi Tech.
> 
> Yao estimated that the total annual revenue of China’s public security market reached nearly 700 billion yuan in 2017.
> 
> AI-powered computer vision is propeling public security into a new era.
> 
> *SenseTime, created by a research team led by Tang Xiaoou, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, says it has developed algorithms that can recognize faces more accurately than human eyes, with its systems achieving 98.52% correct recognition compared with 97.53% by the human eye.*
> 
> Yitu Tech, set up in 2012, has helped a local public security authority to improve the accuracy of locating a suspect from massive video footage of public surveillance cameras to over 85% from the previous 20%, according to company co-founder Lin Xichen.
> 
> *Beijing-based Megvii Technology operates Face++, the world’s largest face-recognition technology platform, is identifying faces, text and images for more than 300,000 companies and individuals around the world.*
> 
> The foray of computer-vision tech startups is shaking up a market that has been dominated for more than a decade by traditional surveillance system giants, such Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Dahua Technology Co.
> 
> Yitu’s Lin said the rise of AI has prompted the government to see the value of equipping surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, bringing surveillance camera makers and tech startups together.
> 
> Surveillance system giants like Hikvision have also made their own AI push by investing in computer vision algorithms, although they have been unable to catch up to tech startups in term of accuracy, according to Lin.
> 
> But the traditional giants’ well-established business networks and access to resources in the government-dominated security industry will make it difficult for AI startups to compete, said an industry analyst.
> 
> As newcomers, tech firms are spending heavily to expand their sales network to win market share. Companies like Yitu and Megvii have started to develop and promote their own equipment, such as surveillance and access-control systems, to directly compete with traditional giants.
> 
> Companies like SenseTime and DeePhi are adopting a different strategy by working with already established equipment makers. SenseTime has set up partnership with seven of the country’s top 10 surveillance system developers, according to Xu.
> 
> Hikvision and Dahua have developed complete security systems, and SenseTime is looking at offering added value from AI technology, Xu said.
> 
> As the market evolves, it is bringing new opportunities. *A source close to public-security authorities told Caixin that China’s public-security system is working to better integrate databases that are currently under different departments’ oversight*, such as records on vehicle registration and traffic infractions, residents’ identity, and telecom use. The integration will undoubtedly boost the capacity of surveillance system and create new room for business growth.
> 
> *‘A tough endurance race’*
> 
> While most computer-vision startups focus on facial recognition and public security, some experts said there are many other potential business opportunities worth exploring.
> 
> “Fledging computer-vision firms are too concentrated on public security and the competition is too fierce,” said Hua Xiansheng, head of Alibaba Group’s computer-vision team.
> 
> *The biggest players have started to expand their territory beyond public security to broader sectors like online financial services, helping internet banking services verify customers’ identities through online interviews.* Companies are also searching for new niche markets. *SenseTime has focused on facial recognition capacity for mobile phones, while Megvii and Yitu have each developed opportunities in industrial automation and medical services.*
> 
> As the possibilities for computer vision expand, it appears inevitable that tech startups will find themselves up against deep-pocket internet giants like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, which are gearing up their efforts in the technology to supplement their massive online services.
> 
> *Alibaba has developed an image-search service helping shoppers to locate items they want to buy on its e-commerce sites. *Alibaba is also integrating computer vision capacities with its cloud computing service to develop AI-powered city management system in several cities, according to Hua.
> 
> *Tencent’s computer vision unit has set up footholds in the public security, financial service and medical care sectors.*
> 
> The battle in computer vision is really just getting underway. Technology development, data access, fundraising and commercialization are all key factors that will determine the fate of companies, analysts said.
> 
> “If internet is revolution, AI is innovation. It will be a tough endurance race for all parties to gradually seek to replace manpower with (their services),” Huang said.
> 
> https://www.caixinglobal.com/2018-0...machines-to-see-and-understand-101191871.html



@Bussard Ramjet

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## meis

*Chinese netizens spot AI books on president Xi Jinping’s bookshelf*

*



*

Every year, China’s president Xi Jinping delivers a New Year’s Eve address, outlining the country’s plans for the months ahead. But Chinese netizens don’t just pay attention to his words; they also scour the bookshelves behind Xi, analyzing the titles and authors found there to try and gain some insight into his mind. And the big additions this year? Well, two new texts on artificial intelligence — a topic of huge interest for the Chinese government.

Xi is said to be a voracious reader, and other books spotted on his shelf this year included a growing collection of Western classics (from War and Peace and The Old Man and the Sea to The Odyssey and Les Misérables), economic texts like Money Changes Everything by William N. Goetzmann and Michele Wucker’s The Grey Rhino, and numerous titles on Chinese history and military strategy.

The intended message these books send is pretty clear — including the ones on AI. China has identified artificial intelligence as the key technology it needs for improving its economy and military, and is pouring money and resources into the field. US experts are worried that America will be left behind in the global AI race, especially as President Trump moves to cut funding for basic research and restrict immigration, reducing the pool of talent the US can drawn from.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16844364/china-ai-xi-jinping-new-years-speech-books




__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1557879087638539

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## TaiShang

*Honda in tie-up with internet giant*
China Daily, January 4, 2018

*Japan's Honda Motor Co said it is partnering with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to develop a smart and internet-connected system, one of the latest examples of closer cooperation between carmakers and tech companies to herald the age of smart mobility.*

*A Honda China representative said the carmaker is working with AutoNavi, the e-commerce giant's map business unit, to develop an on-board system allowing drivers to make reservations using maps and pay via Alibaba's payment tool Alipay.*

Honda and AutoNavi have partnered since 2015 on car-navigation systems. Alipay had some 520 million users by the end of 2017, and 82 percent of them used the platform at least once in the year, according to the mobile payment giant's annual report.

Honda said the system, which is designed to deliver a better connected experience, will be unveiled soon, but it did not disclose whether the system would be available in cars sold globally or only in China, where its car sales are rocketing.

In the first 11 months of 2017, Honda and its two Chinese joint ventures sold 1.3 million cars, an increase of 116 percent year-on-year.

The Honda-Alibaba partnership comes as tech companies are playing a bigger role in the automotive sector, thanks to artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and other cutting-edge developments.

In December 2017, Honda announced a five-year joint research and development plan with China-based artificial intelligence startup Sense-Time Group to explore autonomous driving. The two also plan to expand robotics research and development.

In the same month, BMW AG and Alibaba announced that they would develop a range of "digitalized experiences for the car and home" for all new BMW models sold in China from the first half of 2018.

Their partnership came days after Ford Motor Co signed a deal with Alibaba to explore opportunities in internet-connected cars, artificial intelligence, mobile services and digital marketing.

Ford is also a founding member of the Apollo program, an autonomous driving platform initiated by Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine operator.

The platform has attracted more than 70 Chinese and international companies, including Ford and Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, Baidu said in its third quarter report released in October 2017.

"The tech world has many innovations to offer us, so it (the future of mobility) will be a marriage of technology companies and automakers," Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford told China Daily.

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2018-01/04/content_50189436.htm

***
_
It is great that Honda cooperates with Alibaba and other China companies to create a better car software ecosystem. Previously, they used to with with apple (for media interface) and it sucked big time.

_

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## TaiShang

*AI technologies become part of everyday life in China*
China Plus, January 5, 2018

Artificial intelligence, or AI, provides machines with human-like cognitive abilities that enable them to solve complex problems.

The world's technology giants have started to carve out their own priorities for AI development and have started fiercely competing in this new market.

*In China, AI technologies that not long ago would have looked like science fiction are becoming part of everyday life, as well as a major force for economic growth.*

AI technology is developing rapidly in China. *From small startups to Internet giants, an increasing number of tech firms are gearing up for big successes in the field.*

In a logistics center in Guangdong belonging to JD.com, one of China's biggest online retailers, 300 robots work non-stop on a 12 hundred square meter platform sorting parcels for delivery.

These robots run automatically, transferring goods from storage shelves to packing areas.

Yang Shaopeng, a staff member working at the center, says* the robots can sort up to 12 thousand parcels per hour, which is four times faster than human sorters.*

"We have a control center behind all the robots. And there are QR codes on the ground. By reading these codes, robots can know their specific location. Meanwhile the controlling system can give orders to robots to tell them which path they should go next," Yang said.

As AI technology continues to mature, more and more industries are going through an automation revolution.

*Cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things have been thriving, with new products and services constantly springing up.*

Accenture is a world leading global provider of information technology consulting services.

Chen Xiaobing, the president of Accenture China, says he is very optimistic about AI development in China.

"Accenture lately released a report on how AI will boost Chinese economic growth in the future. It's estimated that *in 2035 AI will generate 7 trillion dollars for Chinese economy.* In the research of the past 20 years we discovered that the advantage brought by adequate labor supply and the market capacity for traditional investment are fading, while AI, which combines real economy with labor as well as capital is growing. This method of development will surge in the next few years," Chen said.

YITU is a Chinese tech firm focused on AI research and development.

At its headquarters, staff don't need to clock in and out, as the company developed facial recognition scanners to automatically record their arrival and departure times.

Facial recognition technology like this is being used in service industries including security, medicine, and banking.

For example, in Shanghai, facial recognition technology has enabled people to withdraw money from an ATM just by showing up in front of the machines.

Sha Yang is a department director at YITU Tech.

"To some extent we are changing these industries. I believe with the universal utilization of AI technology, more changes will be seen in different industries," Sha said.

In addition to achievements in AI software, Chinese AI research teams have also made breakthroughs in new hardware.

Last November, a Shenzhen based tech company launched three new AI chips.

Similar to the famous Alfa Go, the chips are able to develop learning capabilities in such areas as smart driving, language processing, and image and voice recognition.

Chen Tianshi is the chief executive of the company.

"*I always compare the traditional processor to a Swiss Army Knife. It can do a lot of different things but is not good at one particular thing. Therefore what we do is give AI ability in a special area and let it solve special problems*," Chen said.

China's government wants its homegrown AI businesses to be ready to take on global rivals by the year 2020.

A government document released in December calls for expanding basic research and the application of AI technology in areas ranging from smart automobiles to robots and drones.

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2018-01/05/content_50191933.htm
_
Population divident? _

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## cirr

*Facial recognition used in marriage registration in Chongqing*

2018-01-07 16:02 Xinhua _Editor: Huang Mingrui_

Chongqing authorities have introduced facial recognition technology for marriage registration to make the procedure easier and shorter.

The Marriage, Adoption Registration Management Center of Chongqing said the new system was launched in January. Marriage registration between Chinese citizens and foreigners can also use the system.

Based on Chinese law, registrars must check a person's ID and household registration certificates before awarding them a marriage certificate.

The facial recognition technology can not only shorten the examination time, but also improve its accuracy. The facial recognition system can quickly take a photo and compare the face with information from other documents and the database of the public security bureau.

The quickest time to complete an examination is just 0.3 second. Normally, it takes around 10 minutes to check people's documents.

The new system can also deal with cases in which applicants have had plastic surgery or for twins who can be differentiated via fingerprints, which were difficult for previous artificial recognition systems.

It would be an efficient way to crack down on crimes in which suspects try to use the identities of others to obtain marriage certificates.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-07/287319.shtml

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## onebyone

China is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) technology park dedicated to developing artificial intelligence (AI), state-backed news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.

It will host 400 companies and generate an estimated annual output of 50 billion yuan (about 7.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The park will focus on developing areas such as super high-speed big data, cloud computing, biometric identification and deep learning. Its technological infrastructure includes a 5G mobile network, supercomputer and cloud services.

The developer of the park, a company of Zhongguancun Development Group, will seek partnership with Chinese and overseas universities, research institutes and large companies to establish various research centers in the park, including a national-level artificial intelligence lab.

The campus will be constructed within five years and situated in the suburban Mentougou district in western Beijing. It will cover 54.87 hectares.

China aims to be a world leader in AI by 2030, with the aim of making the industry worth 1 trillion yuan.

China wants to make a “major breakthrough” in AI technology by 2025.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/01/china-is-building-a-2-1-billion-ai-research-park.html

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## cirr

*Hefei hospital uses China-developed robot to perform surgeries*

2018-01-08 16:28

chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_

A Chinese-developed robot has been put into use at a hospital in the central Chinese city of Hefei to help perform orthopedic surgeries.

The machine, named *Tianji*, is said to be the only robot in the world that can perform surgeries on all different parts of the human spine.

Tianji debuted at the hospital in Hefei last week, conducting a 30-minute surgery for a 43-year-old patient who had been suffering from paralysis in his legs for more than a year.

Doctors scanned the patient and sent the results to Tianji's operating system, before the robot started performing its surgical tasks.

The whole procedure left only a small circular scar, around one centimeter in diameter, on the patient.

The patient barely bled during the surgery. Doctors with the hospital said the patient would have lost 2,000 milliliters of blood, if he had a non-robotic surgery.

"The use of the robot brings a lot of benefits," said Shen Cailiang, head of the hospital's orthopedics department.

Shen said patients who undergo Tianji's surgeries are expected to recover in a week, whereas those who have traditional surgeries will usually have to stay in hospital for up to three weeks for recovery.

"With Tianji, we no longer need to scan the patient repeatedly during a surgery. The robot helps reduce more than 70% of the radiation a patient is exposed to," said Shen.

It cost the hospital 15 million yuan, or some 2.3 million U.S. dollars, to purchase the robot last year.

Tianji was first unveiled in late 2016.

TINAVI, the Beijing-based producer of the robot, said Tianji has been used by two leading hospitals in Beijing for over 2,000 orthopedic surgeries so far.

A hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu also started using the robot last year.

Since it was initiated in 2002, the development of Tianji has been led by Tian Wei, a leading orthopedist with Beijing's Jishuitan Hospital, which is best known for its orthopedic surgeries.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beihang University have also participated in the development of the surgical robot.

The three parties jointly set up TINAVI in 2005.

Tianji's two predecessors were respectively unveiled in 2009 and 2012.

GCiS, a Chinese market research firm, estimates China's surgical robot market is on course to hit 2.2 billion yuan by 2021, nearly three times larger than the level in 2016.

The market is currently dominated by the da Vinci Surgical System, which entered China about a decade ago after gaining recognition from the Chinese government. The da Vinci was developed by Intuitive Surgical, a Nasdaq-listed US firm.

One da Vinci robot is sold for around 3 million U.S. dollars in China.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-08/287463.shtml

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## cirr

*AI enhances photo app's spotless reputation*

2018-01-09 10:34 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

One of China's leading photo apps has broadened its spectrum with the addition of skin testing function.

MTskin is built into Meitu app Cosmetics. Since it was released in October, over 25 million users have had their faces tested using the app, according to Xu Qingquan, CTO of the Meitu research center.

Meitu is one of the most widely used free photo editing apps in the world, and MTskin is based on a database of medical photos of facial problems. AI technology matches users' selfies with the problems and link them to professional dermatologists who deal with problems ranging from acne or chloasma to melanocytic nevi.

Guo Hui, a 32-year-old office worker, is a selfie lover. She now frequently takes selfies to check the pimples on her face.

"I was astonished when the app told exactly how many blackheads I had," said Guo, "I am also glad that it tells my skin's "age" is only 26."

Guo said the test only takes a few seconds to deliver a report.

The report comes with advice and recommends a range of expensive cosmetics.

"The AI uses data, algorithms and a deep learning platform coupled with our long experience of photo editing and human face technology," said Xu.

He admitted that the data base of facial problems needed to be expanded to improve the accuracy of testing, because a human doctor needs a lot more information than a mere photo. "As MTskin collects data it continually optimizes its algorithm. It will be the equal of human experts one day," he said, but so far MTskin just provides skincare tips.

"I don't think the results are totally reliable, but it is fun to know," said Guo.

Headquartered in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Meitu is an innovator in mobile video and photography. Its selfie app can remove blemishes and brighten teeth. Its virtual makeup app allows users huge scope to experiment with new styles of makeup.

Established in 2008, the company has grown into one of the biggest tech companies in China, with its apps downloaded more than one billion times.

The company began its global expansion in 2016 and has since registered more than 500 million overseas users.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-09/287559.shtml

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> *Hefei hospital uses China-developed robot to perform surgeries*
> 
> 2018-01-08 16:28
> 
> chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_
> 
> A Chinese-developed robot has been put into use at a hospital in the central Chinese city of Hefei to help perform orthopedic surgeries.
> 
> The machine, named *Tianji*, is said to be the only robot in the world that can perform surgeries on all different parts of the human spine.
> 
> Tianji debuted at the hospital in Hefei last week, conducting a 30-minute surgery for a 43-year-old patient who had been suffering from paralysis in his legs for more than a year.
> 
> Doctors scanned the patient and sent the results to Tianji's operating system, before the robot started performing its surgical tasks.
> 
> The whole procedure left only a small circular scar, around one centimeter in diameter, on the patient.
> 
> The patient barely bled during the surgery. Doctors with the hospital said the patient would have lost 2,000 milliliters of blood, if he had a non-robotic surgery.
> 
> "The use of the robot brings a lot of benefits," said Shen Cailiang, head of the hospital's orthopedics department.
> 
> Shen said patients who undergo Tianji's surgeries are expected to recover in a week, whereas those who have traditional surgeries will usually have to stay in hospital for up to three weeks for recovery.
> 
> "With Tianji, we no longer need to scan the patient repeatedly during a surgery. The robot helps reduce more than 70% of the radiation a patient is exposed to," said Shen.
> 
> It cost the hospital 15 million yuan, or some 2.3 million U.S. dollars, to purchase the robot last year.
> 
> Tianji was first unveiled in late 2016.
> 
> TINAVI, the Beijing-based producer of the robot, said Tianji has been used by two leading hospitals in Beijing for over 2,000 orthopedic surgeries so far.
> 
> A hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu also started using the robot last year.
> 
> Since it was initiated in 2002, the development of Tianji has been led by Tian Wei, a leading orthopedist with Beijing's Jishuitan Hospital, which is best known for its orthopedic surgeries.
> 
> The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beihang University have also participated in the development of the surgical robot.
> 
> The three parties jointly set up TINAVI in 2005.
> 
> Tianji's two predecessors were respectively unveiled in 2009 and 2012.
> 
> GCiS, a Chinese market research firm, estimates China's surgical robot market is on course to hit 2.2 billion yuan by 2021, nearly three times larger than the level in 2016.
> 
> The market is currently dominated by the da Vinci Surgical System, which entered China about a decade ago after gaining recognition from the Chinese government. The da Vinci was developed by Intuitive Surgical, a Nasdaq-listed US firm.
> 
> One da Vinci robot is sold for around 3 million U.S. dollars in China.
> 
> http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-08/287463.shtml



Great development to reduce import dependency on key/advanced technologies.

The US has to serve as a major natural resources (minerals and agriculture) import destination for China. I guess the trend is as such.

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## qwerrty

*Rockchip Released Its First AI Processor RK3399Pro -- NPU Performance up to 2.4TOPs *

Jan 07, 2018, 12:30 ET

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- At CES2018, Rockchip released its first AI processor RK3399Pro with super performance, providing one-stop turnkey solution for AI (artificial intelligence). Computing performance of its NPU (Neural Network Processing Unit) reaches 2.4TOPs. RK3399Pro has the advantages of high performance, low power consumption and easily development.


RK3399Pro AI processor with superior general computing performance adopts big.LITTLE CPU, Dual-core Cortex-A72 and Quad-core Cortex-A53, showing technical leadership in whole performance and power consumption. The Quad-core ARM high-end Mali-T860 GPU which integrates more bandwidth compression techniques shows excellent overall performance.

RK3399Pro AI processor has high expansion capability, such as: supporting dual Type-C interfaces; dual ISPs (each channel supporting a maximum 13 mega pixels); supporting 4096x2160 display output; supporting 8-channel digital microphone arrays input. With respect to software, RK3399Pro supports numerous APIs (Application Program Interface), including OpenGL ES 1.x/2.x/3.1/3.2, Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL 1.1/1.2, RenderScript etc.

RK3399Pro with super AI computing performance is Rockchip's first AI processor by adopting CPU+GPU+NPU hardware structure. Its integrated NPU (Neural Network Processing Unit) incorporates Rockchip's technology in fields of vision, voice processing and deep learning etc. Compared to traditional solution, the computing performance of typical deep neural network Inception V3, ResNet34 and VGG16 models on RK3399Pro is better and improved nearly hundred times.

*Three important features of Rockchip RK3399Pro AI solution: *


*High performance AI hardware*
RK3399Pro adopted exclusive AI hardware design. Its NPU computing performance reaches 2.4TOPs, and indexes of both high performance and low consumption keep ahead: the performance is 150% higher than other same type NPU processor; the power consumption is less than 1%, comparing with other solutions adopting GPU as AI computing unit. 

*Superior platform compatibility*
RK3399Pro NPU supports 8bit and 16bit and is compatible with various AI software frameworks. Existing AI interfaces support OpenVX and TensorFlow Lite/AndroidNN API; AI software tools support the importing, mapping and optimizing of Caffe/TensorFlow model. 

*Easily development of turnkey solution *
Rockchip provides one-stop AI solution based on RK3399Pro, including hardware reference design and SDK. The solution can increase the AI products R&D speed of global developers and greatly reduce product launch time. It can significantly improve the speed of AI product development for global developers and greatly shorten time to market.
"The age of AI has come. As a global SoC manufacturer in China, we have the market layout of AI for many years. RK3399Pro is Rockchip's first processor which integrates AI hardware. Its platform can be rapid MP for commercial." Chen Feng, the Global Vice President of Rockchip, said, "With super 2.4TOPs performance, low power consumption and abundant interfaces, this product is applicable to various AI application fields such as intelligent drive, image recognition, security monitoring, drones and voice recognition."

The release of Rockchip RK3399Pro has a great influence on global industry chain. It will greatly lower the threshold of innovation and mass production for commercial for AI industry, and accelerate the overall popularization of AI with higher performance and lower power consumption features. 








Code:


https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rockchip-released-its-first-ai-processor-rk3399pro----npu-performance-up-to-24tops-300578633.html

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## JSCh

*Discovering the creation era of ancient paintings at Mogao Grottoes, China*
January 11, 2018, Science China Press



Buddhist and mural painting in Mogao Grottoes No. 206. Credit: Science China Press

Mogao Grottoes is located in the western end of the Hexi Corridor along the ancient Silk Road in Dunhuang, China. From 366 to 1368 AD, a large group of Buddha caves were constructed that consists of 735 caves, 45,000 m2 mural paintings, and 2,415 argillaceous painted sculptures. It was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1987. Until now, most mural paintings at Mogao Grottoes have been dated by directly referring to the mural texts or historical documents. However, the ages of some are undetermined due to the lack of reference materials or the disagreement of art experts in paintings.

The drawing style of mural paintings changed throughout history, and the drawing style can be determined and quantified through painting data. By formulating the problem of mural dating into a problem of drawing-style classification, a new dating method is developed by encoding the drawing styles with visual codes learned through deep learning. This new method successfully determined the creation era of six mural paintings at Mogao Grottoes.

This new research work is led by Qingquan Li from Shenzhen University, just accepted by _Science China Information Sciences_, under the title "Dating ancient paintings from Mogao Grottoes using deeply learnt visual codes."

With the help of experts from Dunhuang Research Academia, seven mural paintings from two grottos (No. 205 and No. 206) were chosen as the research objects for this research. For grotto No. 205, two main drawing styles were declared by Dunhuang artists, which were the Peak Tang and the Middle Tang. Experts guess that the grotto No. 205 was originally constructed in the Early Tang or Peak Tang, but the construction was handicapped by wars of the Anshi Rebellion for about 50 years, and then the construction was succeeded in the Middle Tang. However, until now, there was no scientific or quantitative study to support these declarations. For grotto No. 206, painting styles are controversial between the Sui's and Early Tang's (see Figure 1). Specifically, for the two Guanyin paintings on the west wall of grotto No. 205, Mr. Wen-Jie Duan, a highly respected former President of DunHuang Research Academia, dated them into Peak Tang, while Mr. Hui-Min Wang, a distinguished expert in Archaeology Institute of Dunhuang Research Academia, dated it into Early Tang.

To reveal the creation era of these paintings, Qin Zou, a researcher from Wuhan University, collected 3860 mural paintings from 194 different grottoes with determined creation-era labels, and used data augmenting to form a training set of over 50,000 images. To find the era-discriminative visual codes in these paintings, the authors constructed a deep convolution neural network and classified these painting images into the right eras. Based on the classification model, a dating method was built and applied to date the seven paintings.

Six of the new dating results were approved by experts from Dunhuang Research Academy. "These dating results are correct and the method is great," Mr. Hui-Min Wang said. However, the deep learning method dated the painting "Peacock King" in grotto No. 205 into Middle Tang Dynasty, while Hui-Min Wang dated it into Wudai Dynasty, which brings up a new research topic to the community.

"To the best of our knowledge," wrote the five researchers, "this work represents the first account of a scientific and quantitative manner to support the era prediction and reduce the uncertainties in dating ancient paintings by using deep learning."



https://phys.org/news/2018-01-creation-era-ancient-mogao-grottoes.html

Li Qingquan, Zou Qin, Ma De, 王 骞 Wang Song. *Dating Ancient Paintings of Mogao Grottoes Using Deeply Learnt Visual Codes*. S_CIENCE CHINA Information Sciences _(2017). DOI: 10.1007/s11432-017-9308-x

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## JSCh

* Ship localization in Santa Barbara Channel using machine learning classifiers *

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America *142*, EL455 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5010064

Haiqiang Niu_, _ Emma Ozanich_, and _ Peter Gerstoft
*
Abstract*
Machine learning classifiers are shown to outperform conventional matched field processing for a deep water (600 m depth) ocean acoustic-based ship range estimation problem in the Santa Barbara Channel Experiment when limited environmental information is known. Recordings of three different ships of opportunity on a vertical array were used as training and test data for the feed-forward neural network and support vector machine classifiers, demonstrating the feasibility of machine learning methods to locate unseen sources. The classifiers perform well up to 10 km range whereas the conventional matched field processing fails at about 4 km range without accurate environmental information.​

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## cirr

*Chinese newsrooms push forward into AI technology*

Christine Schmidt, Nieman Lab | January 12, 2018






On the heels of billions of yuan of investment burrowed into China’s artificial intelligence scene, China’s state news agency has announced that it is rebuilding its newsroom to emphasize human-machine collaboration.

Xinhua News Agency president Cai Mingzhao said Xinhua will build a “new kind of newsroom based on information technology and featuring human-machine collaboration.” The agency has also introduced the “Media Brain” platform to integrate cloud computing, the Internet of Things, AI and more into news production, with potential applications “from finding leads, to news gathering, editing, distribution and finally feedback analysis.”

The agency’s announcement was sparse on details, but it’s the latest component of a deep push into AI by China. Last week the country announced plans for a $2.1 billion AI development park to be built in the next five years as part of its drive to become an AI world leader by 2030. Google has also committed to putting roots in China’s AI scene by opening a research center in Beijing, with Bloomberg quoting Google’s leader of the center Fei-Fei Li: “It will be a small team focused on advancing basic AI research in publications, academic conferences and knowledge exchange.” Microsoft also announced plans to create their own R&D lab for AI in Taiwan and hire 200 researchers over the next five years, investing about $34 million.

“We saw lots of interest in AI in China, and the sector is moving so fast in the country,” said Chris Nicholson, former Bloomberg news editor and co-founder of AI startup Skymind, told Digiday. “Beijing supports AI, while Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are all getting into AI. The U.S. still has the best AI talent, but there are many good engineers and AI researchers in China as well.”

Moving aside from the global AI armsrace, the reverberations from China investing in AI-media could echo in journalism worldwide. A report out today from the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Project on media trends for 2018 highlights some of the advances that Chinese AI journalism has made already.

Chinese companies aren’t necessarily expanding internationally for an international advertising base; as Axios’ Sara Fischer points out, they’re interested in targeting Chinese nationals who have moved elsewhere but still use the same technology to stay in touch back home.

There are also some concerns about what the Chinese government could do with AI journalism: Nina Xiang, the co-founder of the artificial intelligence-based China Money Network, wondered about the potential security and privacy issues from Xinhua’s innovations. “The Media Brain…will raise significant concerns over the protection of personal data privacy, or the lack thereof. The tie-up between Alibaba and China’s state news agency — the first of its kind — creates an all-seeing digital eye that can potentially access data collected from countless surveillance cameras across the nation, estimated to total half a billion in the next three years, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, dashboard-mounted car cameras, air pollution monitoring stations and personal wearable devices. Whether people will be able to give permission for their data being used, or even know its being used, is questionable,” she wrote.

“To use a simple analogy, this partnership is as if Amazon, Paypal, CBS, News Corp and Fox were all working with state and city governments in the United States to share both publicly and privately collected data for the purpose of monitoring for potential news events anywhere, anytime in real time across America.”

https://ijnet.org/en/blog/chinese-newsrooms-push-forward-ai-technology

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## cirr

*AI star from China: AIcorrect Translator rocking at CES*

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 12, 2018 -- The top-of-the-line trade show for the global consumer electronics industry - CES 2018 at Vegas has been open to the world since January 9th. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and products brought by Chinese companies are among the most impressive at the show, out of which, AIcorrect Translator, developed and introduced by Babel Technology in Beijing, a Tsinghua-based team, attracts attention of the buyers and exhibitors from around the world.

As a utility realization of AI technology in civilian field, AIcorrect Translator deals with problems in cross-linguistic communication. It supports real-time mutual translation in multiple situations between Chinese/English and *30* other languages, including Japanese, Korean, Thai, French, Russian and Spanish, major languages like English are further divided into accents. The translation quality reaches as high as *96%*.

It also has a touch screen, where transcription and translation are shown at the same time. Even more surprisingly, up to four devices connected, AIcorrect Translator *supports* conversation in up to four different languages. Right on the show floor, many attendees are amazed at its utility and functionality, a British buyer even showed intention of pre-ordering 2,000 units on-site.

Over the recent years, China has overtaken the other players in the field of artificial intelligence, in that applications and development for civilian purposes like mobile pay have obtained remarkable achievements, drones and other innovational products also walked into the industrial forefront. Lei Guan, CEO of Babel Technology, seemed a little bit emotional when talking with us. "As a Chinese pathfinder in the field of AI, we designed the device in hoping that hundreds of millions of people can have access to it and carry out cross-linguistic communication all barrier-free." He added, "with AIcorrect Translator, our _dream_ will no more fear the difference of languages."

https://www.theautochannel.com/news...m-china-aicorrect-translator-rocking-ces.html

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## cirr

*AI, computer games could be used for military training: PLA Daily*

2018-01-15 08:06 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer games are expected to help train military commanders to improve the combat ability of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), a PLA-affiliated newspaper said on Friday.

Real-time strategy games could be used in the military to help train commanders, and materials gathered from the country's intelligence system could be put into the games to vividly simulate wartime conditions, a PLA Daily article said on Friday.

Games such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert or Passion Leads Army could help train military officers' capability to make pre-war plans, draft and modify strategies and to coordinate human and material resources in different situations, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Friday.

AI could be used as rivals of commanders in the game, just as Google's Go-playing AI AlphaGo played with real Go players, the newspaper article said.

This way, the AI is a "personal coach" of the military officer in the game as it could play the game differently according to the level of the officer, it added.

As the officer improves his or her skills and capabilities during the game, the AI could also modify its strategy accordingly to make the game challenging and interesting, the article added.

The assistance of AI will make the war-gaming process more accurate. Compared with traditional training methods, internet games cost less and could be applied to a wider scope of people, Song noted.

The games could also serve as a reference for the evaluation of soldier performance, or a cost-effective way to assess soldier's combat skills and reasoning ability, according to Song.

However, the game is only a tool for military training rather than for entertainment purposes, and PLA soldiers should avoid getting addicted to the games, Song said.

http://www.ecns.cn/military/2018/01-15/288315.shtml

*China supports development of new energy intelligent cars*

2018-01-15 08:48 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

China's top economic planner has cleared the way for development of domestic new energy cars and intelligent vehicles.

The country will promote the innovative development of the intelligent vehicles and develop the auto industry in the "strategic direction" of intelligent vehicles, according to the draft version of the Intelligent Automobile Innovation and Development Strategy, which was released by China's National Development and Reform Commission to solicit opinions.

China will develop the artificial intelligence and big data to make the new energy auto industry competitive in the global market.

Baidu is becoming a major new player in self-driving technology. The company announced a big upgrade to its open-source platform "Apollo 2.0" at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 in Las Vegas, the United States, to speed up the development and production of autonomous vehicles.

China has the world's largest new energy auto industry. The country sold more than 490,000 new energy cars in the first 11 months of 2017, and the sales are expected to exceed 577,000 units in the whole year, according to statistics by EV-Volumes, an electric vehicle sales database.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-15/288309.shtml

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## cirr

http://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech...l-intelligence-bot-beats-humans-reading-first

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## TaiShang

*Xi's bookshelf illustrates goal of developing AI powerhouse*

By An Baijie | China Daily | Updated: 2018-01-15




These two books about artificial intelligence appear on President Xi Jinping's bookshelf. [Photo/China Daily]

*Two books on President Xi Jinping's shelf drew public attention from both home and abroad immediately after they were seen in the video of Xi's New Year speech.*

The two books were about artificial intelligence－The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World by Pedro Domingos and Brett King's Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane.

*The Master Algorithm, published in 2015, describes how machine learning is remaking business, politics, science and war.*

*Augmented describes how society will be impacted by technologies that will change the world more in the next 20 years than it has been changed in the past 250 years.*

The Business Insider said it is "interesting" that Xi has the two books on his bookshelf. It reflected China's ambition regarding AI, said the report.

A report published on the WeChat account of xuexixiaozu, which is operated by the overseas edition of People's Daily, labeled the two books as "newly published leading edge scientific books" among eight different categories of books on the president's bookshelf that appeared in the New Year address.
*
Innovation highlighted*

The President has attached great importance to the development of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data in recent years. In his address to the 19th CPC National Congress, Xi called for more efforts to foster new areas of growth through further integration of the internet, big data and artificial intelligence with the real economy.

Speaking at a collective study session of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau in December, Xi said that the internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy all should be interconnected.

*Xi also emphasized the necessity of using big data to improve governance.*

While inspecting a company in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, in December, Xi called for more innovation in the equipment manufacturing sector to accelerate China's drive toward becoming a manufacturing powerhouse and to bolster the real economy.

At Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co Ltd, a leading domestic manufacturer, Xi was briefed about the company's intelligent assembly lines and big data platform.

"Innovation is the source of business core competitiveness," Xi said. *He urged a shift from "Made in China" to "Created in China".*

Innovation ranks first among the Five Concepts of Development raised by Xi as the drive of a new kind of economic growth, along with the other four concepts of coordination, environment, openness and sharing.

In a signed article in German media ahead of his state visit to Germany in July, Xi called on the two countries to deepen practical cooperation in such fields as innovation, the internet and smart manufacturing.

The G20 Hangzhou Summit, held in East China's Zhejiang province in 2016, adopted the Blueprint on Innovative Growth and formulated a specific action plan. Wu Fei, head of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at Zhejiang University, said that as general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and president, Xi has set a visionary tone for China's AI development, which is to turn into a global AI leader in the coming 15 years.

"President Xi has said that AI will definitely change the world and society, so we should take the opportunities," Wu said.

*Global exchanges on AI*

In his state visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the importance of boosting cooperation between France and China in the field of artificial intelligence on Jan 9.

Speaking at the conclusion of a Sino-French forum on artificial intelligence in Beijing, Macron presided over the signing of various cooperation agreements on technology and trade.

Macron said China had a great advantage in the AI sector given its enormous domestic market.

While talking with Macron, Xi called for integrating the development strategies of China and France, strengthening innovative cooperation, and achieving common development in the areas of digital economy and artificial intelligence.

Fei-Fei Li, Chief Scientist of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Google Cloud, announced in December that Google would launch a new AI research center in Beijing, as part of its AI First strategy.

China is "a rising country of AI work and research", she told Xinhua News Agency. The Google AI China Center, the first of its kind in Asia, will primarily focus on basic AI research.

China's AI industry has been developing rapidly in recent years. The number of AI companies has increased from 57 in 2007 to 592 by June 2017, more than tenfold over the past 10 years, according to a report released by Tencent Research Institute.

In December, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled a three-year plan to boost the application of AI in the automobile, robotics, healthcare and other sectors to upgrade the country's real economy.

_Zang Yarui contributed to this story.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201801/15/WS5a5bf75aa3102c394518f26b.html_

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## 52051

In the recent Stanford Squad world AI competition in *English* Natural Language Understanding (NLU), China's Alibaba group use its internal algorthim of natural language understanding, SLQA, beat every other teams including all big names in the US.
*
More importantly, Alibaba's algrothim is the first algorthim that beat human in NLU, thats quite an achievement, espeically considering the fact: unlike most of the others in the competition, Alibaba's SLQA is not a in-lab toy, Alibaba has already deployed their internal algorthims in all its e-business sectors.*

NLU is considered *AI-complete*, which means it is among the hardest AI problems.

So despite whatever hype the US fake news media created, whenever the situation is come down to cut all the crap and put it in a you-against-me way, the American showboats always end up being losers.

I just hope the American much-hyped weaponaries have better luck than their much hyped AI research capabilities, when it come down to a you-against-me styple with China.

https://yq.aliyun.com/articles/361217

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## 52051

I expect Quantum tech/AI/nano-tech/hypersonic are among the first batch of area when China will achieve total domination over the sad americans, the americans are good at show-off and write english fake news, whilst the Chinese are much better at get business done.

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## MultaniGuy

Good news. I wish best of luck to China.

A rising China is in the interest of the world.

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## war&peace

Balanced world is good ... the best scenario is if all the countries are equal in power and technology.

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## F-22Raptor

52051 said:


> In the recent Stanford Squad world AI competition in *English* Natural Language Understanding (NLU), China's Alibaba group use its internal algorthim of natural language understanding, SLQA, beat every other teams including all big names in the US.
> *
> More importantly, Alibaba's algrothim is the first algorthim that beat human in NLU, thats quite an achievement, espeically considering the fact: unlike most of the others in the competition, Alibaba's SLQA is not a in-lab toy, Alibaba has already deployed their internal algorthims in all its e-business sectors.*
> 
> NLU is considered *AI-complete*, which means it is among the hardest AI problems.
> 
> So despite whatever hype the US fake news media created, whenever the situation is come down to cut all the crap and put it in a you-against-me way, the American showboats always end up being losers.
> 
> I just hope the American much-hyped weaponaries have better luck than their much hyped AI research capabilities, when it come down to a you-against-me styple with China.
> 
> https://yq.aliyun.com/articles/361217




Microsoft’s AI has just beat the average human reader in a standardized reading comprehension test, opening up vast possibilities of extracting real knowledge from all the text data available on the internet.

Microsoft’s AI currently owns the crown with a score of 82.650 on the Stanford University Reading Comprehension test, beating out Alibaba who just a few days earlier was the first to exceed the average human score of 82.304, scoring 82.440.

Microsoft, who will likely put the technology to work as part of it’s Bing search engine, on the other hand, believed humans and AI should work together instead.

“These kinds of tests are certainly useful benchmarks for how far along the AI journey we may be,” said Andrew Pickup, a spokesman for Microsoft. “However, the real benefit of AI is when it is used in harmony with humans,” he added.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/microsofts-ai-may-have-better-reading-comprehension-than-you.539266/

Losers?

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## 52051

F-22Raptor said:


> Microsoft’s AI has just beat the average human reader in a standardized reading comprehension test, opening up vast possibilities of extracting real knowledge from all the text data available on the internet.
> 
> Microsoft’s AI currently owns the crown with a score of 82.650 on the Stanford University Reading Comprehension test, beating out Alibaba who just a few days earlier was the first to exceed the average human score of 82.304, scoring 82.440.
> 
> Microsoft, who will likely put the technology to work as part of it’s Bing search engine, on the other hand, believed humans and AI should work together instead.
> 
> “These kinds of tests are certainly useful benchmarks for how far along the AI journey we may be,” said Andrew Pickup, a spokesman for Microsoft. “However, the real benefit of AI is when it is used in harmony with humans,” he added.
> 
> https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/microsofts-ai-may-have-better-reading-comprehension-than-you.539266/
> 
> Losers?



The team is from Microsoft Asia, and it is leading by Chinese in China, and yes, it comes as runner-up, so it is a good loser, lets stay this way.

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## F-22Raptor

52051 said:


> The team is from Microsoft Asia, and it is leading by Chinese in China, and yes, it comes as runner-up, so it is a good loser, lets stay this way.



You mean Chinese that are working for the American company Microsoft and contributing to its advances.

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## 52051

F-22Raptor said:


> You mean Chinese that are working for the American company Microsoft and contributing to its advances.



I mean that team is still runner-up and yes, it still is loser.

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## F-22Raptor

52051 said:


> I mean that team is still runner-up and yes, it still is loser.



Both teams are essentially tied.

An to refer to them as "losers"?

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## ChineseTiger1986

Offshore said:


> Our American red neck seems can’t swallow the fact!



Meanwhile they are trying to kick out all their high tech foreign workers.

That's truly some MAGA baby.

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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> Both teams are essentially tied.
> 
> An to refer to them as "losers"?



Trump will soon kick them back to China, so that team will eventually serve for China again.

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## MultaniGuy

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> Trump will soon kick them back to China, so that team will eventually serve for China again.


Excellent news.

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## 52051

F-22Raptor said:


> Both teams are essentially tied.
> 
> An to refer to them as "losers"?



Tied at what? your own rank put the Alibaba hold the Top, but whatever make you asleep



ChineseTiger1986 said:


> Trump will soon kick them back to China, so that team will eventually serve for China again.



These guys are from Microsoft Research Asia in China, so yes, they are already in China to begin with.

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## ChineseTiger1986

52051 said:


> These guys are from Microsoft Research Asia in China, so yes, they are already in China to begin with.



Trump should come out with a new policy that prevents the American companies to outsource and to pursue the oversea talents.

I have faith that this MAGA President can do it!!!


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## F-22Raptor

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> Trump will soon kick them back to China, so that team will eventually serve for China again.



I'm sure you have excellent inside knowledge on the career intentions of current Microsoft employees. I bet your prediction will go as well as the "China's GDP growth will rise above 8% again" prediction you made several years ago.


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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> I'm sure you have excellent inside knowledge on the career intentions of current Microsoft employees. I bet your prediction will go as well as the "China's GDP growth will rise above 8% again" prediction you made several years ago.



China's annual GDP growth in 2017 was 6.9%, whilst the RMB getting stronger at the same time.

The MAGA President Trump will ensure that China's economic performance to beat the expectation again in 2018.

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## F-22Raptor

52051 said:


> Tied at what? your own rank put the Alibaba hold the Top, but whatever make you asleep
> 
> 
> 
> These guys are from Microsoft Research Asia in China, so yes, they are already in China to begin with.



Microsoft’s AI currently owns the crown with a score of 82.650 on the Stanford University Reading Comprehension test, beating out Alibaba who just a few days earlier was the first to exceed the average human score of 82.304, scoring 82.440.

Fake news?


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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> Microsoft’s AI currently owns the crown with a score of 82.650 on the Stanford University Reading Comprehension test, beating out Alibaba who just a few days earlier was the first to exceed the average human score of 82.304, scoring 82.440.
> 
> Fake news?



No more non-white foreign high tech workers to keep stealing the jobs from the white American workers.

President Trump understands this yugely, and it is the time to MAGA and to hire the white American workers only.


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## F-22Raptor

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> No more non-white foreign high tech workers to keep stealing the jobs from the white American workers.
> 
> President Trump understands this yugely, and it is the time to MAGA and to hire the white American workers only.



Trump is temporary...

The US has attracted talent from all over the world for decades now. What do these people want? A great education, and to work for prestigious companies that offer high paying salaries. The US has that now, and will long after Trump leaves office.


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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> Trump is temporary...
> 
> The US has attracted talent from all over the world for decades now. What do these people want? A great education, and to work for prestigious companies that offer high paying salaries. The US has that now, and will long after Trump leaves office.



Trump is a great POTUS, and most Chinese members here wholeheartedly support this man.

TPP is the bloodsucking deal for the American workers, so why need it? And he wants a weak dollar, so let the dollar tanking. He is a man of his words my friend, and he will deport more foreign high tech workers in the coming years.

And hopefully he will get re-elected by 2020.


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## F-22Raptor

Offshore said:


> Our American red neck seems can’t swallow the fact!



See? When you challenge the "China Rise" narrative that they love to peddle you get attacked. I'm sure it will be only a few minutes before I'm labeled an Indian.

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## 52051

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> Trump should come out with a new policy that prevents the American companies to outsource and to pursue the oversea talents.
> 
> I have faith that this MAGA President can do it!!!



No, President Trump will only hire the bestest greatest brightest minds in the world, just like himself.

I love presiden Trump, after he become the US president, nobody can fault my engjlajfalfjas wroaating, I can put english in whatever way I like and I still speak the bestest greatest english words

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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> See? When you challenge the "China Rise" narrative that they love to peddle you get attacked. I'm sure it will be only a few minutes before I'm labeled an Indian.



No one really cares who you are, except you are a well known China hater on this forum.

However, we are all happy that you are now stuck with the MAGA President Trump, and trust me, he will help China by default 10 folds bigger than GWB did.


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## 52051

Lets go back to topic, the topic is about how China dominate the world AI research despite of whatever US fake news media try to fool you

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## terranMarine

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> No one really cares who you are, except you are a well known China hater on this forum.
> 
> However, we are all happy that you are now stuck with the MAGA President Trump, and trust me, he will help China by default 10 folds bigger than GWB did.



If he wants us to believe he's of German descent, let him be. Totally unimportant what his race and color is, whether he's a Jew, a Vietcong or a Hindu or of German descent i was never interested anyway. I just enjoy how the US is self destructing from the core and Trump is doing us a big favor. May he get re-elected for the 2nd term, he deserves it.

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## ChineseTiger1986

terranMarine said:


> If he wants us to believe he's of German descent, let him be. Totally unimportant what his race and color is, whether he's a Jew, a Vietcong or a Hindu or of German descent i was never interested anyway. I just enjoy how the US is self destructing from the core and Trump is doing us a big favor. May he get re-elected for the 2nd term, he deserves it.



Indeed, all sane China haters are against Trump, that means he is indeed helpful for us by default.

Even though Trump's redneck hillbilly supporters are all China haters, who cares? They are all low IQ bottom feeders, who have no impact in China's geopolitical world, unlike the China haters from the establishment.

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## F-22Raptor

ChineseTiger1986 said:


> No one really cares who you are, except you are a well known China hater on this forum.
> 
> However, we are all happy that you are now stuck with the MAGA President Trump, and trust me, he will help China by default 10 folds bigger than GWB did.



Good, now you can spare me the "Indian" label that half of you are so obsessed with. 

Meanwhile, the US economy under Trump is booming with record high stock markets, 17 year low unemployment, growth in the hundreds of billions of dollars added, and GDP per capita near $60K.


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## 52051

F-22Raptor said:


> Good, now you can spare me the "Indian" label that half of you are so obsessed with.
> 
> Meanwhile, the US economy under Trump is booming with record high stock markets, 17 year low unemployment, growth in the hundreds of billions of dollars added, and GDP per capita near $60K.



So what?

The US heavy industrial output is still 1/10th of China, which means you just keep printing papers, the last one who did that is Maguba whatever in Africa, and he do have something in common with your current leader.

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## TaiShang

F-22Raptor said:


> Good, now you can spare me the "Indian" label that half of you are so obsessed with.
> 
> Meanwhile, the US economy under Trump is booming with record high stock markets, 17 year low unemployment, growth in the hundreds of billions of dollars added, and GDP per capita near $60K.



Where is your population dividend and *Nikki-white* picture?

***

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## ChineseTiger1986

F-22Raptor said:


> Good, now you can spare me the "Indian" label that half of you are so obsessed with.
> 
> Meanwhile, the US economy under Trump is booming with record high stock markets, 17 year low unemployment, growth in the hundreds of billions of dollars added, and GDP per capita near $60K.



Your dollar is tanking, and this is exactly what China wants.

How long your bubble stock market can sustain so far without any tangible support?

Your domestic production remains the same, and with more dollar repatriating back to the US, and you can expect the coming hyperinflation that will be running out of control.

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## TaiShang

F-22Raptor said:


> That all you can conjure Little Pink?



Normally, demographic dividend and high IT tech should have allowed you guys to come on par with advanced technology. I am not saying China is leading in all fields, I am saying China is in the game wherever there is a game.

But, India is protectionist as hell (three times more than China, but I am not sure about efficiency, because I have doubts toward you guys on that account) and have amazing demographic growth. Something must be going wonderfully wrong.

I just want to hear insider from a knowledgeable *Nikki-white SP12* like yourself.

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## F-22Raptor

TaiShang said:


> Normally, demographic dividend and high IT tech should have allowed you guys to come on par with advanced technology. I am not saying China is leading in all fields, I am saying China is in the game wherever there is a game.
> 
> But, India is protectionist as hell (three times more than China, but I am not sure about efficiency, because I have doubts toward you guys on that account) and have amazing demographic growth. Something must be going wonderfully wrong.
> 
> I just want to hear insider from a knowledgeable *Nikki-white SP12* like yourself.



Challenge the "China Rise" narrative and you are attacked. 

Say something positive about India and you must be an Indian= Little Pink's logic

Where are the "High IQ" Chinese that we so famously hear about? Because their absence on this forum is palpable.

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## Han Patriot

F-22Raptor said:


> Challenge the "China Rise" narrative and you are attacked.
> 
> Say something positive about India and you must be an Indian= Little Pink's logic
> 
> Where are the "High IQ" Chinese that we so famously hear about? Because their absence on this forum is palpable.


OOO the closet Indian again. . Alibaba beat Microsoft to it... do you understand the first to be above the average human in speech recognition. Just accept it.

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## cirr

*Uber-like freight service steps up AI investment*

2018-01-16 10:15 China Daily _Editor: Mo Hong'e_






Dai Wenjian (center), founder of truck-calling app Huochebang, gives instructions to an employee at the company's office in Guiyang, Guizhou province. (Photo/Xinhua)

*Manbang Group created by merger of major players in sharing economy*

China's largest Uber-like freight service provider will step up its investment into artificial intelligence, as it scrambles to tap into the new technology to boost efficiency in matching empty trucks with loads.

Manbang Group, which was created last November after China's top two truck-calling apps Huochebang and Yunmanman merged, has already set up an AI laboratory in Silicon Valley, in the hope of accessing cutting-edge technologies and top talent, said Xu Qiang, vice-president of Yunmanman. Yunmanman and Huochebang maintain independent operation after the merger.

According to Xu, more efforts will be made to accelerate the application of AI in the company's platforms and systems, after the merger created a tech player valued at more than $2 billion. Manbang Group is now the second-largest unicorn company in the Chinese logistics industry, following Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's logistics arm Cainiao, according to the Hurun China Unicorn Index 2017.

"We now have the world's largest truck application scenario, with tens of thousands of trucks looking for loads every day. AI will certainly be one of our focuses," Xu said.

Huochebang, backed by deep-pocketed investors such as Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd, said its platform has about 4.8 million truck drivers and about 950,000 shippers who look for trucks to carry their goods. The number for Yunmanman is 4 million and 1 million respectively, with its services available in 334 cities across China.

The two companies, which announced a merger plan in November, were both major players in China's trucking market, which is estimated to be worth 5 trillion yuan ($776 billion). They allow shippers to post load information on mobile applications and connect them with truck drivers, so as to reduce a truck's empty miles and waiting time between loads.

The marriage is considered an effective move to end a costly battle, as the two players are seen as such close rivals that no winner was likely in the short term.

"Instead of fighting at each other's expense, we figure it is far better for us to devote more time and energy to upgrading ourselves. The sector is spinning so fast that everyone is likely to be left behind," Xu said.

After the merger, Wang Gang, a backer of Yunmanman and an angel investor in ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, has become CEO of Manbang Group. Wang said the company aims to cover all the truck drivers in China and will expand into areas such as new-energy trucks and self-driving technologies.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-16/288532.shtml

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## TaiShang

F-22Raptor said:


> Challenge the "China Rise" narrative and you are attacked.
> 
> Say something positive about India and you must be an Indian= Little Pink's logic
> 
> Where are the "High IQ" Chinese that we so famously hear about? Because their absence on this forum is palpable.



China is a developing country, my Indian friend. 

We are actually trying to construct a narrative against "the rise of China" and "China beating up the US" rhetoric.

That's quite different from the established *SP12 *narrative, right? 

China's accomplishments are often impressive for a developing country that has yet to eradicate poverty, but, compared to your *SP12*, it has miles to go.

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## MultaniGuy

TaiShang said:


> China is a developing country, my Indian friend.
> 
> We are actually trying to construct a narrative against "the rise of China" and "China beating up the US" rhetoric.
> 
> That's quite different from the established *SP12 *narrative, right?
> 
> China's accomplishments are often impressive for a developing country that has yet to eradicate poverty, but, compared to your *SP12*, it has miles to go.


lol India is also behind Pakistan when it comes to poverty.


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## rott

F-22Raptor said:


> Challenge the "China Rise" narrative and you are attacked.
> 
> Say something positive about India and you must be an Indian= Little Pink's logic
> 
> Where are the "High IQ" Chinese that we so famously hear about? Because their absence on this forum is palpable.


You're an Indian.

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## phancong

Saddest part of the competition all the Chinese came in 1st and 2nd place in competition with Chinese participate in both team. And here a butthurt Indian failed to troll Chinese on China grand prize winner in the AI competition, literally he eggs his own face.


Han Patriot said:


> OOO the closet Indian again. . Alibaba beat Microsoft to it... do you understand the first to be above the average human in speech recognition. Just accept it.


he definitely irk by the fact on average Chinese had higher IQ compare to Indian, he definitely closet Indian.

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## rott

phancong said:


> Saddest part of the competition all the Chinese came in 1st and 2nd place in competition with Chinese participate in both team. And here a butthurt Indian failed to troll Chinese on China grand prize winner in the AI competition, literally he eggs his own face.
> 
> he definitely irk by the fact on average Chinese had higher IQ compare to Indian, he definitely closet Indian.


Lol, and they want to dominate the Sub Continent countries with an IQ of 82 while it's eastern neighbor have a higher IQ.

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## phancong

rott said:


> Lol, and they want to dominate the Sub Continent countries with an IQ of 82 while it's eastern neighbor have a higher IQ.


India want to dominate the sub continent but lack the capacity to do so. All India neighbors except Bruthan refused to be in a submissive role of India first foreign relation between them and India foreign policy.


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## kankan326

war&peace said:


> Balanced world is good ... the best scenario is if all the countries are equal in power and technology.


Unfortunately the real scenario will be the strong countries become stronger than ever. And the weak countries will be relatively weaker. The gap will be bigger.


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## Jlaw

52051 said:


> I expect Quantum tech/AI/nano-tech/hypersonic are among the first batch of area when China will achieve total domination over the sad americans, the americans are good at show-off and write english fake news, whilst the Chinese are much better at get business done.


Chinese need to start brushing up on writing "exaggerated" news like Americans and Indians.

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## Figaro

F-22Raptor said:


> Good, now you can spare me the "Indian" label that half of you are so obsessed with.
> 
> Meanwhile, the US economy under Trump is booming with record high stock markets, 17 year low unemployment, growth in the hundreds of billions of dollars added, and GDP per capita near $60K.


This is technically untrue. Most of the economic growth sustained currently was due to the macroeconomic policies of the Obama Administration, not the Trump one. We all have to recognize that it was Obama who got the unemployment rate down from a peak of 10% to just 4.6%. Regarding the stock market, it was during Obama's tenure when the DOW increased from around 6000 in March 2009 to over 20,000 by the time he left office. The current stock market rally is only due to wildly optimistic expectations of Trump's corporate tax policy. And unfortunately, Trump takes credit for everything ... and even if I don't agree with many of Obama's policies, I have to admit he made a stellar economic turnaround. Whenever something goes in his favor, Trump gloats about how it was 100% his doing and whenever something goes against his favor ... he immediately outsources the blame (in many cases to Obama). Painfully seeing how so many Americans buy into everything Trump says makes me understand why we elected junior Bush.


F-22Raptor said:


> Both teams are essentially tied.
> 
> An to refer to them as "losers"?


Yes, both are essentially tied. That is correct. But looking at the longer scheme of things, America is definitely the "loser". Just 5-10 years ago, Chinese AI couldn't come anywhere near that of the United States. Fast track to 2018, and you'll see that we're neck to neck with the Chinese. What happened to the huge tech gap??? If I recall back in the mid 2000s, many in the States still thought of China as a land full of poor peasants and dirty factories. Now, very few of us would think of China in that light ... and it has become inevitable that they will surpass us in certain sectors. And judging by recent Trump actions with NAFTA and the EU, I feel we are the one's who will get further and further behind the Chinese in not only AI, but also other sectors. Not trying to be a pessimist here ... just a realist.



Han Patriot said:


> OOO the closet Indian again. . Alibaba beat Microsoft to it... do you understand the first to be above the average human in speech recognition. Just accept it.


I don't think F-22 raptor is an Indian. IMO, he is just one of the many misinformed Americans in this country ... and I don't fault him for that given the current state of news media (Fox, Breitbart, CNN). If you ever come to the United States and watch politics for 30 seconds, you can grasp the state of this country.


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## 52051

Althrough many indians are loving to be false-flagger all over the internet, mainly due to their trolling/cowardice nature and inferiority complexity, but I dont think that F-22 boy is of indian origin.

To me, he just talk like the average dotard americans, and it is a little bit annoyed to accuse every trolls here are of indian origin, there are trolls who are definitely from other countries, and IMVHO, F-22 is one of them.

The thing very unique about the american trolls are they are very confident about their retarded opinions, even after debunked again and again, with all eggs on face.

Thats the unique character of american dotard trolls, thats why I think F-22 is not an indian, in contracts indian trolls, when confront with their retarded opinions, will try to shift topics elsewhere to the point it become ridiculus and irrelevant, so basically they have different kinds of stupidities.

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## Beast

F-22Raptor said:


> You mean Chinese that are working for the American company Microsoft and contributing to its advances.


Chinese are always spy and evil in the eyes of American. Soon American will sack him and the Chinese will rejoin the motherland. Fancy you white American trust a Chinese to lead whiteman technology.

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## TaiShang

*Alibaba's AI beats humans in reading test*
Xinhua, January 16, 2018

Artificial intelligence programs* built by China's e-commerce titan Alibaba scored better than humans on a Stanford University reading and comprehension test.*


*"This is the first time that a machine has outperformed humans on such a test,"* Alibaba said in a statement on Monday.


The test was designed by artificial intelligence experts at Stanford to measure computers' growing reading abilities. Alibaba's software was the first to beat the human race.


Luo Si, chief scientist for natural language processing at Alibaba's AI research arm, called the milestone "a great honor," but also acknowledged that* it is likely to lead to a significant number of workers losing their jobs to machines.*


The technology "can be gradually applied to numerous applications such as customer service, museum tutorials and online responses to medical inquiries from patients, decreasing the need for human input in an unprecedented way," Si said in a statement.


Alibaba has already employed the underlying technology in its November 11 shopping festival over the years, using computers to answer a large number of customer service questions, the company said.


Pranav Rajpurkar, one of the Stanford researchers who developed the reading test, said in a tweet that Alibaba's feat is "a great start to 2018" for artificial intelligence.


Based on more than 500 Wikipedia articles, the Stanford quiz asks the AI to provide exact answers to more than 100,000 questions, testing its ability to process large amounts of information before supplying precise answers to queries. It is considered one of the world's most authoritative machine-reading gauges and has previously attracted companies such as Google, Facebook, IBM, Tencent and Samsung.


The deep neural network model developed by Alibaba scored 82.44 on the test last week, narrowly beating the 82.304 achieved by human participants. A day later, Microsoft's AI software scored 82.650 on the same test.


"That means objective questions such as 'what causes rain' can now be answered with high accuracy by machines," Si said.


China's technology firms Tencent and Baidu are also competing to develop AI that can enrich social media feeds, target ads and services or even aid autonomous driving.


China has stressed innovation in its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), with an aim to become an "innovation nation" by 2020, an international leader in innovation by 2030, and a world powerhouse in scientific and technological innovation by 2050.

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2018-01/16/content_50232029.htm

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## cirr

*Robo-helpers are being added to bank staff*

2018-01-17 13:49 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_





Upgraded bank robots with more human-like features have already hit the market in China. (Photo/Courtesy of Guo Hongguang)

For many, the experience of queuing up in a bank waiting for service is anything but entertaining. But that is no longer the case for Mrs Liu, a Beijing local in her 50s, as she has recently picked up a new interest when she goes to the bank in her community on Lincui Lu, Chaoyang district - chatting with a little robot named Jiaojiao.

"I have never talked to a robot before. It is so much cuter and more intelligent than I expected," laughed Liu, after being told how to apply for a credit card and asked for a hug by the robot.

The one-meter tall robot, Jiaojiao, has been working as a lobby manager assistant at a local branch of Bank of Communications for months.

Her daily work is to greet guests and offer inquiry services and customer guidance.

With a child-like voice and a unique sense of humor, it has won many customers' hearts.

Jiaojiao is the first robot introduced by Chinese banks, followed by a series of other robots since 2015.

As *AI* technology penetrates every aspect of the finance sector, robots have become a new force in the service team and now, almost every big bank in China has its own robot team member, such as "Ying Ying" for Bank of China, "Xiao Long Ren" (Little Dragon Man) for China Construction Bank and "One" and "Xiao Min" for China Minsheng Bank.

As technology advances and the robots' systems and "intelligence" upgrade, the robots are bringing more fun and efficiency to the public.

*Having fun at the bank*

"Hi, I want to have a pancake. Can you help?"

"Wow, you got me. I have never had any food before. All I have is electricity; would you like me to share some?"

A burst of laughter fills the room.

Liu and another customer are playing with the robot while they wait in the lobby. Talking with Jiaojiao, Liu feels the time she spends at the bank is full of fun.

"The robot helps relieve pressure and anxiety for customers while they wait, especially when the queue is long," said Yang Meng, vice manager of the Lincui Lu sub-branch of the Bank of Communications. Rather than turning to consultant services, people are more interested in chatting and playing with the robot, Yang said.

Sometimes Jiaojiao will also move to the waiting area to entertain others when there are many people there. Apart from talking, the robot can also sing and perform some dance moves. Meanwhile, Jiaojiao also adds fun and pleasure to the staff's working routine. The robot will move to the recharging area automatically at noon and after getting off work. Those are the times when it often acts like a spoiled child.

"Hi, beautiful sister, I walk too slowly; would you please carry me over there?" "Hi sister, I am too tired; would you please hug me?" These are some sentences it often says to the staff on the way to the charging spot, and it is hard to say no to its cute requests, said Yang.

*Invisible robots improves efficiency*

In fact, the "robot bank force" is not only at reception, it also works behind different platforms such as WeChat, apps, web-pages and phone calls.

"The software is more or less the same, but they are at different ports. For example, when you are calling customer service, you are likely talking to an AI program or an AI robot," said Guo Hongguang, CTO of Internet marketing department of China M-World, a high-tech company that develops bank robots.

He said invisible robots have greatly improved bank efficiency over the years, even without the customers' awareness.

His opinion echoes the example of "Gong Xiao Zhi," the invisible customer service robot of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

According to ICBC's press release, the online robot offers more than 570,000 services on average per day through 15 different channels, including phone message, the mobile banking app and WeChat bank, which greatly boosts the efficiency of finance services.

Since its launch in 2016, Gong Xiao Zhi has served customers more than 170 million times. To further gain customers' favor, the bank also embodies the robot with a red and white mascot-like image.

"In fact, the invisible robots, or programs, bring higher efficiency with a lower cost compared to physical robots," said Wang Feng (pseudonym), a senior industry professional at a large bank in China. "A physical robot costs around 100,000 yuan ($15,540) to 200,000 yuan, but the real benefit it creates for the store is unclear so far," he said.

*Disputes on physical robots*

Wang also points out the current technological difficulty for physical robots in terms of hearing people's voices.

"It's hard to pick up one particular voice very quickly and precisely, especially in a noisy place like a bank lobby. That's the biggest challenge for many physical bank robots at the moment," said Wang. And the considerable cost for further maintenance also puts a physical robot at a disadvantaged position in the market.

"The relevant technology is not that mature yet," Wang said. He believes "abstract robots," AI programs attached to digital devices, will work better in the long run. He thinks "digital banks" will be the future, replacing physical stores and creating more individualized financial services based on a personal data pool.

Meanwhile, there are also disputes online as to how intelligent a bank robot really is, with many wondering if there is a human staff member operating in the background to ensure the robot's performance. The related questions and posts can be commonly seen on zhihu.com, a popular Quora-like platform. Regarding the issue, Wang confirmed that certain "manual intervention" is applied at times to boost the robots' intelligence, especially on big occasions like an exhibition.

*Irresistible future trend*

However, the public still holds a high expectation on bank robots and banks are working hard to enhance the integration of AI technology with their finance services. A new wave of technological development and product upgrading is in progress. Earlier this month, Bank of China launched its first e-finance specification branch in Hunan Province, with a series of cutting-edge high-tech equipment being introduced to the public for the first time, including a robot, according to a xinhuanet.com report.

"It is an irresistible trend, and I have strong faith in physical bank robots. I don't think physical stores will be replaced, but 'unmanned banks' where only robots and machines serve the customers will appear in the near future, say in 5 to 10 years," said Guo.

He analyzes that people's habits for receiving service will not change dramatically and direct and in-person service will still be in demand despite digital service developments and that is why physical, human-like robots matter.

He indicates that the relevant industry is developing quickly and the key hindrance for the robots' popularization lies in banks themselves, rather than technology.

"It depends on how much determination they put on self-revolution. It takes money and time," said Guo.

Both Wang and Guo believe that a change in the workforce structure within banks and the finance structure as a whole will surely come soon.

"Robots will take over many jobs that are traditionally done by people, but the new mode of service will create new jobs in other fields like IT and machine maintenance positions. Overall employment won't shrink," said Wang.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-17/288787.shtml

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## cirr

*China to hold international AI competition*

2018-01-22 00:45 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

China will hold an international artificial intelligence (AI) competition in February this year, with prize money totalling 5 million yuan (about 781,000 U.S. dollars), the organizer said Sunday.

The competition, organized by the committee of the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018, will include six selection trials in China, the United States and Israel. The semifinal and grand final will take place in late May in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Registration for the competition will open on Feb. 10.

Besides the cash prize, winners' products will be exhibited at the expo as well as on its official website, according to the committee.

Winning projects may also receive preferential industrial policies, venture funds and free access of platform and data resources, among other benefits, it added.

The China International Big Data Industry Expo is aimed at providing exchange and sharing platforms for experts, enterprises, institutions and entrepreneurs. It is the world's first big data-themed expo, and has been held annually in Guiyang since 2015.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-22/289316.shtml

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## cirr

*China uses AI to prevent suicide*

2018-01-23 09:29 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

*China is using AI technology, including pattern recognition, to identify users who express suicidal thoughts on microblog site Weibo in order to to prevent suicide attempts.*

Zhu Tingshao, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted a two-year study of online suicidal ideation and set up an AI account to help those who are suffering.

"Suicide hotlines and intervention centers are the most prevalent methods for suicide prevention. Yet only 20 percent of people with suicidal inclinations are willing to seek help. Therefore, web-based research is significant," said Zhu.

According to a paper published last December in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, in 2016, Zhu's team recruited 4,222 microbloggers who had expressed suicidal thoughts in a bid to find language patterns the AI could learn from.

"We used AI technology such as natural language processing and deep learning to collect language patterns from suicidal users. Then our AI account sent direct messages to them online, offering comfort and advice while protecting their privacy," Zhu said.

Many people contemplating suicide share their worries online rather than telling a specialist.

Zhu said his account is quite useful in identifying people who express suicidal thoughts online.

The account has reached more than 20,000 users with suicidal thoughts and has provided online counseling since July 2016.

"We need to track the troubled souls first and detect how urgent their psychological situation is. For those who have strong tendencies, we tell them what their problems might be and send them a list of hotlines and professional intervention centers," said Zhu.

Such AI technology has proved efficacious. Scientists often receive replies thanking them for help during tough times.

Zhu said his team has upgraded the AI tool four times and will open it to more people in the future.

"Many don't know they have psychological problems, and some online psychological quizzes are often misleading. We hope this AI tool can help more Weibo users, not just suicidal ones," said Zhu.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-23/289487.shtml

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## qwerrty

another ai chip and more to come..







*China wants to make the chips that will add AI to any gadget*

By Yiting Sun
January 24th, 2018
In an office at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a computer chip is crunching data from a nearby camera, looking for faces stored in a database. Seconds later, the same chip, called *Thinker*, is handling voice commands in Chinese. Thinker is designed to support neural networks. But what’s special is how little energy it uses—just eight AA batteries are enough to power it for a year.

Thinker can dynamically tailor its computing and memory requirements to meet the needs of the software being run. This is important since many real-world AI applications—recognizing objects in images or understanding human speech—require a combination of different kinds of neural networks with different numbers of layers.

In December 2017, a paper describing Thinker’s design was published in the _IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits_, a top journal in computer hardware design. For the Chinese research community, it was a crowning achievement.

The chip is just one example of an important trend sweeping China’s tech sector. The country’s semiconductor industry sees a unique opportunity to establish itself amid the current wave of enthusiasm for hardware optimized for AI. Computer chips are key to the success of AI, so China needs to develop its own hardware industry to become a real force in the technology (see “China’s AI Awakening”).

“Compared to how China responded to previous revolutions in information technology, the speed at which China is following the current [AI] trend is the fastest,” says Shouyi Yin, vice director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Microelectronics and the lead author of the Thinker paper, referring to the effort to design neural-network processors in China.

Even as China has become a manufacturing hub of solar panels and smartphones, the country’s semiconductor industry lags far behind that of the U.S. Between January and September 2017, China spent $182.8 billion importing integrated circuits—a 13.5 percent increase from the previous year, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association. Major U.S. tech companies, including Google and Intel, as well as a few startups, are developing chips for AI applications (see “The Race to Power AI’s Silicon Brains”).

In a three-year action plan to develop AI, published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in December 2017, the government laid out a goal of being able to mass-produce neural-network processing chips by 2020.





_A schematic shows different elements of a chip called Thinker, developed at Tsinghua University in Beijing._

While it is possible to run AI software using existing chips such as the powerful graphics chips or FPGAs (a kind of blank chip that can be reconfigured on the fly), those designs are expensive and do not lend themselves to small devices that use batteries. That’s why Yin’s team at Tsinghua developed Thinker.

Thinker could be embedded in a wide range of devices, such as smartphones, watches, home robots, or equipment stationed in remote areas. Yin’s team plans to launch the first product fitted with Thinker this March.

Similar projects are under way elsewhere in China. In late January, a research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) will have a local semiconductor manufacturer produce a small batch of chips for use in robots. The chip, called *Dadu*, has two cores—one for running neural networks and another for controlling motion. The neural core runs the algorithms for vision but also allows the motion core to plan the optimal route for reaching a destination or the best motion for grabbing an object.

Yinhe Han, director of the institute’s Cyber Computing Lab and head of the robot chip project, envisions a slew of applications, including robots that deliver coffee and drones controlled with hand gestures. The advantage of developing a system like this in China, he says, is the large user base, which makes updating chip design based on user experience faster.

China has tried, and failed, to shake up the chip industry before. In 2001 the ICT assembled a team to develop desktop CPUs. That team became the kernel of a Chinese chipmaker called Loongson, but the company’s products never became as widely used as the founders would have liked.

China’s integrated-circuit industry has expanded rapidly, accounting for 58 percent of the worldwide growth in the integrated-circuit market from 2000 to 2016. But in 2016, China’s share of worldwide semiconductor fabrication capacity was still only 14.2 percent, according to PwC. In a manufacturing policy announced by the central government in 2015, called Made in China 2025, chip design and fabrication was one of the key areas in which the government asked for a breakthrough.

However, Chinese chip startups find themselves in an environment that’s vastly different from the one that gave birth to Intel or Nvidia. Businesses have taken to cloud computing in droves, meaning there may be less of a market for off-the-shelf hardware, says Dongrui Fan, president of *SmarCo*, a Beijing-based startup that designs an AI chip for data centers that process video footage.

But China’s AI companies are increasingly also developing their own hardware.

“In the future, companies that only make chips may be fewer and fewer,” says Fengxiang Ma, director of ASIC design at Horizon Robotics, a Beijing-based startup focused on applying AI techniques in driving and cameras. In December 2017, Horizon released two computer vision chips. They can be used to enable vehicles to recognize pedestrians or help shopping malls find patterns in visitor traffic. Since its founding in 2015, the company has grown to more than 300 employees.

Ma says Horizon Robotics is not a chip company, but it designs the chips for its products in-house for better product performance and lower production cost.

For now, Chinese chip researchers have many problems to solve: how to commercialize their chip designs, how to scale up, and how to navigate a world of computing being transformed by AI. What’s not lacking, though, is ambition. “As chip researchers, we all have dreams,” says Yinhe Han of ICT. “We’ll see how far we can leap.”



Code:


https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609954/china-wants-to-make-the-chips-that-will-add-ai-to-any-gadget/

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## cirr

*AI-enabled smart homes coming soon*

2018-01-25 11:24 China Daily _Editor: Zhang Shiyu_





Visitors look at a "smart mirror", which can monitor people's skin conditions, at the smart home products center of leading Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group in Foshan, South China's Guangdong province. (Photo/China Daily)

*Traditional manufacturers are pressing ahead as industry enters period of fast expansion thanks to new technologies*

Cutting-edge technologies are making life more convenient, and upgrading one's home with the latest such technology has become a new engine driving China's economy. More and more affluent consumers are pursuing a smarter, high-end lifestyle, which has given a big boost to the smart home market.

The AI-powered smart home is the future, experts say. According to statistics from market consultancy Statista, China's smart home market is expected to reach a value of 130 billion yuan ($20.3 billion) by 2018, with an annual growth rate of about 48 percent, a big jump from the 40.3 billion yuan market in 2015.

And the growth potential is huge, as smart home technology has only reached a penetration rate of 5 percent. The smart home industry is therefore poised to enter a period of rapid expansion, according to the consultancy.

Traditional home appliance manufacturers are pressing ahead with smart home products, such as air conditioners, televisions and refrigerators, by applying artificial intelligence technologies to transform and innovate products, as well as to grab a larger market share.

Leading Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group has announced M-Smart, a smart home system designed for the future of family living. In the past few years, the company has invested 20 billion yuan into research and development of smart home solutions, including the establishment of 17 research centers in eight countries, with more than 10,000 employees involved in R&D. It has more than 26,000 authorized patents.

As Midea is at the forefront of R&D, its intelligent air conditioners, which have a smart eye, a Wi-Fi function and a camera, can adjust the temperature to adapt to human activity in a room. The air conditioners can also respond to voice commands.

Its smart refrigerators are equipped with high-definition touch screens and sensors, which show the nutrition of the food inside. Some microwave ovens also offer voice activation and Wi-Fi-controlled functions.

Hu Ziqiang, chief technology officer of Midea, said technological innovation will help Midea keep driving ahead as Chinese consumers need a smarter home environment. Its smart home appliances have brought convenience to consumers with a centralized control system.

Moreover, Midea and China's second-largest e-commerce player JD signed a 20 billion yuan strategic cooperation agreement last year. The two sides will deepen cooperation in the fields of smart home appliances.

"JD can provide online technology, big data analysis and intelligent cloud platforms for manufacturing enterprises. It is an ideal strategic partner for Midea, which is actively seeking transformation," said Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea.

Sichuan Changhong Electronic Co Ltd, a manufacturer of televisions, has produced TVs that can comprehend semantic nuances and distinct features of each voice, memorize users' preferences and viewing habits, and then come up with recommendations to suit the users at any given time.

"Artificial intelligence, with big data as its core, is an important application and development direction for the internet of things," said Yang Dan, chief technology officer of Changhong.

Internet heavyweights have stepped up efforts to march into the smart home market.

Chinese tech behemoth Xiaomi Corp is expanding beyond smartphones. There are products under its subbrand Mi Ecosystem, which includes air purifiers, cleaning robots, rice cookers, smart lamps, air conditioners and cameras.

These products are internet-connected and Wi-Fi-enabled and can be controlled via the Mi Home app. Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said they aimed to "promote an upgrade in Chinese manufacturing with a new concept of 'Made in China' products."

Chinese internet search giant Baidu Inc is also tapping into the smart home sector, unveiling three AI-powered hardware products.

The smart speaker Raven H takes advantage of the company's advancements in voice recognition and AI, providing an instant gateway to Baidu's vast online resources and allowing users to use voice to perform a wide range of tasks including searching for information, playing music and hailing a taxi.

Raven R, an automated six-axis robot with emotional intelligence, has six humanlike "joints" that allow it to move flexibly following a user's command, and express emotions to enhance the interactive experience.

"These smart speakers and AI home robots will help people's everyday lives and bring them an experience once only seen in sci-fi movies," said Jesse Lyu, founder of Raven Tech who last year joined Baidu as the general manager of its intelligent hardware unit.

"The smart home industry is now developing by leaps and bounds, thanks to the advancement of internet of things, big data and other technologies. With people's increasing requirement for a high-quality life, the AI-enabled smart home sector has a promising future," said Zhang Yanbin, assistant director of Beijing-based consultancy All View Cloud.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-25/290009.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Chinese chips may stand out in age of AI: MIT Tech Review*

Xinhua | Updated: 2018-01-25 

NEW YORK - Chinese chips could catch up and even stand out in the current Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom, according to a news report published in a US technology magazine Wednesday.

*In the current wave of enthusiasm for hardware optimized for AI, China's semiconductor industry sees a unique opportunity to establish itself, said the report published by MIT Technology Review, a magazine founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.*

The article cites Chinese chip "Thinker" as an example. Designed to support neural networks, "Thinker" could recognize objects in images and understand human speech. What makes the chip stand out is its ability to "dynamically tailor its computing and memory requirements to meet the needs of the software being run."

Also remarkable is a mere eight AA batteries are enough to power it for a year.

"The chip is just one example of an important trend sweeping China's tech sector," said the report.

In a three-year action plan to develop AI, published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in December 2017, the government laid out a goal of being able to mass-produce neural-network processing chips by 2020.

"Compared to how China respond to previous revolutions in information technology, the speed at which China is following the current trend is the fastest," the review quoted Shouyi Yin, vice director of Tsinghua University's Institute of Microelectronics as saying. Yin is also the lead author of a paper describing the design behind "Thinker."

The article also listed some difficulties that Chinese chip researchers faced, such as how to commercialize their chip designs, how to scale up, and how to navigate a world of computing being transformed by AI.

"What's not lacking though, is ambition," said the report.

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## TaiShang

*AI-enabled smart homes coming soon*

By Fan Feifei | China Daily | Updated: 2018-01-25 




Visitors look at a "smart mirror", which can monitor people's skin conditions, at the smart home products center of leading Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group in Foshan, South China's Guangdong province. [Photo/China Daily]

Traditional manufacturers are pressing ahead as industry enters period of fast expansion thanks to new technologies

Cutting-edge technologies are making life more convenient, and upgrading one's home with the latest such technology has become a new engine driving China's economy. More and more affluent consumers are pursuing a smarter, high-end lifestyle, which has given a big boost to the smart home market.

The AI-powered smart home is the future, experts say. According to statistics from market consultancy Statista, China's smart home market is expected to reach a value of 130 billion yuan ($20.3 billion) by 2018, with an annual growth rate of about 48 percent, a big jump from the 40.3 billion yuan market in 2015.

And the growth potential is huge, as smart home technology has only reached a penetration rate of 5 percent. The smart home industry is therefore poised to enter a period of rapid expansion, according to the consultancy.

Traditional home appliance manufacturers are pressing ahead with smart home products, such as air conditioners, televisions and refrigerators, by applying artificial intelligence technologies to transform and innovate products, as well as to grab a larger market share.

*Leading Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group has announced M-Smart, a smart home system designed for the future of family living. In the past few years, the company has invested 20 billion yuan into research and development of smart home solutions, including the establishment of 17 research centers in eight countries, with more than 10,000 employees involved in R&D. It has more than 26,000 authorized patents.*

As Midea is at the forefront of R&D, its intelligent air conditioners, which have a smart eye, a Wi-Fi function and a camera, can adjust the temperature to adapt to human activity in a room. The air conditioners can also respond to voice commands.

Its smart refrigerators are equipped with high-definition touch screens and sensors, which show the nutrition of the food inside. Some microwave ovens also offer voice activation and Wi-Fi-controlled functions.

Hu Ziqiang, chief technology officer of Midea, said technological innovation will help Midea keep driving ahead as Chinese consumers need a smarter home environment. Its smart home appliances have brought convenience to consumers with a centralized control system.

*Moreover, Midea and China's second-largest e-commerce player JD signed a 20 billion yuan strategic cooperation agreement last year. *The two sides will deepen cooperation in the fields of smart home appliances.

"JD can provide online technology, big data analysis and intelligent cloud platforms for manufacturing enterprises. It is an ideal strategic partner for Midea, which is actively seeking transformation," said Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea.

*Sichuan Changhong Electronic Co Ltd, a manufacturer of televisions, has produced TVs that can comprehend semantic nuances and distinct features of each voice, memorize users' preferences and viewing habits, and then come up with recommendations to suit the users at any given time.*

"Artificial intelligence, with big data as its core, is an important application and development direction for the internet of things," said Yang Dan, chief technology officer of Changhong.

Internet heavyweights have stepped up efforts to march into the smart home market.

*Chinese tech behemoth Xiaomi Corp is expanding beyond smartphones. There are products under its subbrand Mi Ecosystem, which includes air purifiers, cleaning robots, rice cookers, smart lamps, air conditioners and cameras.*

These products are internet-connected and Wi-Fi-enabled and can be controlled via the Mi Home app. Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, said they aimed to "promote an upgrade in Chinese manufacturing with a new concept of 'Made in China' products."

Chinese internet search giant Baidu Inc is also tapping into the smart home sector, unveiling three AI-powered hardware products.

*The smart speaker Raven H takes advantage of the company's advancements in voice recognition and AI, providing an instant gateway to Baidu's vast online resources and allowing users to use voice to perform a wide range of tasks including searching for information, playing music and hailing a taxi.*

Raven R, an automated six-axis robot with emotional intelligence, has six humanlike "joints" that allow it to move flexibly following a user's command, and express emotions to enhance the interactive experience.

"These smart speakers and AI home robots will help people's everyday lives and bring them an experience once only seen in sci-fi movies," said Jesse Lyu, founder of Raven Tech who last year joined Baidu as the general manager of its intelligent hardware unit.

"The smart home industry is now developing by leaps and bounds, thanks to the advancement of internet of things, big data and other technologies. With people's increasing requirement for a high-quality life, the AI-enabled smart home sector has a promising future," said Zhang Yanbin, assistant director of Beijing-based consultancy All View Cloud.

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## TaiShang

*DiDi sets up AI labs*

Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/1/27


Chinese ride-sharer Didi Chuxing has opened artificial intelligence labs to develop new transportation ideas, the company announced Friday. 

The labs are an expansion of DiDi's research network intended to attract top professionals to push the frontiers of smart traffic technology. 

With a team of over 200 scientists and engineers, DiDi AI Labs will work on natural language processing, computer vision for operational research, deep learning, statistics and other innovative technology. 

DiDi will make use of technology developed at the labs to improve user experience and efficiency. 

At DiDi, AI is enabling more convenient commutes, providing higher incomes for tens of millions of drivers and making travel safer for everyone, according to Jean Liu, president of Didi Chuxing.

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## cirr

*China to build brain science labs to nurture smarter students*

2018-01-27 11:05 

Xinhua _Editor: Feng Shuang_

Chinese students are known for their focus on rote learning and high test scores, much of which has been attributed to the rise of tutoring companies. Now more and more companies are working on how to alleviate the burdens on students with *artificial intelligence (AI) technology*.

Tomorrow Advancing Life (TAL), a Chinese K-12 education company, unveiled its brain science program in Beijing Thursday, announcing a plan to build six global labs with the assistance of scientists from universities like Stanford.

"The latest brain science research has proven the possibility of nurturing smarter brains using AI technology. Once we know how brains react to one specific course they are learning, we can provide personalized courses to different students so as to fully activate their brains," said Huang Yan, TAL's chief technology officer.

Within three years, it will build 500-member research and development team who specialize in AI and brain science application, according to Huang.

"On the one hand, we will monitor trainee's brain functions with class observation and diagnosis in a bid to build a system that can track learning process effectively. On the other hand, we will upgrade the assessment scale accordingly," said Yang Ying, head of the program, also a neuroscience researcher.

Products must be designed under scientific guidance and based on the data collected from real learning situations, said Yang.

According to a KPMG study released last year, venture capital investment in China shifted from big data in 2015 towards AI in 2017.

Transformational new technology such as AI or digital technology are bringing new personalized education to both tutoring centers and formal schools.

Chinese high-tech companies like Baidu and iFlytek have spent big in applying their cutting edge technology to the field of education. IFlytek opened a free automated test scoring platform in 2014, which has attracted more than 10,000 schools.

"Teachers can detect a student's learning pattern from mistakes they have made. The platform has enabled teachers to focus more on class interaction, instead of test scores," said Jiang Tao, vice president of iFlytek.

Over the past decade, Chinese government spending on research has seen double-digit growth on average annually, according to the KPMG study. China is aiming to nurture well-rounded talent who can face fierce competition in the future, instead of pedants.

"One good thing about the brain science program is it can make learning more efficient allowing students more spare time for arts, PE or projects that can arouse their interests and promote critical thinking," said Huang.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/01-27/290307.shtml

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## cirr

*China’s Army Recruits Top Scientists to Develop Quantum Technology and AI*

BY SPUTNIK NEWS · PUBLISHED JANUARY 27, 2018 · UPDATED JANUARY 27, 2018






China’s Army Recruits Top Scientists to Develop Quantum Technology and AI from Sputnik News

China is looking to the future as it embarks on a mission to develop cutting-edge technologies in order to become the new military tech superpower.

China has selected 120 top specialists to work in a leading research institute to push the development of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies for military applications, the South China Morning Post reports, citing state media.

It’s been reported that the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) has attracted experts to work in the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, with more than 95 percent of researchers having PhD degrees in certain fields, specializing particularly in quantum technology and artificial intelligence.

The publication notes that such a measure is being undertaken as Beijing intents to become a military-technical superpower and to catch up with the US armed forces.

“President Xi Jinping has launched a massive overhaul and modernization of the country’s military and he said in a speech given to the military science academy last July that Chinashould aim at building world-class military technology institutes,” the South China Morning Post reported.

Collin Koh, a military expert told the publication, that China’s aim to enter into these military tech fields is also due to its military strategy which looks at “nullifying via asymmetrical means the general US military superiority in envisaged regional flashpoints such as the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

A group led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China, is one of the teams spearheading China’s research into quantum technology. According to the analyst, China could gain a military advantage if it can learn to apply breakthroughs in quantum technology.

Quantum technologies permit the development of modern equipment and arms ranging from new satellites that can track military aircraft to cracking encrypted enemy codes.

“Quantum technology could be game changing and the successful integration of quantum technology with China’s regular military forces could profoundly change the regional security balance, which is already moving towards Beijing’s favor,” Ben Ho, a researcher at the military studies program at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told the South China Morning Post.

https://thedailycoin.org/2018/01/27...top-scientists-develop-quantum-technology-ai/

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## cirr

*Self-driving trucks used in Zhuhai port and to be tested in Shanghai*

2018-01-30 11:06 shine.cn _Editor: Li Yan_







Self-driving trucks adopting the latest artificial intelligence applications are being used in Zhuhai port and will be tested too in Shanghai port, said a Shanghai-based startup which develops the trucks.

Self-driving trucks can help logistic companies and ports improve work efficiency and save labor cost, according to industry watchers.

These self-driving trucks, used in Zhuhai Port in Guangdong Province, can also see the environment, navigate and decide on the best routes to move containers within the port using *AI and chips developed by startup Westwell*.

The trucks feature latest technologies in machine learning, mobile robotic product development, visual recognition and truck management system, which are vital in an unmanned smart port system in the future, said Tan Limin, chief executive of Westwell.

After a half year of testing, the self-driving trucks used in Zhuhai are "safe", according to Westwell.

The startup has also just signed a cooperation deal with Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co to develop self-driving trucks to move containers in the city's port. Shanghai-listed Zhenhua is the major machinery supplier for Shanghai's smart port systems in near future.

China's national strategy aims to develop a core AI market worth over 150 billion yuan by 2020, according to the State Council, or Cabinet.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-30/290638.shtml

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## onebyone

China has gathered 120 researchers from around the military to work for its top research institute as part of a push to develop military applications for artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

More than 95 percent of the new recruits enlisted into the academy hold PhD degrees and are highly specialized in certain fields, particularly artificial intelligence assisted unmanned vehicles and quantum technology.

China has previously plans to spend billions making AI and Quantum computing research centers. They will spend tens of billions to dominate AI and Quantum technology.

*China has three year AI action plan*

China has a three year plan for AI – four key tasks based on in-depth investigations and studies, a total of 17 products or areas:

1. focus on nurturing and developing intelligent products such as smart car, intelligent service robot, intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle, medical imaging aided diagnosis system, video image identification system, intelligent voice interactive system, intelligent translation system, smart home product, etc. Intelligent products in the economic and social integration.

The above intelligent products have good technology and industrial base. Products in some segments have already taken the lead in the world and are expected to achieve large-scale development under the guidance of the national policies, resulting in a breakthrough from the point of view and driving artificial intelligence In-depth application of technology in the industry.

2. Focus on the development of intelligent sensors, neural network chips, open source open platform and other key areas, tamping the development of artificial intelligence industry hardware and software foundation.

The market competitiveness of these products or platforms is not strong, which is a weak link in the industrial chain and may restrict the development of the industry. It is urgent to speed up innovation and development, lay a solid foundation and fill shortcomings.

3. Deepen the development of intelligent manufacturing, to encourage the exploration and application of the new generation of artificial intelligence technology in all aspects of the industrial field, to enhance the innovation capability of intelligent manufacturing of key technology and equipment and to foster the promotion of a new mode of intelligent manufacturing.

Manufacturing is one of the industries where artificial intelligence first landed. The “Made in China 2025 ” put forward the explicit requirement of “promoting smart manufacturing as the main direction”. In recent years, under the great attention of the Central Party Committee and the State Council, the development of manufacturing industry in our country has made positive progress. In particular, a great deal of work has been done in accelerating the development of intelligent manufacturing and promoting the upgrading and transformation of the manufacturing industry. The “Action Plan” and “Made in China 2025 ” are closely linked, further highlighting the need to accelerate the application of artificial intelligence technology to upgrade the specific tasks, will deepen the development of intelligent manufacturing to provide strong support.

4. build a public support system for industry training resources, standard testing and intellectual property service platform, intelligent network infrastructure, network security and other industries, and improve the environment for the development of artificial intelligence.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/...rs-as-part-of-military-applications-push.html

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## Huan

Next: new quantum military satellites for the PLA?

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## TaiShang

*Alibaba’s AI platform introduced to Malaysia to improve urban traffic*

By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 15:50, January 30, 2018

On Jan. 29, *Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform “City Brain” has been officially introduced to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,* to improve traffic regulation, municipal planning, and environmental protection.

*It will be the first time for the city to apply AI technology to urban governance.*






In the first phase, the AI platform will help 281 crossroads in Kuala Lumpur to ease traffic pressure through smart signal control, accident detection, and priority for emergency vehicles.

It is another major move of Alibaba in Southeast Asia after the company launched its cloud platform in Malaysia three months ago.

The CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood said that the City Brain will not only do real-time analysis and automatically allocate public resources, but also encourage local application of AI technology.






According to Hu Xiaoming, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, 2018 marks the fourth year of the company’s global services, and also the second year of the launching of the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) in Malaysia.

With successful industrial application, China’s AI technology will provide services for more cities in the future after Kuala Lumpur, he noted.

In China, the City Brain has been launched in seven cities, increasing traffic efficiency by 15%.






***

*SP12?

***
*
@powastick

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## powastick

TaiShang said:


> *Alibaba’s AI platform introduced to Malaysia to improve urban traffic*
> 
> By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 15:50, January 30, 2018
> 
> On Jan. 29, *Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform “City Brain” has been officially introduced to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,* to improve traffic regulation, municipal planning, and environmental protection.
> 
> *It will be the first time for the city to apply AI technology to urban governance.*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In the first phase, the AI platform will help 281 crossroads in Kuala Lumpur to ease traffic pressure through smart signal control, accident detection, and priority for emergency vehicles.
> 
> It is another major move of Alibaba in Southeast Asia after the company launched its cloud platform in Malaysia three months ago.
> 
> The CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood said that the City Brain will not only do real-time analysis and automatically allocate public resources, but also encourage local application of AI technology.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> According to Hu Xiaoming, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, 2018 marks the fourth year of the company’s global services, and also the second year of the launching of the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) in Malaysia.
> 
> With successful industrial application, China’s AI technology will provide services for more cities in the future after Kuala Lumpur, he noted.
> 
> In China, the City Brain has been launched in seven cities, increasing traffic efficiency by 15%.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ***
> 
> *SP12?
> 
> ***
> *
> @powastick


Been to China, I don't know why how they manage city traffic, seems to be smoother than Malaysia. Even at peak hours. I doubt it would help much, since Malaysian government city planners seems to be stuck in 1970s.

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## cirr

*Smart homes, healthcare to boost demand for AI-enabled products*

2018-01-31 11:48

China Daily _Editor: Zhang Shiyu_

Chinese consumers have high expectations for the application of artificial intelligence in smart homes, healthcare, automobile and transportation, security and fitness, even though the current utilization rate of such devices is relatively low, a new survey said on Tuesday.

About 64.7 percent of consumers in China own digital voice-enabled assistants, but less than 20 percent of them use these assistants frequently, global consultancy firm Accenture said in a study covering 4,060 consumers in 252 cities across the country.

More than 40 percent of Chinese consumers possess wearable devices and 30.8 percent use them every day, while 52.3 percent utilize them occasionally.

About 55 percent of consumers expect AI technologies to be applied in smart home systems, followed by healthcare, automobile, security and fitness.

"The reason lies in these intelligent hardware devices just providing a human-machine interaction interface. They don't bring about any subversive experiences or change consumers' behaviors," said Yu Jin, strategy lead for Accenture China.

Consumers across the globe revealed increasing demand and deeper interactions with standalone voice assistants. Chinese consumers who use voice assistants accounted for 55 percent and were ranked first in the world, nearly 10 percent higher than their US counterparts.

However, consumers face challenges when using intelligent devices, especially digital voice assistants. Voice recognition not working properly is the most common challenge for consumers, according to Accenture.

These assistants have yet to be developed, with insufficient application scenarios, which are lower than consumers' expectations, said Huang Weiqiang, managing director of Accenture China.

Huang said with the rapid development of big data and machine learning, AI will penetrate into fields that are related to people's daily lives, such as automobiles, con-sumer goods, retail, finance and healthcare.

Accenture also said nearly 40 percent of consumers have already bought intelligent home appliance products, and nearly 60 percent of them use them frequently, higher than the proportion of voice assistants.

Traditional home appliance manufacturers are pressing ahead with smart home products, such as air conditioners, televisions and refrigerators, by applying artificial intelligence technologies to transform and innovate products, as well as to grab a larger market share.

The consultancy said in a survey released last year that AI could accelerate China's economic growth rate from 6.3 percent to 7.9 percent by 2035, by transforming the nature of work and opening new sources of value and growth.

The report also said that AI has the potential to boost China's labor productivity by 27 percent by 2035－driven by innovative AI technologies that enable people to make more efficient use of their time. AI is poised to boost China's gross added value by $7.1 trillion by 2035.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/01-31/290852.shtml

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## qwerrty

*Baidu bolsters AI division by launching two new labs and hiring scientists*
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/01...-launching-two-new-labs-and-hiring-scientists

--------

*DeepBrain Chain, the First Artificial Intelligence Computing Platform Driven by Blockchain*
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...ficial-Intelligence-Computing-Platform-Driven

--------

*Tencent's AI defeated a Go grandmaster despite a handicap 
Google's AlphaGo AI last year beat the same player without one*
https://www.wired.com/story/tencent-software-beats-go-champ-showing-chinas-ai-gains/

--------

*Samsung newly invests in Chinese machine vision firm*
The South Korean tech behemoth recently invested $20 million in Vion Technologies, a Chinese AI firm specializing in machine vision, in partnership with Swiss automation company ABB..
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20171211000902

-

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## TaiShang

*Embedded AI to take off by year-end*

By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2017/11/10 5:03:41

*Rising technology steers away from cloud, but experts say it is ‘in infancy’*






*
The Huawei Mate 10 model with on-device AI capabilities recognizes food *at a display area in Beijing over the weekend. Photo: Li Xuanmin/GT

One year ago, when artificial intelligence (AI) robotic AlphaGo rose to prominence after it unexpectedly defeated legendary player Lee Se-dol, tech giants and venture capitals were rushing to pump money into the rapidly rising sector, most of which implements cloud-only computation.

But now, a new trend is driving the development of embedded AI, a technology that can process data and run AI algorithms on devices *without transferring data to cloud servers.*

*A cellphone equipped with embedded AI can recognize food and provide real-time details on calories, helping dieters choose healthy cuisines.* Embedded AI also enables consumers to use microwave ovens without setting a time, as the appliance itself instantly judges a food product's necessary cooking time. Also, with embedded AI, people are free to install cameras at home to check the safety of elders and children without worrying about data being leaked.

Those are just a few scenarios where embedded AI can be widely applied in daily life, as pointed out by industry insiders during a forum on embedded AI held over the weekend in Beijing.

*Technology application
*
"So far, most of the development in the AI sector focuses on cloud AI, or computation that is connected to the cloud, but there are a stream of scenarios where on-device computations edge [over cloud computation],"Geng Zengqiang, chief technology officer of China-based operating systems (OS) provider Thundersoft Software Technology Co, also the event organizer, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

Sun Li, vice president of Thundersoft, told the Global Times that in some circumstances of cloud AI application, the way data is transferred via the Internet and then processed in a cloud server inflicts a series of issues. 

For example, the operation of jet airliner Boeing 787 generates 5 gigabytes of data every second - almost larger than the maximum capacity of any commercial wire network, making it "a mission impossible to complete AI computation in the cloud," said Sun.

Another application scenario is automatic driving, which produces almost 1 gigabyte of data every second and requires real-time algorithms and intelligent decision-making. 

"Connecting to the cloud and transmitting data back to the vehicle would cost a great amount of time, pushing up driving risks," Geng said.

Besides those limitations, as an increasing number of domestic users raise concerns over the privacy of intelligent home appliances, on-device AI, however, which can function without linking to the Internet, guarantees their personal privacy, Sun noted.

Against this backdrop, "the year of 2017 is promising for embedded AI technology to take off - and that has become an industry consensus," Geng said, pointing to a huge market potential.

He predicted that the prospect of AI application would not be dominated by either cloud or on-device computation, but instead, a combination of both. 

In the future, "on-device AI should be able to detect and process raw data and run algorithms beforehand, and after filtering, more valuable data will be transferred to the cloud, forming a big database," Geng said.

Commenting on the trend, Sun Gang, global vice president of US-based tech giant Qualcomm Technologies, also proposed a model that utilizes deep learning through the cloud, with the device executing intelligent decisions. 

He also said at the forum that the smartphone, with an expected global shipment of 8.5 billion units in the next five years, is likely to be the first type of mobile device to widely employ embedded AI technology.

China is a pioneer, or at least not a latecomer compared with foreign rivals, in the world of on-device AI smartphone application, despite gaps in the on-device AI underlying platform - chips and OS - which is currently led by US companies Qualcomm and Google, Geng said.

Domestic telecom heavyweight Huawei in October unveiled its new Mate 10 model, powered by the Kirin 970 processor with on-device AI capabilities. 

The handset, with sensors and cameras, can provide real-time image recognition, language translation and heed voice commands. 

*Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's terminal service department, said that the Mate 10, with on-device AI capability, is 20 times faster in image recognition than foreign smartphone vendors, news website ifeng.com reported in October. *

For example, "it takes only 5 seconds for the Mate 10 to recognize 100 photos, but for the iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung Note 8, such time skyrockets to 9 seconds and about 100 seconds, respectively," Yu was quoted as saying in the report. 

Geng also highlighted China's abundant AI talents, most of whom have studied and been trained overseas, in bridging the gap between foreign counterparts. 

*Barriers ahead*

At the forum, industry insiders also took note of a bunch of technological barriers, stressing that the development of embedded AI is still in its "infant period" with a limited scope of applications.

This is because "the efficiency of the power, thermal and size of mobile devices constrain the operation efficiency of embedded AI," Sun from Qualcomm said.

So far, even the chips of the highest performance are unable to accommodate the amassing on-device AI workloads, Geng added.

Geng's comment is echoed by Chen Yunji, co-founder of Beijing-based AI chip start-up Cambricon Technologies Corp. 

"Back in the 1990s, a similar problem of insufficient operation capacity also appeared in the graphic processing sector… it was not until the invention of a specialized graphic processing unit chip that the problem was addressed at that time," Chen said at the forum, urging chipmakers to step up efforts to develop a capable one with stronger and deeper learning abilities.

But research and development of such chips cost a lot, and that has led to another headache. 

"Are consumers willing to pay for a more expensive mobile device with on-device AI capacity? Tech companies still need to balance the costs and revenues," Geng said.

Another way to deal with the issue is to revise on-device algorithms, which could then decrease the requirement for chip efficiency, Tang Wenbin, chief technology officer of Face++, a Beijing-based tech start-up that specializes in facial recognition, said at the forum. 

Tang noted that Face++ is now studying for a revision model of ShuffleNet, with the aim of speeding up the procedures of data computation tenfold from the current level.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1074517.shtml

**

This explains the US *fear* of Huawei.

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## cirr

*Andrew Ng’s New AI Fund Raises $175M From Sequoia Capital, SoftBank*

YIMIAN WU January 31, 2018 — 10:29 HKT

Andrew Ng, former chief scientist at Baidu and one of the founders of the Google Brain team, announced that his artificial intelligence-focused incubator AI Fund has raised US$175 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, the SoftBank Group, New Enterprise Associates, Greylock Partners and others.

Ng will be leading the AI fund as its general partner. Eva Wang, former partner at law firm Fenwick and West, will be partner and chief operating officer. Wang has experience working with technology companies in the U.S. and China. Steven Syverud, who led the development of educational company Coursera’s specializations product, will also be a partner.

Ng said his fund is currently helping several teams pursuing three new AI-powered directions, but did not disclose details.

“As such projects mature and turn into businesses, the AI Fund will provide additional capital to these teams and thereby give them the ability to move quickly, and not be distracted by months of fundraising,” wrote Ng in a blog post. “A difference of six months can determine whether a new AI solution takes off or is too far behind to catch up, so we’re setting up the AI Fund to let our teams move as quickly as possible. It also allows our teams to publicize their work only when they are ready.”

Landing.ai, a company Ng unveiled in December that focuses on the application of AI in the manufacturing sector, is among the projects receiving support from AI Fund.

In an interview with Chinese local media, Ng said his fund is open to investment opportunities in China. But right now, the fund focuses mainly on projects in California.

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2018/01/31/andrew-ngs-new-ai-fund-raises-175m

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## TaiShang

*AI may push people to be ‘better version of themselves’*

CGTN's Wang Yue
2018-02-01 


*Hard work alone will not guarantee success in the future, says Kaifu Lee, CEO of Sinovation Ventures and an outspoken champion of artificial intelligence (AI). Instead, humans will need skills that their robot colleagues do not have to prevent being replaced by androids.*

“For the past 20 years, the industrial revolution has naturally reshaped human values. For example, many of us felt that if we work hard, then we would succeed. Succeed means wealth, respect and position in society (or status) but we cannot take that for granted in the future,” Lee pointed out.

A statistics showed that more than 400 to 800 million people have to be re-trained when “Smart Era” arrives, and white-collar employees may be among those first to be affected.

Some white-collar jobs requiring little expertise will first be replaced, such as receptionists, customer service personnel and telemarketers, and the many of them are already being handed over to smart machines Lee said.

Blue-collar workers can't breathe a sigh of relief, however. Lee mentioned that because even the simplest blue-collar job requires certain degree of control ability and dexterity, it’s going to take a few more years before their jobs will be threatened by rising technology. 





VCG Photo.

The key to keeping a competitive edge over AI will be for people to do their job with agility and smarts and creativity, said Lee.

Lee explained that because AI, robots or automation will remove all repetitive tasks and jobs, simply working hard is not good enough for the future. “AI will push people to become better version of themselves,” Lee added.

Since jobs of the future will require greater creativity, complex problem solving, innovation and affection, it may be time for our current education system to consider steering the curriculum in a direction that will better arm students with those skill sets, Lee emphasized.

***
_
Future workers, take note!_

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## TaiShang

*How AI, big data help ease traffic jams*

By Jiang Jie (People's Daily Online) 07:56, February 02, 2018







_file photo_

Sitting on perhaps* the world’s largest data pool,* China wants to use its AI and big data technology to fix one of the biggest headaches faced by many governments: traffic jams.

*As one small but significant improvement, more than 1,200 traffic lights in 20 Chinese cities have been updated to guarantee the best traffic flow, as they now calculate the best timing so that cars passing through the first green light will meet another green light at the second crossroad.*

In other cases, which are more commonly seen in China, long lines of cars have to wait at a string of red lights at crossroads, resulting in a slow traffic flow.

*In Ji’nan, eastern China’s Shandong province, citizens have saved 30,000 hours of waiting at 344 crossroads, cutting a total of 44,000 tons of CO2 emissions.*

*The technology, provided by China’s car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, uses the company’s huge data pool to specifically locate each driver registered on the platform and measure the waiting time at a red light by calculating the distance between a driver and a traffic light, which is more efficient than surveillance cameras with a limited view.*

*Meanwhile, the nationwide video-surveillance network is also ready for more efficient utilization.*

In Hangzhou, eastern China’s Zhejiang province, patrol officers have been partly replaced by hundreds of surveillance cameras in the city, which can identity 500 incidents and accidents every day with an accuracy rate of 92 percent.

Alibaba Cloud, the provider of the technology, has also helped the city improve traffic flow at crossroads by 15 percent through the use of dynamic traffic light control. It has brought the technology to Kuala Lumpur to speed up traffic at 281 crossroads in the Malaysian capital with AI, cloud computing, and big data.

“China is already home to the fastest-growing transportation services. We think China’s sustainable transportation pattern can be learned across the world,” said Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Chuxing, at a smart travel summit on Jan 25.

With a population of 1.3 billion people, transportation in China has never been an easy task, especially when people flock to major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou for better jobs.

_



_

_A congestion map of Beijing. Photo courtesy of Didi Chuxing_

Beijing, for example, has been dealing with light to medium traffic congestion since 2007, except for 2008 when the Olympic Games were held and the city began to use odd-even-numbered license plates policy to limit the number of private cars on the road each day, Guo Jifu, director of the Beijing Transport Institute, said at the summit.

The capital city of China has a population of over 21 million – about the total population of US State of Florida, which is ten times bigger than the city in landmass. Since the 1980s, Beijing’s road construction has been expanding, but at the same time, car ownership has been outpacing urban design at an annual growth rate of over 20%, according to Guo.

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## cirr

*China designing AI-POWERED nuke sub that can ‘THINK for itself’ & destroy ENTIRE CONTINENT*

CHINA is believed to be designing a nuclear submarine run by artificial intelligence with enough firepower to destroy an entire continent.

By Anthony Blair / Published 4th February 2018




GETTY
*BREAKTHROUGH: China are developing the world's first AI-powered nuclear submarine*

A submarine that could "think for itself" would free up the commanding officers and reduce the chance of mistakes, according to researchers.

Speaking to Chinese media, a researcher who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the project, said that the plan would give China's huge navy an upper hand in future battles under the sea, and would push the potential of AI technology to the next level.

Up until now, major decisions on nuclear subs — such as detecting objects underwater and answer signals picked up sonar — have been carried out by human naval personnel.

But now AI has advanced to the point where Chinese scientists believe it could replace most of the human decisions, creating the potential of future wars being entirely led by machines.




GETTY
*TRAINING: Chinese navy on military manoeuvres recently*

The so-called "machine learning" process means that the advanced computer running the nuclear submarine would be able to acquire knowledge, build on its skills and develop new battle strategies without any human involvement.

The system mimics the workings of the human brain, processing large amounts of data.

It could also recognise and flag potential threats from enemies faster and more accurately than its human crew.

The researcher said that the AI system will be simple and compact, to reduce the risk of it failing at crucial moments in the theatre of war.

"It is like putting an elephant into a shoebox," he said when asked about the challenge.

"What the military cares most about is not fancy features," he went on.

"What they care most about is the thing does not screw up amid the heat of a battle."

Beijing is ploughing money into the project, the researcher claimed, amid growing military tensions between China and the US in the region.

There are fears that China is racing ahead of its rivals when it comes to the development of AI in military equipment.

*“We may have a runaway submarine with enough nuclear arsenals to destroy a continent”*
_*Zhu Min, Chinese Academy of Sciences*_

Recently Joe Marino, CEO of US naval supplier Rite-Solutions, warned that America was falling behind.

He said that without matching other countries advances, "Our commanding officers would be fighting an opponent who could make faster, more informed and better decisions," he said.

"Combined with undersea technology advancements by competitors like Russia and China in areas such as stealth, sensors and weapons, this 'cognitive advantage' could threaten US undersea dominance."

But replacing humans with AI in war could pose huge dangers, warns deep water scientist Zhu Min from the Chinese Academy of Scientists.

If the system can think for itself, he said, "we may have a runaway submarine with enough nuclear arsenals to destroy a continent.

"This is definitely a risk the authorities should consider when introducing AI to a sub."

The development comes just days after China unveiled the world's first warship armed with a hypersonic railgun.

And Chinese troops were recently spotted in Afghanistan amid a fresh power struggle in the region.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/wo...ce-ai-weapon-navy-chinese-academy-science-ww3

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## BHarwana

Okay first of all Pakistan stands with China but this is fcuking scary stuff and don't put nukes in the hands of AI man.

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## Chinese-Dragon

BHarwana said:


> Okay first of all Pakistan stands with China but this is fcuking scary stuff and don't put nukes in the hands of AI man.



I can see what you mean.

But then I think of the alternative, putting nuclear weapons in the hands of humans. Isn't that worse? 

Especially when those humans are as insane and mentally deranged as Donald Trump? Who threatens nuclear war at the drop of a hat and boasts about the size of his nuclear button whenever his ego is hurt?

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## Cybernetics

*China’s plan to use artificial intelligence to boost the thinking skills of nuclear submarine commanders*
Equipping nuclear submarines with AI would give China an upper hand in undersea battles while pushing applications of the technology to a new level





China is working to update the rugged old computer systems on nuclear submarines with artificial intelligence to enhance the potential thinking skills of commanding officers, a senior scientist involved with the programme told the _South China Morning Post._

A submarine with AI-augmented brainpower not only would give China’s large navy an upper hand in battle under the world’s oceans but would push applications of AI technology to a new level, according to the researcher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the project’s sensitivity.

“Though a submarine has enormous power of destruction, its brain is actually quite small,” the researcher said.

While a nuclear submarine depends on the skill, experience and efficiency of its crew to operate effectively, the demands of modern warfare could introduce variables that would cause even the smoothest-run operation to come unglued.

For instance, if the 100 to 300 people in the sub’s crew were forced to remain together in their canister in deep, dark water for months, the rising stress level could affect the commanding officers’ decision-making powers, even leading to bad judgment.

An AI decision-support system with “its own thoughts” would reduce the commanding officers’ workload and mental burden, according to the researcher.






The possibility of AI having a prominent role in nuclear submarines – through the work of Chinese scientists – is a milestone both for China and the technology.

Since the first nuclear submarines appeared in the early 1950s, produced by the US, they have ranked among the most sophisticated war machines. It can take as long as two decades for a nuclear sub to progress from an idea on a blueprint to the finished product, sliding down a slipway.

But the subs’ computer brains have generally been out of sync with their state-of-the-art image.

First, the technology in most submarine computers tends to predate the vessel’s commissioning. Furthermore, military-grade electronic components have required extensive battle-hardening to withstand shocks, heat or electromagnetic disturbance, sacrificing speed for reliability.

Up till now, the “thinking” function on a nuclear sub, including interpreting and answering signals picked up by sonar, a system for detecting objects under water by emitting sound pulses, has been handled almost exclusively by human naval personnel, not by machines.





Now, through AI technology, a convolutional neural network undergirds so-called machine learning. This structure underpins a decision support system that can acquire knowledge, improve skills and develop new strategy without human intervention.

By mimicking the workings of the human brain, the system can process a large amount of data. On a nuclear submarine, data could come from the Chinese navy’s rapidly increasing observation networks, the submarine’s own sensors or daily interactions with the crew.

An AI assistant could support commanding officers by assessing the battlefield environment, providing insight into how levels of saline in the ocean and water temperature might affect the accuracy of sonar systems.

It also could recognise and flag threats from an enemy faster and more accurately than human operators.

An AI assist also could help commanding officers estimate the risks and benefits of certain combat manoeuvres, even suggesting moves not considered by the vessel’s captain.

China’s military wants the new AI technology to deliver on certain basic demands, according to the researcher.

A priority is ensuring the system can follow and understand sophisticated, ever-changing underwater operations. It also must have a simple structure to reduce its risk of failure. And it must be compact and compatible with subs’ existing computer systems.

“It is like putting an elephant into a shoebox,” said the researcher when asked about the challenge of the project.

‘It is not science fiction’: AI experts warn of new global arms race for killer robots, call for ban

“What the military cares most about is not fancy features. What they care most is the thing does not screw up amid the heat of a battle.”

The military currently has no plan to reduce the size of submarine crews when the AI technology is ready for deployment. “There must be a human hand on every critical post. This is for safety redundancy,” the researcher said.

Beijing, which takes the AI submarine programme very seriously, is ploughing abundant resources into the undertaking, according to the researcher.




China’s move highlights the spectre of a widening AI technology gap. The existence of the AI sub tech divide was underscored by the comment of a US military systems executive taking part in a survey last year by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency on “disruptive technologies” that a hostile country could use against Americans.

Joe Marino, CEO of Rite-Solutions, a technical company supporting the US Naval Undersea System Command, touted the value of using AI to enhance submarine commanding officers’ decision-making powers.

“[Without matching other countries’ advances in AI submarine technology] our CO (commanding officers) would be fighting an opponent who could make faster, more informed and better decisions,” Marino wrote in an article on the company’s website.

“Combined with undersea technology advancements by near-peer competitors such as Russia and China in areas such as stealth, sensors, weapons, this ‘cognitive advantage’ could threaten US undersea dominance,” he wrote.

Marino urged the US navy to embrace AI and challenge America’s defence industry to investigate the possible application of the technology on US submarines.

Zhu Min, a researcher at the Institute of Acoustics with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a lead scientist in China’s deep water exploration programme, said AI has been a fashionable word in China’s submarine research community for the past couple of years.

“In the past, the technology was too distant from application, but recently a lot of progress has been achieved,” he said. “There seems to be hope around the corner.”

Where traditional computer programs on submarines have needed “step-by-step” human guidance, AI has the potential to “change the game under the sea”, Zhu said.

China enlists top scientists in mission to become military tech superpower

AI algorithms usually run on large, state-of-the-art computers, requiring intensive calculation to process a huge amount of data.

Recent technical advancements, however, have suggested it may be possible for these algorithms – translated in layman’s terms as rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps – to be executed on small machines.

AlphaGo, a computer program that plays the board game Go, developed by Google’s Deep Mind, for instance, initially required several powerful computers. After two years it achieved much higher performance with only a tenth of the calculating hardware.

AlphaGo Zero, the newest version of the program, no longer needs to learn how to play the game better from a human player. It can teach itself to be a better player without human help.

Zhu said using AI on a strategic weaponry platform such as a nuclear submarine would be a natural next step for the evolving technology. Letting it seek new knowledge without restraint, however, could lead to unexpected consequences.

If the system started to have its own way of thinking, “we may have a runaway submarine with enough nuclear arsenals to destroy a continent,” he said, describing what sounded like the plot of a science-fiction film or novel.

“This is definitely a risk the authorities should consider when introducing AI to a sub.”

Deng Zhidong, a computer science professor and AI scholar at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said the risk of AI-based machines’ rebelling against human society did not exist – at least for the foreseeable future.

“An AI-powered machine is still a machine. It does not have a life,” he said.

An AI system on a submarine, though sophisticated, in many ways would be similar to self-driving technology on some cars, Deng said.

“You can shut it down and shift to manual any time. It will be the same on a nuclear submarine.”

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...artificial-intelligence-boost-thinking-skills

*AI is not replacing humans*, its merely supplementing some of the work load and aid in better decision making.

AI will be the biggest determinate for the outcome of future warfare (when there are comparable weapons platforms available). Imagine having two bots fight against each other in a RTS game, one is set at "easy" the other at "hard", the results would be lopsided towards the more advanced AI.

Results of wars could possibly be already determined through simulation. With adequate data collection of opposition forces, a military can simulate thousands or even millions of wars before they happen and sharpen the reaction time of the command structure. In addition new weapons platforms can be developed according to simulation results even when there is lack of real combat experience. Data collection, Hardware (military assets, supercomputers), Software (AI).

In the future, warfare between major nations will likely become more virtual. With each trying to disrupt the data collection for accurate simulations.

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## Beast

I doubt China will do that. Chinese are rational people. I think this is just a sensational news.

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## YeBeWarned

Beast said:


> I doubt China will do that. Chinese are rational people. I think this is just a sensational news.



I hope you are right bro.. nukes are not something to be play with , there is one country who already surrender its nukes to a AI like Orange man ( Trump ) Chinese are more Rational people .. 

Plus this remind of skynet ..

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## egodoc222

And you people worry why neighbours around you feel the anxiety with your rise...


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## Dungeness

BHarwana said:


> Okay first of all Pakistan stands with China but this is fcuking scary stuff and don't put nukes in the hands of AI man.



But the AI man may be more rational than those "elected" thugs with a nuclear button.

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## BHarwana

Dungeness said:


> But the AI man may be more rational than those "elected" thugs with a nuclear button.


Agreed but first give AI a diesel electric sub with conventional missiles man and see If AI behaves like a civilized man. If AI behaves like a civilized then good but If AI behaves like Trump what then we will have 2 idiots with Nuclear button.

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## Kai Liu

I think it's better to build AI conventional or attack submarines or subs with functions partially taken over by AI, not this thing. But sure, some humans are way more dangerous and unpredictable than AI.

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## cirr

*中船重工推进量子技术产业化 未来3-5年营收规模有望达50亿元*

中国船舶重工集团公司电子信息部负责人兼中国海防董事长范国平、集团公司资产部负责人李嘉华日前接受中国证券报记者专访时表示，中船重工已与中科大潘建伟院士团队在量子导航、量子通信、量子探测领域开展研究合作，力求抢占量子信息技术在海洋防务领域应用的制高点。未来3-5年，中船重工预期量子信息产业营收规模可能达到50亿元、利润达到6亿元，量子导航等领域初步实现产业化。

抢占海防应用制高点

范国平介绍，集团旗下722所关注*量子通信*，724所发力*量子探测*，717所的*量子导航*技术处于国内领先水平，717所2012年以来进行*量子惯性*技术研究，攻克了冷原子团重复囚禁、原子对抛等20余项关键技术，申报相关专利10余项，并率先研制出国内第一台小型化、高宽带原子陀螺/加速度计一体化样机。

“导弹可借助卫星导航进行定位，如果被干扰了怎么办？核潜艇潜藏在水下，但过一段时间需要上浮校准位置，被发现了怎么办？量子导航技术主要解决这些问题。依靠自身惯性导航，不需要卫星导航，可以实现战略核潜艇任务周期长航时、高精度、全自主导航隐蔽航行，连续执行任务可延长至上百天，大幅提高战略型潜艇的隐蔽作战能力。”范国平说。

量子通信技术可以保障信息传输安全。“军事应用需求迫切，政务、金融业需求大。下一步将和潘建伟院士推进合作试点，在海上舰船上与量子通信卫星墨子号之间进行密钥分发实验。”

2017年9月，中船重工集团和中科大签署量子信息技术合作研究协议，联合成立量子导航、量子通信、量子探测三大实验室，并聘请潘建伟院士担任集团科技委副主任；2017年10月，集团聘请郭光灿院士担任中国海防首席科学家；2017年11月，“中船重工—中国科大量子联合实验室”揭牌。中国海防以自有资金分阶段向3个研究所合作项目累计投资预计约3亿元，每个研究所约1亿元。

范国平表示，三大实验室挂牌成立，标志着中船重工推进量子信息技术研究进入新的阶段。中船重工将加快在量子信息技术领域的研究步伐，抢占量子信息技术在海洋防务领域应用的制高点。“作为军工企业，最好的技术优先给国防使用，首先满足海军走向深远海的战略转型需求，为建设一流海军提供一流装备”。

量子信息技术被认为是面向未来的战略性前沿技术，其在安全性和高效性上具有优势，对未来社会发展尤其是军事领域的影响不可估量。当前，以量子通信、量子导航、量子探测、量子计算为代表的量子信息技术成为全球兵家必争之技术。海外的Lockheed Martin、iXBlue、Honeywell等一流军工企业均在开展相关研究。作为中国海军装备建设的主体力量，中船重工从“十二五”初开始，就对量子技术长期跟踪研究。其中，几家研究所具有较好研究基础。

5年初步形成产业化

范国平介绍，在量子信息技术中，量子通信产业化应用走得更快，其次是量子导航、量子探测、量子计算。

2016年8月，墨子号量子科学实验卫星成功升空，标志着我国量子通信产业进入元年。2017年9月，世界首条量子保密通信干线“京沪干线”正式开通，量子通信基础设施开始搭建，量子通信产业商用阶段加速到来。

在量子通信领域，中船重工推进两个方面应用，在军事领域，将进一步研制军用量子通信设备，谋划量子通信军用网络建设；在政务和金融领域，研制普密量子网络密码机等核心设备，推进普密量子通信专网建设，研发量子网关、量子交换机、量子集控站等网站设备，积极参与量子通信城域网和广域网建设。“未来对光缆、网关、交换机等设备需求量会很大。”范国平说。

范国平表示，中船重工作为国内海洋装备创新发展的主力军，迫切希望在量子导航技术方面取得突破。集团计划3-5年内突破关键技术，研制出干涉式原子陀螺仪/原子加速度计、量子重力梯度仪、量子时间基准、原子自旋陀螺仪工程化产品，初步形成产业。在量子探测方面，中船重工未来将重点攻关核心微波-光组件模块，形成产业化研发能力的基础。

目前集团量子信息产业整合平台雏形已现。中国海防是中船重工推动量子信息技术产业化的统筹者，将从多方面、以多种方式参与中船重工旗下的电子信息业务。按照中船重工“打造千亿级产业板块和数个百亿级产业，培育一批军民融合、技术领先的新兴科技产业”的产业发展目标，集团公司资产部负责人李嘉华预计，中船重工量子信息产业预计3-5年营收可达到50亿元、利润达6亿元的规模。

范国平透露，目前双方已经开展人员层面的合作。在中国海防刚刚开完的董事会上，中船重工作为控股股东提名推荐717所所长王振华为中电广通董事候选人。根据后续项目进展，以及量子技术产业发展情况，双方不排除有更深层次的合作。

高科技产业布局雄安新区

为更好地发展量子等高端科技产业，并积极参与雄安新区建设，中船重工集团积极落实京津冀协同发展战略。李嘉华表示，“集团公司在雄安新区布局方面已做、在做及已规划的事项主要包括五个方面。”

一是布局高端核心动力技术研发与制造产业。李嘉华介绍，集团公司已将旗下七大动力产业430亿元资产注入风帆股份，将其重组改名为中国船舶重工动力股份公司，扎根京畿。“这是我国海洋动力领域最核心的东西，是‘海洋心脏’研发制造高端产业，是国家的宝贵资产，也是‘强国强军’必须自主攻克的技术难题。”同时，集团公司计划投资10亿元在雄安新区设立中国舰船动力研究院，发挥旗下雄厚的科研力量，开展7大动力及电磁动力、储能技术研发。

二是布局国防装备智能化。李嘉华表示，集团公司在雄安设立海洋防务装备智能化科研机构，已规划将中国海防旗下的长城电子产业板块由北京迁入京畿海洋装备科技产业园，发展国防装备智能化产业。

三是布局前沿科技研发应用。2018年，中国海防将在雄安设立信息技术研究院等科研机构，并以中国海防作为技术应用产业化发展平台，共同推动量子技术在量子计时、量子成像、量子传感和测量、量子计算和模拟等方向应用。李嘉华强调：“把世界前沿技术应用到军民领域，这是军工企业的使命与优势。”

四是参加区域环境治理。中船重工集团计划投资10亿元，在雄安设立中国船舶重工集团环境工程产业公司，统筹资源、技术、人才，与雄安新区深度合作，从事流域环境环保治理、水环境修复和基础设施建设，为雄安高科技产业发展创造良好的环境；计划联合能源企业，争取将光伏、光热、海洋风电、氢能等环保清洁的新能源落地雄安新区。

五是培养高端技术人才。中船重工集团将继续发挥自身科研力量雄厚、科研人才众多、学科门类齐全等优势，与雄安新区政府开办教育，培养工匠型、大师级、高技能人才。（记者 杨洁）


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## Han Patriot

Beast said:


> I doubt China will do that. Chinese are rational people. I think this is just a sensational news.


Read the article again. It's AI assisted control system. Means the crew still makes the decision but there a safety interlocks in place to prevent human error. Example, the system can only launch if both the AI and the Commander agree on launching nukes. This will be a redundant system.

Actually this technology is very advanced and China is leading in this field.

China is already reportedly using AI assisted satelite imagery analysis.

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## eldamar

cirr said:


> *China designing AI-POWERED nuke sub that can ‘THINK for itself’ & destroy ENTIRE CONTINENT*
> 
> CHINA is believed to be designing a nuclear submarine run by artificial intelligence with enough firepower to destroy an entire continent.
> 
> By Anthony Blair / Published 4th February 2018
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GETTY
> *BREAKTHROUGH: China are developing the world's first AI-powered nuclear submarine*
> 
> A submarine that could "think for itself" would free up the commanding officers and reduce the chance of mistakes, according to researchers.
> 
> Speaking to Chinese media, a researcher who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the project, said that the plan would give China's huge navy an upper hand in future battles under the sea, and would push the potential of AI technology to the next level.
> 
> Up until now, major decisions on nuclear subs — such as detecting objects underwater and answer signals picked up sonar — have been carried out by human naval personnel.
> 
> But now AI has advanced to the point where Chinese scientists believe it could replace most of the human decisions, creating the potential of future wars being entirely led by machines.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> GETTY
> *TRAINING: Chinese navy on military manoeuvres recently*
> 
> The so-called "machine learning" process means that the advanced computer running the nuclear submarine would be able to acquire knowledge, build on its skills and develop new battle strategies without any human involvement.
> 
> The system mimics the workings of the human brain, processing large amounts of data.
> 
> It could also recognise and flag potential threats from enemies faster and more accurately than its human crew.
> 
> The researcher said that the AI system will be simple and compact, to reduce the risk of it failing at crucial moments in the theatre of war.
> 
> "It is like putting an elephant into a shoebox," he said when asked about the challenge.
> 
> "What the military cares most about is not fancy features," he went on.
> 
> "What they care most about is the thing does not screw up amid the heat of a battle."
> 
> Beijing is ploughing money into the project, the researcher claimed, amid growing military tensions between China and the US in the region.
> 
> There are fears that China is racing ahead of its rivals when it comes to the development of AI in military equipment.
> 
> *“We may have a runaway submarine with enough nuclear arsenals to destroy a continent”*
> _*Zhu Min, Chinese Academy of Sciences*_
> 
> Recently Joe Marino, CEO of US naval supplier Rite-Solutions, warned that America was falling behind.
> 
> He said that without matching other countries advances, "Our commanding officers would be fighting an opponent who could make faster, more informed and better decisions," he said.
> 
> "Combined with undersea technology advancements by competitors like Russia and China in areas such as stealth, sensors and weapons, this 'cognitive advantage' could threaten US undersea dominance."
> 
> But replacing humans with AI in war could pose huge dangers, warns deep water scientist Zhu Min from the Chinese Academy of Scientists.
> 
> If the system can think for itself, he said, "we may have a runaway submarine with enough nuclear arsenals to destroy a continent.
> 
> "This is definitely a risk the authorities should consider when introducing AI to a sub."
> 
> The development comes just days after China unveiled the world's first warship armed with a hypersonic railgun.
> 
> And Chinese troops were recently spotted in Afghanistan amid a fresh power struggle in the region.
> 
> https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/wo...ce-ai-weapon-navy-chinese-academy-science-ww3


Attack subs/recon subs = Yes- possible.
Nuclear Ballistic subs = NO

There are areas in military technology that will perpetually require input from the human brain only.

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## khansaheeb

egodoc222 said:


> And you people worry why neighbours around you feel the anxiety with your rise...


No we don't.

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## Dungeness

egodoc222 said:


> And you people worry why neighbours around you feel the anxiety with your rise...




If you can't beat them join them.

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## egodoc222

Dungeness said:


> If you can't beat them join them.


There is no victory in nuclear winter buddy...Chinese cpc is still stuck in cold war era...


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## Huan

Soon with AI upgrades for surface navy ships too:

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## Offshore

next fighter jet with AI.. this will make future war becoming more fun

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## TaiShang

egodoc222 said:


> There is no victory in nuclear winter buddy...Chinese cpc is still stuck in cold war era...



In fact it is Indian fascists that are stuck up in the Cold War. China has never been in that mentality, to start with. India, on the other hand, even though not a capable country known for efficiency, behaves like a Cold War bully in its near periphery, scaring and pushing its neighbors into the th arms of more sensible and cooperative countries.

***

China has great AI capabilities and using it for peaceful defensive military purpose makes sense. Especially given that the US government has made a decision to build up Obama's nuclear development strategy.

The key is to keep the US in check. No body can read Dotard's mind because he lacks one.

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## Dungeness

TaiShang said:


> In fact it is Indian fascists that are stuck up in the Cold War. China has never been in that mentality, to start with. India, on the other hand, even though not a capable country known for efficiency, behaves like a Cold War bully in its near periphery, scaring and pushing its neighbors into the th arms of more sensible and cooperative countries.
> 
> ***
> 
> China has great AI capabilities and using it for peaceful defensive military purpose makes sense. Especially given that the US government has made a decision to build up Obama's nuclear development strategy.
> 
> The key is to keep the US in check. No body can read Dotard's mind because he lacks one.



Not only they are stuck in this "Zero Sum" Cold War mentality, they have been also engaged in a "Hot War" with Pakistan for god-knows how many years, shooting and shelling on daily basis but gaining absolutely nothing.

Talking about incompetent "superpower wannabe".

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## TaiShang

Dungeness said:


> Not only they are stuck in this "Zero Sum" Cold War mentality, they have been also engaged in a "Hot War" with Pakistan for god-knows how many years, shooting and shelling on daily basis but gaining absolutely nothing.
> 
> Talking about incompetent "superpower wannabe".



India fails to understand that their country is in a bad relationship with almost all of its neighbors and seen as a pathetic bully - in capable yet lecturing. Not really an impressive feat. One would like to be bullied at least by a fairly competent country. Indian foreign policy is very much like a low IQ elephant in a china shop. 

Their invitation of the US as a military ally to help contain is even more pathetic looking; just like a beggar inviting rich guy living far off to boast against its rich neighbor.

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## The Eagle

cirr said:


> *中船重工推进量子技术产业化 未来3-5年营收规模有望达50亿元*
> 
> 中国船舶重工集团公司电子信息部负责人兼中国海防董事长范国平、集团公司资产部负责人李嘉华日前接受中国证券报记者专访时表示，中船重工已与中科大潘建伟院士团队在量子导航、量子通信、量子探测领域开展研究合作，力求抢占量子信息技术在海洋防务领域应用的制高点。未来3-5年，中船重工预期量子信息产业营收规模可能达到50亿元、利润达到6亿元，量子导航等领域初步实现产业化。
> 
> 抢占海防应用制高点
> 
> 范国平介绍，集团旗下722所关注*量子通信*，724所发力*量子探测*，717所的*量子导航*技术处于国内领先水平，717所2012年以来进行*量子惯性*技术研究，攻克了冷原子团重复囚禁、原子对抛等20余项关键技术，申报相关专利10余项，并率先研制出国内第一台小型化、高宽带原子陀螺/加速度计一体化样机。
> 
> “导弹可借助卫星导航进行定位，如果被干扰了怎么办？核潜艇潜藏在水下，但过一段时间需要上浮校准位置，被发现了怎么办？量子导航技术主要解决这些问题。依靠自身惯性导航，不需要卫星导航，可以实现战略核潜艇任务周期长航时、高精度、全自主导航隐蔽航行，连续执行任务可延长至上百天，大幅提高战略型潜艇的隐蔽作战能力。”范国平说。
> 
> 量子通信技术可以保障信息传输安全。“军事应用需求迫切，政务、金融业需求大。下一步将和潘建伟院士推进合作试点，在海上舰船上与量子通信卫星墨子号之间进行密钥分发实验。”
> 
> 2017年9月，中船重工集团和中科大签署量子信息技术合作研究协议，联合成立量子导航、量子通信、量子探测三大实验室，并聘请潘建伟院士担任集团科技委副主任；2017年10月，集团聘请郭光灿院士担任中国海防首席科学家；2017年11月，“中船重工—中国科大量子联合实验室”揭牌。中国海防以自有资金分阶段向3个研究所合作项目累计投资预计约3亿元，每个研究所约1亿元。
> 
> 范国平表示，三大实验室挂牌成立，标志着中船重工推进量子信息技术研究进入新的阶段。中船重工将加快在量子信息技术领域的研究步伐，抢占量子信息技术在海洋防务领域应用的制高点。“作为军工企业，最好的技术优先给国防使用，首先满足海军走向深远海的战略转型需求，为建设一流海军提供一流装备”。
> 
> 量子信息技术被认为是面向未来的战略性前沿技术，其在安全性和高效性上具有优势，对未来社会发展尤其是军事领域的影响不可估量。当前，以量子通信、量子导航、量子探测、量子计算为代表的量子信息技术成为全球兵家必争之技术。海外的Lockheed Martin、iXBlue、Honeywell等一流军工企业均在开展相关研究。作为中国海军装备建设的主体力量，中船重工从“十二五”初开始，就对量子技术长期跟踪研究。其中，几家研究所具有较好研究基础。
> 
> 5年初步形成产业化
> 
> 范国平介绍，在量子信息技术中，量子通信产业化应用走得更快，其次是量子导航、量子探测、量子计算。
> 
> 2016年8月，墨子号量子科学实验卫星成功升空，标志着我国量子通信产业进入元年。2017年9月，世界首条量子保密通信干线“京沪干线”正式开通，量子通信基础设施开始搭建，量子通信产业商用阶段加速到来。
> 
> 在量子通信领域，中船重工推进两个方面应用，在军事领域，将进一步研制军用量子通信设备，谋划量子通信军用网络建设；在政务和金融领域，研制普密量子网络密码机等核心设备，推进普密量子通信专网建设，研发量子网关、量子交换机、量子集控站等网站设备，积极参与量子通信城域网和广域网建设。“未来对光缆、网关、交换机等设备需求量会很大。”范国平说。
> 
> 范国平表示，中船重工作为国内海洋装备创新发展的主力军，迫切希望在量子导航技术方面取得突破。集团计划3-5年内突破关键技术，研制出干涉式原子陀螺仪/原子加速度计、量子重力梯度仪、量子时间基准、原子自旋陀螺仪工程化产品，初步形成产业。在量子探测方面，中船重工未来将重点攻关核心微波-光组件模块，形成产业化研发能力的基础。
> 
> 目前集团量子信息产业整合平台雏形已现。中国海防是中船重工推动量子信息技术产业化的统筹者，将从多方面、以多种方式参与中船重工旗下的电子信息业务。按照中船重工“打造千亿级产业板块和数个百亿级产业，培育一批军民融合、技术领先的新兴科技产业”的产业发展目标，集团公司资产部负责人李嘉华预计，中船重工量子信息产业预计3-5年营收可达到50亿元、利润达6亿元的规模。
> 
> 范国平透露，目前双方已经开展人员层面的合作。在中国海防刚刚开完的董事会上，中船重工作为控股股东提名推荐717所所长王振华为中电广通董事候选人。根据后续项目进展，以及量子技术产业发展情况，双方不排除有更深层次的合作。
> 
> 高科技产业布局雄安新区
> 
> 为更好地发展量子等高端科技产业，并积极参与雄安新区建设，中船重工集团积极落实京津冀协同发展战略。李嘉华表示，“集团公司在雄安新区布局方面已做、在做及已规划的事项主要包括五个方面。”
> 
> 一是布局高端核心动力技术研发与制造产业。李嘉华介绍，集团公司已将旗下七大动力产业430亿元资产注入风帆股份，将其重组改名为中国船舶重工动力股份公司，扎根京畿。“这是我国海洋动力领域最核心的东西，是‘海洋心脏’研发制造高端产业，是国家的宝贵资产，也是‘强国强军’必须自主攻克的技术难题。”同时，集团公司计划投资10亿元在雄安新区设立中国舰船动力研究院，发挥旗下雄厚的科研力量，开展7大动力及电磁动力、储能技术研发。
> 
> 二是布局国防装备智能化。李嘉华表示，集团公司在雄安设立海洋防务装备智能化科研机构，已规划将中国海防旗下的长城电子产业板块由北京迁入京畿海洋装备科技产业园，发展国防装备智能化产业。
> 
> 三是布局前沿科技研发应用。2018年，中国海防将在雄安设立信息技术研究院等科研机构，并以中国海防作为技术应用产业化发展平台，共同推动量子技术在量子计时、量子成像、量子传感和测量、量子计算和模拟等方向应用。李嘉华强调：“把世界前沿技术应用到军民领域，这是军工企业的使命与优势。”
> 
> 四是参加区域环境治理。中船重工集团计划投资10亿元，在雄安设立中国船舶重工集团环境工程产业公司，统筹资源、技术、人才，与雄安新区深度合作，从事流域环境环保治理、水环境修复和基础设施建设，为雄安高科技产业发展创造良好的环境；计划联合能源企业，争取将光伏、光热、海洋风电、氢能等环保清洁的新能源落地雄安新区。
> 
> 五是培养高端技术人才。中船重工集团将继续发挥自身科研力量雄厚、科研人才众多、学科门类齐全等优势，与雄安新区政府开办教育，培养工匠型、大师级、高技能人才。（记者 杨洁）



As informed many times, members needs to avoid posting in regional language as everyone could't understand as such. Sometimes, valued information is either being lost or taken no interest because of the same. It is always advised that provide conclusive translated post along with original script so that members can read and understand. 

Regards,


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## cirr

*China rolls out AI system to spot netizens with suicidal thoughts*

2018-02-07 15:15

People's Daily Online _Editor: Li Yan_

China's top research center has launched an artificial intelligence system to spot internet users with suicidal thoughts, as well as offering them resources on mental health and psychological counseling.

The system, which is developed by the Institute of Psychology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, can scan and analyze users' posts and comments on social network platforms such as Weibo. Once a potentially suicidal user is found, the system will use its Weibo Account to send them a message, encouraging them to call local suicide prevention services for help.

*According to China Youth Daily, the system has sent 14,435 messages to internet users since July 2017, with an accuracy rate of 92.2 percent.*

Suicide prevention is a priority of the Chinese government, as suicide, especially among young people, is becoming a serious issue in Chinese society. According to statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Health in 2017, suicide has become the leading cause of death of young Chinese people aged between 15 and 35.

Though people with suicidal thoughts usually do not reveal their secrets to others in real life, cyberspace has offered them a place to express their feelings, without fear their identity will be exposed. Such users may use certain negative expressions and wordings and be less active online. By building a corpus of such posts and comments, the AI system can take a proactive approach to detecting suicidal information online.

Though the system cannot stop individuals from committing suicide, it is still a sign of progress in suicide prevention, helping local authorities to detect possible suicides and provide timely care to them, reported China Youth Daily.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-07/291877.shtml

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## cirr

*CCTV and Baidu launch AI to write Spring Festival couplets*

2018-02-09 13:44

chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_

In celebration of the upcoming Spring Festival, China Central Television (CCTV) has teamed up with Chinese Internet giant Baidu to launch an online system that can automatically compose couplets._*[Special Coverage] *_

Spring Festival couplets are handpicked by Chinese families during the New Year period to protect the household from evil spirits, or just to decorate their homes to liven the atmosphere in preparation for the holiday.

Couplets are commonly comprised of two paper scrolls inscribed with auspicious sayings or good wishes matched in rhythm, length, and context. They are pasted down both sides of the front door of a house. Another shorter scroll is usually pasted across the top of the door.

Using AI technology, the Smart Spring Festival Couplets app created by CCTV and Baidu can write a pair of customized couplets within seconds according to the key words entered by users.

Users can share a picture containing their AI-generated couplets to social media. And they have a chance to win a pair of couplets painted by a high-tech calligrapher in the form of a robot arm developed by Dobot, a leading robotics provider in China.

Couplets are not the only Spring Festival tradition to get a high-tech makeover in recent years.

Another Spring Festival tradition is giving gifts of cash to bring good luck. Alipay, the payment platform of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, is now often used to send gift money during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Some Chinese traditions have also inspired their own advancements in machine learning, according to the Microsoft Research Blog.

In 2015, an online Chinese riddle game was developed in Microsoft Research's Beijing lab that can both quickly answer a user's riddle and generates several riddles based on a Chinese character selected by a user.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-09/292236.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Chinese most optimistic about AI impact on job market*
Xinhua, February 9, 2018

People in China were found to be the most positive about their job prospects in an era of booming innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), according to a recent survey.

London-based digital marketing company Dentsu Aegis Network ran a survey with 20,000 people from 10 countries participating in it.* It found 65 percent of Chinese respondents believe that AI and robotics will create, instead of stealing, more jobs in the next five to 10 years, compared with the global average of 29 percent.*

Only 18 percent in Britain and Germany think new technologies will benefit the job market, forming the most pessimistic group, while 57 percent globally think the pace of technological development is too fast.

In order to avoid a technological backlash, Dentsu Aegis is recommending that countries share the benefits of the digital economy, where Britain, the United States and China are leading.

*The Chinese government has listed AI as one of the priority sectors. In July 2017, the State Council, China's cabinet, announced that China should lead in AI technology and application by 2030.*

According to the iiMedia Research Group, a consulting agency in the mobile internet industry, China's AI industry increased 43.3 percent in 2016, worth over 10 billion yuan (1.47 billion U.S. dollars). It is expected to reach 34.43 billion yuan (5.44 billion dollars) in 2019.

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## cirr

*Huawei to invest five billion yuan in 5G R&D*

2018-02-09 16:01

hinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_

Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies announced on Thursday before the launch of the 2018 Mobile World Congress that this year it will invest five billion yuan in 5G research and development and start the commercialization its 5G technology, huanqiu.com reported on Friday.

Speaking at the event, Huawei's strategic marketing director William Xu said the company will launch its 5G-enabled Kirin chipsets and smartphones in 2019.

According to Xu, Huawei's put more than 12 billion US dollars into its R&D programs in 2017, ranking sixth globally. He said Huawei will keep the investment momentum in the next few years with an annual fund injection of 10 to 20 billion US dollars.

Yang Chaobin, director of the 5G product line at Huawei, said the company started research into the technology back in 2009, and that their commercialization of 5G products will start in 2018. Huawei has already conducted large-scale tests of 5G technology in South Korea and Canada.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/02-09/292265.shtml

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## cirr

*Alibaba uses AI to get smart on pig husbandry*

2018-02-14 23:29 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has decided to use AI technology to help China boost its pig-husbandry industry, which has long been plagued with poor efficiency and high labor costs.

An AI program could help identify and predict diseases and boost fertility by analyzing swine behavior, according to an online announcement last week by Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba's cloud computing arm.

Teaming up with livestock farming companies Sichuan Tequ Group and Dekon Group, the e-commerce giant has invested millions of yuan to build an AI system that can keep a record of every single hog, including their breed, age in days, diet, weight and movement.

The system is able to help each sow give birth to three more piglets per year and reduce the mortality rate by around 3 percent, according to an early-stage experiment.

"If you have 10 million pigs to raise, you can barely count how many piglets were born on a daily basis when the due date comes," said Zhang Haifeng, chief information officer of Tequ Group.

Alibaba's AI technologies can automatically record the number of births and tell if a sow can give a natural birth or not. For example, AI can locate and rescue a troubled piglet by analyzing its screams to see if it is being pressed too tight by its mother, according to Zhang.

"On one hand, we hope to bring down husbandry costs and achieve agricultural reform," said Zhang Sheng, big data expert and head of the program with Alibaba Cloud. "On the other hand, we'd like to translate AI technology into safe, tasty pork."

The AI program featuring pig farming is just one part of Alibaba's "ET Brain Plan," which has already been applied in fields such as civil aviation, transportation, environment and medical service.

"Alibaba is expanding its business in agriculture. Apart from the pig farming industry, we hope AI can help make Chinese crop farming more efficient and less labor-intensive," Zhang Sheng said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-14/292803.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Tech Frontier: China roars ahead in AI race*

Source: CGTN Published: 2018/2/20 14:37:24






Cashier-free supermarket at the headquarters of JD.com in Daxing District, Beijing. Photo:VCG

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzz word in the tech sector. China is also actively exploring this area. 

The AI industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth. Many international and domestic companies are making their attempts to grab a share of the fast-growing market. 

*iFLYTEK is a national key software enterprise focused on the research of intelligent speech and language technologies. *

The company developed an AI voice technology, which has been used in multiple areas such as smart education, smart healthcare, smart office, smart transportation and smart media. 

*"It might take an experienced doctor five minutes to analyze an X-ray, but now, it takes just one second for our AI system to go over 200 X-rays. Therefore, the system can assist the doctor with some fundamental work," *said Jiang Tao, senior vice president of iFLYTEK.

The AI industry in China not only made huge progress in voice interaction, but also has outstanding performance in visual technologies. Thus, a large number of smart video editing companies emerged in China. 

YI + is one of the companies focusing on the development of AI computer vision engines. The company's CEO, Zhang Mo, said that they are developing technologies, which could provide smart and commercial solution for the media, broadcast and TV industry. 

In the future, AI will be more widely used in the visual sector with far-reaching influence on online traffic, viewer and box office value prediction, content examination and approval and public management. 

*One of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, JD.com launched the first cashier-free supermarket at its headquarter in Daxing District of Beijing. *

Their AI systems can help businesses to realize targeted marketing, reduce cost and deliver more flexible shopping experience for consumers. 

"The establishment of the cashier-free supermarket only costs about 15 percent more than conventional convenience stores due to the adoption of smart devices, and the cost will be further reduced in our future expansion," said Mu Guangsen, director of JD.com cashier-free supermarket. "That is to say, the cost is acceptable."

The cashier-free supermarket has advantage in both efficiency and cost. Mu believes that the cost of cashier-free supermarket will be significantly reduced after realizing scaled development.

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## cirr

*China overtakes US in AI startup funding with a focus on facial recognition and chips*

By James Vincent@jjvincent Feb 22, 2018, 9:35am





A facial recognition powered “Smile to Pay” booth created by Chinese tech giant Alibaba.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

do have some hard numbers, even they are open to interpretation. The latest comes from technology analysts CB Insights_, _which reports that China has overtaken the US in the funding of AI startups. *The country accounted for 48 percent of the world’s total AI startup funding in 2017*, compared to 38 percent for the US.

It’s not a straightforward victory for China, however. In terms of the volume of individual deals, the country only accounts for 9 percent of the total, while the US leads in both the total _number_ of AI startups and total funding overall. The bottom line is that China is ahead when it comes to the dollar value of AI startup funding, which CB Insights says shows the country is “aggressively executing a thoroughly-designed vision for AI.”

China’s natural advantages in AI are well-documented. Compared to the US, it has a huge population (1.4 billion), which offers a wealth of data and opportunity for companies to scale quickly. Its AI sector also has the backing of a central government that’s able to quickly shift resources (as opposed to the missing-in-action White House), and the country’s looser approach to digital regulations means companies can experiment more freely.





_China’s proportion of global AI startup funding as a percentage of dollar value._
Image: CB Insights

But these qualities can have downsides, too. The looser regulatory atmosphere, for example, is reflected by the fact that a major recipient of AI funding in China is facial recognition. This technology is widespread in the country’s cities, used for everything from identifying jaywalkers to allocating toilet paper. More significantly, it’s also been embraced by the government as a tool for surveillance and tracking. This is a technological advantage that US citizens probably wouldn’t want to replicate.

Along with facial recognition, CB Insights notes that China’s chip sector is also a big recipient of AI startup funding. New companies like Cambricon (which raised $100 million last August) are building processors designed to handle the demands of machine learning. But again, context is useful. Because while more money for AI chips may be going to China’s startups, in the US, it’s established companies like Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Intel that are pouring resources into the same cause.

In the US vs. China AI competition, even when we have numbers, it’s difficult (and probably impossible) to judge a “winner” — for now, anyway.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/22/17039696/china-us-ai-funding-startup-comparison

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## cirr

Chinese students work on the Ares, a humanoid bipedal robot designed by them with funding from a Shanghai investment company, displayed during the World Robot Conference in Beijing on Oct. 21, 2016. China's goal is to transform the country into a global leader in artificial intelligence in just over a decade. Ng Han Guan AP

NATIONAL SECURITY

*Seeking to outsmart US, China races ahead on artificial intelligence*

BY TIM JOHNSON

tjohnson@mcclatchydc.com

February 21, 2018 05:00 AM

Updated February 21, 2018 03:13 PM

WASHINGTON - When a Google computer program beat the world’s best player of an ancient Chinese board game last May, it might have seemed like an incremental milestone.

But for some, the success of the program known as AlphaGo marked more than a man vs. machine clash. It set up a broader race between China and the United States over artificial intelligence, a competition that could mold the future of humankind just as the widespread arrival of electricity did in the last century.

The Go tournament took place in Wuzhen, a city of canals that is more than 1,300 years old, a fitting venue for a competition involving the strategy board game Go that has been played for several thousand years. Go is renowned for its complexity, and it is said that there are more variations to the game than there are atoms in the universe.

Perhaps it was a coincidence of timing, but the AlphaGo competition kicked off events that demonstrated China’s resolve to close the gap with — and quickly surpass — the United States in deploying artificial intelligence, or AI. Goals Chinese authorities announced last July are ambitious: Reach parity with the United States by 2020, achieve major breakthroughs by 2025, and “occupy the commanding heights of AI technology by 2030” as the world’s undisputed leader.

Can China do it? Experts say the race is in its early stages but the challenge has been set, and China is taking action to move toward its aspirations.

“There’s a lot of ambition, a lot of enthusiasm but it still remains to be seen whether this is possible,” said Elsa B. Kania, a specialist in artificial intelligence and Chinese defense innovation at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank in Washington. Nonetheless, she added, “there is a very real chance and possibility” that China could achieve its goals.

The stakes are high. Advances in artificial intelligence could add trillions of dollars to a major economy and give an edge on the battlefield, shifting empires and global power.

“For the moment, the United States is the most advanced AI country in the world. But that gap is closing,” said Chris Nicholson, chief executive of Skymind, a San Francisco start-up that focuses on deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence.

Russia, too, is paying attention, although it is not in the same tier as China and the U.S.

*WHOEVER BECOMES THE LEADER IN THIS SPHERE WILL BECOME THE RULER OF THE WORLD.*

Russian leader Vladimir Putin

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind,” Russian leader Vladimir Putin told students Sept. 1, according to the state-run RT network. “Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

Processors equipped with artificial intelligence algorithms and specialized hardware platforms learn from experience, adapt to new information and perform human-like tasks. The field is in its relative infancy, and numbers of top scientists are limited. Google, the Mountain View, California, technology giant, employs at least half of the top 100 of them, the Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk consultancy, estimated in a report in December.

But China has some comparative advantages, and it is moving fast. Last year, its scientists sought 641 patents related to artificial intelligence, compared with 130 in the United States, says CB Insights, a venture capital database company.

Other metrics also show China’s push. Every year, top experts gather for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. In 2012, U.S. researchers presented 41 percent of the papers at the meeting, and Chinese experts barely hit 10 percent, said Avi Goldfarb, a professor of marketing at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

In 2017, he said, U.S. share of papers fell to 34 percent and China’s grew to 23 percent.

“What’s really happened is that China has invested a lot and done much better,” said Goldfarb, co-author of Prediction Machines: The simple economics of Artificial Intelligence.

One of China’s comparative advantages in artificial intelligence is the massive data that the government and large internet companies collect on the nation’s 1.3 billion citizens.

In China, people use their mobile phones to pay for goods 50 times more often than in the United States, says Sinovation Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm with offices in China and the United States. Chinese order 10 times more food delivery volume than in the United States. And shared bicycle usage is 300 times that of the United States, the company says.

*ALL OF THAT IS DATA THAT GOES BACK TO TRAIN AI MODELS.*

Kai-fu Lee, founder of Sinovation Ventures

“All of that is data that goes back to train AI models,” Kai-fu Lee, Sinovation’s founder and a former Google executive, told an MIT forum Nov. 2 on the future of work.

A Chinese bike-sharing company, Mobike, has fleets in 200 cities globally. Its sensor-equipped bikes transmit 20 terabytes of data for Mobike to analyze with artificial intelligence every day.

China’s government has moved heavily into facial recognition software designed to keep tabs on the populace. It has done so through unique levels of partnership with private Chinese tech companies, like Yitu Tech, one of many big firms that cooperate closely with authorities.

Lee, the former Google executive, said massive datasets give China an upper hand.

“A very good scientist with a ton of data will beat a super scientist with a small amount of data any day,” Lee told the MIT forum.

Given such an advantage, venture capital money is pouring into China-based startups pursuing aspects of artificial intelligence. Such startups took 48 percent of all dollars going to AI startups globally in 2017, surpassing the United States for share of dollars, CB Insights says.

While competition to harness artificial intelligence is real, it is unlike the race to develop a nuclear bomb before and during World War II. A remarkable degree of commercial overlap occurs between the two countries, and some experts don’t see an inevitable winner and loser in the competition.

“There’s a lot connectivity between Beijing and Shanghai and Hangzhou and (Silicon) Valley,” said Paul S. Triolo, director of global technology at Eurasia Group.

Microsoft and Google have large operations involved in artificial intelligence research in China, he said, “and Chinese companies like Baidu and Alibaba and Tencent have lots of AI researchers working in the U.S. Who’s winning that?”

*IT’S NOT A RACE TO BUILD THE FIRST NUCLEAR WEAPON.*

Paul S. Triolo, Eurasia Group

“It’s not a race to build the first nuclear weapon. It’s a set of very diffuse capabilities that are used as part of bigger systems,” Triolo said.

The extent of how artificial intelligence might impact everyday life is not yet known. One prominent expert, Andrew Ng, a former chief scientist at Baidu who now heads a research group at Stanford University, compares the transformative power of AI to electricity, noting how electrical refrigeration transformed agriculture, the electric motor remade manufacturing and the telegraph revolutionized communications.

“If it is like electricity, it can transform economies, societies and militaries in ways that we can imagine and ways that we probably can’t imagine yet,” Kania said.

The potential has seized the attention of the People’s Liberation Army, which makes little secret that it sees artificial intelligence as augmenting China’s power. Military commanders paid close attention last year to the contest surrounding AlphaGo, which was developed by a Google subsidiary, DeepMind, based in London.

“The PLA wants an AlphaGo for warfare,” Kania said.

One way that artificial intelligence may be deployed is in swarm warfare — the use of scores —maybe hundreds —of flying or undersea drones to disrupt enemy ships and submarines.

Such fleets of drones, harnessed with the right algorithms, could be used “to overwhelm and saturate very high-value weapons platforms,” Kania said, like aircraft carriers.

“We’re entering a new age of warfare where AI and robotics will be much more integral to military power,” she said, noting that battlefield action might become so rapid that “humans can’t keep up.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article201152079.html
Drone race: Human versus artificial intelligence

In a world fraught with obstacles, who will prevail in a race against time: human or machine? See what happens when JPL engineers race a drone controlled by artificial intelligence against another guided by a professional human pilot. NASA

China has put some of its prowess on display. In an exhibition Dec. 7, a swarm of 1,180 drones took part in a nighttime flyover light show over the southern city of Guangzhou, spelling out “hello” and “innovation” to visiting dignitaries. Intel, the U.S. tech giant, flew more than 1,200 illuminated drones this month for the opening of the Pyeongchang Olympic Games.

As China makes headway, some U.S. experts voice concern, even alarm.

“I’m assuming that our lead will continue over the next five years, and that China will catch up extremely quickly,” Eric Schmidt, then-executive chairman of Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., said at a forum in November.

But Schmidt lamented what he saw as a lack of a U.S. governmental focus on how to forge ahead robustly in artificial intelligence.

*WE DON’T HAVE A NATIONAL STRATEGY.*

Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman of Alphabet Inc.

“We don’t have a national strategy,” Schmidt said. “If you believe that this is important – as I suspect all of us do, but certainly I believe – then we need to get our act together as a country.”

Forecasters can only estimate the economic impact of artificial intelligence, but when they do the numbers are extraordinary. PwC, a global management consultancy, said in a study last year that artificial intelligence could add $7 trillion to the Chinese economy and $3.7 trillion to the North American economy by 2030.

It would impact areas such as self-driving cars, improved imaging diagnostics, better fraud detection, efficient energy consumption, greater tailoring of apparel and consumer items, and personalized delivery of entertainment.

Industry experts are appealing to lawmakers to sustain the current U.S. edge.

“AI is the biggest economic and technological revolution to take place in our lifetime. … We can’t afford to allow other countries to overtake us,” Ian Buck, vice president for accelerated computing at Nvidia, a Santa Clara, California, manufacturer of circuits used in super-fast processing, said in prepared remarks to a House subcommittee Feb. 14.

Nicholson, the San Francisco entrepreneur, said the Trump administration has cut research and development programs, blocked mathematicians from the Middle East and curtailed foreign investment in areas like artificial intelligence.

“The United States is adopting policies that will make it lose this race,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nat...-security/article201152079.html#storylink=cpy

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## cirr

*Scientists hone AI tool to prevent blindness*

2018-02-24 08:48

Global Times _Editor: Huang Mingrui_






Chinese scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to screen patients with serious eye diseases that are treatable if detected in the early stages and the technology is expected to be applied to wider uses in medicine.

A paper, published on Thursday in the journal Cell, showed that researchers used an AI-based convolutional neural network to review more than 200,000 eye scans conducted with optical coherence tomography, a noninvasive technology that bounces light off the retina to create two- and three-dimensional representations of tissue.

Researchers then employed a technique called transfer learning in which knowledge gained in solving one problem is stored by a computer and applied to different but related problems. For example, an AI neural network with optimized recognition of discrete anatomical structures of the eye like the retina, cornea or optic nerve can identify and evaluate their condition when examining images of a whole eye.

It is quicker and more efficient than previous tools that took millions of images to train an AI system, a researcher said.

"Machine learning is often like a black box where we don't know exactly what is happening," said the paper's senior author Zhang Kang, professor of ophthalmology at Shiley Eye Institute, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center.

The study focused on two common causes of irreversible blindness: macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Both conditions are treatable if detected early.

The researchers also tested their tool for diagnosing childhood pneumonia, based on machine analyses of chest X-rays. They found the computer was able to differentiate between viral and bacterial pneumonia with greater than 90 percent accuracy.

"The future is more data, more computational power and more experience of the people using this system so that we can provide the best patient care possible, while still being cost-effective," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-24/293354.shtml

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## cirr

*Xiaomi, Microsoft plan AI cooperation*

2018-02-24 08:55 China Daily _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





Two technicians fine-tune a robot at the stall of Xiaomi Corp at an industry expo held in Wuhan, Hubei province. (Photo by Chu Lin/ For China Daily)

Xiaomi Corp inked a deal with Microsoft Corp on Friday to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and laptops, as part of the Chinese smartphone vendor's going-global efforts this year.

The move came after Xiaomi turned in a stellar performance in overseas markets in 2017 and is an extension of the close ties between the two tech heavyweights in patents, technology as well as products.

Under the new memorandum of understanding, Microsoft will leverage its prowess in AI and cloud services to combine with Xiaomi's strength in smart devices, to create better products and help the latter in its global efforts.

The two sides are exploring ways of using Microsoft's cloud platform Azure to help Xiaomi's overseas users store data. They will also deepen cooperation in marketing and retailing channels as well as research and development to help Xiaomi's laptops enter more foreign countries.

Harry Shum, executive vice-president of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Group, said Xiaomi is one of the most innovative Chinese companies.

"Microsoft's solid strength in AI research, its rich experience and competitive products and services will help Xiaomi bring cutting-edge technologies to every user in the global market," Shum said in a statement.

Both parties are also discussing how to integrate Microsoft's voice-activated assistant Cortana into Xiaomi's smart speakers, which can also be sold in more overseas markets.

Xiaomi is battling domestic peer Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and US tech giant Apple Inc for more market share in the global smartphone arena. In the fourth quarter of 2017, it displaced Samsung Electronics Co as the top smartphone vendor in India, the world's fastest-growing smartphone market, according to a report by market research company Canalys.

Friday's deal came after Xiaomi bought nearly 1,500 technology patents from Microsoft in 2016, which is supposed to smoothen potential legal tangles over intellectual property as it pushes beyond China.

Xiang Ligang, a telecom expert and CEO of telecom industry website cctime.com, said: "The deepened ties between Xiaomi and Microsoft will definitely facilitate the former's foray into overseas markets, but Xiaomi still needs to pour more resources into in-house research and development to achieve long-term and robust growth."

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-24/293360.shtml

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## cirr

*Chinese scientists develop AI system to diagnose human diseases*

2018-02-25 10:08 Xinhua _Editor: Li Yan_

Chinese scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system for the classification and diagnosis of treatable human diseases.

A scientific research team at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center applied a deep-learning framework to develop a diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of pediatric pneumonia and common treatable blinding retinal diseases.

The team said the AI system had demonstrated performance comparable to that of human experts in classifying and diagnosing diseases.

The tool may ultimately aid in expediting the diagnosis and referral of these treatable conditions, thereby facilitating earlier treatment and resulting in improved clinical outcomes, according to the research team.

The research paper has been published in Cell, a scientific journal publishing research papers across a broad range of disciplines within life sciences.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/02-25/293492.shtml

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## onebyone

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry received about 180 billion yuan (28 billion U.S. dollars) of investment and financing last year, according to a recent report.

Intelligent driving, big data and data service were among the main areas of investment, according to a report released by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

China gained 28 new AI enterprises in 2017, compared with 128 new ones in 2016, the report said, adding that the fluctuation will not affect a long-term trend of growth.

China's AI enterprises were mainly in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong last year. Beijing had the biggest number, with more than 260 AI enterprises.

The report predicted that China's AI industry would continue to grow in 2018 with breakthroughs to be made in areas such as computer vision and voice technologies.

China unveiled an AI development plan last year, vowing to bring the value of core AI industries to more than 150 billion yuan by 2020, 400 billion yuan by 2025 and one trillion yuan by 2030.

It was part of a broader plan as China strives to encourage technological innovation and to boost its manufacturing capacity up the value chain. Enditem

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/24/c_136997279.htm


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## onebyone

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/968400950691074049

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## cirr

*California-based startup launches self-driving car fleet in China*

2018-02-28 15:59 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

A self-driving tech start-up firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area on the U.S. west coast said Tuesday that it has successfully launched the first self-driving car rides on city roads to the general public in China earlier this month.

*Pony.ai*, an autonomous driving startup with its head office in Fremont, California, said in a statement that it has become the first company to launch the trial service on a short and well-mapped route of about 1.7 miles (about 2.7 km) in Nansha District, Guangzhou in southern China, where Pony.ai's Chinese headquarters is based.

In addition to the trial rides, Pony.ai has entered into a strategic partnership with China's second-largest carmaker, Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC Group), which is also a Fortune 500 corporation.

Founded in late 2016, Pony.ai showcased six cars in the trial rides on Feb. 2, which included four Lincoln MKZs and two GAC Chuanqi models.

Pony.ai said its autonomous driving platform has already learned to deal with specific road conditions such as road congestion, inclement weather, and driving behaviors typical of urban Chinese drivers.

During the trial riding in Guangzhou, Pony.ai's team has developed a specific software module that enables the cars to handle severe weather such as heavy rain, a technical breakthrough which has enabled Pony.ai to achieve new heights in reliability and safety, said the company.

The young startup of *artificial intelligence-powered* auto technology has also been testing its technology on California roads with retrofitted Lincolns.

Pony.ai, which raised 112 million U.S. dollars in Series A funding last year, is one of several companies with headquarters in Silicon Valley that are racing for an early lead in self-driving vehicles in China.

*The startup was co-founded by James Peng, a former chief architect at the autonomous driving division of China's search giant Baidu, and Lou Tiancheng, who once worked for the self-driving tech department of Google and Baidu.*

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/02-28/293990.shtml

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## cirr

*Alibaba, NTU Singapore launch joint research institute on AI technology*

2018-02-28 17:03 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) jointly launched a research institute on Wednesday by signing a Memorandum of Understanding.

It is Alibaba's first joint research institute outside China, with a pool of 50 researchers from both organizations.

The institute will seek to combine NTU's human-centered Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology which has been applied to areas such as health, homes and communities, with Alibaba's leading technologies including Natural Language Processing, computer vision, machine learning and cloud computing, to explore further technology breakthroughs and real-life AI solutions.

Zhang Jianfeng, Alibaba Group Chief Technology Officer, said at the ceremony that Singapore is an important market for Alibaba, as it is the company's regional base in Southeast Asia that provides e-commerce, cloud computing and payment solutions to empower customers in various industries in the region from the city-state.

He said the company, by launching its first joint research institute in Singapore, hope to work with talents in Singapore and researchers worldwide to explore technology innovation that can address common issues faced by the society at large.

"Meanwhile, we can also tap into our existing business resources in the region to magnify the impact of the technology development, making solutions affordable and accessible to all," Zhang added.

Subra Suresh, the university president, said the combination of strengths of Alibaba's AI technologies with NTU's Humanized AI technologies will create smarter, healthier and happier cities for people of all ages.

"These AI and cloud technologies will be developed and tested on the NTU Smart Campus to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solutions so that our partners can have confidence before taking them to the market in Singapore and rest of the world," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/02-28/294010.shtml

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## TaiShang

onebyone said:


> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/968400950691074049



Great way to improve quality of life.


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## TaiShang

*More govt services using facial recognition, AI and robot technology*

By Li Ruohan Source:Global Times Published: 2018/2/28






A woman uses facial recognition technology to access a building in Beijing's Haidian district. Photo: IC

After the Spring Festival holiday, all 1,200 people who worked in a building in Beijing's Haidian district government found they could enter without showing any credentials, as their face was enough to get them inside the building.

A facial recognition system has been installed at the three entrances, and it only takes seconds for someone to pass through, Ma Xiaochuan, the system's project manager at the Beijing-based Zhonghai Investment company, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The system can also alert security guards immediately when a stranger is spotted trying to enter, said Ma.

In addition to collecting and analyzing the entrance information, the system can also help prevent cases of people borrowing or faking credentials to intrude into the building, said the manager.

The move makes Haidian the first local government to use facial recognition technology in Beijing. It is one of the technologies used for e-governance, a trend that has been on the rise in recent years across China due to the rapid development of big data and artificial intelligence. 

*Wider usage*

While the Internet was first used as an administrative tool in the early 2000s, the trend has only peaked in the past two years, after the technology matured and proved to be safe, Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of the Research Center for Government Integrity-Building at Peking University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

*In May 2017, the State Council, or China's cabinet, released a timetable for central and local governments to build e-governance platforms in a plan aimed at encouraging the use of Internet and smart technologies in government services. *

By the end of August 2017, 29 provincial-level governments had launched online platforms for administrative services, said a statement from the cabinet. 

Using the facial recognition technology, the public security department in East China's Fujian Province has helped return 124 missing people to their families in three months, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Xiamen in Fujian Province also began using facial recognition in its medical system at the end of 2017. Doctors could only write prescriptions after logging in to the system, which could help prevent unqualified doctors prescribing medicines, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

In Guangdong's Liwan district, two auto-service machines at the district government's service center can book and handle more than 800 administrative services including visa services and printing proof of tax-clearance, local newspaper New Express reported in January. 

In November 2017, urban management and traffic police in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province, jointly implemented a pre-warning system for parking infractions. Drivers are warned by text message if they park illegally and will not be fined if they relocate within 10 minutes.

The system prevented 50 parking violations on the day it was launched, the government website shows.

The use of robots is also on the rise in local government services in regions including Shaanxi and Guizhou province, as well as Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The robots can instruct citizens on online government services and help with printing or copying ID cards and documents. 

In one simulated situation, a robot used by Shenzhen railway police during the Spring Festival travel rush collected the facial information of a suspected knife attacker and quickly uploaded the information to a database, which helped local police capture the suspect.

The cost of those systems varies according to the scope of use and technology, ranging from around 50,000 yuan ($7,920) to hundreds of thousands of yuan, service providers told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

*Security concerns*

These systems can collect and analyze information to improve the allocation of resources according to users' needs, said experts. Without feedback from users, it will be difficult to improve government services, while AI and e-government services can also help governments solve complicated problems in remote areas, Zeng Ying, a project director at Fujian Huayu Education Technology Co, told the Global Times.

However, the technologies are not being widely applied due to security concerns, and some local officials are also refusing to delegate their power, said Zhuang.

Police in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, found in a one-month public opinion survey that nearly half of those polled thought facial recognition systems were unsafe, as they believed people could access their information using their photos.

Of the complaints received, 41 percent were about the recognition service not functioning well in crowded or dark situations, while 31 complained about low recognition speed, according to the investigation released on the Nanjing government website. 

To address the safety concerns, the Cyberspace Administration of China will take the leading role in protecting private information collected in government systems and local governments will be responsible for data security when the information is collected, exchanged and used, according to a central government statement.

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## cirr

*China issues three road test licenses to smart car makers*

2018-03-02 08:10 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

China on Thursday issued the country's first three road test licenses to smart car makers, making road tests of autopilot vehicles legal.

Shanghai-based SAIC Motor received two of the licenses and the electric vehicle startup Nio obtained the other one.

The licenses allow the operators to use a 5.6-km public road in Jiading District of Shanghai for testing smart cars.

Huang Ou, deputy director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said the test road was designated based on a third-party appraisal.

"Shanghai will open more roads for testing smart cars," said Huang.

The license came after Baidu boss Robin Li test drove the company's autonomous vehicle on Beijing's open roads in July last year, causing controversy as there were no rules regarding such a test.

Zhang Cheng, general manager of the foresight technology division of SAIC Motor, said road tests on public roads can gather useful data on real traffic conditions for testing autonomous driving functions of smart cars.

Cao Guangyi, political commissar of the Shanghai traffic police, said police would pursue the responsibility of test drivers in cases of road accidents involving smart cars under road tests.

Shanghai on Thursday issued a regulation on road tests of smart cars, and vowed to push ahead the application and commercialization of smart cars with AI technology and Internet-linked functions.

Lu Zufang, Jiading District official, said the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Shanghai) Pilot Zone in Jiading, which has become a world-class venue for testing smart cars, has built 200 test settings for various driving situations.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/03-01/294197.shtml

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## cirr

*AI development needs global cooperation, not China-phobia*

2018-03-02 16:47 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

China is gaining momentum in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, which has been translating its huge market size into commercialized innovations. This is a boon instead of a threat.

The cry-wolf alarms that America is losing a race for supremacy in the AI industry by comparing China's catching-up to America's Sputnik panic in the late 1950s, have, in a sense, misinterpreted or misrepresented the true AI story.

A typical misinterpretation goes to the "global tech cold war," which was put forward by Eurasia Group, a New York-headquartered think tank, arguing that the winner in AI and super-computing between the United States and China will dominate the coming decades, both economically and geopolitically.

This outlook, tinged with a sense of crisis, does cite some solid evidences: two countries are competing to make tech breakthroughs, and in some areas, running neck and neck.

It is echoed by CBInsight's report released in February. According to the New York-based venture capital consultancy, China's AI startups took 48 percent of all dollars going to AI startups globally in 2017, surpassing the United States for the first time for global deal share.

China's catching up is not a thing that America is accustomed to, hence leading to two opposite reactions: belittling it or demonizing it. However, both miss the point.

First of all, China's AI sector is not a copycat. Chinese AI company iFlytek, specializing in speech recognition, launched its Chinese-English translation machine at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, causing quite an uproar.

The Chinese company has ranked top in a reading comprehension dataset created by Stanford University. It shows that the wit of iFlytek platform is slightly slower than human performance, but smarter than Microsoft Research Asia ranking second.

But this is not a winner-take-all game. The artificial intelligence involves a progressive learning that requires continuous flow of AI-ready data. It is open sourced and will become stronger with more players.

China's advantages in artificial intelligence lie in its huge size of internet users: over 770 million in 2017, which make up an ideal trainer database for any new algorithm. Algorithm is deemed as a crucial element in the new area, together with AI chips and massive data.

A recent medical advance of AI-based screening for eye diseases and pneumonia, published in the journal of Cell last week, has been jointly made by scientists of University of California San Diego and China's Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center.

It should be noted that thousands of pneumonia X-ray images used in the research came from Guangzhou and about 200,000 optical coherence tomography images came from Beijing and Shanghai. Obviously, the therapeutic AI platform will provide substantial benefits to patients in both countries.

Liu Qingfeng, iFlyTek's CEO, told Xinhua at CES that massive data sets, algorithms and professionals are a must-have combination for AI, which "requires global cooperation" and "no company can play hegemony."

On Wednesday, Chinese tech startup SenseTime Co. became the first company to join Massachusetts Institute of Technology's ambitious program to open AI's black box or how AI thinks.

Realistically, this sector has something to do with competition and more with cooperation, which allows for more than one winner.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-02/294359.shtml

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## cirr

*Tencent to advance into new AI areas*

2018-03-03 10:47 China Daily _Editor: Mo Hong'e_






Visitors look at Tencent's visible big data exchange platform at the 16th China Internet Conference in Beijing on July 12, 2017. (Photo/for China Daily)

Tencent Holdings Ltd is looking to deepen its artificial intelligence push into transportation solutions, security and protection, as well as voice recognition, realms that were once seen as strongholds of other tech majors.

The endeavor to advance into new areas builds upon the company's initial success in developing AI for medical diagnosis, a mission designated to Tencent by the country's top industry and internet regulator, according to Liu Yongsheng, head of Tencent AI Lab.

"For the purpose of better city management, there's plenty of space for different companies to leverage and deploy their AI capabilities. Every player is just taking a tiny slice of the pie," he told China Daily on Friday.

Ideally, algorithms and big data can be combined to provide live traffic predictions, so that safety precaution measures and contingency plans can be introduced in advance, he said.

This is an area where arch rival Alibaba Holding Group Ltd has gained an early foothold. It pioneered a smart traffic management system called City Brain in Hangzhou, where average traffic speed was reported to have increased 15 percent since its launch in September 2016. Early this year, the firm exported a similar mechanism to Malaysia, the first of its kind overseas.

"Nevertheless, there are just so many facets in urban planning that companies can dig deep into," Liu said. "We don't necessarily have to compete with each other and can all be part of city planning in the long run."

Voice recognition is another area on which Tencent is placing bets. An indigenous group is working to optimize accuracy from voice conversion to machine translation, functions that are embedded in WeChat, the ubiquitous messaging app that has nearly 1 billion users.

"We are developing our own team and own technologies," Liu said, when asked if they are banking on technologies of iFlyTek, a domestic voice recognition specialist.

China has upheld the development of AI as a national strategy and has recruited Tencent, Alibaba, iFlyTek and Baidu Inc to an "AI national team" to have them each focus on one specific field.

While Tencent has been tasked to use its computer vision for medical diagnosis, Baidu will specialize in autonomous driving, Alibaba in smart city and iFlyTek in voice intelligence.

According to Liu, Tencent will further expand the use of its AI-backed cancer-detection product Miying to a wider array of diseases.

Currently it is used in reading CT scans and screening of four types of cancers including lung cancer, the most common cancer in China, in around 60 hospitals across 20 provinces.

"We are anticipating an even bigger role for Miying this year, by having AI assist human doctors in their daily diagnosis," he said.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-03/294403.shtml

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## cirr

*China's AI-general practitioner system starts hospital trial*

2018-03-05 16:21 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

An AI-general practitioner system developed by a Chinese tech firm has started its "internship" in a community hospital in east China's Anhui Province.

The system called "AI doctor assistant" can listen to doctors diagnosing inquiries with patients and automatically produce e-documents for patient case reports.

Hu Jingyun, director of the Shuanggang Community Health Service Center in Luyang District of Hefei, the provincial capital, said the AI assistant could quickly review patient case histories and suggest prescriptions based on data in similar cases.

The system was developed by Shenzhen-listed iFlytek in partnership with Tsinghua University.

The company's medical robot passed China's national medical license examination with a high score in 2017. It was the world's first robot to pass a national medical license examination.

The company said it had optimized the robot technology in the development of the "AI doctor assistant," equipping it with intelligent voice functions and self-learning abilities.

Currently, the system's diagnosing reports and prescriptions still need the signatures of doctors for approval.

Ke Manxue, a health official in Luyang District, said the district would use the "AI doctor assistant" to improve grassroots medical services, as it could ease the workload of general practitioners in outpatient visits.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-05/294639.shtml

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## cirr

*MIT, China’s SenseTime will partner on AI research*

By Fred Bazzoli

Published March 05 2018, 4:28pm EST

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is partnering with a Chinese artificial intelligence company as it begins to research breakthroughs that can impact healthcare, imaging and other technologies to improve the human condition.

MIT says the alliance with Beijing-based *SenseTime* is the first in its MIT Intelligence Quest, launched in February. The technology school’s initiative seeks to leverage its strengths in brain and cognitive science and computer science to advance research into human and machine intelligence.

In particular, the MIT-SenseTime Alliance on Artificial Intelligence, as it is formally called, expects to study areas such as medical imaging, robotics, human intelligence-inspired algorithms and computer vision.

MIT executives say an essential element of its MIT Intelligent Quest initiative is forging connections with innovative companies and individuals who share MIT’s passion for work in intelligence.

SenseTime was founded by MIT alumnus Xiao-ou Tang and specializes in computer vision and deep learning technologies. The company says SenseTime has worked with more than 400 leading customers and partners to solve real-world problems. Among its current projects are intelligent medical treatment, deep learning hardware and optimization and autonomous driving.

MIT operates a Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT Media Lab, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines and the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society.

https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/mit-chinas-sensetime-will-partner-on-ai-research

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## TaiShang

*Tencent to advance into new AI areas*
By He Wei
China Daily, March 3, 2018

Tencent Holdings Ltd is looking to *deepen its artificial intelligence push into transportation solutions, security and protection, as well as voice recognition*, realms that were once seen as strongholds of other tech majors.


The endeavor to advance into new areas builds upon the company's initial success in developing AI for medical diagnosis, a mission designated to Tencent by the country's top industry and internet regulator, according to Liu Yongsheng, head of Tencent AI Lab.


"For the purpose of better city management, there's plenty of space for different companies to leverage and deploy their AI capabilities. Every player is just taking a tiny slice of the pie," he told China Daily on Friday.


Ideally, algorithms and big data can be combined to provide live traffic predictions, so that safety precaution measures and contingency plans can be introduced in advance, he said.


This is an area where arch rival Alibaba Holding Group Ltd has gained an early foothold. It pioneered a smart traffic management system called City Brain in Hangzhou, where average traffic speed was reported to have increased 15 percent since its launch in September 2016. Early this year, the firm exported a similar mechanism to Malaysia, the first of its kind overseas.


"Nevertheless, there are just so many facets in urban planning that companies can dig deep into," Liu said. "We don't necessarily have to compete with each other and can all be part of city planning in the long run."


Voice recognition is another area on which Tencent is placing bets. An indigenous group is working to optimize accuracy from voice conversion to machine translation, functions that are embedded in WeChat, the ubiquitous messaging app that has nearly 1 billion users.


"We are developing our own team and own technologies," Liu said, when asked if they are banking on technologies of iFlyTek, a domestic voice recognition specialist.


China has upheld the development of AI as a national strategy and has recruited Tencent, Alibaba, iFlyTek and Baidu Inc to an "AI national team" to have them each focus on one specific field.


While Tencent has been tasked to use its computer vision for medical diagnosis, Baidu will specialize in autonomous driving, Alibaba in smart city and iFlyTek in voice intelligence.


According to Liu, Tencent will further expand the use of its AI-backed cancer-detection product Miying to a wider array of diseases.


Currently it is used in reading CT scans and screening of four types of cancers including lung cancer, the most common cancer in China, in around 60 hospitals across 20 provinces.


"We are anticipating an even bigger role for Miying this year, by having AI assist human doctors in their daily diagnosis," he said.

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## JSCh

Inside the Chinese lab that plans to rewire the world with AI - MIT Technology Review

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## JSCh

*Upgraded Deep Voice can mimic any voice in mere seconds*
March 6, 2018 by Bob Yirka, *Tech Xplore*



​Speaker adaptation and speaker encoding approaches for training, cloning and audio generation. Credit: arXiv:1802.06006 [cs.CL]

Via whitepaper which they have uploaded to the _arXiv _preprint server, a team at Baidu (China's answer to Google) has announced an upgrade to their text-to-speech application called Deep Voice. Now, instead of taking a half-hour or longer to analyze a person's voice and replicate it, the system can do it in less than a minute. The neural-network based system is part of an effort by the team at Baidu to make machines sound more like humans when they "speak" to us.

There are two parts to the system. The first involves recording voice samples to allow the system to learn what the subject's voice sounds like. The second part reads user-defined text aloud in the voice of the subject.

Several groups have been working on projects aimed at replicating the sound of an individual person's voice, ostensibly to allow robot assistants to sound like actual human assistants. Thus, a program that converts text into words that sounds like you, your neighbor, Donald Trump or the Queen of England is not expected to offer much in the way of an end product—though Baidu does suggest it could be used by people who have lost the use of their voice. Instead, it is meant as a stepping stone to greater things. The new system, the team reports, works optimally when given 100 five-second voice samples. It can also manipulate a voice, allowing people to hear how they might sound, for example, with a British accent, or as someone of the opposite gender. It is also getting better at mimicking voices, and is now able to fool voice recognition software 95 percent of the time—and a human test gave the system an average rating of 3.16 out of 4.

But, as many in the press have noted, the technology could cause problems. Taped interrogations by police could become useless if anyone with a smartphone could generate the same conversation. There is also the problem of identity theft. If a thief can steal your data and your voice, you might never get it back. Or consider political operatives releasing fake recordings of politicians having conversations that could sway an election.

*More information:* — Baidu Research blog: research.baidu.com/neural-voice-cloning-samples/

— Samples: audiodemos.github.io/

— Neural Voice Cloning with a Few Samples, arXiv:1802.06006 [cs.CL] arxiv.org/abs/1802.06006

*Abstract*
Voice cloning is a highly desired feature for personalized speech interfaces. Neural network based speech synthesis has been shown to generate high quality speech for a large number of speakers. In this paper, we introduce a neural voice cloning system that takes a few audio samples as input. We study two approaches: speaker adaptation and speaker encoding. Speaker adaptation is based on fine-tuning a multi-speaker generative model with a few cloning samples. Speaker encoding is based on training a separate model to directly infer a new speaker embedding from cloning audios and to be used with a multi-speaker generative model. In terms of naturalness of the speech and its similarity to original speaker, both approaches can achieve good performance, even with very few cloning audios. While speaker adaptation can achieve better naturalness and similarity, the cloning time or required memory for the speaker encoding approach is significantly less, making it favorable for low-resource deployment.​

Upgraded Deep Voice can mimic any voice in mere seconds

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## cirr

*Robot maker plans expansion*

2018-03-09 11:00 China Daily _Editor: Li Yan_





Visitors watch a medical robot designed by KUKA at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai on Thursday. (Photo/Xinhua)

*Midea's robotic unit doubles production capacity to increase presence in China*

Midea Group's robotic arm, in Germany, KUKA AG, will expand production capacity of robots and robotics systems in China, as the country's demand for the machines has been booming recently, according to a senior manager of the company.

"KUKA is working closely with Midea to look for business opportunities," said Wilfried Eberhardt, chief marketing officer of the company. "We will soon double the production capacity in China as the demand for robotics is increasing in the country."

The company's expansion plan was a move in accordance with a strategy of its parent company, which aims to promote the use of robotics in industrial and smart home appliances.

According to Eberhardt, the firm has started an expansion project in Shanghai, helping to double its capacity for robots and big systems.

In addition, the company will also increase its production capacity of a plant in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, for larger production of smaller systems.

Eberhardt said that KUKA's robots can be widely used in automotive, electronics, logistics, e-commerce, metal manufacturing and healthcare industries.

"Our robots are designed to make humans' life easier," he said.

On Thursday, KUKA displayed a number of medical robots at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai.

KUKA's KBR Med robot components provide precision, flexibility, safety, responsiveness and other features that can be effectively applied in orthopedic surgery, ultrasonic diagnosis and minimally invasive surgery by integrating the capabilities of the most acclaimed robots in the field of medical technology.

"Collaborative robots will be handy for home use by Chinese families," Eberhardt said.

According to Olaf Gehrels, general manager of Midea Robotics Company, the robotic industry will reach a scale of 100 million units by 2025, of which the Chinese manufacturers are predicted to take 50 percent.

"We are bringing together sensors, vision and voice, navigation, grasping, force control and more into one single user experience that bridges all our product areas－we call this the new era of the human-robot interface," Gehrels said.

"We believe that robotics and motion control are the future－robots will become (an) important part of logistics, medical and healthcare and even smart home appliances," he added.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/03-09/295162.shtml


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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> Midea Group's robotic arm, in Germany, KUKA AG, will expand production capacity of robots and robotics systems in China, as the country's demand for the machines has been booming recently, according to a senior manager of the company.



That's a good strategy to create jobs and more innovation in China. 

Midea's acquiring of KUKA has been probably one of the most strategic moves in near acquisition history.

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## onebyone

A leading Chinese technology company, Baidu, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can clone human speech immediately.

The system just needs 60 seconds of voice and can change a female voice to a male one. It can also turn a British accent into an American one. There is more; the AI can learn to mimic various styles of speaking and also personalize text-to-speech to a new level. 

“From a technical perspective, this is an important breakthrough showing that a complicated generative modeling problem, namely speech synthesis, can be adapted to new cases by efficiently learning only from a few examples,” Leo Zou, a member of Baidu's communications team, told Digital Trends.

“Voice cloning is expected to have significant applications in the direction of personalization in human-machine interfaces,” the researchers mentioned in a Baidu blog article. 

Baidu’s Deep Voice research team last year had unveiled it could clone voices with 30 minutes of training material. Interestingly, Adobe also has a similar program named VoCo that can mimic a voice with 20 minutes of audio. 

Last year, Lyrebird used neural networks to mimic voices of global leaders including, President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama. 

Recently, a research report titled “Neural Voice Cloning with a Few Samples” was released by a team of researchers, who used two approaches for voice cloning: speaker adaptation and speaker encoding. 

“We demonstrate that both approaches can achieve reasonable cloning quality even with only a few cloning audios,” researchers maintained.

Innovations in voice cloning in the recent years have also raised debate on its ethical basis. After large-scale use of Photoshop for fake news, voice cloning has left many worried.

Concerns are being raised over the possible use of voice cloning for blackmailing, financial frauds and similar illegal activities. 

(With inputs from agencies)

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3367444e786b7a6333566d54/share_p.html

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## war&peace

This will have grave implications and legal issues for voice as an evidence in the court of law. DARPA already has been using this technology to produce the speeches of dead or non-existent terrorists.


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## cirr

*AI-driven technology reshaping city traffic in China*

2018-03-11 08:25 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

An ambulance in Hangzhou, an eastern Chinese city, avoids gridlock and all red lights switch to green as it approaches.

"The travel time was cut to half," said Sun Shixiang, of Hangzhou's public security bureau, while pointing to a big screen.

The progress is attributed to Alibaba's "City Brain", an AI platform on Alibaba's cloud infrastructure. It is a support to cities in digital transformation.

Around half of the world's population lives in urban areas. Traffic congestion goes along with urbanization.

In Hangzhou, the "City Brain" pulls in traffic and weather data and analyzes real-time traffic flow, adjusting traffic lights accordingly.

Over the past year, the technology has controlled traffic lights in 128 intersections in Hangzhou. The average speed of cars on these roads has increased by 15.3 percent, and travel time on bridges similarly reduced.

In addition to transport, the technology is expected to provide solutions for the city's energy and water supplies.

"City Brain" is active in cities such as Hangzhou, Suzhou and Quzhou. Outside China, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will soon adopt the system.

"Artificial intelligence will become important for all cities, helping them achieve sustainable development," said Wang Jian, Alibaba's technical committee chair.

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## TaiShang

*China to publish guideline on AI development: minister*
Xinhua, March 10, 2018

China will soon publish a guideline and detailed regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) development to make breakthroughs in critical technologies, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said Saturday.


*China is speeding up the research in the new generation of AI*, Wan told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.


"We will promote AI application* to address problems in security, health, environmental protection and so on*," he said, adding the ministry will help domestic AI companies and research institutions find international cooperation.


China is also working on laws and regulations to tackle *issues related to social ethics, job structure, personal privacy and national security*, which may be brought by AI development, he said.


Last July, the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a plan on new generation AI. The plan said the AI industry should be a major new growth engine and have improved people's lives by 2020, and set the target of China becoming a major center for AI innovation and leading the world in AI by 2030.

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## Clutch

*Future Today Institute: China will become the world’s ‘unchallenged AI hegemon’ in 2018*

Khari Johnson
 
1 day ago
_





Future Today Institute founder Amy Webb speaks onstage at SXSW on March 11, 2018 in Austin, Texas

Future Today Institute founder Amy Webb has released her annual tech trends report, and much of it focuses on the continuing impact of artificial intelligence. Other trends highlighted by the report include space travel, human gene editing, and a global shortage of data scientists. Webb, a quantitative futurist and professor of strategic foresight at the NYU Stern School of Business, released the report today in a presentation at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Now in its 11th year, the report identifies 225 trends across 20 industries, with roughly 70 of those trends related directly to AI.

In 2018, Webb expects the AI cloud and marketplaces for algorithms will continue to grow and the first personal robots will come to market.


China also garnered considerable attention in the report.

“The development of AI is our modern version of an arms race, and in 2018, China will lay the groundwork to become the world’s unchallenged AI hegemon. If data is the new oil, China’s massive, 730 million online population puts it in control of our largest, and possibly most important natural resource going forward — human data — and it doesn’t have the privacy and security restrictions that might hinder progress in other nations,” the report says.

China has invested more sovereign state funding than all other nations combined and is the single biggest investor in AI startup companies, Webb said.

“I don’t begrudge China as a nation’s ability to do this, but I do question what their end-game is and whether that’s good for the future of humanity,” she said.

Facial recognition, voice recognition, and personality recognition — all influenced by AI — were also listed among trends expected to continue.

Recognition tech, AI assistants like Siri, and trends like dedicated AI chips mean 2018 will be the beginning of the end for the traditional smartphone, Webb said, and signal increased augmentation through wearables like smart watches, smart glasses, and smart earbuds.

Digital assistants like Siri and Google Assistant are becoming ubiquitous, and Webb predicts that by 2021 more than half of all computing will be done with voice.

After tabulation and programmable systems, AI defines the third era of computing, the report finds. Consolidation and acquisition of startups by tech giants will also continue in the year ahead.







“These are the big nine companies that control the future of AI,” Webb said. “They’re all partnering with academic institutions, the money’s flowing from here, there’s a free flowing of research going back and forth, and so essentially our next era of computing is in the hands of these nine companies and three of those companies — Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba — I would argue are probably the most important ones you should pay attention to.”
_

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## cirr

*China boosts home appliance industry upgrading*

2018-03-13 10:14 CGTN _Editor: Gu Liping_

*China's home appliance industry is gradually becoming a global leader in the field of AI and Internet of Things (IoT)*, according to a report released at the Appliance & Electronics World Expo (AWE) in Shanghai.

More than 250,000 visitors and over 800 home appliance and electronics manufacturers participated in the AWE, which ended on Sunday.

All leading Chinese home appliance makers joined in promoting intellectualization in upgrading traditional manufacturing operations.

*Haier Group*, China's largest home appliance maker, has set up the country's first national-class industrial Internet platform *COSMOPlat* and the world's leading Internet platform that has independent intellectual property rights in China.

In 2017, COSMOPlat became the world's largest mass customized solution platform with total transactions reaching 313.3 billion yuan (49.42 billion US dollars) and 4.12 million orders.

The world's biggest air-conditioner maker *Gree Electric Appliances* has been focusing on converting their existing eight production bases into *unmanned factories* in a push to upgrade manufacturing techniques with technology.

Local brand *Aucma*, previously known as a leading maker of refrigerators and freezers, began to develop advanced equipment in recent years, such as ultra-low temperature cooling systems and driverless trucks equipped with a dual vision system and *AI* driving system.

*Midea Group*'s robotic arm, in Germany, KUKA AG, will double the production capacity of robots and robotics systems in China, as the country's demand for robotics has been booming recently. Midea Group has announced M-Smart, a smart home system designed for the future of family living.

In the past few years, the company has invested 20 billion yuan into research and development of smart home solutions, including the establishment of 17 research centers in eight countries, with more than 10,000 employees involved in R&D and 26,000 authorized patents.

"Midea Group sold over 300 million products each year; that's a huge base for our AI '*smart home*' platform," said Zhang Xiaoyi, CIO of Midea Group. "Therefore we are developing products and services that go beyond the household into the community and 'new retail' scenario, to realize our goal of 'connecting people,' instead of merely connecting home appliances."

According to statistics from market consultancy Statista, China's smart home market is expected to reach a value of 130 billion yuan (20.3 billion US dollars) by the end of 2018, with an annual growth rate of about 48 percent, a big jump from the 40.3 billion yuan market in 2015.

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## cirr

*Hikvision's AI roadshow attracts visitors in Bucharest*

2018-03-15 09:52 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

An AI roadshow offered on Wednesday by Hikvision, a world leading provider of video surveillance products and solutions based in Hangzhou, China, attracted local city managers, as well as ordinary visitors in Bucharest.

Visitors climbed aboard Hikvision's mobile showroom, a long truck parked aside the Red Dragon Mall, northeastern Bucharest, to experience and discover technologies, such as face recognition, and see live demonstrations as well as presentations on cutting-edge topics such as cyber security.

"Hikvision offers almost all range of surveillance products and all these products can be delivered as an integrated security solution package, so as to help system integrators to save time and money while implementing projects," a local employee of the company told visitors.

"During our roadshow, we want to show people our latest products and customized solutions, with the aim to reflect Hikvision's global leadership in the video surveillance market through innovative products, pioneering solutions and prompt service," Jermy Wang, Romania Country Manager told Xinhua, adding that the company is committed to providing the latest technologies with the best quality products.

A local AI engineer said that the awareness about security products and solutions is growing in Romania, and he is optimistic about the prospect of Hikvision products in the local market.

"In terms of traffic intelligence management, Romania is still in its infancy. In major cities, including the capital, few cameras are installed in the main traffic lanes and intersections, showing the great potential of the market," Jin Xiaozhong, chairman of Yiwu Association in Romania, who is actively promoting several cities to adopt the smart traffic and smart city solutions of Hikvision.

Three separate trucks of Hikvision are travelling now through various European regions, visiting over 71 cities, said the company.

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## TaiShang

*Home appliance maker embraces intelligent equipment*

By Fan Feifei | China Daily | Updated: 2018-03-19






A robot made by Gree plays piano at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai on Nov 8. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

Gree, a major Chinese home appliance maker, is ramping up efforts in intelligent manufacturing by setting up unmanned factories and using industrial robots in a variety of production cycles, as part of its broader push to upgrade the country's manufacturing industry.

*"We have eight manufacturing bases across the country, most of which are unmanned factories. China must master core technologies to grow into a manufacturing power,"* Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman and president of Gree, said on the sidelines of the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Dong, who is a deputy to the NPC, said Gree entered into the intelligent equipment industry in 2013. The industry covers numerical control machines, industrial robots, servo-manipulators, intelligent storage equipment and intelligent detecting systems.

"We must stick to independent research and development, building our own talent pool and R&D team, as well as mastering core technology," Dong said. "Only in this way can we lead the industry and the world.

*"That's what we're doing for Made in China 2025," she said, referring to the national plan to upgrade Chinese manufacturing. "That's our responsibility right now."*

The industrial robots covered by the company's intellectual property rights have been applied in welding, spraying and transportation, greatly enhancing productivity and reduces labor costs, she said.

In an earlier interview, she said her company would concentrate on robots and precision machine tools as part of efforts to upgrade and transform Chinese manufacturing, as well as providing entirely self-developed high-end equipment for Made in China 2025.

*Gree has independently filed more than 20 patents across over 100 types of automation products, such as intelligent automatic guided vehicles, industrial robots and manipulators for plastic injection machines, which are used to convey plastic products.*

These products have been applied in fields including home appliances, new energy, food and energy saving.

Intelligent equipment has become an important business growth point for Gree. The company reported that revenue from its intelligent equipment business reached 962 million yuan ($152 million) in the first half of last year, up 27 times compared with the same period in 2016.

*China has been the world's largest industrial robot market for four consecutive years, according to Wang Xiangrui, president of the China Machinery Industry Federation. *Sales of industrial robots reached 89,000 units in 2016, and the figure is expected to rise to 150,000 by 2020.

"The huge market demand, sound industrial basis and favorable policy support have brought a rare opportunity for the development of intelligent equipment and manufacturing," Wang said. "We should focus on intelligent manufacturing to promote high-quality development, which has also become the choice of China's manufacturing industry."

The transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing sector contributed to the development of the Chinese robot market, said Song Xiaogang, executive president and secretary-general of the China Robot Industry Alliance, adding that Gree has done good work focusing on the Chinese market.

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## cirr

*How the world's largest bitcoin miner is taking on AI's most powerful players*

Mar 19, 2018
Masha Borak






“In the future, AI will be everywhere,” said Bitmain product marketer Allen Tang while explaining how the biggest bitcoin mining equipment producer in the world plans to conquer artificial intelligence.

“It will be on cars, it will be on cameras, it will be on servers, in the back end,” he continued. “It’s just like the motor vehicle replacing the horse—it’s a big-time change that can dramatically alter the world. We think that’s a big trend and we need to do that.”

Founded by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan, Bitmain dominates the cryptocurrency mining business. The Chinese company started mining and selling its Antminer mining rigs in 2013. In just four short years, it reached $3 billion to $4 billion in yearly operating profits, according to US financial analysis company Bernstein.





_Bitmain’s product marketer Allen Tang (Image credit: TechNode)_

The company has been involved in a fair share of controversies, including accusations of monopolizing the mining business and undermining bitcoin itself. Nowadays, it looks like Bitmain wants to change its image from the shovel seller that gets rich on miners during a gold rush into a forward-looking innovator.

“If Bitmain wants to transform from a simple mining company to a tech giant, they need to get into AI, big data, etc.,” said Zarc Gin, fintech and blockchain analyst and reporter at InsurView. “That’s how you can improve your influence. And they certainly have the budget.”

According to Tang, Bitmain’s foray into AI started in 2015, long before China’s regulators started viewing cryptocurrencies with suspicion. Their AI chip division Sophon—named after the alien technology in Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem—aims to “solve all the puzzles in the universe,” or in layman’s terms, accelerate AI applications with the help of chips called ASICs ( application-specific integrated circuit).

Unlike CPU and GPU which are made for general purposes, ASIC silicone chips are designed for a specific task. One example is the complex mathematical tasks performed in cryptocurrency mining but they can also be used in machine learning. You can think of them as two types of workers: one can perform various roles pretty solid but lacks expertise. The other is excellent at one task but doesn’t know anything else. This is what Tang, a former Intel Product Marketing Manager for AI and HPS, sees as ASICs biggest plus.

“When companies like Intel and Nvidia build general purpose chips, they are building an ecosystem for everything, for running 100 or 200 applications. But when they run a specific application they may only utilize 1% of the chip’s capacity,” he said. “ASIC is dedicated to a special application which it can run very well and it can be ten or a hundred times more energy efficient than CPU.”

*Bitmain’s ASIC challenge*

In October last year, Bitmain released its customized AI ASIC for tensor computing acceleration. The Sophon BM1680 is designed for deep learning training and inference of neural networks. The chip is similar to Google’s own custom ASIC for deep learning TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) tailored for Google’s open-source machine learning framework, TensorFlow. Google released its TPU in beta on the Google Cloud Platform in February.

The question is: can Bitmain match the bigger players? It’s not just Google, either. Intel and NVIDIA are not only improving their GPUs but also experimenting with ASIC for AI. According to Moor Insights & Strategy senior analyst Karl Freund, ASIC chips are very difficult to design and build, even for a top-notch engineering team. Many companies have trouble recruiting the AI or neuroscience talent they need to get and stay ahead of companies like Nvidia or Intel, he said.





_Sophon’s Tensor Computing Processor BM1680 (Image credit: Sophon)_

“It is important to understand the ecosystem of software, libraries, researchers, and scientists needed to go from a fast chip to a fast growing and large business. Building a chip that can support Baidu or Alibaba is tough, but building a sustainable global business is much much harder.”

Freund is somewhat skeptical about the future of ASIC chips in AI. ASIC designers freeze the logic behind the chip early in the development process and are unable to react quickly when new ideas emerge in a fast-moving field like AI. ASICs in AI may find the same fate as workers who specialize in only one field and then find that technology has upended it.

“An ASIC may have higher performance, lower costs, and lower power for the application for which it was designed. However, it may cost $50 million to $100 million to develop, and cannot be repurposed for a different app or algorithm,” said Freund.

*Mining is just the beginning*

Bitmain isn’t the only Chinese cryptocurrency mining company going into artificial intelligence. China-based bitcoin mining chip makers Canaan Creative and Ebang have also set their eyes on AI. While Ebang’s plans seem more like an aspiration for now, Canaan Creative has been bolder. The company received a Series A of RMB 300 million ($43 million) in May 2017 and announced their plans to complete a new ASIC aimed at the AI market that year. TechNode reached out to the company to find out more but our questions went unanswered.

“There’s no denying the popularity of cryptocurrency and the blockchain. AI has a very similar amount of hype and excitement around it and I believe that Bitmain may be building on this excitement,” Anshel Sag, associate analyst for Moor Insights and Strategy, told TechNode.

Sag believes companies like Bitmain are going into AI for several reasons. For one thing, AI training is very computer intensive just like cryptocurrency mining. Bitmain may be preparing for home-grown demand and possible future requirements for using Chinese-made chips.

“Bitmain is a Chinese company so they may also get more preferential treatment within China as the Chinese government and Chinese companies start to use AI more and need more AI computing horsepower,” said Sag.

Bitmain is also a relatively big player in the semiconductor space. According to Sag, the company may be looking for ways to secure a good price for materials used for building chips such as wafers from TMSC, the world’s largest dedicated independent semiconductor fabrication plant.





_Bitmain’s office in Haidian District, Beijing (Image credit: Bitmain)_

According to Gin, Bitmain is likely to continue funding its operations from the lucrative mining business. The company holds 70 to 80 percent of market share in bitcoin miners and ASIC chips for mining, according to Bernstein. It also makes money from Antpool which is one of the world’s biggest mining pools (groups that share processing power to mine blocks in a blockchain). Aside from Sophon, Antminer, and Antpool, it has built a cryptocurrency exchange platform named BTC.COM and cloud mining platform Hashnest. The firm has also invested in tech companies in the US but has not revealed their names.

Bitmain says it now employs around 1000 people. During the last year, the company has been expanding its operations into countries such as US, Israel, and Singapore with their newest office opening in Switzerland’s Zug. The company has been recruiting staff, including machine learning experts, across China, Switzerland, Israel, the Netherlands, and Taiwan.

As Tang explained to TechNode, Sophon will focus on video analysis while the company has also bought a robotics firm to explore user scenarios. The bulk of their approximately 100—unnamed— customers are in public security industry or internet companies.

Tang also said that China has managed to catch up with global AI forces in two out of three areas that define the AI industry—data and algorithms. Computing or chips is one of the areas where the country still has room to evolve. He also believes that blockchain and AI are the “left leg and the right leg of the future.”

“They will both have trillions in the market in 10 years, we need to start investing now.”

https://technode.com/2018/03/19/bitmain-asic-ai/

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## cirr

*China develops new voice identification technique*

2018-03-20 08:41

Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

China has developed a technique to identify internet users based on their voices, according to developers.

The technique, jointly developed by Tsinghua University and a Beijing tech company, is aimed at providing quality identification services for users.

The technique can be applied for various services, such as finance, medical care and education, developers said.

The project is based in Guian New Area of Guizhou Province in the country's southwest. The new area focuses on emerging industries.

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## cirr

*AI technology integrates online and offline games*

2018-03-21 10:08 China Daily _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





A group of people play party card game Werewolf with an AI-enabled robot invented by Rokid Co Ltd as the judge.(Photo provided to China Daily)

*Developers combine gaming content with real-life interactions to gain more loyalty*

The party card game Werewolf is a regular part of life for Tracy Xing, a 27-year-old office clerk in Beijing who meets with colleagues to play the game in her office's public area at noon every Friday.

Now, she has a new "colleague" with whom to play－an artificial intelligence robot.

Werewolf is a simple reasoning group game that requires a judge to preside over the activity. It can be played online, with different roles such as villagers and killers assigned to the players and the computer acting as the judge.

Like Xing, many people prefer to play the game with friends or colleagues face-to-face offline, and the players take turns being the judge. But now, an AI robot can serve as the judge so that the participants can enjoy the game even more.

During the game, the robot, invented by Rokid Co Ltd, a Hangzhou-based AI firm, can give instructions and play background music, creating an immersive experience for human players.

Rokid gained a patent award in Silicon Valley last year for its Werewolf judge function.

"Having robots take some of humans' routine work, and set people free to engage in face-to-face interaction, is the original intention of inventing Rokid," said Jiang Gonglue, chief designer of the AI robot.

"In this information technology era, people are used to chatting with friends via WeChat. We wish to bring our users back to the time when we accompany our friends and talk with each other face-to-face," Jiang said, adding that the company will continue to develop multiplayer social games based on AI robots, such as knowledge quiz and music contest.

Misa Zhu, founder and CEO of Rokid, said that "taking advantage of AI, we want to create a cozy and pleasant environment for friends to stay closer."

Apart from promoting social interactions, AI technology is also helping get game players involved in exercises offline in the real world.

Walkup, a mobile game developed by Beijing-based internet firm Breeze Co Ltd, integrates offline walking with mobile games, via a virtual world cruise.

Specifically, each step the user physically takes will be tracked by Walkup and transferred to the outline of a world map. The more steps one takes, the further one walks in the virtual world tour. To offer more fun, the game allows real-time interactions. Players may invite their friends to join the game and compare their progress on their routes. Because players worldwide can participate, participants can even see their world rankings.

The game had accumulated more than six million users by September 2017, three years after it was launched, with those aged 19 to 30 accounting for more than 70 percent of the users, according to Chen Yang, founder of Walkup.

Its daily active users reached beyond 400,000, with a monthly retention rate of more than 30 percent and 2.4 million visits every day.

"The gamification of a product is the future trend. In the game, we establish a motivating mechanism, encouraging users to exercise offline. In their daily routine, users enjoy the game, interact with their friends and achieve their goals of exercising every day. This is how we gain user loyalty," Chen said.

"This mobile game motivates me to exercise. It tracked my steps and transferred those steps onto my world map," said Lu Bei, 25, a Beijing-based Walkup fan.

"Starting from Beijing, China ... I've already 'walked' to Tokyo, Japan. Nowadays, I take my phone everywhere. I would love to see my icon move on the map, and to check my ranking among my friends," Lu said.

Dong Zhen, a senior entertainment analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing, said the gaming industry, "like other internet industries, will present its scenarios offline after all.

"For users, offline scenarios of a game are more vivid, and are easier for gamers to interact with each other, while for game developers, combining online gaming with offline interactions is a wise choice to gain the loyalty of users and expand their market share," Dong said.

"AI will take the place of many scenario-based functions, just like what the AI robot is doing in getting everybody involved in the Werewolf game, boosting the advancement of the gaming industry, as well as serving game players better," he added.

According to a report jointly released by the Game Publishers Association Publications Committee, Gamma Data Corp and International Data Corporation, China's gaming market reached 203.6 billion yuan ($32.3 billion) last year, up 23 percent year-on-year, and the number of game players in the country reached 583 million.

AI products such as the judge in the Werewolf game, which link game players online and offline, have a market potential of roughly 70 billion yuan, according to Gao Yang, a big data specialist at YY Inc, a Nasdaq-listed social platform.

The AI industry will become a key new growth point for the nation's economy by 2020, with the core industry value totaling more than 150 billion yuan, according to a guideline released by the State Council last July.

The volume of related industries, including entertainment, intelligent manufacturing, intelligent agriculture, smart healthcare, smart city, as well as national defense, will reach more than 1 trillion yuan.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-21/296531.shtml

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## cirr

*China trials unmanned tanks in latest push for modernization*

REUTERS

March 21, 2018 at 12:50 JST

BEIJING--China is testing unmanned tanks which could be equipped with *artificial intelligence*, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday, as the country continues with its military modernization program.

State television showed images this week of the unmanned tanks undergoing testing, the Global Times newspaper reported.

Footage showed a Type 59 tank being driven by remote control, in what the paper said was the first time a Chinese-made unmanned tank has been shown in a public forum.

The Type 59 tank is based on an old Soviet model first used in China in the 1950s and has been produced in large numbers and has a long service life, it said.

"A large number of due-to-retire Type 59 tanks can be converted into unmanned vehicles if equipped with artificial intelligence," Liu Qingshan, the chief editor of Tank and Armored Vehicle, told the newspaper.

Unmanned tanks will be able to work on other unmanned equipment, integrate information from satellites, aircraft or submarines, the report added.

China is in the middle of an impressive modernization program for its armed forces, including building stealth fighters and new aircraft carriers, as President Xi Jinping looks to assert the country's growing power.

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## JSCh

*AI could alleviate China’s doctor shortage*
_Chinese doctors and tech companies are developing tools to automate routine medical tasks._

by Yiting Sun 
March 21, 2018
On a recent day at a hospital in western Beijing, a cancer radiologist named Chongchong Wu loaded a suspicious-looking lung scan into a computer program resembling Photoshop. A neural network trained on thousands of example scans highlighted nodules in red squares, which she examined carefully. She corrected two false positives where the network mistakenly identified blood vessels as potential malignancies. But she also found a nodule that she’d previously overlooked, perhaps indicating an early sign of disease.

China is embarking on a big initiative to add AI to health care with tools like this one. In some ways the trend mirrors what is happening in the US and Europe. In China, however, restrictions on the use of data and new technologies are looser, and the need for automation is more pronounced. There are 1.5 doctors for every 1,000 people in China, compared with 2.5 in the US.

China is moving quickly. Some 131 companies are currently working on applying AI in the country’s health-care sector, according to Yiou Intelligence, a Beijing-based consultancy. Starting next month, a hospital in Beijing will run all its lung scans past an AI algorithm in order to expedite the screening process.

The Chinese government has called for such technology to help with computerized medical diagnosis as part of the first stage of its grand plan to embrace AI by 2020 (see “China’s AI Awakening”). In a report published in February, IDC predicted that China’s market for AI health-care services will reach 5.9 billion yuan ($930 million) in 2022. This market is also being targeted by China’s big tech companies. Both Alibaba and Tencent have research units dedicated to developing AI diagnostic tools.

The way people perceive AI in China may make it easier for the technology to flourish in medicine. In the West, advances in AI have prompted debates about job losses, but most Chinese doctors seem keen to automate away their most repetitive work.

Using AI in medicine comes with challenges, though. The diagnostic tools may reach their conclusions using complicated mathematical processes that defy explanation. So far there is little debate in China about who will be responsible for mistakes when medical diagnoses are outsourced to these algorithms.

Last year, the China Food and Drug Administration incorporated AI diagnostic tools into its list of permitted medical devices, but companies need to apply for accreditation for each product before setting a price.

The AI software Wu used, developed by a Beijing-based startup called PereDoc, has been installed in more than 20 hospitals in China. PereDoc has amassed a network of more than 180 hospitals that serve as research collaborators.

Crafting algorithms that can process medical images, such as CT scans and x-rays, is a particularly hot field for China’s startups. One reason is that image classification plays to the strength of the latest deep-learning algorithms.

But AI is also being used in other areas. Peijun Lv, a prosthodontist in Beijing, is collaborating with Tsinghua University to develop an AI program that can design dentures. A prototype algorithm was trained using rules on denture design, drawn from textbooks, and 30,000 real cases labeled by doctors. “It can replicate the expertise of experienced doctors,” says Lv. He plans to run clinical trials of the algorithm later this year.

And Peng Liu, a lymphoma doctor in Beijing, is working with researchers at Tsinghua to develop a machine-learning algorithm that can use ultrasound data to detect blood clots caused by lymphoma treatment. If caught early, often via an ultrasound scan of the patient’s veins, blood clots can be easily treated. But hospitals often do not have enough resources to screen every patient unless there are specific symptoms.

Other researchers in China are tackling general medical knowledge. iFlytek and Tsinghua University jointly created an AI system that scored higher than over 96 percent of human contestants in last year’s Chinese medical licensing exam. The difficulty of creating a system like this is not incorporating the breadth of existing medical knowledge, but teaching machines to understand the intricate connections between different facts and use these findings to reason and make decisions.

At its core, this is a natural-language-processing system that’s particularly adept at dealing with medical questions. The way it reaches a conclusion on a multiple-choice question is completely different from the way a human chooses the best answer. The algorithm looks for evidence needed to answer a particular question by calculating statistical similarities between words represented mathematically.

A detailed analysis of the exam results shows where machines cannot compete with humans: common sense and ethics. The algorithm scored lower than the national average on the section that tests ability to exercise judgment under stressful situations such as family disputes.

Ji Wu, an associate professor at Tsinghua University who led the project, is exploring ways to put this algorithm to clinical use. But he admits it’s not going to be as simple as installing this software in every doctor’s computer.

Doctors who do use the new tools can find them a big help, though. At Chongchong Wu’s hospital in Beijing, for example, the outpatient department sees about 10,000 people every day, so she doesn’t have enough time to read every image as carefully as she’d like. The scan-processing program, she says, “can relieve my burden.”


AI could alleviate China’s doctor shortage - MIT Technology Review

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## Jlaw

TaiShang said:


> We *must stick to independent research and development, building our own talent pool* and R&D team, as well as mastering core technology," Dong said. "Only in this way can we lead the industry and the world.


China has more than enough talent at home. Just need to find it. Foreign talents are overrated. Most are good talkers, that's about it.

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## TaiShang

Jlaw said:


> China has more than enough talent at home. Just need to find it. Foreign talents are overrated. Most are good talkers, that's about it.



Indeed. Looking at China's frontier industries and seeing the average age of the scientists there (such as space) gives a good idea about harnessing domestic talent. 

China is giving full priority to home talent, I believe.

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## cirr

*Cheetah to offer affordable intelligent robot*

2018-03-22 15:17

chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





Zhang Quanling, former China Central Television anchorwoman, interacts with the Greetbot developed by Cheetah Mobile in Beijing on Wednesday. (Photo provided to China Daily)

Intelligent robots are often pictured as omnipotent assistants in movies and fiction, but in reality, they are far away from people's daily lives due to technological deficiencies and extravagant prices.

A Chinese company is aiming to change that by bringing smart machines to companies and houses at affordable prices.

With about 2,999 yuan ($475) per month, consumers can rent a smart robot produced by Cheetah Mobile Inc, best known for its utility apps in foreign countries. When consumers rent the robot for up to 18 months, at a total cost of about 54,000 yuan, they can keep the robot forever, for a price far lower than most rival products.

Cheetah Mobile claimed the robot, called "Greetbot", can serve as a security guard to patrol companies at night and automatically turn off all lights when employees are gone.

At the launch event, Greetbot showcased its ability to offer reception services to people who visit companies and hospitals. It can answer questions from human beings. More importantly, the robot can guide visitors to certain meeting rooms and when visitors stop midway, it will stop accordingly and suggest visitors to follow suit.

The robot is part of a broader product range Cheetah Mobile unveiled Wednesday night in Beijing, including an accompanying robot for children and a robotic arm that can make coffee.

The move showcased the company's determination to gain a presence in the booming sector. China is the world's largest market for industrial robots, and the aging population also creates a growing demand for service robots in the medical, healthcare, education and entertainment sectors.

China unveiled favorable policies in 2016, which stated its plan to triple annual production of industrial robots to 100,000 in five years and to sell more than 30 billion yuan's worth of service robots by 2020.

Fu Sheng, chairman and CEO of Cheetah Mobile, said despite intensifying competition the robotics industry still boasts tons of opportunities.

"Most companies are just assembling robots and few of their products are really helpful. We are rethinking what features are desired and which price range will be accepted by consumers," Fu said.

According to him, the company's years of experience in software and mobile apps can give it an advantage when building an integrated system to connect hardware and software.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/03-22/296725.shtml

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> Fu Sheng, chairman and CEO of Cheetah Mobile, said despite intensifying competition the robotics industry still boasts tons of opportunities.







*Artificial Intelligence*

Cheetah Mobile has built an AI technology platform to power its full line of products, upgrade its utility product matrix and contribute to the growth of its content apps. Cheetah Mobile's subsidiary OrionStar is a leader in the industry with cutting-edge technologies such as voice IO, facial recognition and visual navigation. OrionStar won first place at the 2017 MS-Celeb-1M (LFW) challenge, a world renowned facial recognition competition.

http://www.cmcm.com/en-us/product/#Product_Games

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## TaiShang

*China a pioneer in AI innovation*

By Ma Si | China Daily | Updated: 2018-03-27 




Google CEO Sundar Pichai (left) and Apple CEO Tim Cook speak at the China Development Forum 2018 in Beijing. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]
Google CEO: We want to work alongside the world's best talents

Ideas and technologies created in China will have a bigger impact as artificial intelligence increasingly reshapes people's work and lives, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Pichai's comments came a day after Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook announced plans to partner with China's Tsinghua University to create a joint research center for AI-related technologies.

The recognition from senior executives of two of the world's most valuable companies highlights the efforts being made by China into its transformation as an innovation pioneer from an innovation sponge.

"When it comes to AI, we want to work alongside the world's best talents. That is why we opened an AI research center in Beijing last year," said Pichai at the China Development Forum 2018 in Beijing on Monday.

"Openness will allow us to scale the impact of AI. No one company … will be able to do it alone. Everyone has a role to play," he said.

According to Pichai, China has already played a big part in promoting the development of AI and Chinese scientists have done a good job in research as they contribute to a significant number of papers in scientific journals.

The United States tech giant announced in December that it would establish a research center in Beijing, the first of its kind in Asia, to focus on basic AI research. According to Pichai, the center already has a team of researchers.

Google has been stepping up investment in China, one of the world's most dynamic tech landscapes. In January, it opened a new office in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which functions as a service center to deepen its cooperation with Chinese hardware makers.

Pichai's praise for China's talents came a day after Cook made similar comments at the same forum.

Cook said it was China's huge manufacturing capacity that lured him to bring Apple's business to the nation. But now Chinese products are also known for its high quality and the country is playing a leading role in innovation.

*As the nation steps up efforts to implement the "Made in China 2025" strategy, the world is witnessing local talents and professionals' research and development capabilities*, Cook added.

According to Cook, the joint research center with Tsinghua University will "focus on advanced technologies, including machine learning, computer vision, augmented reality and wireless technologies."

*China has for the first time surpassed the United States in equity funding to AI startups in 2017,* according to a report released by US-based venture capital database CB Insights.

Last year, startups worldwide raised more than $15.2 billion, up by 141 percent from 2016. *China's AI startups accounted for 48 percent of the global funding, up from 11.6 percent in 2016.* The US was ranked second with 38 percent, the report added.

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## JSCh

*AI hospital opens in Guangzhou*
China Plus Published: 2018-04-03 20:46:36



A woman seeking the help from an AI doctor at the Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital. [Photo: VCG]

China's first smart hospital featuring artificial intelligence has opened in Guangzhou, reports ycwb.com. 

Before patients arrive at the hospital, artificial intelligence (AI) can help patients with recommendations, make appointment and payments through the WeChat account of the Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital. 

A smart diagnosis system also helps doctors prescribe medications.

In addition to paying for bills online, patients can also establish their medical profile through facial recognition on WeChat. 

AI reduces the time of patient inquiries by as much as 50%, and can diagnose around 90% of illnesses that are treated at community clinics, according to the hospital's deputy chief Li Guanming. 

Li says they are drafting a guideline on AI application for all major hospitals in Guangdong Province.

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## JSCh

*AI training program enters Chinese universities*
By Wang Mengzhen
2018-04-04 10:10 GMT+8
Updated 2018-04-04 10:39 GMT+8

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a key aspect of technology in China, and universities in the country are ramping up their training programs to meet the growing demand for AI experts. A special five-year AI talent training program was unveiled on Tuesday by the Ministry of Education to help with that mission.

AI is becoming more and more prominent within our lives as it is now being used within the delivery service and the health sector. Alongside this, face and voice recognition are now a common security feature.

More than 300 companies offered about 14,000 AI-related positions during a recent job fair at Xi'an Jiaotong University, one of China's leading technology schools. Annual salaries for these types of positions can reach up to 60,000 US dollars, way above the average for most new graduates.

But how do we train a qualified AI expert? As a latecomer to AI education, China still lags behind.

“The talent shortage has become the bottleneck of China's AI development. So far, ten Chinese universities have set up AI-related majors. But with the limits of equipment and environment, many graduates lack the practical operational skills of AI, thus failing the urgent needs of employers," said Xu Tao, director of the International Cooperation and Exchanges Department at the Ministry of Education.

Goldman and Sachs released a special report on China's Rise in AI in 2017, suggesting that China would become a major global force in using AI to drive economic progress thanks to its supportive policies and booming technology.

However, another Goldman report suggested that while China has joined half of the world's new AI projects, it only accounts for five percent of the global AI talent pool.

The Ministry of Education and Sinovation Ventures launched a five-year education project on Tuesday to help bridge that gap. The project aims to educate 500 Chinese university teachers and another 5,000 students in AI.

One hundred and six teachers from 49 universities are already participating in the first round of training at Peking University. The curriculum includes the latest AI theories and practices.



A group photo of the 106 teachers from 49 universities who have joined in the first round of training at Peking University /CGTN Photo

It is China's first international AI training project at a university level and its faculty includes such luminaries as Turing-Award-winning computer scientist John Edward Hopcroft and Chinese AI expert Li Kaifu.



The faculty of the AI training project includes such luminaries as John E. Hopcroft (R) and Chinese AI expert Li Kaifu. /CGTN Photo

Professor Hopcroft, who has been involved in teaching AI in China for a decade, will teach a course at Peking University on "deep networks".

"I am hoping these 100 instructors will go back to their institutions and if each teaches a class of 100 students that's 10,000 students that will get educated rather than working at the level of 100 that I used to work on," said John E. Hopcroft, IBM professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Cornell University.



Award-winning computer scientist John E. Hopcroft, IBM professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Cornell University, met with the press after the AI Training Program launching event at Peking University, Beijing, April 3, 2018. /CGTN Photo

China published its national development plan for AI in 2017 and aims to become a world leader in the sector by 2030. The country has also prioritized the training and recruitment of AI talent and the ministry says it is considering the establishment of an AI major in Chinese universities.

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## TaiShang

*China to train 500 teachers in AI*

CGTN
2018-04-07





A government program is training 500 university teachers and 5,000 students in artificial intelligence (AI).

The program organized by the Ministry of Education, Peking University and Innovation Works (a Beijing incubator) will last for five years.

Last year, China's cabinet issued an AI development outline, stressing the need to train AI talents and attract the world's leading professionals to China.

The new program targets teachers and students alike. They will participate in training sessions and camps. 

Teachers of the course include US computer scientist John E. Hopcroft, a recipient of A.M. Turing Award and Kai-Fu Lee, venture capitalist and head of the Innovation Works research unit.

The program will train 100 teachers and 300 students this year.

Peking University Vice President Tian Gang said the school expects the program to become a model that can be expanded in universities across China.

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## cirr

*For shorthand typists, AI brings end to boom times*

2018-04-06 09:26 China Daily _Editor: Feng Shuang_

At the start of his career, Li Zhengjie would scour the streets, wander university campuses and even climb skyscrapers to drum up business. He quickly realized that being a freelance stenographer is hard work－even before you've landed a client.

Twelve years on, the job is still hard, but at least his income has increased.

Li's first client was a professor who paid him 160 yuan ($25) in March 2006 to record and transcribe discussions during a two-hour seminar in Beijing. Li and his wife, also a stenographer, made about 1,800 yuan a month that year, but today they can earn up to 30,000 yuan a month.

"I could barely imagine such an income when I was starting out," said Li, 36, who now leads a team of 12 stenographers covering events across the Chinese capital.

However, some in the business fear breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and smart voice-recording software is threatening their industry.

"I'm kind of worried whether this job will still exist in the years ahead," said Pan Li, who has been in the business for 12 years. She works with her friend Ma Ruijuan from a home office in Handan, Hebei province, about 400 kilometers from Beijing. They handle interviews, academic speeches, court hearings, phone surveys and celebrity appearances, charging 80 yuan an hour.

Pan, Ma and Li were all inspired to become stenographers around 2006 after spotting advertisements in local newspapers that suggested demand for such skills would soar over the following decade.

The prediction was correct, and all three have so far enjoyed decent careers. Yet as demand begins to drop due to new technologies, so are incomes.

Li mostly now works conferences, seminars and forums, but in 2006 he was receiving a lot of business from journalists who wanted quick transcriptions of their interviews.

"They'd give me their recordings and I'd usually charge them 70 or 80 yuan an hour," he said. But since 2015, that kind of work has all but disappeared. "Few are still coming to me today because they can simply use smart software and apps to produce their own transcripts," Li added.

*'Exciting experiences'*

After graduating with an advertising degree from college in his native Shenyang, Liaoning province, Li worked for several months for a local ad agency. But he was not happy with the salary.

"Then I saw a newspaper ad for a stenography training school that said the industry would be one of the most promising for the next 10 years and promised high salaries," he recalled. "At that time, none of my friends and relatives had ever heard of such a job."

Li and his wife signed up for classes, paying about 10,000 yuan for tuition, and over the next six months dedicated themselves to learning how to use a stenotype, a machine that enables users to record speech in shorthand.

"The hardest part is improving your speed. To go from typing 60 words a minute to 120 words required us to practice by typing millions and millions of words," he said.

Due to the limited demand in his hometown, Li decided to move to Beijing shortly after completing his training. Stenographers typically start by transcribing audio files and then progress to conferences, which are high pressure but pay about 300 yuan an hour. Li started working conferences in 2008.

Ma from Hebei relocated to the capital in 2006 for the same reason as Li. "Most of my clients were introduced by friends in the same industry, and I was usually hired to do transcripts of media interviews," the 32-year-old said.

Before long, she was regularly working in the studios of China Central Television, the State broadcaster, and Beijing TV, and by 2010, she had helped produce transcripts of a number of high-profile shows, including CCTV's Legal Report.

"Those were the most exciting experiences of my 20s," she said, laughing. "I didn't know what a TV interview was like until I stepped into a TV studio."

Ma eventually moved back to her hometown with her husband and children, but she continues to work on interviews by receiving and sending files through the internet.

"I'm the main breadwinner in my family because this job allows me to earn more money than my husband," she said. "What's more, it keeps me connected with the outside world."

*Coexisting with AI*

Courts are a major source of work for stenographers, who record proceedings for the public record. However, tech tycoon Liu Qingfeng is hoping to change that.

Liu's company, iFlytek－which is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui province, and makes language input software and voice-recognition programs－unveiled an AI system last month that will not only record court hearings, but also aid judges in reviewing criminal cases.

"We're now able to use AI to help judges review four types of cases, namely homicide, theft, telecom fraud and illegal fundraising," he said at a news conference on March 5. As he spoke, his words appeared on a screen beside him almost instantly, demonstrating the speed and accuracy of the company's technology.

Stenographer Li Zhengjie said the rapid developments seen in AI in recent years have raised concerns about the future of his profession.

"I've been thinking about this problem since 2010, and I used to worry my job may one day no longer exist," he said, adding that voice-recognition software like that produced by iFlytek is the No 1 reason why demand from journalists for transcription services is drying up.

"When the conversation takes place in a very quiet environment and all the speakers are talking loudly and clearly, such apps work better and more efficiently than us humans," he conceded.

Yet he said he feels confident that such technology will not replace conference stenographers, at least not in the short term.

"I've never doubted the necessity for a human stenographer because only we can recognize who is speaking when, so we can record the correct order of speakers," Li said. "Plus, the environments at forums and conferences are usually too noisy for voice translation apps to work efficiently."

Ma agrees, and added that most interview recordings she works on are also conducted in noisy environments such as on streets or in restaurants.

Li said he ultimately believes his job can coexist with AI systems.

"It's like radio versus television," he explained. "When TV arrived and became popular in every household, many people were saying radio was a dying industry. Yet both are running well today and simply have adjusted to cater to varying customer demand.

"Such coexistence will also be seen between stenography and AI," he added.

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## JSCh

*China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World*
Bloomberg News
April 9, 2018, 9:00 AM GMT+8

It becomes the world’s richest-valued private AI startup
The company drives China’s ambition to dominate global AI

SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup.

The company, which specializes in systems that analyze faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte and retailer Suning.com Co. also participated. SenseTime didn’t outline individual investments, but Alibaba was said to have sought the biggest stake in the three-year-old startup.

With the deal, SenseTime has doubled its valuation in a few months. Backed by Qualcomm Inc., it underscores its status as one of a crop of homegrown firms spearheading Beijing’s ambition to become the leader in AI by 2030. And it’s a contributor to the world’s biggest system of surveillance: if you’ve ever been photographed with a Chinese-made phone or walked the streets of a Chinese city, chances are your face has been digitally crunched by SenseTime software built into more than 100 million mobile devices.

The latest financing will bankroll investments in parallel fields such as autonomous driving and augmented reality, cover the growing cost of AI talent and shore up its computing power. It’s developing a service code-named “Viper” to parse data from thousands of live camera feeds -- a platform it hopes will prove invaluable in mass surveillance. And it’s already in talks to raise another round of funds and targeting a valuation of more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We’re going to explore several new strategic directions and that’s why we shall spend more money on building infrastructure,” SenseTime co-founder Xu Li said in an interview. The company turned profitable in 2017 and wants to grow its workforce by a third to 2,000 by the end of this year. “For the past three years the average revenue growth has been 400 percent.”


China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World - Bloomberg

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## TaiShang

JSCh said:


> *China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World*
> Bloomberg News
> April 9, 2018, 9:00 AM GMT+8
> 
> It becomes the world’s richest-valued private AI startup
> The company drives China’s ambition to dominate global AI
> 
> SenseTime Group Ltd. has raised $600 million from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and other investors at a valuation of more than $3 billion, becoming the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup.
> 
> The company, which specializes in systems that analyze faces and images on an enormous scale, said it closed a Series C round in recent months in which Singaporean state investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte and retailer Suning.com Co. also participated. SenseTime didn’t outline individual investments, but Alibaba was said to have sought the biggest stake in the three-year-old startup.
> 
> With the deal, SenseTime has doubled its valuation in a few months. Backed by Qualcomm Inc., it underscores its status as one of a crop of homegrown firms spearheading Beijing’s ambition to become the leader in AI by 2030. And it’s a contributor to the world’s biggest system of surveillance: if you’ve ever been photographed with a Chinese-made phone or walked the streets of a Chinese city, chances are your face has been digitally crunched by SenseTime software built into more than 100 million mobile devices.
> 
> The latest financing will bankroll investments in parallel fields such as autonomous driving and augmented reality, cover the growing cost of AI talent and shore up its computing power. It’s developing a service code-named “Viper” to parse data from thousands of live camera feeds -- a platform it hopes will prove invaluable in mass surveillance. And it’s already in talks to raise another round of funds and targeting a valuation of more than $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
> 
> “We’re going to explore several new strategic directions and that’s why we shall spend more money on building infrastructure,” SenseTime co-founder Xu Li said in an interview. The company turned profitable in 2017 and wants to grow its workforce by a third to 2,000 by the end of this year. “For the past three years the average revenue growth has been 400 percent.”
> 
> 
> China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World - Bloomberg




That's exactly the reason why the US regime has been raising shrill voice at China constantly. Their concern is not a trade imbalance (they would be happy if the imbalance is caused by China selling millions of plastic toys); the reason is China's development in advanced and frontier technologies.

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## Jlaw

TaiShang said:


> That's exactly the reason why the US regime has been raising shrill voice at China constantly. Their concern is not a trade imbalance (they would be happy if the imbalance is caused by China selling millions of plastic toys); the reason is China's development in advanced and frontier technologies.


I think you're the right. The trade imbalance is just the smoke screen. The real reason is Rothschild controlled US banks want total control of Chinese banking sector as a way to control Chinese as they control America now.

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## TaiShang

Jlaw said:


> I think you're the right. The trade imbalance is just the smoke screen. The real reason is Rothschild controlled US banks want total control of Chinese banking sector as a way to control Chinese as they control America now.



Well, then bad news, because China will never allow control over critical sectors such as telecommunication, finance and minerals.

The US can cry another Crimea river.

China can simply play the US internal politics, hurt some critical voter bases in the US, and indirectly effect policy decisions. And it seems this is what China has been doing.

No drama Obama.

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## cirr

从云科技（CloudWalk Technology Co.）is another AI unicorn with an estimted value of some 3 billion USD

http://www.cloudwalk.cn/

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## cirr

*Employers put emphasis on hiring top AI talent*

2018-04-09 13:57 China Daily_Editor: Mo Hong'e_






People visit the Baidu exhibition stand at the Light of the Internet Expo in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province. (Photo provided to China Daily)

In 2017, after 11 years of study in the United States, a period topped by a master's in computer science from Harvard University, Tang Yuhan, 26, decided to return to homeland China.

He said he was more than satisfied to join an artificial intelligence or AI startup in Beijing. AI, he said, helped realize his dream of being "a surfer riding the waves of China's new era".

"I already missed the chance to see how the internet reshaped the country in the past decades. I don't want to miss this," he said. "It's a technology that will be seen in every aspect of life in the future."

AI appeared in this year's Government Work Report for a second time. The report said China would strengthen research and applications of AI in fields like medical care, education, culture and sports.

Globally, too, AI is making waves, and creating a dire need for skilled professionals. There are only about 300,000 globally, while the demand is for more than 1 million AI professionals, according to a report released by the Tencent Research Institute and online recruitment platform Boss Zhipin in December.

Demand rose more than five times from 2015 to 2017 since a mass of companies began to enter this field, the report said.

According to local media reports that quoted government officials, China alone needs more than 5 million workers with AI skills in the future, to support the booming industry.

Tang, the Harvard graduate, said when he was searching for jobs last year, almost all big names of corporate China had sought to make campus placements, including Baidu Inc, which launched a new round of overseas recruitment from March to April, the golden months for job hunting.

It plans to search for talent in nine top universities in the US, to fill positions related to machine learning, data mining and computer vision algorithms, according to the company's recruitment advertisement.

However, according to Tang, though more than 70 percent of his classmates chose AI-related companies, only 10 percent came to China.

"Competition among AI companies has turned to a scramble for talent," said Liu Wanqian, CEO and founder of PlusAI, a startup specializing in autonomous driving. It boasts a road test license in California.

Liu said the company needs 50 to 100 new AI personnel every year, to take up jobs involving examination of driving conditions and development of automatic braking.

"Solid educational background in basic AI-related subjects, including mathematics, computer programming and statistics is a necessity," he said.

Liu did not share details about the salaries of his AI specialists, but said they are roughly 20 to 50 percent higher than that of traditional technicians.

According to recruitment website Zhaopin, Meituan Waimai, a food delivery firm, offers 20,000 yuan ($3,164) to 25,000 yuan per month to AI product managers.

For similar positions, Baidu provides a monthly salary ranging from 20,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan, according to Zhaopin.

Du Lan, senior vice-president of iFlytek Co Ltd, an AI company in China, said it trains former technicians to become new AI professionals.

About 48 percent of its 9,000 employees are researchers in fields such as intelligent voice recognition, machine learning and natural language understanding.

"Like water and electricity, AI will enter every industry and family in the future," she said. "China has already taken a leading role in many innovations of this technology."

In order to meet the growing demand, Du said an educational system is required covering primary schools to vocational schools and universities.

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## terranMarine

TaiShang said:


> That's exactly the reason why the US regime has been raising shrill voice at China constantly. Their concern is not a trade imbalance (they would be happy if the imbalance is caused by China selling millions of plastic toys); the reason is China's development in advanced and frontier technologies.



So what does the US want to accomplish by focusing on the trade imbalance? How does this so called trade war have a direct link with the above news?


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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> In 2017, *after 11 years of study in the United States, a period topped by a master's in computer science from Harvard University, Tang Yuhan, 26, decided to return to homeland China.*
> 
> He said he was more than satisfied to join an artificial intelligence or AI startup in Beijing. AI, he said, helped realize his dream of being "a surfer riding the waves of China's new era".
> 
> "I already missed the chance to see how the internet reshaped the country in the past decades. I don't want to miss this," he said. "It's a technology that will be seen in every aspect of life in the future."



Returnees are China's human resource reserves. 

Similar phenomenon happened in Taiwan in the 1990s.

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## cirr

*'Unmanned bank' makes debut in Shanghai*

2018-04-11 10:57 

chinaplus.cri.cn _Editor: Gu Liping_






A China Construction Bank branch on Kiukiang Road, Shanghai, is being touted as the first "unmanned bank" on the Chinese mainland with its opening on April 9, 2018, reports the Shanghai Observer.

Instead of being approached by human personnel, the bank foyer is staffed by a robot, which serves as the bank lobby manager, and is able to communicate with customers to meet their needs and solve their problems.

The difference between a traditional self-service bank and the unmanned bank is the intelligent self-service equipment which is able to access various banking services within the branch.

Customers at the Kiukiang CCB branch have access to video teller machines, currency exchange machines, as well as interactive services including Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The self-service equipment can handle over 90% of the cash and cashless services of a traditional bank.

However, despite the term "unmanned bank," the Kiukiang CCB branch does still maintain a human staff.

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## TaiShang

*China’s AI talent strategy: domestic boom, international lure*

(People's Daily Online) April 12, 2018






Sourcing skilled researchers remains a major bottleneck in the global advancement of AI. This holds even true for China, a country that *vows to become a leading AI power by 2030.* Progressing at a dizzying pace, China’s AI industry has now entered a battle of top-tier AI talents, with a focus on AI education and international brain gain.

According to the AI Innovation Action Plan for Colleges and Universities, which was issued by China’s Ministry of Education in April, *Chinese colleges and universities will become the world frontiers in AI and a hotbed for AI talents by 2030, while 50 world class AI textbooks, 50 national-level high quality online AI courses and 50 AI research centers will be established by 2020.*

As for introducing foreign talents, Zhongguancun, China’s AI hub in Beijing, has offered permanent residence to 258 foreigners since 2016, a generous number for a country that has one of the world’s strictest immigration policies.

“It is a common sense that artificial intelligence will be the key technology that underpins national power in the future, and the future of AI lies in skilled talents and enormous data,” said Aron Niu, a Beijing-based AI researcher.

*Talent growth*

Boasting the world’s largest internet market with over 700 million web users, China’s AI industry is uncharacteristically low in talents. According to a report released by LinkedIn, of the 1.9 million AI talents in the world, China only accounts for just over 50,000 of them, while the U.S., which tops the rankings, has an AI talent pool of 850,000 individuals.

Seeing AI as the country’s innovation focus, China in 2017 issued the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, in which it listed accelerating the education of top-notch AI talents as a primary task.

“We hope to cultivate our own scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs in the field of AI, making them the top-notch experts worldwide. China’s AI development needs more scientists, but skilled engineers are also important,” Zheng Nanning, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Science and Technology Daily.

The government’s focus on AI education has paid off. In 2017, 19 Chinese universities have added AI engineering as a new major for their undergraduate students, while the number is expected to reach 50 over the next two years.

In addition to professional education, AI classes have also entered elementaries and middle schools in China. According to China’s AI report in 2017, more AI-related coding courses will be set up at the elementary and secondary school levels over the next decade, helping the public better understand AI technologies.

“The governments’ emphasis on AI education will encourage more students to choose AI as their major, leading to a significant rise in the number of AI researchers and engineers in China,” said Niu.

*Talents grab*

While cultivating its own talents, China has also been making effort to lure skilled AI researchers and engineers worldwide. According to Reuters, China’s Zhongguancun now has 10 overseas liaison offices designed to attract tech talents in countries like the U.S. and Finland, favorable policies, such as allowing foreign professionals to bring in their own foreign maids, currently illegal in Beijing, are also being discussed further.

The amount of public funding available to researchers and competitive salaries might be a major factor that makes China an attractive place for top-tier AI talents. China received about 180 billion yuan ($28 billion) of investment and financing in the field of AI in 2017, vowing to bring the value of core AI industries to more than one trillion yuan by 2030.

“As a senior engineer, my salary before tax has reached 40,000 yuan per month, which is quite lucrative even for engineers in western countries,” said Niu.

The favorable policy and abundant investment has led to more foreign AI talents to China. According to LinkedIn, there are around 140,000 Chinese AI technical talents worldwide, with half of them working in the U.S, but the number of such individuals returning to China has been on the rise. From 2013 to 2016, the number of returnees who have overseas work experience grew by 10 percent every year. 

http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0412/c90000-9448828.html

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## cirr

*Adaptive learning boosted by AI tech*

2018-04-12 14:24 chinadaily.com.cn _Editor: Mo Hong'e_





Li Haoyang, founder of Yixue Education, a Chinese education company focused on adaptive learning, delivers a speech on AI education in Beijing on April 11. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

Adaptive learning is expected to become the next frontier of AI education and will revolutionize traditional ways of learning and teaching in China, industry experts said on Wednesday.

"Adaptive learning, enabled by artificial intelligence, builds a huge system based on big data to know students' exact weaknesses and helps them to improve," said Richard Tong, former senior implementation architect of Knewton, a US leading adaptive learning company.

He noted it's different from some AI education products in the market, as it is not a tool which only turns offline class teaching to online.

"It leverages advanced technologies to change from teacher-centered to student-centered to help students really improve their efficiency," he added.

He made the remarks at a global summit on intelligent adaptive learning co-held by Shanghai Yixue Education Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese education company focused on adaptive learning.

The company has developed an AI-enabled system to divide knowledge into small tailor-made chunks, so students can focus on their weaknesses instead of wasting time on what they have already mastered.

"We are now scrambling to divide knowledge points by learning abilities to help students not only grasp the knowledge point itself, but more importantly, the abilities that will indeed help them in the future," said Li Haoyang, founder of Yixue Education.

According to Li, the company is ramping up efforts to build a huge AI-enabled system in hopes of making a breakthrough globally in the segment.

Yixue's smart teaching has spawned success in China, with its paid users exceeding 100,000 across more than 20 provinces. The latest company data showed its total revenue surpassed 300 million yuan ($48 million) last year, 10 times that of the previous year.

The company has raised 270 million yuan from the country's two education giants TAL Education Group and New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc, as well as the SIG Asia Investment Fund.

"When we invest in an AI education company, we pay attention to its ability to develop content, apply advanced technologies and operate educational services," said Wang Qiong, co-founder of SIG Asia Investment Fund. "It's these three factors that drove us to invest in Yixue Education."

"AI education is a promising field, as it doesn't use a traditional method and breaks current bottlenecks in the education segment," she added.

She added that compared with giants in the field, small education startups can focus on education business, which deserve more investment.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/04-12/298915.shtml

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## onebyone

__ https://www.facebook.com/


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## Mohrenn

TaiShang said:


> That's exactly the reason why the US regime has been raising shrill voice at China constantly. Their concern is not a trade imbalance (they would be happy if the imbalance is caused by China selling millions of plastic toys); the reason is China's development in advanced and frontier technologies.



I remember very well the times when you could read in every "serious" newspaper like The New York Time etc how China was unable to have any kind of innovation because of *Insert made up semi-racist sociological argument*.

What a bunch of sad losers, completely unable to see past their noses. Oh well, at least it makes things easier.

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## cirr

*China pushes artificial intelligence education in colleges*

2018-04-13 09:58 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*China pushes artificial intelligence education in colleges, to train 5,000 students*

Artificial intelligence (AI) could become another popular major in China's college and universities, experts predicted, after an education ministry working plan was released to encourage the cultivation of AI talent in higher educational institutions.

The notice, announced on April 3, encourages colleges and universities to explore engineering courses that integrate AI with other subjects such as computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, biology, psychology, sociology and law, and to train innovative people.

According to the plan, 100 special majors that combine AI and other subjects and 50 AI colleges and research institutes or interdisciplinary research centers will be set up by 2020.

"AI will be the trend during the next 30 to 50 years. For students who have an interest in related fields such as mathematics, biology and data analysis, AI should be an important subject worth their study and effort," Zuo Shiquan, head of the equipment manufacturing research institute under the China Center for Information Industry Development, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Experts also noted that the AI education should also include courses on ethical issues involving AI, so that the advanced technology will not develop out of control and harm society.

Colleges focusing on research and development in AI technology have been set up in several universities in China, such as Xidian University, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, National University of Defense Technology and Nanjing University.

An AI top talent experimental class has been set up in Xi'an Jiaotong University in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, an enrollment official from the university told the Global Times on Thursday.

Peking University launched an AI talent international training program, supported by the Ministry of Education and Innovation Works, a Beijing-based incubator platform, on April 3.

The program plans to invite national and international experts as instructors and provide training for 100 teachers and 300 students in 2018, and 500 teachers and 5,000 students within five years.

The Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan Province held a sub-forum Wednesday to discuss what the AI revolution means to human society and how the technology will improve people's lives.

"In the next five to 10 years, a growing number of companies will pay more attention to AI as they did on the internet 10 years ago. AI technology is deeply integrated in every industry," chinanews.com reported, citing Zhu Guang, Baidu senior vice president.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/04-13/299004.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Adaptive learning boosted by AI tech*

By Cheng Yu | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-04-12 





Li Haoyang, founder of Yixue Education, a Chinese education company focused on adaptive learning, delivers a speech on AI education in Beijing on April 11. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Adaptive learning is expected to become the next frontier of AI education and will revolutionize traditional ways of learning and teaching in China, industry experts said on Wednesday.

"Adaptive learning, enabled by artificial intelligence, builds a huge system based on big data to know students' exact weaknesses and helps them to improve," said Richard Tong, former senior implementation architect of Knewton, a US leading adaptive learning company.

He noted it's different from some AI education products in the market, as it is not a tool which only turns offline class teaching to online.

"It leverages advanced technologies to change from teacher-centered to student-centered to help students really improve their efficiency," he added.

He made the remarks at a global summit on intelligent adaptive learning co-held by Shanghai Yixue Education Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese education company focused on adaptive learning.

The company has developed an AI-enabled system to divide knowledge into small tailor-made chunks, so students can focus on their weaknesses instead of wasting time on what they have already mastered.

"We are now scrambling to divide knowledge points by learning abilities to help students not only grasp the knowledge point itself, but more importantly, the abilities that will indeed help them in the future," said Li Haoyang, founder of Yixue Education.

According to Li, the company is ramping up efforts to build a huge AI-enabled system in hopes of making a breakthrough globally in the segment.

Yixue's smart teaching has spawned success in China, with its paid users exceeding 100,000 across more than 20 provinces. The latest company data showed its total revenue surpassed 300 million yuan ($48 million) last year, 10 times that of the previous year.

The company has raised 270 million yuan from the country's two education giants TAL Education Group and New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc, as well as the SIG Asia Investment Fund.

"When we invest in an AI education company, we pay attention to its ability to develop content, apply advanced technologies and operate educational services," said Wang Qiong, co-founder of SIG Asia Investment Fund. "It's these three factors that drove us to invest in Yixue Education."

"AI education is a promising field, as it doesn't use a traditional method and breaks current bottlenecks in the education segment," she added.

She added that compared with giants in the field, small education startups can focus on education business, which deserve more investment.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/12/WS5acee9efa3105cdcf6517da5.html

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## JSCh

*China exports facial ID technology to Zimbabwe*
By Shan Jie Source:Global Times Published: 2018/4/12 22:58:40

China is exporting facial recognition technology to Zimbabwe as part of the Belt and Road initiative, which marks China's first artificial intelligence (AI) technology entry to Africa.

Cloudwalk, a company based in South China's Guangdong Province, has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Zimbabwean government for a mass facial recognition project, according to a statement sent to the Global Times by Cloudwalk on Thursday.

The project will help the government build a smart financial service network as well as introduce intelligent security applications at airports, railway stations and bus stations, said the Science and Technology Daily. 

The company will also help build a national facial database in Zimbabwe, the newspaper reported Thursday. 

"Zimbabwe has been suffering social security issues, including robberies and shootings, so the system could help in this area," said Shen Xiaolei, an associate research fellow at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies in Beijing.

Facial recognition in Africa faces an additional challenge: AI technology currently finds it more difficult to recognize faces with darker skin, Shen told the Global Times.

Cloudwalk is recalibrating the system for darker skin metrics, Zhou Yuye, an employee at the Cloudwalk technology promotion department, told the Global Times. 

Three-dimensional light technology should be able to recognize faces without being affected by skin color or light, he said. 

The company is also developing an AI system which can recognize different people from their gait, shape or haircut and could be added to facial recognition, Zhou said.

By optimizing cameras to better highlight the features of people with darker skin tones, smartphone manufacturer Transsion has become a top player in Africa's fast-growing smartphone market, the Xinhua News Agency reported in August last year.

Shenzhen-based Transsion, whose products are sold under the Tecno, itel and Infinix brands, controls 40 percent of the African market.

Transsion has developed a technology that "enriches the luminance of the picture by locating eyes and teeth," Economic Daily reported.

Zimbabwe and China agreed last week to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

"Cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is mainly on mines, agriculture, road construction and tourism. Science and technology is not yet a priority," Shen said.

This Chinese AI industry project in Africa could contribute to the economic development and technology sharing in countries along the Belt and Road initiative and realize the win-win goal of economic benefits, the Science and Technology Daily article said.

Facial recognition in Africa faces an additional challenge: AI technology currently finds it more difficult to recognize faces with darker skin, Shen told the Global Times.

Cloudwalk is recalibrating the system for darker skin metrics, Zhou Yuye, an employee at the Cloudwalk technology promotion department, told the Global Times. 

Three-dimensional light technology should be able to recognize faces without being affected by skin color or light, he said. 

The company is also developing an AI system which can recognize different people from their gait, shape or haircut and could be added to facial recognition, Zhou said.

By optimizing cameras to better highlight the features of people with darker skin tones, smartphone manufacturer Transsion has become a top player in Africa's fast-growing smartphone market, the Xinhua News Agency reported in August last year.

Shenzhen-based Transsion, whose products are sold under the Tecno, itel and Infinix brands, controls 40 percent of the African market.

Transsion has developed a technology that "enriches the luminance of the picture by locating eyes and teeth," Economic Daily reported.

Zimbabwe and China agreed last week to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

"Cooperation between China and Zimbabwe is mainly on mines, agriculture, road construction and tourism. Science and technology is not yet a priority," Shen said.

This Chinese AI industry project in Africa could contribute to the economic development and technology sharing in countries along the Belt and Road initiative and realize the win-win goal of economic benefits, the Science and Technology Daily article said.

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## cirr

*Artificial intelligence aids in cancer diagnosis in China*

*Frances Kuo*







Published April 16, 2018 at 10:02 PM

Detecting cancer — one of the deadliest diseases — is not an exact science.

But, artificial intelligence is helping doctors in China make more accurate cancer diagnoses.

As CGTN’s Frances Kuo reports, it’s part of an expanding industry in the country.

The Shenzhen No. 6 People’s Hospital in southern China is marking a milestone: doctors are getting a hand from artificial intelligence.

The new system is helping diagnose one of the deadliest of all cancers – esophageal cancer.

Doctors first take images of the patient’s esophagus. Then, the AI system does its part.

“For example, we have 50 images,” explained Dr. Cheng Chunsheng of the Shenzhen No. 6 People’s Hospital. “The AI system will sort them and select pictures showing a high possibility of cancer. We only need to check five selected images for a diagnosis.”

The images are compared to those in a database containing diagnostic information from hospitals across the country.

“AI is able to learn from numerous amounts of data, that’s what humans can’t do,” said Zhou Xuan, Senior Product Director of Tencent’s Internet Plus Partnership.

Shenzhen is one of the first hospitals trying out this system for clinical testing.

“Now the accuracy of early detection of esophageal cancer has reached 90 percent, roughly the same level of diagnosis made by human doctors,” said Luo Xudong, President of the Shenzhen No. 6 People’s Hospital.

The system began trial use in other Chinese hospitals in June 2017. Since the launch, it’s served 400,000 patients. The system was developed by Chinese internet giant, Tencent.

It joins Alibaba as well as smaller start-ups in developing AI technology in healthcare.

It’s a booming industry – the International Data Corporation predicts China’s market for AI healthcare services will reach $930 million in 2022.

It’s all part of China’s plan to build a national platform for AI diagnostic medical imaging.

The goals are to improve accuracy and efficiency in China’s healthcare system, particularly as China struggles with a doctor shortage.

As for the AI system in Shenzhen and other hospitals like it, the hope is that it can be made available to most remote areas.

And, in the future, help speed diagnoses for all of China’s deadliest cancers.

*Dr. Joel Selanikio discusses fusion of artifical intelligence, medicine*
Diagnosing cancer is not an exact science, but doctors in China are getting some help doing so from artificial intelligence. It’s part of a push to give AI a bigger role in the healthcare system. Dr. Joel Selanikio, CEO and co-founder of mobile data collection and messaging software system Magpi, discusses the infusion of AI technology and medicine with CGTN’s Mike Walter.

https://america.cgtn.com/2018/04/16/artificial-intelligence-aids-in-cancer-diagnosis-in-china

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## TaiShang

*Ke Jie to battle Chinese AI Go program*

By Wang Jingwen | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-04-19 




Chinese Go player Ke Jie competes against Google's artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo, in the last game of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match during the Future of Go Summit in Wuzhen, Jiaxing city, East China's Zhejiang province, May 27, 2017. [Photo/IC]

Ke Jie, one of the world's best Go players, will compete against another artificial intelligence Go program, China's Golaxy, on April 27 in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian province, according to chinanews.com.

*Developed by a Chinese AI team, Golaxy has a very different algorithm than AlphaGo, Google's Go program that defeated Ke last year, said Jin Xing, chairman of Golaxy.*

"We are exploring new methods to consume fewer computing resources and training samples," Jin said. "Golaxy has made progresses in the feature system, model structure and MCTS algorithm, compared with AlphaGo."

The results of human vs. AI Go games are no longer suspenseful, said Lin Jianchao, chairman of the Chinese Go Association.

*The upcoming competition between Ke Jie and Golaxy will further test the competitive ability of the domestic AI Go program, and it will be a starting point for wide use of AI go technology in public apps*, Lin said.

AlphaGoZero, the upgraded version of AlphaGo, benefits from a large number of self-play, and iteratively saves and upgrades the models.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201804/19/WS5ad84e2ea3105cdcf651952a.html

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## TaiShang

*IFLYTEK launches 2nd generation portable translation device *
By Guo Yiming
China.org.cn, April 22, 2018

China's leading artificial intelligence (AI) firm unveiled *its second generation multi-language translation device on Friday in Beijing, which enables real-time audio or text translation between Chinese and 33 other languages.*





IFLYTEK's 2nd generation portable translation device is available in black, gold and pink, said the product manager Zhai Jibo on April 20, 2018. [Photo courtesy of IFLYTEK]

A major upgrade from its previous edition, which enabled translation between Chinese and five other languages, the new device has a larger range of languages that enables translation *between Chinese and languages such as Polish, Tamil, and Hungarian, *in addition to more frequently-used ones like English and French, according to the product description.

*The second generation device can recognize four types of Chinese accents, including dialects in Sichuan and Henan as well as Cantonese and the northeastern accent, said the product manager Zhai Jibo.*

He said the 120 gram portable device, which features a 2.4-inch touch screen and a rear camera, can also instantly translate photographs of foreign texts.

*The device is priced at 2,999 yuan (US$476.6).*

*Over 200,000 sets of IFLYTEK’s first generation portable translation machine have been sold in 135 countries since hitting the market in March 2017*, with 86 percent of all use made during overseas travel, according to data released at the product launch event.

***

@Viet , good device if you are frequent traveler.

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## TaiShang

*Visual AI technology to shine in 2018, China leads in facial recognition*

By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/3/29

*China leading the way in facial recognition sector*




High-speed train passengers have their faces scanned at the barrier gates of a station in East China's Zhejiang Province so they can enter. Photo: VCG


Endless queues and long waits at the ticket inspection desks at China's major train stations were signature of the Spring Festival travel rush before this year. Every year, as the country's biggest national holiday unfolded, a huge flow of travelers would leave staff at the check-in desks feeling swamped.

But with the installment of artificial intelligence (AI) in dozens of train stations this year, including a facial recognition system which is able to process passenger identification within five seconds and therefore speed up the waiting process, busy scenes started to become something of the past.

When a passenger approaches the camera inside the facial recognition system at the station, it scans their face and then quickly compares it to the photograph shown on their identification card in real time. If the information matches, the barrier gates will open and allow the passenger to go through. 

*Such use of facial recognition technology is in line with discussions heard at the recent two sessions meeting, a key annual political event, which focused on the widespread application of a security network named Tianwang ("Sky Net" in English) currently being used by China's public security department.*

The network, according to reports by the People's Daily, has the potential to recognize the facial features of anyone in the world and match them on the spot with photographs on a database of criminal suspects. *In fact, it can analyze photographic identity so quickly that it can scan every single Chinese face on the planet in just one second, and it would only take two seconds to scan every face in the world, with an accuracy rate of up to 99.8 percent. *

Those are just two examples that highlight the development of Chinese visual AI technology, which industry insiders predict could contribute to robust growth in the global technology sector this year.

*Growing trend* 

"The year 2018 will mark a fast-track year in facial recognition technology, whose speed of growth is likely to override other AI sectors including robotics, voice recognition and natural language processing," Yang Yuxin, the vice president of Beijing-based operating system provider Thundersoft Software Technology Co, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

An industry report published on news website sohu.com in March echoed Yang's prediction by summarizing the financing of China's AI start-ups and concluding that the computer vision and image analysis sector has been the "hottest" destination for domestic investors lately. 

*The sector has even topped the country's investment list with a financing amount of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.27 billion), representing 23 percent of the total funds flowing into the global AI industry. *

One of the reasons behind the popularity of AI-powered visual technology is the wide range of scenarios in which it can be applied, making it easier for investors to "envision a bright business prospect and quickly capitalize on their investment," Yang explained.

Security is just one of many areas where visual technology is being applied. In addition to targeting consumers, AI start-ups have already started to tailor their visual technology services to domestic companies focused on such technology as unmanned vehicle-makers and manufacturing. 

For example, Thundersoft has partnered with local factories to facilitate the application of AI visual technology in production lines so as to maintain quality control and supervise the production environment, Yang said. The move has helped manufacturers reduce labor costs and improve efficiency. 

Lu Feng, an industry analyst at Beijing-based consultancy firm CCID Consulting, also underscored the trend of combing AI visual technology with 2018's emerging industries, for example, the new retail sector.

In unmanned supermarkets, which are part of the new retail concept, visual technology can help capture and analyze consumer behavior, through which, companies can improve their store's setting and displays to attract more buyers. Adopting a facial recognition system could also prevent shoplifting and help analyze consumer data. 

With market players deeming those technologies as promising, they have in turn pumped up the number of start-ups in the sector. Currently, there are 146 visual AI technology companies in China, the biggest number of any type of AI firm across the country, the news report by sohu.com showed.

But analysts do not expect all those start-ups to thrive. 

"I think an industry reshuffle will take place next year… the clock is ticking and visual AI start-ups that focus on researching basic algorithms should scramble to find applications, otherwise their capital pool will dry out in 2019," Yang noted.

*M&A in Europe*

Taking into account the abovementioned scenarios and China's large amount of data, the nation has an edge over US rivals in terms of AI visual technology application. However, in terms of the industry's foundation, such as basic theory and algorithms, domestic companies are still catching up with the standards set by foreign competitors, Lu noted.

But recent mergers and acquisitions (M&A) inked between Thundersoft and European peers may offer some insight into Chinese companies that are aiming to introduce cutting-edged AI technologies. 

*Thundersoft, for example, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Bulgarian software provider MM Solutions AD (MMS) in a deal worth 31 million euros ($38.16 million). *

"Acquiring MMS will largely reduce the time we take to achieve new technological breakthroughs, which in turn will elevate our technological competitiveness… It's like strengthening our innovation ability through external dynamics," Zhao Hongfei, CEO of Thundersoft, said.

*In a similar move, Thundersoft also acquired Finnish auto software maker Rightward for $68 million in December 2016.*

Asked why Thundersoft has been eyeing European firms recently, Yang explained that compared with the US, European AI start-ups can be seen as "unexploited gold mines" with long-term business prospects and market competitive M&A prices.

"Most European firms have rich experiences in developing technology, they also have a very strict system when training talents," Yang said.

By this, Yang was referring to the fact that it can take about 18 months for MMS to fully train a visual technology engineer. In contrast, the training period is generally six months in China. Yang also noted that after the MMS deal was completed, he would send some employees from Thundersoft to MMS for further training.

Furthermore, the European capital market has not been developing as fast as either market in China or the US, meaning it is usually a great bargain when Chinese investors acquire European tech peers.

"We bought the two European tech firms at a price that was less than ten times their price-earnings (PE) ratio. The price has to be at least twenty times the PE ratio here in China," he added.

***

@qwerrty , it is the first time I heard of Thundersoft.

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## TaiShang

*Alibaba announces AI deal with Audi, Daimler and Volvo*
China Daily, April 24, 2018

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced three partnerships on Monday *with leading carmakers on artificial intelligence-backed connected vehicle services, cementing its commitment to the auto sector.*

Under the cooperation, *owners of Daimler, Audi and Volvo cars in China will be able to remotely access information about their vehicles, such as location, engine status and fuel checks, using Alibaba's voice assistant service.*

AliGenie, the AI platform powering Alibaba's iconic smart speaker Tmall Genie, enables voice enquiries that unlock doors and turn on air conditioning before the driver even reaches the car, said Chen Lijuan, head of Alibaba AI Labs, an in-house AI research unit.

The tie-up will also help enrich the in-car infotainment portfolio based on Alibaba's content offerings from access to video site Youku and music streaming service Xiami.

"You can check the best route via Tmall Genie at home and send that information to your car," Chen told a media event in Beijing, citing the example of turning on the car's heater in winter as soon as the owner wakes up.

Ideally, the world will inch even closer to a future where people can control appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines from inside their car, she noted.

According to Alibaba, the first batch of such cars will be available in June, including selected Mercedes-Benz and Volvo models. For instance, Volvo's three current models, XC90, S90 and XC60, will integrate the AI-powered voice command feature through soft-ware upgrades in future rollouts.

Partnerships with other automakers will follow soon, Chen said.

Through the move, the tech powerhouse is scheduled to open up its ability on the so-called AI+Car solution from September.

Chinese customers are more willing to embrace new technologies and functionalities compared with consumers elsewhere, fueling momentum for developing smart interconnected cars, said Heinz-Willi Vassen, R&D director at Audi China.

Electrification, intelligence and interconnectedness are the big trends in the automotive industry, propelling internet companies such as Alibaba to leverage their frontier technologies to help carmakers adapt to these trends, said Neil Wang, president of consultancy Frost & Sullivan in China.

"AliGenie's application in intelligent transportation is a clear demonstration of how it combines the deep understanding of Chinese customers, the expertise in a number of technologies, with the products and solutions tailored to real-life needs," he said.

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## qwerrty

TaiShang said:


> *Alibaba announces AI deal with Audi, Daimler and Volvo*
> China Daily, April 24, 2018
> 
> Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced three partnerships on Monday *with leading carmakers on artificial intelligence-backed connected vehicle services, cementing its commitment to the auto sector.*
> 
> Under the cooperation, *owners of Daimler, Audi and Volvo cars in China will be able to remotely access information about their vehicles, such as location, engine status and fuel checks, using Alibaba's voice assistant service.*
> 
> AliGenie, the AI platform powering Alibaba's iconic smart speaker Tmall Genie, enables voice enquiries that unlock doors and turn on air conditioning before the driver even reaches the car, said Chen Lijuan, head of Alibaba AI Labs, an in-house AI research unit.
> 
> The tie-up will also help enrich the in-car infotainment portfolio based on Alibaba's content offerings from access to video site Youku and music streaming service Xiami.
> 
> "You can check the best route via Tmall Genie at home and send that information to your car," Chen told a media event in Beijing, citing the example of turning on the car's heater in winter as soon as the owner wakes up.
> 
> Ideally, the world will inch even closer to a future where people can control appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines from inside their car, she noted.
> 
> According to Alibaba, the first batch of such cars will be available in June, including selected Mercedes-Benz and Volvo models. For instance, Volvo's three current models, XC90, S90 and XC60, will integrate the AI-powered voice command feature through soft-ware upgrades in future rollouts.
> 
> Partnerships with other automakers will follow soon, Chen said.
> 
> Through the move, the tech powerhouse is scheduled to open up its ability on the so-called AI+Car solution from September.
> 
> Chinese customers are more willing to embrace new technologies and functionalities compared with consumers elsewhere, fueling momentum for developing smart interconnected cars, said Heinz-Willi Vassen, R&D director at Audi China.
> 
> Electrification, intelligence and interconnectedness are the big trends in the automotive industry, propelling internet companies such as Alibaba to leverage their frontier technologies to help carmakers adapt to these trends, said Neil Wang, president of consultancy Frost & Sullivan in China.
> 
> "AliGenie's application in intelligent transportation is a clear demonstration of how it combines the deep understanding of Chinese customers, the expertise in a number of technologies, with the products and solutions tailored to real-life needs," he said.





byd joining baidu' apollo and new supacar 

*BYD to unveil all-new concept E-SEED at Auto China 2018*


Code:


http://autonews.gasgoo.com/70014530.html







*Baidu unveils Apollo 2.5, wins 100th partner BYD*
Charice From Gasgoo| April 19,2018

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 19, Chinese Internet giant Baidu unveiled the Apollo 2.5, the latest version of the open autonomous driving platform that currently supports vision-based high-speed autonomous driving in limited areas.

At the launching ceremony for Apollo's one-year anniversary, Baidu announced that BYD has officially joined the Apollo platform and became its 100th partners. Meanwhile, the Internet giant also announced the establishment of the Apollo Automotive Cybersecurity Lab to further promote the safety implementation of autonomous driving.

Currently, Baidu Apollo has teamed up with 100 companies worldwide, including many traditional mainstream automakers like Chery, JAC Motors, BAIC BJEV, Great Wall Motor as well as some top components suppliers like Continental AG, Bosch and Delphi. Apart from that, its cooperation still extends to mobility service providers, traditional auto electronics suppliers, autonomous driving core parts suppliers, autonomous driving tech integrators as well as underlying software platforms, etc.

It is worth mentioning that the Apollo 2.5 reduces 90% of the sensor cost by virtue of the camera-based virtual perception solutions. In addition, the latest iteration opens and upgrades some developer tools, including opening the Dockerfile and upgrading the visual tool GreamView, the data collector Apollo Drive Event, the Apollo HD (high-definition) map data collector and the Apollo simulation platform.

Moreover, the Apollo 2.5 has been added a new scenario of truck logistics. At the launching ceremony, Baidu played a video demonstrating that CiDi (Changsha Intelligent Driving Research Institute) integrated Apollo 2.5 into a truck and made the vehicle run autonomously on highways.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Horizon Robotics Exerts Tight Grip Over Artificial Intelligence Stack*

James Morra | Apr 23, 2018

As the race intensifies to run machine learning tasks in embedded devices instead of the cloud, several companies are trying to set themselves up with custom chips to ease the shift. Horizon Robotics is not only tackling chips but also software and the cloud, with an eye toward beating rivals in applications like security cameras and autonomous cars.

“The chip is the local brain that directly senses the surrounding environment, while the algorithm is the miner of the data,” said Kai Yu, founder and chief executive of Horizon Robotics, and the former head of Baidu’s artificial intelligence unit, called the Institute of Deep Learning, in an interview with Electronic Design.

“We want to empower end devices with A.I. capacity and make them smart without relying on the cloud alone,” Yu said, adding that the “chip and algorithms are used to perceive and filter big data, perform real-time processing and transmit valuable data to the cloud for further mining and modeling. Each component works together.”

The central component in Horizon Robotics’ SoCs is the brain processing unit, a custom block of circuitry that specializes in algorithms trained on vast libraries of images, hundreds of hours of video, or other data. The silicon slab can also be slipped into chips like field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), Yu said.

The Beijing, China-based company is aiming to plant its chips into tens of millions of smart cameras over the next two years. Developing and deploying the technology so quickly led it to raise $100 million in venture capital last year from investors including Sequoia Capital, state-owned China Jianyin Investment, Harvest Fund Management and Intel Capital.

One of Horizon Robotics' chips, Sunrise, runs facial recognition or other inference algorithms with up to a trillion operations per second. The company recently released a security camera using it at the International Security Technology Show in Las Vegas. The camera can identify and follow 200 objects within each frame of video, recognizing the face of customers in a clothing store, for example, or plucking a criminal suspect from a crowded sidewalk.

With Sunrise, based on 40-nanometer technology, the camera runs at 30 frames per second while consuming 1.5 watts. With support for 50,000 different faces and 99.7 percent accuracy, the system can avoid the latency and bandwidth issues introduced by steaming data to servers in the cloud, where training and inference typically occur.

While Horizon Robotics has the upper hand over American rivals in China, the challenge is in keeping its hardware and software on the same page. While software engineers can change lines of code relatively fast, chip designers need several months and millions of dollars to prototype chips and get them back from the foundry. “It’s been a priority since the get-go,” Yu said.

He added that four-fifths of the company’s more than 300 employees have research and development backgrounds. Other founders of Horizon Robotics include Chang Huang, a founder of Baidu’s A.I. business unit, and Ming Yang, a founder of Facebook’s A.I. research team. Feng Zhou, a former principle chip architect for Huawei’s HiSilicon business, leads chip development.

In many ways, the company’s pincer attack on machine learning mirrors China’s national strategy. Not only has the country pledged $150 billion to close the technology gap between American and Chinese chip suppliers – and reduce its roughly $275 billion in annual chip imports – but it is also pushing to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030.

The machine learning movement could level the playing field for China’s chips, particularly as the focus shifts to custom over commodity products. Horizon Robotics uses 40nm technology that entered production almost a decade ago, but it is jumping into embedded inference with companies like Qualcomm, which has started sampling 10nm chips that can be installed in networks of security cameras.

China’s ambitions include the deployment of 30 million autonomous cars within the next decade. Horizon Robotics is also trying to tap into the momentum behind that market. The company has partnered with Robert Bosch and Ford’s Chinese partner Chongqing Changan Automobile, among others, to put its automotive camera processor, called Journey, through its paces.

Horizon Robotics designed Journey to spot pedestrians, lane markings and other vehicles on the road and help driverless cars avert accidents. The chip may ultimately compete with systems from Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia and Intel’s Mobileye business. Bloomberg reported that the company is looking to have autonomous test cars on Chinese roads by 2019.

“China right now is a huge market for a lot of innovation happening in machine learning, from city management and security to autonomous driving,” said Yu, a member of the country’s strategic artificial intelligence advisory board. “China is a great playground for us to develop and mature these products for the rest of the world.”




Code:


http://www.electronicdesign.com/embedded-revolution/horizon-robotics-exerts-tight-grip-over-artificial-intelligence-stack

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## cirr

*China's Alibaba signs agreement with automakers to connect cars to homes*

2018-04-24 13:47 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

*Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has signed an agreement to supply its artificial intelligence technology to global automakers, assisting Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Volvo car owners in China to control their cars from home.*

The voice-activated assistant Tmall Genie, which was developed by Alibaba AI Labs, the company's artificial intelligence arm, will allow home-to-vehicle connectivity, Alibaba said Monday.

"Users will be able to turn on air conditioning, lock car doors, and open the trunk from their home," said Chen Lijuan, head of Alibaba AI Labs.

Tmall Genie could also perform functions like planning a route or controlling music.

The voice assistant will also allow car owners to perform diagnostics on the car's engine, battery, and other components and check the car's location and fuel levels in the future, according to Alibaba.

Chen said Tmall Genie uses voiceprint recognition technology to identify authorized car users.

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/04-24/300223.shtml

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## qwerrty

technode.com
*ChinaBang 2018's top 5 AI startups · TechNode*
Masha Borak
6-7 minutes

The times they are a-changin’: in 2016, widescale commercial application of artificial intelligence was still a faraway high-tech dream. The ChinaBang Awards did not even have a specialized category for this technology.

2017 marked a new milestone—China decided to become the world’s strongest AI power. In the same year, ChinaBang gave out awards to three best AI products, giving a glimpse of the potential that was about to unravel.

2018 has seen China’s AI companies rising to the forefront and this year’s ChinaBang winners have proven that the country has plenty to offer to the world. Here are the five winners of the 7th ChinaBang Awards in the category of Best AI.

*1. SenseTime (商汤科技)*

SenseTime is the most valuable artificial intelligence startup in the world. In April, the deep learning developer secured $600 million financing round led by Alibaba.

The company owes its success to its talent—an area in which China still lags behind compared to developed countries. The company was founded by one of China’s most prominent AI scientists Prof. Tang Xiao’ou from the Chinese University Hong Kong.

“As an AI company with a strong academic background, SenseTime has more than 800 researchers, including more than 150 Ph.D. students from the world’s top school. It is the largest group of Chinese scientists in the field of AI in Asia which gave SenseTime a foundation for fast development,” SenseTime Senior PR Manager Chris Gao told TechNode.

Favorable national policies to support AI development is another reason why the company has reached this level. But China also has the advantage of a multitude of application scenarios, says Gao. Many new industries have developed and acceptance of fresh ideas is quite strong. SenseTime now supplies over 400 companies and government agencies with their technology.

*2. Face++ (Megvii)*

One field of AI has been particularly successful in China is image and face recognition. Face++, also known as Megvii, defeated 15 AI giants in computer vision competitions including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. The company, which has users in more than 200 countries, is another award-winner at ChinaBang.

“Face recognition is a relatively neutral technology, so it doesn’t have application value in just one industry,” Face++ Operation Director Wei Wenyuan told TechNode. “We choose the most suitable one and at the same time the most abundant one in data and scenarios: Finance, security, retail, mobile phones, logistics, real estate and other industries.”

Currently, face recognition technology is most widely used in security and surveillance: 32 provinces and cities in China have integrated intelligent features in their public security system, said Wei. But Face++ is not stopping there: video recognition, IoT, and robotics are the next step. The company has recently bought robotics company Aresbots and is developing a robot for Foxconn, the company most famous for manufacturing the iPhone.

*3. DeePhi (深鉴)*

Developing hardware for AI is harder than one would think. DeePhi stands out in chips and hardware architecture.

“Looking at technology realization, the threshold for hardware technology is higher than that of software,” DeePhi Senior Brand Director Ji Yun told TechNode. “The accumulation of technology and knowledge needed by employees is more complex, and the cycle to product realization is also long.”

Thanks to the rapid development of computing power, algorithms have been evolving faster. However, if we are to have bigger breakthroughs in applications, we need to revolutionize the optimization of hardware, says Ji.

During the second half of 2018, the company will launch its self-developed deep learning SoC chip called Ting (听涛). The company has received investments from US semiconductor product developer Xilinx, Alibaba’s financial arm Ant Financial, and from Samsung, one of the world’s largest chip maker.

*4. Ping An Technology (平安科技)*

Ping An is not a name one would connect with AI at first look; it is one of China’s largest insurance companies. But it turns out insurance plays well with AI. One example is car accidents: Ping An Technology uses image recognition to assess the damage to the car.

Ping An is also looking into other applications including medicine where image recognition for X-rays is used for diagnosis, customer support where voice recognition is used to assess the customer’s mood, and even in music. Ping An’s AI music won first place award the International AI Music Composition Competition hosted by Switzerland’s Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne (EPFL) in January.

*5. Westwell Lab (西井科技)*

The final ChinBang awards winner is certainly a unique entrant to this list—it really gets to your brain. Westwell started with a splash in 2016 when it presented “Westwell Brain,” the first brain simulation to have 10 billion neurons with hardware. The company has developed the DeepSouth neural processor, a chip that simulates human brain neurons. DeepSouth is an answer to IBM’s own experiment inspired by the brain, the TrueNorth neuromorphic chip.

Westwell has branched out to other areas of medicine such as gene sequencing, health-focused wearables, and medical equipment. The company has recently moved to heavy machinery. Westwell Lab is developing products in industrial robotics, unmanned equipment for container terminals and ports, as well as autonomous vehicles.

Westwell’s investors include Fosun Group.

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## TaiShang

*China should have role in setting global AI standards*

By Li Qiaoyi Source:Global Times Published: 2018/4/26





Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT


The fast-paced adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in China, home to the world's largest internet-using population, should not only validate the immense investment in the nation's AI sector, but should also make the case for China's role in creating global standards for the technology. 

In a sign that the nation is swiftly embracing the disruptive new technology, AI-powered face recognition was widely used at the just-concluded first Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, East China's Fujian Province. The summit was yet another milestone in AI development after a Go summit last May in the Chinese water town of Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province. At the Go summit, Google's Go-playing AI AlphaGo trounced top-ranked Chinese Go grandmasters, piquing many Chinese people's curiosity about AI.

At the Digital China Summit, many were amazed by the extent to which AI was being applied. At the reception counters for summit participants at Fuzhou's railway station and airport as well as at hotels where they were staying, they didn't need to show their ID cards or other identity documents. They simply needed to look at the face scanners, which could instantly identify them. They could use the same technology to pass through security clearance access points both outside and within the summit venue.

The prevalent use of the technology at the event might help catapult Fuzhou, a city with a history of over 2,200 years, into pole position as one of the country's smartest cities. It could then become a role model to be copied throughout the country, amid the national efforts to develop an AI-powered economy.

In guidelines for AI development released in July 2017, the State Council, China's cabinet, set a goal for the country's core AI industries to be worth 1 trillion yuan ($158.07 billion) by 2030. The figure for all related industries will be 10 trillion yuan, per the guidelines. 

This is part of the reason why investors from both home and abroad have so much interest in the country's AI sector. However, something that seems to have been neglected so far and that could be of pivotal importance for China's AI ambitions is that the country needs to turn the advantage of AI adoption into greater influence in setting global AI technology standards. 

This is not just about the country's push for AI dominance, although influence in the setting of standards would be a factor in rising to the top of the AI food chain. It also makes sense scientifically to give greater weight to China in the process of setting global standards for AI given its leading role in developing the technology.

Currently, the US still leads in basic AI theory, core algorithms and key hardware for AI, so the US standards have been widely considered the "gold" standard that should be shared by the rest of the world. But with AI technologies being increasingly adopted in China, the default US rules should perhaps no longer be taken for granted. 

Zhu Long, chief executive and co-founder of Chinese AI unicorn YITU Technology, said Monday in a speech at the Digital China Summit that the standards that have been set without any participation from top Chinese technology providers are actually biased and inaccurate in scientific terms. 

The argument is that the US, with a population of over 300 million people, has developed its standards from tests based on a fraction of its population. This obviously doesn't fit the bill if the user scenario could potentially involve a much greater number of people. 

Take face recognition as an example. The difficulty of accurate face identification grows rapidly as the sample size increases and it surely makes sense for face recognition technology that is ever more prevalently used in China to be involved in setting standards for the technology.

In many cases of technological development, China has been forced to play catch-up, with the need to initially reduce the technological gap before having a role in setting global standards. But in the case of AI development, China has made impressive headway in adopting the technology, so it should be a different situation.

There should be a greater awareness among leading Chinese AI firms of the need to focus not just on AI research and applications, but to pursue greater clout in the setting of standards. Likewise, the government should also endorse efforts to lead the global standards for the technology, as part of a broader AI push that could foster innovation in the Chinese economy. 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1099847.shtml

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## cirr

*China likely to use new AI-powered security system at civilian airports: developer*

2018-04-27 10:53 Global Times _Editor: Li Yan_

*Likely to replace current one at all civilian airports*

The people's privacy and well-being are the focus of China's new AI-powered security system developed by the country's top State-owned high-tech company, said the system's chief designer on Thursday.

The No.35 Institute of the 3rd Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) unveiled its 3D Millimeter-wave personal screening security system at a press event on Wednesday.

The new artificial intelligence-powered system is capable of detecting 89 types of hazardous articles, including non-metallic substances such as corrosive, flammable and combustible liquid and gum forming compounds undetectable by current security screening system of China.

It is 95 percent accurate and only takes 0.7 seconds, while the electromagnetic radiation level is less than 0.0014 milliwatts per square centimeter, according to an institute statement sent to the Global Times.

"Using military technology in a civilian security system makes it safer, and focuses on the public's well-being," Hu Lin, the system's chief designer, told the Global Times.

Compared to current X-ray screening machines, the new product works at much lower radiation levels, about 0.1 percent of cell phone signals, the statement said.

"The millimeter-wave system has been examined by the country's inspection departments, and its working radiation rate data has been disclosed to the public. Hopefully, the public will not worry about security checks anymore," Hu noted.

The AI integrated system also regularly updates its recognition of emerging contraband through platform updates "as easily as updating your phone applications," the statement added.

Such a security system best reflects civil-military integration, as its core technology, ranging from its physical design to radar detector, comes from military research, the institute stressed in the statement.

The new system has been tested at airports in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as well as South China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces. Its performance has earned high praise, a publicity department employee at the institute, surnamed Zhao, told the Global Times.

The institute said taking privacy protection into consideration, the system projects an image of the person on a monitor while processing the person's face and private parts.

The new system is likely to replace the current one at all of China's civilian airports, the institute said in the statement.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/04-27/300679.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Chinese AI Go program wins faceoff with top player Ke Jie*

By Gao Yun
2018-04-27 







A Chinese-developed artificial intelligence (AI) program won the game with Ke Jie, the world’s top Go player, on Friday in Fuzhou, capital of east China’s Fujian Province.

*The AI program, dubbed “Golaxy”, has “learnt from AlphaGo thesis, but made breakthroughs in the feature system, model structure and algorithm structure that exceed AlphaGo,”* said Jin Xing, chairman of Golaxy, adding that it showcases Chinese AI companies’ spirit of active exploration and capability of innovation.

*It has won 28 out of 30 games against the world’s top Go players after launching on April 12.*

Golaxy won’t be a simple repetition of AlphaGo thesis, stressed Jin. *The team is now “exploring new methods to consume fewer computing resources and training samples.”*

“There is always a sense of incapability when I play Go with AI, as its algorithm and overall judgment are far beyond me. It’s indeed difficult,” said Ke.

“The fearlessness and spirit to scale new heights is admirable,” said Lei Xiang referring to Ke’s courage to once again challenge the AI program.

Go, also known as weiqi, is a traditional Chinese game that originated about 4,000 years ago. It is essentially a fight for territory on a 19-by-19 square board, and has fascinated players in Asia and around the world for at least two millennia.

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## TaiShang

*Baidu, Peking University cooperate on AI research*
Xinhua, April 29, 2018

Robin Li, founder of search engine Baidu, Saturday* announced a donation of 660 million yuan (104 million U.S. dollars) to Peking University (PKU) to promote research on artificial intelligence (AI).*

The "PKU-Baidu fund" will be used to support frontier research in AI-related subjects such as information science, medicine, economics, communication, psychology, and sociology, which are highly consistent with Baidu's long-term endeavors in the AI sector.

*Lin Jianhua, president of PKU, said the establishment of the fund, just days before the university's 120th anniversary, will lead the next generation into the future and help them seize new opportunities in the new era.*

Li said a combination of Baidu's strong technology and experience in the field and PKU's academic research abilities will produce more achievements that are beneficial to the country and society.

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## TaiShang

*Ping An Technology CEO sees AI a core focus*

By CGTN’s Xia Cheng
2018-04-30


Ping An Technology is the key technology arm of the Ping An Group with research and development capabilities in cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technology. With AI widely seen as an investment-worthy technology for the financial industry, the company is putting it at the epicenter of investment.

Ericson Chan, CEO of the Ping An Technology, said the firm focuses on the whole spectrum of technology and spent 120 million US dollars in research and development last year. AI is core among a range of technologies including blockchain, cloud and security for Ping An Technology. And the company provides end-to-end solutions so that other companies can easily leverage on a subscription basis.





Ericson Chan, CEO of the Ping An Technology /CGTN Photo

“I think AI is embedded into many things," Chan said. "But we do offer AI services as part of Ping An Cloud. For example, some of the other companies might want to leverage AI for wealth management purposes. During the wealth management sales process, we embed facial recognition, voice authentication, and microexpression. It is many different AI services bundled into one holistic solution.” 

At the same time, the company is starting to do big data analysis and put more effort on predictive AI for smart city and healthcare.

*“For example... we have started to do illness forecast," Chan said. "We also do medical imaging. Last month, our medical imaging on lung nodule, from the x-ray through the machine learning modeling, we became the world’s No.1 in accuracy.”*

Meanwhile, Chan is optimistic about its business prospects though he is acutely aware of the trade tension between China and US and ZTE ban issue.

“No matter what is happening in the market, we believe in eco-systems. We believe in open platforms. This is why we have five eco-systems from finance, health, house, auto, to smart city. We also always look for opportunities to partner with other institutes and companies. So whoever would like to partner with us, we would like to take a serious look at it,” Chan said.

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## TaiShang

*Hands on: iFlyTek revamps its AI translator with touchscreen and more languages*

By Gong Zhe
2018-05-01


Chinese speech recognition giant iFlyTek released its second-generation handheld translator gadget last Friday, with the latest iteration including a touchscreen and the addition of 33 languages.

CGTN has covered the Hefei-based company's first-generation device many times, which sometimes confused users, as it had no screen, but simply a speaker and a light indicator to show it was working.

*In the latest device, the company has fixed that shortcoming, and added a touchscreen to make the user experience easier.*

*"Now you can have a better interaction with the device. No need to worry about if it's still functioning," said the product manager Zhai Jibo.*

*Another upgrade is language options. It now supports 33 languages that can "cover more than 95 percent of your travel destinations," iFlyTek co-founder Hu Yu said during the press conference.*

The new device can now recognize heavy Chinese accents and* even Cantonese, *which has an entirely different vocabulary than Mandarin Chinese. 

We at CGTN are tired of tech companies bragging, so we designed a series of tests to see if the device stood up to the hype. The tests were designed based on previous errors made by other AIs from other Chinese companies. 

So how does the device deal with stuttering, understanding a heavy Chinese accent, or decoding complex sentences? Watch it in the cover video (spoiler: *it's a pass*). 

People from the company gave us some insight on how the device works, with a significant change being that the device has a phone SIM card slot, which means it can contact a cloud AI with 4G connection.

The AI, has been in development by iFlyTek for more than a decade and is one of the first neural networks designed for voice recognition. It can cancel out noise as well as guess at the context of sentences, making it stand out from its competitors.

If you are concerned with privacy, offline translation is also available.

iFlyTek said they designed the second-generation device with traveling in mind. Users can purchase data packages when they are outside of China, and share the data quota with smartphones and laptops nearby.

"We are yet to know the size of the market. But this device is a blunt demonstration of the power of our technology in voice recognition and real-time translation," Zhai told reporters.

In addition to the translator, iFlyTek has also empowered their AI transcript software with translating capabilities.

The program was used to transcribe and translate all speeches made during the press release. But a CGTN reporter found that the English translation sometimes appears so quick that people can barely see the text.

*The device is already available for purchase on the Chinese mainland. So if a Chinese person points a phone-like gadget at you. Don't be scared. They may just want to chat.
*
Watch the video of this amazing gadget.

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## qwerrty

TaiShang said:


> *Hands on: iFlyTek revamps its AI translator with touchscreen and more languages*
> 
> By Gong Zhe
> 2018-05-01
> 
> 
> Chinese speech recognition giant iFlyTek released its second-generation handheld translator gadget last Friday, with the latest iteration including a touchscreen and the addition of 33 languages.
> 
> CGTN has covered the Hefei-based company's first-generation device many times, which sometimes confused users, as it had no screen, but simply a speaker and a light indicator to show it was working.
> 
> *In the latest device, the company has fixed that shortcoming, and added a touchscreen to make the user experience easier.*
> 
> *"Now you can have a better interaction with the device. No need to worry about if it's still functioning," said the product manager Zhai Jibo.*
> 
> *Another upgrade is language options. It now supports 33 languages that can "cover more than 95 percent of your travel destinations," iFlyTek co-founder Hu Yu said during the press conference.*
> 
> The new device can now recognize heavy Chinese accents and* even Cantonese, *which has an entirely different vocabulary than Mandarin Chinese.
> 
> We at CGTN are tired of tech companies bragging, so we designed a series of tests to see if the device stood up to the hype. The tests were designed based on previous errors made by other AIs from other Chinese companies.
> 
> So how does the device deal with stuttering, understanding a heavy Chinese accent, or decoding complex sentences? Watch it in the cover video (spoiler: *it's a pass*).
> 
> People from the company gave us some insight on how the device works, with a significant change being that the device has a phone SIM card slot, which means it can contact a cloud AI with 4G connection.
> 
> The AI, has been in development by iFlyTek for more than a decade and is one of the first neural networks designed for voice recognition. It can cancel out noise as well as guess at the context of sentences, making it stand out from its competitors.
> 
> If you are concerned with privacy, offline translation is also available.
> 
> iFlyTek said they designed the second-generation device with traveling in mind. Users can purchase data packages when they are outside of China, and share the data quota with smartphones and laptops nearby.
> 
> "We are yet to know the size of the market. But this device is a blunt demonstration of the power of our technology in voice recognition and real-time translation," Zhai told reporters.
> 
> In addition to the translator, iFlyTek has also empowered their AI transcript software with translating capabilities.
> 
> The program was used to transcribe and translate all speeches made during the press release. But a CGTN reporter found that the English translation sometimes appears so quick that people can barely see the text.
> 
> *The device is already available for purchase on the Chinese mainland. So if a Chinese person points a phone-like gadget at you. Don't be scared. They may just want to chat.
> *
> Watch the video of this amazing gadget.



baidu, alibaba and tencent getting a lot of hype in ai speech from media... the real leader in this technology in china is iflytek

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## TaiShang

qwerrty said:


> baidu, alibaba and tencent getting a lot of hype in ai speech from media... the real leader in this technology in china is iflytek



A lot of student that I know would like to get a hold on one of these machines (especially those struggling with English), but, way too expensive for most of them (including me) 

Can't they make a cheaper version but works more or less as good?

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## cirr

*This Week In China Tech: Alibaba Buys Chip Maker, Face Scans To Board Planes, And More*

MAY 2, 2018 

Bay McLaughlin

Facial recognition and digitization of your identity are the major themes for This Week In China Tech. We stay on top of the most important tech stories coming out of the mainland every week and make sure you understand why they matter. Here's all the news you need to know coming out of China's thriving tech scene.

*Alibaba Acquires Chip Maker And Announces New AI Chip*

This is a big day for China. Historically, the chip design industry has been dominated by the West, but not anymore. Alibaba made two big announcements this week (article in Chinese): 1) their first AI chip dubbed Ali-NPU (neural processing unit) from their AI research center, DAMO Academy and 2) the acquisition of ZhongTian Micro, China’s only independent chip design firm.

Alibaba’s CTO, Zhang Jianfeng said, “The acquisition of ZhongTian Micro is an important part of Alibaba's chip layout." He also said that entering the core IP area of chip design is critical for China’s "autonomy and control.” China and the rest of the world have been dependent on U.S.-based firms for their chip designs, but as we enter the era of AI, it’s a smart decision for China to own their own IP in the area.

The Ali-NPU seems destined to power AliCloud, Alibaba’s answer to Amazon Web Services. But other applications may also be on the horizon like Apple, Qualcomm, and Huawei’s AI chips that are used in mobile phones. Either way, it’s clear that Alibaba has seen this as a strategic necessity as they have previously invested in a variety of chipmakers over the years like Cambricon, Kneron, ASR, DeePhi and Barefoot Networks. However, an outright acquisition and their first AI chip announcement shed light on just how important Alibaba thinks the battle for AI dominance will be in the future.

*At Baiyun Airport, You Can Board Using Only Your Face*

Traveling is still a hassle, but China is taking the next step in ultimate convenience: using your face to let you check in and board planes. In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou's Baiyun Airport (only Terminal 2 at the moment), you can self-check in your bag, get through security and board your airplane using just your face. This security system is very sophisticated and solves one of the major inconveniences of travel, but users are still required to bring their ID card as a backup (read the next story for more about how this may also go away soon).

The Baiyun Airport Operational Control Hall (article in Chinese) is powered by AI applications from visual analysis technology leader Haiyun Data. This big data solution is dubbed "Rising Star" and assesses three key aviation areas: the flight areas, terminal areas and the connecting areas like underground baggage storage. The data collected from these three airport areas is combined with external data sets like traffic, meteorology and maps, and analyzed by their AI. The AI-powered results help to optimize five major data streams: aircraft, passenger, baggage, cargo and traffic flow. The current system can handle 60,000 messages per minute and allows the airport controllers to visualize their entire airport in real-time and diagnose issues as they happen.

*WeChat ID Card Allows Seamless Travel Across China*

A pilot of a new digital e-ID card is rolling out across China. For anyone that uses Apple, you can think of this e-ID card like your Apple Wallet. Users will be able to digitize their information at a police station (their physical ID card, face and fingerprint data) and store their confirmed e-ID in their WeChat Wallet (article in Chinese) via a mini-program. Mini-programs in WeChat are like the mini-app integrations you see in Facebook Messenger and Apple's iMessage, for outside programs like Google Maps, Paypal and Yelp!.

The benefits of such a system are profound. Today, when a user checks into a hotel, it’s widely known that their personal data can be misused. Also, the check-in process can often be painful. With your WeChat e-ID, you can simply walk into a hotel, scan your face and then receive the keys to your room. Your face scan is automatically cross-referenced against the local police database and confirmed or denied. Your personal information is never given to the hotel.

The current pilots are focused on travel across Guangzhou, Foshan, Wenzhou, Beijing and a few other cities. The solution seems to be going well and will likely be rolled out quickly, and other verticals like banking are being trialed soon.

That's it for this week in China Tech. If you have any stories you think we should cover next week, feel free to message me and make sure to check back for more stories coming from China next week.

Bay is the Co-Founder of Brinc.io, an early-stage IoT and Hardware investment and product development firm and an active speaker around the world. You can learn more and connect with bay at BetaBay.me

https://www.forbes.com/sites/baymcl...-scans-to-board-planes-and-more/#7cd31f223722

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## JSCh

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/991983155073593344*People's Daily,China*‏
China's first cloud-based smart chip was officially released in Shanghai on Thursday. The Cambricon-MLU100, unveiled by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will provide key support for large scale #AI-powered data centers and servers

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## TaiShang

*Tech giants bet big on AI with startup investments*
China Daily, May 4, 2018

China's technology giants are placing a slew of fresh bets on artificial intelligence by investing in startup firms that are set to disrupt the burgeoning sector.






An intelligent robot, made by Shenzhen-headquartered UBTECH, attracts visitors at an industry expo in Qingdao, Shandong province.[Photo by Wang Haibin/for China Daily]
*Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Thursday it will fully acquire Beijing Sound Connect Technology Co, a speech solution provider for smart devices, as it ramps up efforts to enhance sound recognition and human-machine interactive technologies.*

Founder of Sound Connect Fu Qiang, who is a former acoustics expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will join Alibaba's Damo Academy, an in-house research and development program, to broaden the application scenarios of voice interaction, including smart home furniture.

In his new post, Fu and his team will help beef up the e-commerce giant's audio signal processing technologies, the internet of things technologies and hardware and software solutions. He is also expected to establish two physical acoustic labs.

*According to Fu, Chinese companies are not lagging behind their foreign rivals in the accumulation of voice processing-related technologies, but they lack successful products.*

"Given the rather lengthy chain of voice interaction technology, some ideas are just difficult to put into practice without excellent product designs," Fu said. "A bigger platform like Alibaba would help our technologies generate more value."

*On the same day, Tencent Holdings Ltd led a $820 million Series C funding in Shenzhen-headquartered UBTECH Robotics, a leading intelligent humanoid robot maker, marking the single largest financing round for an AI company.*

Under the agreement, Tencent will work closely with UBTECH on future product development, based on an existing partnership that already integrates a suite of Tencent technologies from its cloud-computing Xiaowei service and the AI-powered Dingdang assistant.

"The latest capital infusion represents a new round of strategic funding, with UBTECH and Tencent committed to building an ecosystem of services and content for intelligent, humanoid robots," said Zhou Jian, UBTECH founder and chief executive officer.

The country's tech titans Alibaba, Tencent and search engine Baidu Inc have collectively participated in 39 equity deals into startups building AI software and AI chips since 2014, according to a report by venture capital database CB Insights in April.

China has upheld the development of AI as a national strategy and has recruited Tencent, Alibaba, iFlytek and Baidu Inc to an "AI national team" to have them each focus on one specific field.

@qwerrty

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## cirr

*China releases its first cloud AI chip*

2018-05-04 09:02 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_





Cambricon Technology CEO Chen Tianshi introduces the cloud AI chip MLU100 in Shanghai, east China, May 3, 2018. China's first cloud artificial intelligence (AI) chip was released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Thursday in Shanghai. The cloud chip MLU100, developed by Cambricon Technology, will have accurate and fast big data processing ability, especially in image and voice search methods. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

China's first cloud artificial intelligence (AI) chip was released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Thursday in Shanghai.

The cloud chip MLU100, developed by Cambricon Technology, will have accurate and fast big data processing ability, especially in image and voice search methods.

The cloud chips are mainly used in cloud computing, including servers and data centers. The MLU100 is powerful and can complete complicated cloud intelligence tasks, according to the CAS.

The cloud chip supports "deep learning," or neural networks that mimic human learning. Deep learning is a type of machine learning involving algorithms that can analyze data, recognize patterns and make predictions.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/05-03/301304.shtml

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## Cybernetics

TaiShang said:


> A lot of student that I know would like to get a hold on one of these machines (especially those struggling with English), but, way too expensive for most of them (including me)
> 
> Can't they make a cheaper version but works more or less as good?


The price will certainly come down in the future and likely face competitors. iFlytek has a first mover's advantage. First to market earns a premium which will cover its R&D and enable it to develop better products down the line.

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## cirr

*AI to help China reach for the stars*

2018-05-04 08:30 Xinhua _Editor: Wang Fan_

Building a space station, probing Mars, setting up a lunar base and going deeper into the universe - artificial intelligence will be at the cutting edge of China's space odyssey.

China is stepping up development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support its space programs, Zhang Duzhou, a member of the Chinese Association of Automation and the Chinese Society of Astronautics, told a space conference in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Back in 1995, Yang Jiachi, a leading contributor to the development of China's first satellite about half a century ago, proposed developing technology for the intelligent autonomous control of spacecraft.

Experts are now developing AI technologies in visual image recognition, visual tracking, rendezvous and docking, navigation and positioning, mission planning and spacecraft fault diagnosis, said Zhang.

Some Chinese spacecraft have been endowed with the preliminary ability of autonomous task-planning.

For instance, Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft launched in April 2017, accomplished autonomous fast rendezvous and docking with the Tiangong-2 space lab. The rendezvous and docking time was shortened from three days to six and a half hours thanks to AI.

AI technology also aided the Chang'e-3 lunar probe, launched in 2013, to touch down softly on the Moon. The probe's lander was capable of hovering and choosing a suitable landing site on its own.

However, Zhang said, China's space AI is still "weak". If AI technologies are divided into six levels, China is at level two or level three. The technology at level six, the highest level, can enable spacecraft to perform automatic reasoning and independent thinking in orbit.

"Our aim is to reach level six," Zhang said.

AI technology is especially useful for spacecraft that are expensive, hard to repair, doing complicated tasks, deployed in a rigorous space environment, or so far from Earth that they respond to directions very slowly, said Zhang.

With AI, spacecraft could acquire the abilities of self-learning, autonomous perception and planning and self-decision, thus lowering the cost of operation and increasing the quality, safety, reliability and flexibility of space missions.

The development of AI will bring breakthroughs to China's space industry, he added.

http://www.ecns.cn/2018/05-03/301301.shtml

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## TaiShang

Cybernetics said:


> The price will certainly come down in the future and likely face competitors. iFlytek has a first mover's advantage. First to market earns a premium which will cover its R&D and enable it to develop better products down the line.



Have to wait a little bit longer than. I think that's fine for me as I do not have much issues with English

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## JSCh

*Global AI Product Application Expo 2018 opens in Jiangsu, E China*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-10 21:43:30|Editor: ZX




Visitors tour at the Global AI Product Application Expo 2018, in Suzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province, May 10, 2018. The three-day expo opened here on Thursday, attracting more than 200 exhibitors from ten countries and regions, with some 1,000 AI products on show. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

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## cirr

*China's AI patents account for 22 pct of world's total: official*

2018-05-11 10:32 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

China's patents in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry accounted for about 22 percent of the total globally, according to an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Wang Xinzhe said China had more than 2,000 artificial intelligence companies by the end of 2017. Wang made the comments at the Global AI Products Application EXPO 2018 in Suzhou city, Jiangsu Province.

About 150 AI companies and institutions from 10 countries and regions participated in the three-day exposition, which kicked off on Thursday, showcasing more than 1,000 AI products.

Wang said China's AI companies are mainly located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have more than 100 AI companies each.

By 2020, China's AI industry is expected to reach 150 billion yuan (23.6 billion U.S. dollars), said Wang.

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## JSCh

*China's first AI medical lab opens in Guangzhou hospital*
By Gao Yun
2018-05-11 16:03 GMT+8




A joint lab utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in the diagnosis of disease was established on Thursday in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, according to local media.

The lab, the first of its kind in China, was established by the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, the largest hospital of its kind in South China, Tencent and Guangdong Bestway Technology Co. The companies will help to build the center into an e-hospital based on AI technologies.

The lab's first project – a medical consultation system – was also launched on the same day, aiding patients in identifying diseases and finding the right department and doctor in as little as five seconds.



The intelligent medical consultation system /Tencent Photo

By sending a text or voice message to the intelligent system, patients can describe their symptoms, have their illness identified and find the department they should visit. They can also find a doctor by typing the doctor’s name. 

The system can also distinguish first-visit patients and return-visit ones, and assign the latter to the same doctor, a step that improves the treatment's efficiency and experience.

*Wide coverage, high accuracy *

During the trial period over the last three months, the system received over 2,000 hits per day, it recorded a 94 percent accuracy rate in diagnosis and 96 percent accuracy rate in doctor recommendations. It can identify 518 types of disease, covering over 95 percent of common diseases in women and children. 

“The intelligent consultation system is just a beginning,” said Ding Ke, vice president of Tencent. Via cooperation with medical institutions and experts, the application will be extended to more services in the future, including accurate reservation, return-visit consultation and follow-up information collection, Ding added.

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## cirr

*Robot monk updated by Chinese tech firms*

2018-05-14 09:43 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping _





A robot named "Xian'Er" makes its debut at Guangzhou Animation Festival in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 4, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Xue Dongmei)

The Buddhist robots have arrived, and two of China's leading tech firms iFlytek and Tencent have signed a deal with a temple to try to advance a robot monk's wisdom.






Master Xiandu, from Longquan Temple in Beijing, stands alongside Xian'er, a 60-cm tall robot monk in yellow robes sporting a shaved head, at the 5th China Robotop, an annual summit held in Yuyao City, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Thursday.

"The temple has sought to introduce up-to-date AI technology to upgrade Xian'er," said the master, who is in charge of AI and Information Technology at the Buddhist temple.

The temple located on Fenghuang Hill in Beijing's northwest outskirts, 50 km away from the downtown, is regarded as China's most tech-strong temple, with a number of its monks graduating from China's most prestigious universities.

The temple's technology team in 2015 independently developed the robot monk, which can chant mantras and answer questions on basic Buddhist tenets.

Xiandu said that by signing with iFlytek and Tecent, the temple hoped to develop the third generation of Xian'er.

Xian'er's appearance is based on the temple's former cartoon image of a small, puzzled-looking novice monk. It has over 1.37 million fans, and has daily exchanges in both Chinese and English in text and voice messages with some 100,000 people each day on its account on WeChat, a popular messaging app.

The temple's robot development team has found that most questions proposed to Xian'er are about love, stress, annoyance and confusion in life.

Xiandu said Xian'er's answers were mainly based on the thoughts of the temple's abbot, Master Xuecheng. The temple plans to build a database based on the robot's questions and answers.

According to the plan, iFlytek will help improve Xian'er's artificial language ability, and Tencent will boost the robot's data processing functions.

Xiandu said Buddhist doctrine contained Chinese traditional culture and thinking, which could still inspire people. Xian'er can share such wisdom to those who confide it.

He said modern technology has also been introduced to the temple's work on digitizing ancient Buddhist books.

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## TaiShang

*Domestic firms still lag behind Western rivals, but boast advantages in AI technologies: industry experts*

By Shen Weiduo Source:Global Times Published: 2018/5/9





Photo:IC


China in recent years has been ramping up efforts to develop core technologies in the domestic chip industry, in an aim to cut its strong reliance on other countries and regions, and that pace was further accelerated in April following the US' ban on component sales to Chinese telecom company ZTE Corp. 

*The most recent move taken by the Chinese government to bulk up the country's chip-making muscles includes the establishment of a new fund worth more than $47 billion, run by the National Integrated Circuitry Industry Investment Fund Co, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. *

Meanwhile, *Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group Holding said in an announcement it sent to the Global Times that in April it acquired Hangzhou-based C-Sky Microsystems, a manufacturer of embedded chips, an important move in its chip development efforts. *

In 2017, the conglomerate also said it would strengthen its technology research input, in an aim to invest more than $15 billion in R&D in the following three years. 

Alibaba also set up a global research program in 2017 named DAMO Academy to seek global technological cooperation.

On May 3, *Chinese tech companies Lenovo Group, Dawning Information Industry Co (also known as Sugon) and iFlytek also displayed new AI products at a product launch conference held by AI chip start-up Cambricon Technologies Corp.*

During the conference, Lenovo released its first server platform equipped with Chinese-designed Cambricon chip-powered MLU100 intelligent processing cards.

Those efforts seem to have paid off. Data released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed that in the first quarter of 2018, the value of China's electronic information manufacturing industry grew by 12.5 percent compared with the same period in 2017, faster than the growth rate of all above-scale industries by 6.7 percentage points. 

The volume of integrated circuits produced in the first quarter of 2018 reached 39.99 billion, up 15.2 percent compared with 2016's figure, said the MIIT.

*A shortcut? 
*
Despite the rapid growth, it is widely believed that due to the time-consuming, slow and costly nature of chip development, China now lags behind the West in most chip-making processes and is unlikely to catch up in the short term.

*Japanese financial news outlet the Nikkei Asian Review on May 1 reported that British chipmaker Arm Holdings will cede control of its Chinese operations in a new joint venture (JV) named Arm Mini China, with China set to hold a majority stake of 51 percent.*

On Tuesday, Arm confirmed the news to the Global Times via email, stating the new JV has already begun operation, and that it will provide extensive technology support for its Chinese partners throughout the new venture. 

Arm will also help localize technology to satisfy the demand in the Chinese market.

"Arm dominates in designing one of the key chip technologies, which others are unlikely to catch up with," a graduate research assistant at Duke University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who only gave his surname as Yang, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Major tech multinationals including Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTek all need to license technology from Arm, one of the most influential chip technology providers in the world, to develop chipsets for their smartphones, tablets, wearables and various other connected devices. 

"It's possible that domestic chip designers may benefit from the technology transfer, however, the chip-making process is too complicated; designing is just one part of the whole process," Yang said.

Geng Bo, vice secretary-general of the China Solid State Lighting Alliance, agreed with Yang, admitting that it is of course good news for the Chinese chip industry, but that it's too soon to say if the industry will definitely improve just because of the advancement of one specific technology. 

Yang said that even with support from foreign firms, knowing how to actually use the technologies independently is vital. 

"Having fresh meat is good, but you also need to know how to cook it," he said, adding that after the design phase, the chip-making process is where China lags behind its western rivals.

Experts have also cautioned that if China wants to develop its own technologies in the chip industry, especially those related to national security, it must look at the "chip crisis" from the roots.

*AI opportunities*

Some domestic industry players, however, say that China has strengths in AI chip development, with many Chinese companies already leading the way in global cutting-edge AI technologies. 

"AI is where we may overtake our foreign rivals. Our company is increasing efforts in developing AI chips and has seen some fruit sprout already. For example, our chips have been used in the new retail industry and facial recognition. They have already been applied in self-service stores and airports," Chen Feng, vice president of Chinese fabless semiconductor maker Rockchip, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Chen's company ranked 20th among the top AI companies in the world in a recent list released by global industry consultancy Compass Intelligence. Meanwhile, Chinese tech giant Huawei ranked 12th.

According to the ranking, US-based Nvidia is still the leading global player, followed by Intel and IBM. 

A Chinese AI scientist who works at a US internet company spoke on condition of anonymity to the Global Times on Tuesday, saying that unlike in traditional chip industries, Chinese firms didn't miss the chance of developing AI chips at an early stage, so that is why they are now at a level playing field with their US counterparts.

He also noted that China's large user base ensures ample user feedback during testing processes, important for AI chip R&D.

However, he underscored that whether these AI chips can be defined as "successful" still lies in their sales performance and application scenarios in the future market. 

*Optimism with caution*

"It's hard to predict how long it will take for China to catch up with others, or successfully develop its own core technologies, but for traditional chip sectors, the time will be longer," Geng said.

Nevertheless, Geng remains optimistic about the domestic semiconductor industry, considering China's successful experiences in the LED chip-making industry.

Domestic LED chip development, starting from scratch in 2003, has successfully caught up with its foreign competitors over the past 15 years, and at present, more than 85 percent of lighting products in China have adopted homegrown LED chips, Geng said.

Although the technology barriers in domestic LED chip development are relatively minor compared to other chip types, they can still teach us a lot, Geng noted.

@qwerrty

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## TaiShang

*China already at forefront of AI development, says expert*

Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/5/17

China has already been at the forefront of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and will take the lead in the field over time, a senior expert said during the 2nd AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva. 

In an interview on Wednesday, Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told Xinhua that China has definitely gained the capability of spearheading AI development in the world, as the it stood out with conspicuous advantages. 

Though China's core technologies, such as high-end chip manufacturing, cannot go neck to neck with world's top-tier technologies, Zhao said, China still enjoys incomparable advantages, in terms of the progress it has made in AI research and development, its market size, AI application range and promotion efforts. He gave the examples of drones, robots and unmanned vehicles to illustrate his points. 

Another advantage that many countries don't have, Zhao stressed, is that China's top policymakers are able to play a bigger part in developing AI, so as to better allocate resources and lay out overall planning. 

Besides, he said that China's second mover advantages are obvious. Although the United States owns the world's largest internet companies, China has a batch of companies to compete with the United States, and thus provides alternative services to both its domestic and overseas customers. China can even do better in the localization of AI technologies, Zhao noted. 

However, the head of the ITU pointed out that Chinese enterprises still need to improve its innovative abilities, as few of the latest concepts and ideas came from China. 

He also mentioned that the world should not put too much emphasis on how AI would likely cause changes in current rules and regulations, as well as market restrictions. 

He said there is much to be discussed about how AI could better fit into human society and how to set rules in AI application, as AI is still in its infancy. 

The 2nd AI for Good Global Summit, kicked off Tuesday, is looking for concrete artificial intelligence (AI) projects that can accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Zhao said at the event's opening ceremony.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1102750.shtml

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## TaiShang

*World Intelligence Congress shows latest life-changing technologies*

CGTN
2018-05-17








The second World Intelligence Congress (WIC) in north China's Tianjin Municipality shows the latest hi-tech and innovation results that have revolutionized the trade and commerce industries, transport, medical care and other areas of people's daily lives.

The event has attracted thousands of well-known entrepreneurs, hi-tech companies, experts and scholars to share their AI research results in Tianjin, the cradle of China's modern industry and a notable coastal city in north China.

It is focusing on changes and opportunities brought by AI technologies and how they can be best utilized to shape a sustainable world. Cutting-edge technologies, as well as investment and financing opportunities in the intelligent industries, are also presented.





*A model of a suspended monorail is on display at the WIC, May 16, 2018. Developed by China Railway Signal and Communication Corp., it has been put into operation at a scenic spot in Changsha and will be available for mass transport beginning in 2020 in the central Chinese city. /China Plus Photo*

Wan Gang, chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, said at the opening ceremony that AI was a strategic technology that would play a leading role in future development. He added that as the core driving force of industrial revolution, it would promote the emergence of new technologies, products, industries and economic growth patterns.

Liu Qiangdong, CEO of e-commerce giant JD.com, said he was focusing on intelligent logistics. 

JD.com has spent several years developing drones and robots to deliver parcels, said Liu at the plenary of the WIC. Drones can save costs and time to send parcels to those living in remote areas and transport agricultural products to cities more timely, while robots can save human couriers from heavy work load, bad weather and safety risks; in the future, one human courier can supervise 100 robotic couriers in the office to ensure there is no failure in operation, said Liu.





*A staff member demonstrates how to operate an intelligent wheelchair with a robotic arm. The wheelchair can be operated by pressing buttons and moving a handle.* It can move and fetch things for patients. /China Plus Photo

Looking forward to the next 20 years, Zhou Ji, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that by 2025, smart manufacturing must be widely used nationally and by 2035, intelligent manufacturing should be a leading force in manufacturing industries.

The three-day congress includes three plenary meetings, 18 parallel forums, an intelligence exhibition and competitions for unmanned vehicles and drones.





A facial recognition camera, which can recognize one's age, sex and emotions. /China Plus Photo





The second WIC kicked off on May 16, 2018, in north China's Tianjin Municipality. /China Plus Photo‍

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## qwerrty

> chinamoneynetwork.com
> *China's iFlytek To Raise $567M To Expand Artificial Intelligence Investment – China Money Network*
> 2-3 minutes
> 
> Chinese artificial intelligence company iFlytek Co Ltd., best known for its voice-recognition technology, plans to raise up to RMB3.6 billion (US$567 million) through private placement to expand its artificial intelligent investments, according to its security filing.
> 
> The proceeds of the fund will be used for the development of the new generation of cognitive technology, AI speech open platform, smart robots, sales and service upgrade, as well as improving liquidity, the company said.
> 
> The biggest investment of RMB1.18 billion (US$186 million) will go to the development of a smart speech open platform . The project will take three years to complete. It is expected the generate revenue of RMB3.09 billion (US$487 million) and net profit of RMB532 million (US$83.8 million) per year once completed.
> 
> About RMB550 million (US$86.65 million) will be invested in new generation cognitive technology. The firm will spend three years to construct research centers and data centers for cognitive intelligence, speech, image and video, deep learning and AI. It will also establish more research centers in Suzhou, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
> 
> The firm has been expanding its R&D team by adding AI talent. Earlier this month, iFlytek hired Li Shipeng, former Microsoft partner and founding member of Microsoft Research Asia to head its AI research and development.
> 
> Last month, Ma Guilin, expert in acoustics and audiology and former research scientist at GN ReSound, joined iFlytek’s Suzhou AI Lab. Last year, iFlytek hired Tao Xiangdong, former chief solutions architect and principal scientist at Philips to lead its health unit.







> chinamoneynetwork.com
> *Tianjin Sets Up $15.7B Fund-Of-Funds To Boost AI And Smart Industry – China Money Network*
> 3 minutes
> 
> The city of Tianjian, a major port city in Northeastern China, is establishing a RMB100 billion (US$15.72 billion) fund-of-funds to invest in artificial intelligence technologies, the city announced at the World Intelligence Congress on May 16th.
> 
> The move comes amid an intense AI race between China and the U.S. The Chinese government says it wants to make AI a new economic driving force by 2020, and become an AI leader with key AI industry valued at more than RMB 1 trillion (US$157 billion) by 2030, according the three-step development plan released by the State Council last year. The fund will also help Tianjin compete against major Chinese technology centers like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
> 
> Tianjin’s new fund will focus on smart robots, smart hardware and software, smart sensors, virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as Internet-connected cars. About RMB30 billion (US$4.7 billion) will go to a sub-fund that invests in smart manufacturing and AI solutions that transform traditional manufacturing, according to the document released on Tianjin government’s website.
> 
> The money will be raised by government-backed Haihe River Fund, as well as financial institutions, and private companies from China and abroad.
> 
> The fund is part of Tianjin’s bigger plan for pushing smart manufacturing. The government also plans for a RMB10 billion (US$1.57 billion) special fund to support industrial upgrade. For example, companies can get rewards of up to RMB10 million (US$1.57 million) if they purchase industrial robots. Eligible manufacturers can get subsidies of up to RMB50 million (US$7.86 million) when they purchase advanced manufacturing equipment.
> 
> Tianjin reported GDP of RMB1.9 trillion (US$299 billion) in 2017, with a 3.6% year-on-year growth rate. Its GDP ranked sixth across cities in China, following Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chongqing.
> 
> To compete with China’s other top first-tier cities for talents, Tianjin will also try to attract top talents. For top scientists such as Nobel Price winners, Tianjin will award as much as RMB10 million (US$1.57 million). For top foreign talents, the government will subsidize education fees for their children, as well as providing insurance.








> chinamoneynetwork.com
> *Shenzhen Capital Group, Wu Capital Co-Lead $128M Round Chinese Autonomous Driving Firm Roadstar.Ai – China Money Network*
> 3 minutes
> 
> Chinese investment firm Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. has partnered with Wu Capital, a Chinese family office, to lead a US$128 million series A round in Roadstar.ai, an artificial intelligence start-up focused on research and development of level 4 autonomous driving technologies.
> 
> Existing investors including Yunqi Partners, CMBI International Capital Corporation Ltd and Vision Capital also participated in the round, according to Yunqi Partners’ announcement on its official WeChat account.
> 
> Roadstar.ai was founded last May by three former Baidu software architects. Integrating with multiple sensors including LiDARs, cameras, radars, GPS, IMU, the start-up’s technologies provide synchronization, real-time update and features extracted from the fused high-dimensional raw data.
> 
> 
> "Taking into consideration the extremely high requirements for system safety and stability in autonomous driving systems, we pay attention to start-ups’ technological capabilities, and whether they will be able to breakthrough the bottlenecks of the commercialization of autonomous driving," said Jiang Yucai, vice president at Shenzhen Capital Group.
> 
> Roadstar.ai has research and development centers in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen. It previously raised tens of millions of U.S. dollar angel round from Yunqi Partners, Green Pine Capital Partners, Glory Ventures and others.
> 
> Previously, another autonomous driving start-up JingChi, founded by the former head of Baidu’s autonomous driving unit, was sued by the Chinese search engine giant on trade secrets issues. Later, the founder of JingChi, Wang Jin, resigned from the firm, which joined Baidu’s self-driving Apollo platform to make peace with the Chinese tech giant.
> 
> But for Roadstar.ai, this should not be a problem as the three co-founders are all younger professionals with short work experience at Baidu and other big tech companies. Liang Heng, co-founder and chief technology officer of Roadstar.ai, for example, worked at Baidu for one year and at Google for one year and five months.




-

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## TaiShang

*Nation aims for core tech breakthrough*

(China Daily) 08:32, May 18, 2018




　

_An intelligent robot made by China Telecommunications Corp is on show at the Second World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin. [Photo by Jia Chenglong/For China Daily]_

*More efforts needed to cultivate firms focusing on high-end sensors, chips*

China will ramp up resources to develop core technologies such as artificial intelligence chips and sensors, as part of its broader push to integrate AI into the manufacturing sector, the nation's top industry regulator said on Thursday.

*Zhang Feng, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China is now the world's second-largest owner of invention patents and international scientific papers, with significant progress made in voice and image recognition, as well as natural language understanding.*

"In future, more efforts will be made to pursue breakthroughs in crucial technologies that are key to the entire industry and can serve as a strong motivation. *We will focus on AI chips, sensors and core algorithms*," Zhang said at a conference in Beijing to celebrate the World Telecommunications Day, which fell on Thursday.

According to him, the country will also strengthen research and development on cutting-edge technology such as cognitive computing and machine learning.

The ministry unveiled a three-year plan in December to boost the application of AI in the automobile, robotics, healthcare and other sectors, in its latest push to upgrade the country's real economy.

On top of aiming to build a globally competitive smart internet-connected car industry by 2020, the country also wants to accelerate the use of AI-enabled systems to assist doctors in medical cases, and services robots that can help senior citizens and children.

*But to achieve these goals, more efforts are needed to cultivate homegrown companies that specialize in high-end sensors and AI chips. *Platforms that integrate software and hardware are also needed to power self-driving vehicles and other applications, said Wang Weiming, deputy director of the science and technology department of the ministry.

Last year,* China outlined its plan to build a 150 billion yuan ($23.6 billion) AI core industry by 2020, which is supposed to stimulate as much as 1 trillion yuan in related business.*

In November, the central government said it would build four national AI open innovation platforms by relying on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in smart city technologies, Baidu Inc in self-driving technologies, Tencent Holdings Ltd in AI-enabled medical treatment, and iFlytek Co Ltd in voice-recognition technology.

Li Zhengmao, vice general manager of China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile telecom carrier by subscribers, said the company is building a large-scale internet of things network which will build a sound foundation for the era of AI.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0518/c90000-9461384.html

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## cirr

*China rides waves of artificial intelligence*

2018-05-18 14:43 Xinhua _Editor: Gu Liping_

Machines that can impeccably synthesize the human voice, assist judges in sentencing, and tell customers whether a dress is a good fit, have been displayed at the second World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin.

Riding the global waves of artificial intelligence (AI), China aims to improve the productivity and inject new momentum into its economy by encouraging more players to tap the fledging industry.

By June 2017, about one-fourth of the world's 2,542 AI companies were in China, where around 15,700 AI patents were filed, ranking second after the United States, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

"China should seize opportunities to boost innovation in deep learning, smart algorithms and chips, and modernize industries with AI technologies," Lin Nianxiu, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a room of entrepreneurs, researchers and policy-makers at the congress, which was held from May 16 to 18.

NDRC is China's top economic planning agency.

In July last year, the State Council issued a plan for new generation AI, pledging to make the industry a major new growth engine and improve people's life by 2020 and make the country the world's center and leader for AI innovation by 2030.

China's AI industry output last year was 18 billion yuan (about 2.85 billion U.S. dollars) and value of related industries reached 220 billion yuan, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"The development of intelligent technologies is not only the endogenous driving force for China's economic upgrade, but contributes to the prosperity of the world as well," according to a survey of 408 intelligent companies by the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies (CINGAIDS).

*PHENOMENAL PROGRESS*

China's high-tech big names are investing heavily in AI innovation, with Baidu in automated driving, Alibaba in AI cities, Tencent in medicine and health, and iFlytek in intelligent voices, according to the survey.

Still, China lags behind developed countries in AI theory, algorithm, materials, core components, and even talent.

Most existing Chinese AI companies were founded between 2010 and 2016 amid intense policy incentives, the survey said.

To catch up with the global AI leaders, 18 provinces, regions and municipalities in China have introduced new policies to promote AI-related industries, while 27 provincial-level regions have announced plans to build AI industrial parks.

Wan Gang, chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology and former Minister of Science and Technology, said Chinese companies are quite competitive in image recognition, voice translation and behavioral analysis, with remarkable achievements in intelligent robotics, automated shops, machine translation, shared and driverless vehicles.

AI technologies are now widely applied in China in the fields of city planning, smart transportation, social governance, health, agriculture and national security.

China has created local AI champions such as Tencent, Baidu, Sensetime, Face++ and Cambricon, said Ludovic Bodin, a French entrepreneur who plans to set up a one-billion-dollar fund to finance AI joint ventures between France and China.

He also seeks to directly invest in firms either in France or China, particularly in areas of health care, transportation and environment.

"Artificial intelligence was a big priority when French President Emmanuel Macron visited China in January. China has critical competitive advantage in AI. Its largest datasets, policy push and education reform are key advantages. While France harbors top-ranked talent in AI, and aims to boost the sector and lead European development in AI," Bodin said.

The ambitions are shared by Chian's domestic players, as Liu Qiangdong, founder of e-commerce giant JD.com, announced at the congress that the company would renovate 800 logistics centers in China with AI technologies in the next five years.

"We look to establish an intelligent system covering storage, delivery vehicles, distribution stations and customers. In the future, courier boys will become white-collars who sit in office and monitor machines that do the jobs for them," Liu said.

Meanwhile, iFlytek said its machine translation capabilities by 2019 were expected to match a college graduate majoring in English.

"The latest machine can translate Chinese to 33 other languages. It also works well for different Chinese dialects," said Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFlytek.

By 2030, AI is expected to generate 16 trillion U.S. dollars for the world economy, said Indrajit Banerjee, director of the knowledge societies division of the Communication and Information Sector in UNESCO.

"Chinese companies are very active in developing AI technology and application. They have achieved phenomenal progress in a very short span of time. Their contribution to AI will be tremendous," he said.

*TALENT FOR THE FUTURE*

To boost the development of intelligent technologies, experts and entrepreneurs agree that it is critical for countries to nurture more talent.

"China has advantages in the speed of AI development and its wide application, but its weak points are the depth of basic research and originality," Wan said.

"Demand of AI talent is extremely high now, and that happens to be our weak point as well. Talent is a key element in developing the industry," he said.

Gong Ke, executive president of CINGAIDS, said about one-fourth of AI technologies used in China came from abroad. "Software and hardware are developed by firms such as Nvidia and IBM. I hope Chinese companies will also be suppliers in the future," he said.

"The evolution of new technology is unstoppable. Innovation is going faster and faster. If education cannot keep up, we will not have the next generation AI ready for the new skills that are needed. AI started at the top universities and now it has to go down," he said.

In April, AI coursebooks were introduced to the curriculum in 40 high schools in China.

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba, also directed attention to AI education.

"Humans will never win if they compete with machines on who recites books fast and gets calculations right. We should focus more on kindergarten and elementary education, and raise our kids to be responsible and visionary beings," he said. "The age of AI will come, and it is important that we get prepared."

http://www.ecns.cn/business/2018/05-18/303135_2.shtml

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## cirr

*SenseTime, Alibaba open AI lab in partnership with HK Science and Technology Parks*

2018-05-22 15:49:30 China Daily Li Yan

Facial recognition startup SenseTime and e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba announced on Monday they have set up an artificial intelligence laboratory in Hong Kong by partnering with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp.

The AI laboratory is aimed to strengthen technology exchange between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong by combining the former's accumulation of artificial intelligence core technologies and application scenarios, and the latter's advantage in AI academic research.

The move came shortly after the government called for enhanced collaboration in science and technology between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, so as to support the latter's aim of becoming an international center for innovative technologies.

Tang Xiaoou, founder of SenseTime, said the laboratory will serve as a platform to build a bridge between academia and industry, which will promote the application of AI technology, and widen cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

"With this platform and SenseTime's leading artificial intelligence technology, we hope to create more opportunities for young people in Hong Kong," said Tang, who is also a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The move also came after SenseTime announced in April that it had acquired $600 million in its Series C round of fundraising led by Alibaba, setting a record for venture capital funding in the artificial intelligence sector.

The deal valued SenseTime at over $4.5 billion. Other investors include Temasek Holdings and Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2018-05-22/detail-ifyukeiw6589965.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Kai-fu Lee’s new AI consultancy sounds promising but competition in the field is growing fast*

By Li Qiaoyi Source:Global Times Published: 2018/5/23 





Photo: Courtesy of Sinovation Ventures


Kai-fu Lee's venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures on Tuesday announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) subsidiary. *But the former Google China president's new offshoot*, essentially a business model innovation that could step up China's ambitions for AI dominance, still needs to be justified in terms of its commercial viability. 

*Unlike most of the Chinese firms delivering AI-powered products and solutions, the new subsidiary, called Chuangxin Qizhi, sees itself as a kind of AI-driven consultancy that customizes road maps for traditional businesses to incorporate the technology. It's an increasingly popular business model. *

Having raised an angel round of more than 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) from Chengwei Ventures and Sinovation Ventures, among other investors, Chuangxin Qizhi aims to remodel businesses initially in the fields of retail, manufacturing and insurance.

The new venture is Lee's latest attempt to explore AI opportunities in the innovation-oriented economy, and it exemplifies China's leading position in terms of AI applications. It could help drive further AI use in many of the country's traditional sectors, considering its offering of customized insights and advice as well as the technological expertise needed to increase productivity and align with the intelligence era.

The US arguably remains top dog in terms of cutting-edge AI technologies, but the prevalence of digitalized everything in China has paved the way for China's rise as the global hub for AI applications. That's why China has become the most favored market for AI investment. According to statistics from US-based venture capital database CB Insights, a total of $15.2 billion was invested in AI across the globe in 2017, with Chinese companies collecting 48 percent of the total and US firms attracting 38 percent. 

The investment fever is certainly adding fuel to China's efforts to incorporate AI technologies more widely into traditional areas of the economy. And Lee's new AI venture appears to indicate that the massive investment is translating into an increasingly sophisticated approach.

An essential issue, however, is whether the new AI firm will be genuinely viable in commercial terms. When asked about how this kind of consultancy business makes money, Jenny Wang, a former director at Google and COO of Chuangxin Qizhi, told the Global Times on Tuesday that its revenues come from the development and manufacturing of AI-enabled products tailored to individualized needs or the sharing of an improvement in profits that clients make after applying AI-based solutions customized by the venture. 

That makes business sense, but it hardly sets the company apart from many other firms providing industry-focused solutions for adopting AI technologies. The venture could offer some fresh ideas, but for it to prove commercially successful, efforts will be required to go the extra mile.

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## JSCh

*China’s pilot program to use AI for detecting cancer*
By Ge Yunfei
2018-05-29 20:49 GMT+8






In China, algorithms crunching mountains of data has shown their ability to improve people’s lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) is reporting breakthroughs in detecting cancer.

In the country, more than 2.7 million people die of cancer every year – meaning cancer kills more than five Chinese people every minute.

Dr. Xu Guoliang is the head of the Department of Endoscopy and Laser at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Treatment Center. He’s been trying to detect cancer in its earliest stages – which can improve patient’s chances of survival. Xu is an endoscopy specialist working at one of the largest cancer treatment centers in southern China.

He searches for tumors inside body cavities and hollow organs like the stomach. While the WHO says stomach cancer is a leading cause of death in China, there aren’t enough Chinese doctors like Xu.

Xu told CGTN that five years ago, there were only about 29,000 qualified endoscopy doctors in China. But, according to their estimates, there are 120 million patients that need to do endoscopy each year. That means China has to increase the number of doctors 50 times to meet that demand. Clearly, "that’s almost impossible,” Xu added.





Dr. Xu Guoliang at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Treatment Center. /CGTN Photo

So, Dr. Xu turned to AI for help. His hospitals have been working with Internet giant Tencent, hoping to develop an AI clinical diagnostic system called Miying.

According to Xu, each endoscopy examination will produce 48 images that’ll be simultaneously sent to Tencent’s database. And the AI system will give feedback in four seconds. Based on a huge pool of data, it’ll suggest which position could the cancer lesion.

Xu said AI’s accuracy in diagnosing some types of cancer early is as high as 90 percent, and AI’s accuracy is still improving.

Patients in China’s first-tier cities may still prefer human doctors at the best hospitals, but for the one billion-or-so people living in less-developed areas with limited medical resources, AI promises a huge benefit.

Zhou Xuan, a senior product director of the Miying AI project of Tencent said, “AI is able to learn from 'big data'. That’s what humans can’t do. We hope the system can reach remote areas and grassroots hospitals in China, where patients can get a diagnosis as accurate as the ones in first-class hospitals in big cities.”

The Chinese government is part of a global trend.

Last November, it announced plans to build a national platform for AI diagnostic imaging – a commitment to AI as a pillar in the future of Chinese medicine.

The British government says in the next 15 years, AI could prevent more than 20,000 cancer deaths a year. And, scanning cell images, US researchers have shown AI can distinguish types of cancer in most cases with nearly 100-percent accuracy.

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## JSCh

*AI towns to get go-ahead*
By Shi Jing in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2018-05-31 09:38
















Delighted children and adults watch the performance of a robot at the 2017 China Beijing International High-Tech Expo on June 8. [Photo/China Daily]

Shanghai unicorn company Deep Blue Technology will roll out two artificial intelligence towns featuring driverless vehicles in East China's Shanghai and Jiangsu province in the next three months, which will be the first of their kind in China.

Deep Blue founder and Chief Executive Officer Chen Haibo said that the AI towns will be located in southeastern Shanghai's Lingang area and Changzhou in Jiangsu province, with each town covering about 4 square kilometers.

Established together with the local governments, the AI towns will be controlled by an AI brain, overlooking most of their daily operations, said Chen. All the cars running in the town will be driverless vehicles with no police directing the traffic. The town will also work as an incubator for AI companies, he said.

Founded in 2012, Deep Blue's products have reached 17 overseas markets, covering nine areas in the AI industry including retail, robotics, driverless vehicles, security, education, biological intelligence and defense. It has received orders valued at more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) so far this year. It merged three domestic AI companies and invested in two overseas AI companies in May. While the company's workforce is currently 400, the figure is expected to reach more than 1,000 by the end of this year, said Chen.

"We have also formed an investment company recently since mergers and acquisitions in the industry can help to address the weaknesses of Deep Blue," he said.

Shanghai Stock Exchange has held talks with Deep Blue about its planned listing. Chen said that at least three companies under the Deep Blue group will be listed in domestic and overseas stock markets in the next five years.

One of the key AI technologies that Deep Blue grasps is the recognition of all the biological information of the palm, which includes the structure of the veins and tissue. As Chen explained, this kind of recognition is much more complicated and much safer as such information can be hard to be duplicated and obtained. Therefore, such technology, which was 100 percent developed by the local team of Deep Blue, is superior to the existing technologies such as fingerprint, iris and even DNA.

Shanghai Party secretary Li Qiang visited Deep Blue in early May, saying that the company has set a good example of embodying its technology with products and services. The AI industry can reach substantial growth in the city only when companies are resolved to serve people's daily needs with technology, he said.

According to a guideline released by the State Council in July, the value of China's AI industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2030.

Chen said that China is sure to lead the AI industry given its solid basis of mathematics talents－which is key to computing of AI, the huge market potential and the rise of the younger generation who embrace new technologies rapidly.

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## TaiShang

*AI Startup SenseTime Completes $620 Million Funding Round*

Chinese artificial intelligence startup SenseTime said Thursday that it has completed a funding round of $620 million, that now values the company at more than $4.5 billion, making it the world's most valuable AI unicorn.

The investment was led by Fidelity International, Hopu Capital, Silver Lake and Tiger Global.

SenseTime, which develops AI technology and applications for smartphones, entertainment, automobiles, finance, retail, and other industries, has raised more than $1.6 billion in total.

https://k.caixinglobal.com/#anchor1527733396000

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## JSCh

*Chinese researchers develop AI technology for screening diabetic retinopathy*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-02 16:10:53|Editor: ZX




CHANGSHA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A research team with Hunan University has successfully developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can swiftly detect diabetic retinopathy.

The algorithm enables doctors to find signs of diabetic retinopathy from pictures with the help of a supercomputer center.

"After analyzing more than 80,000 retinal images, we found that the AI algorithm had a 91 percent accuracy rate of detecting diabetic retinopathy, which is on par with an ophthalmologist," said Xi Ziwei, a member of the research team.

"AI detection takes only one thirtieth of the time used by an ophthalmologist, enabling it to screen more cases and reduce human error," Xi said, adding that ophthalmologists are in short supply in China, particularly at the community level.

Early detection of diabetic retinopathy improves outcomes in a disease that is a major cause of vision loss.

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## TaiShang

*Mission AI: Bionic eye, looking to the future*

CGTN
2018-06-04







Rediscovering China is a 30-minute features program offering in-depth reports on the major issues facing China today. It airs Sunday at 10:30 a.m. BJT (0230GMT), with a rebroadcast at 11:30 p.m. (1530GMT), as well as Monday 8:30 a.m. (0030GMT) and Friday 1:30 p.m. 

With Mission AI, "Rediscovering China" looks at how the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are transforming the way we live our lives.

*Hidden away in an unremarkable compound in Shanghai is a rather remarkable start-up called Eyevolution. The company is headed by Professor Zhang Xiaolin, who has spent the past 25 years developing bionic eyes. *After a lengthy period in Japan doing research, he returned to Shanghai five years ago and went on to found Eyevolution in 2016.

In the past, the application of bionic eyes has been limited to a prosthetic helping the visually impaired to see again. But what Professor Zhang and his team are focusing on, is their potential in combination with other technologies, for example, 3D video cameras and microscopes. One use of the technology that is now a commonplace is the robot vacuum cleaner which recognizes – and so avoids – tables, chairs and other articles while performing its household chores.

But when it comes to fitting bionic eyes to a robot, there’s one function that Professor Zhang’s team are especially excited about. “Such a robot can help doctors with surgery,” says Yang Quantao, one of the engineers behind this project. “Our hands might shake; that affects accuracy. The robot can be much more precise.”

The medical robot is currently going through the final testing stage, as it still requires some more optimization. However, the company plans to have their product hit the market by the end of this year, with the hope that before long, it may be common to see a robot operating alongside human surgeons. 

_Rediscovering China is a 30-minute features program offering in-depth reports on the major issues facing China today. It airs Sunday at 10:30 a.m. BJT (0230GMT), with a rebroadcast at 11:30 p.m. (1530GMT), as well as Monday 8:30 a.m. (0030GMT) and Friday 1:30 p.m. (0530GMT). _

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## TaiShang

*First AI textbook for high school students released*
China Daily, June 11, 2018

*China has recently published its first artificial intelligence (AI) textbook for high school students, following a plan by central government last year to include AI courses in primary and secondary school.*

Under the joint efforts by the research center for MOOC at East China Normal University and AI startup SenseTime Group, the nine-chapter textbook, named Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, was written by eminent scholars from well-known schools nationwide, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

It includes the history of AI and how the technology can be applied in areas such as facial recognition, auto driving and public security.

"The textbook focuses not only on basics of AI, also on practical use of AI in daily life," said Chen Yukun, a professor at East China Normal University, who is also a contributor to the book.

*At present, about 40 high schools across the country have joined the first batch of AI high education pilot program, by introducing the textbook in curriculum.*

"The AI sector is facing a talent shortage globally. The publication of the book is a breakthrough as it takes AI technology out of the 'ivory tower' and makes it part of high school learning," said Lin Dahua, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As early as 2016, the governments had estimated that demand for AI professionals may surge to 5 million in the coming years.

"Many industries in the future will benefit from AI technology, so the aim of the related courses should be to let students learn the basic idea and methods of AI," Lin said.

China has made significant progress in technological research and development in recent years. According to a report released by US-based venture capital database CB Insights* in March, China has for the first time surpassed the United States in equity funding to AI startups.*

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2018-06/11/content_51993445.htm

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## JSCh

*Anhui to Push for USD2.3 Billion AI Industry by 2020*
DOU SHICONG 
DATE: TUE, 06/19/2018 - 11:40 / SOURCE:YICAI





Anhui to Push for USD2.3 Billion AI Industry by 2020​
(Yicai Global) June 19 -- Eastern China’s Anhui province plans to strengthen research and development into artificial intelligence to value the regional sector at over CNY15 billion (USD2.3 billion) by 2020.

The program will center around an industry park specialized in speech recognition, China Speech Valley, in the provincial capital Hefei, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The scheme will support companies, universities and research institutes to broaden applications in agriculture, manufacturing, education, medicine and urban management.

“China Speech Valley will provide the scientific and education resources,” said Qi Dongfeng, head of operations at the park. “The program will focus on industrial applications up and down the supply chain, with research directed at chips, algorithms, smart voice products and intelligent sensors.”

Last year, Anhui’s AI sector was worth around CNY7 billion after leaping more than 46 percent annually and making up 10 percent of the national total. The region is home to some of the country’s top tech institutions and companies, including the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei Institution of Physical Science and Iflytek, China’s best-known voice recognition firm.

Based in Hefei National New and High Technology Industrial Development Zone, China Speech Valley was set up by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the provincial government in 2012. It is home to more than 200 companies, including Iflytek, and had a total output of CNY51 billion last year, encompassing AI and related industries.

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## TaiShang

*China turns to AI for healthcare boost*

By Zhou Wenting in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2018-06-18 





A doctor in one of Shanghai's rehab centers fits a VR helmet on a patient to test his addiction levels. [Provided to China Daily]

Artificial intelligence is being increasingly used in medicine to examine medical scans and spot signs of diabetes, among other applications. In China, artificial intelligence is expected to play a much bigger role than many other countries, especially since there are only 1.5 doctors for every 1,000 people in the country, compared with 2.5 for every thousand in the United States, according to MIT Technology Review.

As part of its nationwide AI push, the country has been beefing up its healthcare facilities using the latest AI technology. Local researchers are already developing a variety of AI tools for medicine, including ones that can assist staff members at drug rehab centers to assess levels of addiction and another that helps children suffering from autism to improve their perception of people and surrounding environment.

In Shanghai, nearly 1,000 addicts in three of the city's five rehab centers, including one for exclusively for females, have been using a virtual reality system complete with an eye-movement tracking system when users put on a VR helmet and "walk into" scenes with drugs. Their eye movement and biological indicators, such as their heart rate and skin conductivity, are recorded in an objective way to show their levels of addiction.

Around 1,000 children suffering from autism in the city have also been using a VR system simulating real-life scenarios for interactive training.

In some cases, AI can do more than just assist medical professionals, it can also help the counter the affects of the country's acute shortage of doctors.

One hospital in Guangzhou, for instance, has been testing an AI system for the diagnosis of autism in children aged as young as 2 years old. The system, jointly developed by the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and the Duke Kunshan University, has achieved an 80 percent accuracy rate in screening 120 toddlers who were diagnosed with autism, the team behind the system said during a recent forum at DKU.

The system represents a major development in screening for child autism, which is considered a challenge in China due to the lack of experienced pediatricians who can perform accurate diagnoses.

Experts predict more AI tools will be developed in the country. A recent report from the International Data Cooperation predicted that China's market for AI healthcare services would grow to $930 million by 2022.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201806/18/WS5b270038a310010f8f59d641.html

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## TaiShang

*6.Chinese AI Company iFlytek Joins Telecoms Giants to Move Into Hardware*

*What: *Chinese voice recognition company iFlytek said that it will collaborate with telecom network operators China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom to develop a selection of voice-activated smart devices, including smart speakers, earphones and home companion robots.

*Why it’s important:* Previously, iFlytek focused mostly on developing voice recognition software. The partnership will help iFlytek distribute its artificial intelligence hardware to a large user base, as the three operators had a combined 343.7 million fixed-line broadband subscribers as of April 30.

*Big picture:* China’s voice assistant market is seeing fierce competition in prices and products, as more than 100 companies, including Tencent and Alibaba, joined the market last year. Internet companies have also been increasingly moving into hardware, with Baidu launching its third smart speaker, Xiaodu Smart Speaker, on June 11. 

(Source: _South China Morning Post_)

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## JSCh

*AI chip unicorn Cambricon is industry's most valuable startup*
Zhang Jin China Plus Published: 2018-06-20 20:03:54

China's first artificial intelligence (AI) chip unicorn Cambricon is now valued at 2.5 billion U.S. dollars after its B-round financing, the highest valuation among global smart chip startups, reports thepaper.cn.




Cambricon Technology CEO Chen Tianshi introduces the cloud AI chip MLU100 in Shanghai on May 3, 2018. [File photo: Xinhua]

The company was founded in 2016 by two brothers, Chen Yunji and Chen Tianshi, who are researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Cambricon released China's first AI chip, Cambricon-1A, in 2016. The chip, designed for devices such as smartphones, wearables and drones, is said to be the world's first commercialized neural network processor chip.

The startup raised 100 million U.S. dollars in its A-round funding in August 2017, making it the first unicorn in the industry.

Cambricon unveiled China's first AI chip for cloud computing last month. The chip, called MLU100, has accurate and fast big data processing capacity, especially when it comes to image and voice searches, according to Xinhua News Agency.

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## JSCh

*Ant Financial opens AI services to asset management firms*
By Wang Yanfei | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-06-20 14:04



A mascot of Ant Financial is seen at its office in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, Sept 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial on Wednesday said the company will share a full suite of AI capabilities with asset management companies in China to support their digital transformation.

The announcement comes after Caifuhao, an AI-powered corporate account on the Ant Fortune platform, has brought tangible benefits to 27 fund management companies since the account went into operation last year.

These companies have been able to increase their operational efficiency by 70 percent while reducing their overall costs by 50 percent, according to the company.

"By combining Ant Financial' s AI technologies with the capabilities of asset management companies in investor education and fund management, together we are making customized wealth management services more accessible for ordinary users," said Eric Jing, CEO of Ant Financial.

More than 100 asset management companies have signed up to join the Ant Fortune platform since its inception in 2015, representing over 90 percent of all fund management companies in China.

This has resulted in more than 4,000 wealth management products being made available to tens of millions of individual Ant Fortune users.

Ant Financial has accelerated its pace of opening up its technological capabilities in recent months to financial institutions.

Banks including Huaxia Bank, China Everbright Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China CITIC Bank, and Bank of Tianjin have signed strategic cooperation agreements with Ant Financial to support the banks' digital transformation.


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## JSCh

*Shanghai-based startup introduces heart and lung auscultation platform*
Vega Chiu, DIGITIMES, Taipei
Wednesday 20 June 2018

When a doctor puts a stethoscope on a patient's chest, he or she usually asks the patient to breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly. This is quite common when a patient has a cold or serious cough: the doctor listens to the patient's heart and lungs to check for respiratory infection.

Going to the doctor for a cold does not seem much of a hassle in Taiwan where the size and density of population is enough to support widespread neighborhood clinics and medical institutions. Healthcare is generally readily available to people in Taiwan. However, it is not the same for people living in countries with vast territories or people having difficulty making trips to see a doctor.

In view of this, Shanghai Tuoxiao Intelligent Technology has developed an intelligent heart and lung auscultation system and service that combines a digital stethoscope, AI-based algorithm and big data analytics platform for heart and lung sounds.

According to Tuoxiao CFO Hsueh Yang, the system automatically analyzes whether there is anything abnormal with the user's heart or lung sounds using the AI-based algorithm to help a doctor make diagnosis. Its cloud-based platform not only analyzes and stores biophysical data but also sends the data to hospitals. Furthermore, its digital stethoscope also records the user's heart and lung sounds, which can be played back to healthcare professionals when the user later makes a hospital visit.

Yang points out that the system makes remote auscultation and remote diagnosis a reality. It provides a home care tool to warn patients of potential heart or lung problems and to monitor health conditions during recuperation. In other words, Tuoxiao's intelligent heart and lung auscultation system can integrate with hierarchical medical services and remote health centers to accelerate the availability of remote healthcare.

According to the company, its intelligent heart and lung auscultation system has accumulated more than 20,000 heart and lung sound recordings. Tuoxiao is also working with Shanghai Children's Hospital and Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and has begun trial operation at Wuhu City Community Hospital of Anhui Province.



Hsueh Yang, CFO, Shanghai Tuoxiao Intelligent Technology
Photo: Vega Chiu, Digitimes, June 2018


https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180614PD209.html

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## Asimzranger

not so long is it but any way good for china technology advancements


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## JSCh

*Tencent releases first AI-aided medical platform*
Xinhua Finance in www.cfbond.com
2018-06-24 20:50

The Chinese tech giant, Tencent Holdings Ltd. released its first artificial intelligence-aided medical diagnosis and treatment open platform on June 21 to support the hospital information system (HIS) and achieve an intelligent upgrade of online medical services.

Tencent also launched the first medical AI engine for Tencent Miying. Chen Guangyu, the vice president of Tencent hoped that Tencent Miying would be a toolbox for hospitals and medical information technology providers and help the medical industry to create a “super brain” for the new generation of intelligent medical services.

As Tencent’s first product that applies AI technology to the medical field, Tencent Miying contains two core functions: AI medical imaging analysis, as well as AI-aided diagnosis and treatment, which also cooperates with over 100 top domestic ranking hospitals.

The medical AI engine of Tencent Miying can improve its ability for medical diagnosis through simulating the doctors’ study process and help doctors to diagnose and predict more than 700 diseases covering all medical subjects.

Through an open interface, medical information providers can integrate Tencent Miying with hospital information systems (HIS) to help the HIS gain the ability of AI-aided diagnoses and treatments, as well as achieve the sharing and interconnections of internal data.

When the AI-aided diagnoses and treatments are applied to the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS), it will enhance doctors’ diagnoses accuracy and efficiency for common diseases, and provide other clinical decision support, including reference to diagnosis and treatment plans, intention-to-treat analyses, an auxiliary knowledge base and well structured electronic medical records.

Due to Tencent Miying, hospitals and medical information providers will realize an intelligent upgrade of their mobile medical services, increase the accuracy and efficiency of the information collected before doctor visits, as well as help doctors and patients communicate outside of hospitals.

Tencent signed AI cooperation agreements with several medical information providers, such as the Zoe Software Corporation, the Kingdee International Software Group, and medical institutions, including the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, the Shandong Provincial Hospital, and the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital.

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## TaiShang

*iFlytek, MIT sign AI alliance*

(Global Times) 08:10, June 25, 2018

China's leading intelligent voice recognition technology company iFlytek has signed a cooperation agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

*CSAIL is one of the most successful laboratories doing interdisciplinary research in MIT, and has recorded many achievements in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), while iFlytek has led the development of speech recognition software in China for 19 years.*

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## TaiShang

*China to hold major intelligence technology expo in August
AI*

By Gao Yun
1462km to Beijing
2018-06-26








The first SmartChina Expo will be held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in August, an important event to “accelerate the development of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry,” said Zhou Changkui from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) at the press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Tuesday. 

The expo, set for August 23 - 25, is jointly organized by MOST, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and Chongqing Municipal People's Government.

“AI is the frontier and hotspot in the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation,” said Zhou. The expo is expected to be built into an integrated platform to release AI achievements, to cluster industries and to help investment cooperation, promoting resource sharing and efficient applications in the industry.





Zhou Changkui from Ministry of Science and Technology. /SCIO Photo

The expo will “accelerate in-depth integration of Internet, big data, AI and the real economy and play a significant role in promoting a high-quality development of the economy,” said Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of MIIT.

Various events can be anticipated in this expo, according to Tang Liangzhi, mayor of Chongqing Municipality.

Under a theme of energizing economy and brightening life, the expo will center on four parts, namely exhibitions, competitions forums and thematic activities. Exhibitions on enterprises, innovation, and special subjects will be seen in the 150,000-square-meter exhibition area. Five competitions involving autonomous driving, futuristic technologies, multiple forums concerning semiconductor, AI, and digital economy as well as mayor roundtable activity can be expected. 

Representatives from leading enterprises, international organizations in related industries and renowned experts have been invited, Tang added.

*China’s progress in AI industry*

China issued the Next Generation AI Development Plan last July, and it has made significant achievements after years’ efforts.

“China now ranks the world’s second in the amount of published international scientific papers and invention patents authorization,” said Zhou. “Great breakthroughs have also been realized in key technologies in some areas, with the technologies of voice recognition and visual identification leading the world.”





China leads the world in the technology of voice recognition. /VCG Photo

Chinese information processing, smart monitoring, identification of biological features, industrial and service robot, driverless driving, to name a few, have entered the phase of pragmatic application.

Factors like the rapidly-developed technical capabilities, massive data resources, huge demand and open market environment have contributed to the unique advantages of China’s AI development, Zhou added.





Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. /SCIO Photo

Next, China will make efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies, enhance the integrative development between the AI and other industries, strengthen the coordination between ministries and provinces and improve the policy system to build a sound environment for the industry, according to Wang.

*China to hold major intelligence technology expo in August
AI*

By Gao Yun
1462km to Beijing
2018-06-26








The first SmartChina Expo will be held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in August, an important event to “accelerate the development of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry,” said Zhou Changkui from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) at the press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Tuesday. 

The expo, set for August 23 - 25, is jointly organized by MOST, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and Chongqing Municipal People's Government.

“AI is the frontier and hotspot in the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation,” said Zhou. The expo is expected to be built into an integrated platform to release AI achievements, to cluster industries and to help investment cooperation, promoting resource sharing and efficient applications in the industry.





Zhou Changkui from Ministry of Science and Technology. /SCIO Photo

The expo will “accelerate in-depth integration of Internet, big data, AI and the real economy and play a significant role in promoting a high-quality development of the economy,” said Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of MIIT.

Various events can be anticipated in this expo, according to Tang Liangzhi, mayor of Chongqing Municipality.

Under a theme of energizing economy and brightening life, the expo will center on four parts, namely exhibitions, competitions forums and thematic activities. Exhibitions on enterprises, innovation, and special subjects will be seen in the 150,000-square-meter exhibition area. Five competitions involving autonomous driving, futuristic technologies, multiple forums concerning semiconductor, AI, and digital economy as well as mayor roundtable activity can be expected. 

Representatives from leading enterprises, international organizations in related industries and renowned experts have been invited, Tang added.

*China’s progress in AI industry*

China issued the Next Generation AI Development Plan last July, and it has made significant achievements after years’ efforts.

“China now ranks the world’s second in the amount of published international scientific papers and invention patents authorization,” said Zhou. “Great breakthroughs have also been realized in key technologies in some areas, with the technologies of voice recognition and visual identification leading the world.”





China leads the world in the technology of voice recognition. /VCG Photo

Chinese information processing, smart monitoring, identification of biological features, industrial and service robot, driverless driving, to name a few, have entered the phase of pragmatic application.

Factors like the rapidly-developed technical capabilities, massive data resources, huge demand and open market environment have contributed to the unique advantages of China’s AI development, Zhou added.





Wang Xinzhe, chief economist of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. /SCIO Photo

Next, China will make efforts to make breakthroughs in core technologies, enhance the integrative development between the AI and other industries, strengthen the coordination between ministries and provinces and improve the policy system to build a sound environment for the industry, according to Wang.

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## JSCh

*AI gives doctors a hand*
By Zhu Lixin | China Daily | Updated: 2018-06-26 09:49















An automated system dispenses medicine for patients at Affiliated Fuyang Hospital of Anhui Medical University, in Fuyang, Anhui province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Technology tags along on ward rounds at China's first intelligent hospital, as Zhu Lixin reports.

Anhui Provincial Hospital became China's first intelligent hospital in August, using artificial intelligence-enabled systems to help doctors with medical diagnoses and treatment.

Four months later, the hospital, in Hefei, Anhui's provincial capital, was renamed the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China.

Yan Guang, the hospital's deputy head and the man in charge of its intelligent transformation, said that when it launched an AI-enabled smartphone application in 2016, doctors and nurses were keen to use it.

Developed by iFlytek, an AI company based in Hefei, the system uses speech-recognition technology to type up medical records and image-recognition technology to help doctors read medical images.

"The users of the app, which is a tailored edition for the hospital, soon reached a satisfying number," Yan said. "Then we found there were also nurses among the users, while the system was designed to serve doctors.

"Nice numbers are definitely not all we want. It is the doctors using the app who can help the system improve."

He said he subsequently had to limit use of the app among nurses.

Doctors said the AI-enabled systems have made their work more effective and efficient, although there are still some problems to overcome.

Qi Yinbao said that in his first four years as a neurosurgeon at the hospital, beginning in 2013, he had to spend much of his time writing up patients' medical records every day.

"I usually wrote them between surgeries, and very often would stay in the office after working hours to finish them," he said. "Sometimes I found I forgot some important information and needed to go through all the print records of examination results to refresh my memory."

With the app developed by iFlytek, Qi and the hospital's more than 1,300 doctors now have speech-recognition technology to help them record their diagnoses.



A patient uses a robot to find his way around the USTC hospital in Hefei, Anhui province.

*Special dictionary*

To open the app, Qi can log in with either a fingerprint or a combination of face and voice recognition. He then just speaks into his smartphone and the app types up the information precisely.

Because doctors use many professional medical terms, iFlytek engineers said they built a special dictionary to make speech recognition more precise.

"The system also features deep learning technology, which means the more doctors use the system, the more precise the results will be," said Lu Xiaoliang, deputy general manager of iFlytek's intelligent healthcare business.

Some senior medical specialists found typing up records on a computer tedious, so the hospital previously had to arrange an assistant for each of them.

"With AI technology, the senior experts can now also work alone well, saving a lot of human resources for the hospital," Yan said.

Qi said the speech-recognition technology could help dentists even more, as they were not able to spare a hand to write up records when working on patients' teeth.

"They just need to keep the speech-recognition function working," Qi said.

The function also works on a computer with a microphone, but it keeps typing as Qi keeps speaking, even though some of the things he says have nothing to do with his diagnosis, and he needs to delete them when he ends the recording.

That could prevent a dentist from chatting with a patient to relieve their anxiety, because there would be too much information to delete afterward.

The results of certain examinations of patients are automatically entered into the app, allowing Qi to check them anytime, anywhere.

"In the past, before making ward rounds to the patients' rooms, we were first offered many print records and then asked the patients about their health conditions and took notes before returning to the office to type on computer-based systems", Qi said.

But part of the preparatory work can now be done ahead of time, even when a doctor is on a bus or subway train.

Yan said a more important feature of the system is that it can help doctors read medical images to speed up diagnosis and prevent misdiagnosis.

Take CT scans for example. A doctor could spend minutes reading a CT case, which usually consists of many - sometimes hundreds - of images, before making an initial diagnosis, but Lu said it takes less than a second for the AI system to do the same thing.

"Best of all, the system won't get tired," he said.

The AI-enabled system has helped interpret thousands of CT images, Lu said, and the accuracy for detection of lung nodules, one of the indicators of potential lung cancer, has reached 99.4 percent.

To build the intelligent hospital, Yan said several AI-enabled systems have been launched since 2016 in cooperation with iFlytek and other firms, including internet giants Alibaba and Tencent.

"None of the systems can work perfectly, but in the long run they will improve over time," he said. "The medical sector will inevitably become more intelligent, and we cannot miss the chance to lead the trend."

The hospital has not paid iFlytek a penny since they began cooperating in 2016.

"They don't need to," said Chen Liang, an iFlytek employee who leads a team of more than 10 engineers working in the hospital. "It will be by learning from the hospital what they really need that we can develop better systems."

Yan is prudent when discussing the potential of AI-enabled systems, but they are already helping to guide patients around the hospital and allowing it to link up with hospitals around the province.

Another example is work on an intelligent emergency medical system.

"Once you call the emergency center for first aid, your health information, based on all of your hospital records, will be provided to the first-aid personnel in the ambulance and doctors at the hospital," said Yan, who was in charge of the hospital's emergency medical center from 2004 to 2007.

All the necessary advice on tailored first-aid solutions will be given to the medical personnel through the AI technology and they will see the advice via a smartphone app, he said.

The hospital has invested millions of yuan in the project, just dealing with its own medical records, and Yan said expanding the practice will require more effort.

The provincial authorities have launched a plan to build personal healthcare profiles, which can be shared between hospitals, for every citizen, and the project is progressing well, he said.

Intelligent healthcare is becoming a trend in hospitals. Hefei has also established a municipal-level intelligent hospital and the provincial authorities plan to set up six more at the provincial level and at least 15 at the municipal level this year.

*First standard*

Gao Junwen, deputy head of the Anhui Provincial Health Commission, said there must be some standards hospitals can refer to.

To build an intelligent hospital, the USTC hospital released its own 47 pages of standards, which won recognition from the provincial authorities. "It is the country's first official standard for intelligent hospitals, and the national standard is expected to be drawn up using this one as an important reference," Gao said.

Yan said there should be standards for different levels of intelligent hospital. "A county level intelligent hospital can by no means be built with a standard for a provincial-level one," he said.

A recent article in the journal Chinese Digital Medicine, which is published by the National Health Commission, said there are still some technical difficulties to overcome in applying speech-recognition technology in diagnosis and treatment.

Written by a team of doctors from the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Command of the People's Liberation Army, the article said background noise and doctors' accents could affect the accuracy of the recognition process.

Speaking about a patient's health conditions in an office shared by several doctors also failed to protect the patient's privacy, it said, adding that solving the problem requires more investment to rearrange doctors' offices by, for example, giving them more private space.

As the intelligent healthcare business heats up, Lu said competition between companies is getting fiercer.

"Some of the firms act as if they can change the world overnight, while we believe making healthcare intelligent still needs great efforts to improve technology," Lu said.

"In the past, say about two years ago, some medical experts were too cautious about the business while some others' opinions on it were too negative.

"Nowadays, their understanding of the business is getting more rational - the current technologies are not perfect but they can be improved."

He said the business is very reliant on government support, because the authorities are always very cautious about the healthcare sector.

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## JSCh

*China’s pilot program to use AI to detect cancer*
By Ge Yunfei
2018-06-28 14:24 GMT+8




In China, algorithms crunching mountains of data have already shown their ability to improve people’s lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) is reporting breakthroughs in detecting cancer.

In the country, more than 2.7 million people died of cancer every year. That means cancer kills more than five Chinese people every minute.

Dr. Xu Guoliang, the chief for Department of Endoscopy and Laser at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Treatment Center, has been trying to detect cancer in its earliest stages, which can improve a patient’s chances of survival.

Xu is an endoscopy specialist working at one of the largest cancer treatment centers in southern China. He searches for tumors inside body cavities and hollow organs like the stomach. The World Health Organization (WHO) says stomach cancer is a leading cause of death in China, but there aren’t enough Chinese doctors like Xu.



Dr. Xu Guoliang from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Treatment Center /CGTN Photo

Xu told CGTN that five years ago, there were only about 29,000 qualified endoscopy doctors in China. But according to their estimates, there are 120 million patients that need an endoscopy each year. That means China has to increase the number of doctors 50 times to meet that demand. Clearly “that’s almost impossible,” Xu added.

So, Xu turned to AI for help. His hospital has been working with Internet giant Tencent to develop an AI clinical diagnostic system called Miying.

According to Xu, each endoscopy examination will produce 48 images that’ll be simultaneously sent to Tencent’s database. And the AI system will give feedback in four seconds. Based on a huge pool of data, it’ll suggest which position could be the cancer lesion.

Xu said AI’s accuracy in diagnosing some types of cancer early is as high as 90 percent, and it is still improving.

Patients in China’s first-tier cities may still prefer human doctors at the best hospitals, but for the one billion or so people living in less-developed areas with limited medical resources, AI promises huge benefits. 



AI promises huge benefits for patients living in less-developed areas with limited medical resources. /VCG Photo 

“AI is able to learn from ‘big data.’ That’s what humans can’t do. We hope the system can reach remote areas and grassroots hospitals in China, where patients can get a diagnosis as accurate as the ones in first-class hospitals in big cities,” said Zhou Xuan, a senior product director of the Miying AI project of Tencent.

The Chinese government is part of a global trend. Last November, it announced plans to build a national platform for AI diagnostic imaging – a commitment to AI as a pillar in the future of Chinese medicine. 

The UK government says in the next 15 years, AI could prevent more than 20,000 cancer deaths a year. And, scanning cell images only, US researchers have shown AI can distinguish types of cancer, in most cases with nearly 100 percent accuracy.

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## Cybernetics

Siasun hybrid autonomous collaborative robot

7-axis robot arm
0.02mm precision movement
collision detection (safe for human interaction)
autonomous obstacle avoidance





Commercial autonomous vacuum robot from Siasun.





Automated logistics

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## TaiShang

Cybernetics said:


> Siasun hybrid autonomous collaborative robot
> 
> 7-axis robot arm
> 0.02mm precision movement
> collision detection (safe for human interaction)
> autonomous obstacle avoidance
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Commercial autonomous vacuum robot from Siasun.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Automated logistics



This is the very reason that the US wages a (losing) economic war against China.

The road will be bumpy till 2025. But, the road will not be blocked.

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## JSCh

*China Focus: AI beats human doctors in neuroimaging recognition contest*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-30 22:48:09|Editor: Yamei




BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- An artificial intelligence (AI) system scored 2:0 against elite human physicians Saturday in two rounds of competitions in diagnosing brain tumors and predicting hematoma expansion in Beijing.

The BioMind AI system, developed by the Artificial Intelligence Research Centre for Neurological Disorders at the Beijing Tiantan Hospital and a research team from the Capital Medical University, made correct diagnoses in 87 percent of 225 cases in about 15 minutes, while a team of 15 senior doctors only achieved 66-percent accuracy.

The AI also gave correct predictions in 83 percent of brain hematoma expansion cases, outperforming the 63-percent accuracy among a group of physicians from renowned hospitals across the country.

The outcomes for human physicians were quite normal and even better than the average accuracy in ordinary hospitals, said Gao Peiyi, head of the radiology department at Tiantan Hospital, a leading institution on neurology and neurosurgery.

To train the AI, developers fed it tens of thousands of images of nervous system-related diseases that the Tiantan Hospital has archived over the past 10 years, making it capable of diagnosing common neurological diseases such as meningioma and glioma with an accuracy rate of over 90 percent, comparable to that of a senior doctor.

All the cases were real and contributed by the hospital, but never used as training material for the AI, according to the organizer.

Wang Yongjun, executive vice president of the Tiantan Hospital, said that he personally did not care very much about who won, because the contest was never intended to pit humans against technology but to help doctors learn and improve through interactions with technology.

"I hope through this competition, doctors can experience the power of artificial intelligence. This is especially so for some doctors who are skeptical about artificial intelligence. I hope they can further understand AI and eliminate their fears toward it," said Wang.

Dr. Lin Yi who participated and lost in the second round, said that she welcomes AI, as it is not a threat but a "friend."

AI will not only reduce the workload but also push doctors to keep learning and improve their skills, said Lin.

Bian Xiuwu, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Science and a member of the competition's jury, said there has never been an absolute standard correct answer in diagnosing developing diseases, and the AI would only serve as an assistant to doctors in giving preliminary results.

Dr. Paul Parizel, former president of the European Society of Radiology and another member of the jury, also agreed that AI will not replace doctors, but will instead function similar to how GPS does for drivers.

Dr. Gauden Galea, representative of the World Health Organization in China, said AI is an exciting tool for healthcare but still in the primitive stages.

Based on the size of its population and the huge volume of accessible digital medical data, China has a unique advantage in developing medical AI, according to Galea.

China has introduced a series of plans in developing AI applications in recent years.

In 2017, the State Council issued a development plan on the new generation of Artificial Intelligence and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Promoting the Development of a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence (2018-2020)."

The Action Plan proposed developing medical image-assisted diagnostic systems to support medicine in various fields.











​

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## TaiShang

*Canada announces counter-tariffs, aid to manufacturing industries*
CGTN
2018-06-30






With a 20 percent higher accuracy rate, an artificial intelligence (AI) machine trumped a group of human doctors in the world’s first competition between physicians and AI in neuroimaging on Saturday.

Named BioMind, the AI can assist doctors in checking CT and MRI images, which is the first of its kind. It is jointly developed by several organizations and institutions, including the China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases.

BioMind has shown strong advantages when practicing for the competition by diagnosing more than 300 cases within 30 minutes while human doctors spend more than 10 hours to complete the same task, said The Beijing News.





The "AI doctor" BioMind placed on the stage during the competition. /The Beijing News Photo

There were 25 human doctors participating in the “human vs. AI” competition, which was divided into two sections. In the first part of the game, a group of 15 doctors and BioMind were required to interpret 225 CT and MRI images of intracranial tumors within 30 minutes.

With an accuracy rate of 87 percent, the AI defeated the human team which finished with an accuracy rate of 66 percent.

During the second half of the game which also had a time limit of 30 minutes, the human team made of 10 doctors and BioMind were assigned 30 questions regarding the interpretation of CT and MRI images of cerebrovascular diseases.

The AI once again won the game with an accuracy rate of 83 percent comparing to 63 percent of the human doctors.





Doctors diagnose CT and MRI images during the competition. /The Beijing News Photo

It is worth mentioning that the AI took about only 15 minutes to complete its task in each section while the doctors had to use up every second to solve the questions.

Gao Peiyi, the director of Imaging Center of Neuroscience of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, said that competition ended in the way they expected.

“Currently the workload is very heavy for our doctors,” said Gao. “We hope in the future, with the help of AI, doctors could have more time to do research and take care of patients.”

The AI machine BioMind is under examination and approval of the China Food and Drug Administration and is expected to be put into clinical application next year.

(Top image via The Beijing News)

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f344d444e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html

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## JSCh

*China Focus: Tech giants tap into AI healthcare market*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-19 15:52:15|Editor: Yamei



By Ng Tze Yan, Cheng Lu and Wang Feng

SHENZHEN, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Before 2017, gastroenterologist Cheng Chunsheng had to inspect over 1,000 gastroscopy pictures to search for possible esophageal cancer symptoms, a cancer which appears in the food pipe.

However, this painstaking process is no longer needed since the People's Hospital of Nanshan District in Shenzhen where Cheng works introduced "Tencent AIMIS", an AI medical imaging software released in August last year.

"The AI system screens through each report and notifies the doctor if further inspection is needed," said Cheng. The system has significantly boosted his efficiency.

A doctor's experience is the most important tool when diagnosing esophageal cancer at an early stage. Cheng said the system, developed by Tencent, would assist younger doctors in making more precise diagnoses.

"It is often difficult for new doctors to judge whether an erosion or an ulcer is related to cancer. The AI application would recommend younger doctors to discuss the case with an expert instead," he added.

Chen Guangyu, Tencent's vice president, said the program has scanned hundreds of thousands of gastroscopy images and is over 90 percent accurate in diagnosing preliminary esophageal cancer.

"By accumulating mass data, the analysis is expected to become even more reliable," Chen added.

Tencent AIMIS is now used in more than 100 hospitals across China. The company has also partnered with over 10 hospitals to build AI medical laboratories.

Chen said that through the AI laboratories, Tencent AIMIS can be used to screen more diseases such as lung nodules, diabetic retinopathy, cervical cancer and breast cancer.

Apart from Tencent, other internet corporations are also exploring the AI healthcare market.

In 2016, Baidu launched Melody the Medical Assistant, an AI-powered chatbot designed to converse with patients and collect data on their conditions to save physicians time.

ET medical brain, an AI healthcare system produced by Alibaba, can aid doctors in medical imaging, drug development and health management.

China's State Council issued a guideline in April to promote health services using internet technologies.

The guidelines on "Internet Plus Healthcare" say internet technologies should be used to offer medical and public health services, promote family doctor practices, improve drug supply and medical bill payments, and provide medical education.

According to a 2017 industry report released by VCBeat Research, more than 80 companies are working on AI for the Chinese health market by developing products such as medical imaging devices, AI to analyze patients' clinical history and chatbots.

Luo Xudong, head of People's Hospital of Nanshan District in Shenzhen, said the advancement of AI-assisted healthcare can help alleviate the problem of inadequate and imbalanced medical resource allocation in China.

According to China Statistical Yearbook, every 1,000 Chinese urban residents had access to 3.92 physicians in 2016, while every 1,000 rural residents had only 1.59.

"AI-powered medical products support remote medical consultation and training. Through an application, villagers in remote areas can also enjoy similar quality services as those urban residents," Luo said.

Chang Jia, who manages Tencent's "internet plus" healthcare center, said that a small error in the medical field could be a matter of life or death.

"The industry still positions AI as an assistant to the doctors. On one hand, medicine is a mix of humanities, ethics and science, and there are no easy answers; on the other hand, AI-based medical technologies remain in a fledging state and still need time to learn before they mature," Chang said.


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## JSCh

*Baidu unveils Kunlun AI chip for edge and cloud computing*
KHARI JOHNSON@KHARIJOHNSON JULY 3, 2018 7:30 PM



Above: The Kunlun AI chip was debuted in at the Baidu Create AI developer conference in Beijing
Image Credit: Baidu

Baidu today unveiled a new chip for AI, joining the ranks of Google, Nvidia, Intel, and many other tech companies making processors especially for AI.

Kunlun is made to handle AI models both for edge computing on devices and in the cloud via data centers. The Kunlun 818-300 model will be used for training AI and the 818-100 for inference.

Baidu began working with field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chips especially designed for deep learning in 2011, the company said, and Kunlun is about 30 times faster than the first FPGA chip from Baidu, and is able to achieve 260 tera-operations per second (TOPS) and 512 GB/second memory bandwidth, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email. No date has been set for the release of the chip.

FPGA chips are also at the center of Microsoft’s Project Brainwave for fast AI processing in the cloud.

“With the rapid emergence of AI applications, dramatically increasing requirements are being imposed on computational power. Traditional chips limit how much computing power is available and thus how far we can accelerate AI technologies,” the company said in a statement. “Baidu developed this chip, specifically designed for large-scale AI workloads, as an answer to this demand.”

The announcement was made at the second annual AI developer conference Baidu Create in Beijing.

Also announced today: Baidu’s Apollo program will help power self-driving buses named Apolong.

Apolong was developed with Chinese bus maker King Long and utilizes Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving platform. The buses for commercial passengers will operate in Chinese cities like Beijing, Shenzhen, Pingtan and Wuhan and Tokyo in Japan. Roughly 100 Apolong buses have been made already and are scheduled to hit roads in early 2019.



Above: Apolong self-driving bus
Image Credit: Baidu

Baidu also announced an upgrade to its suite of AI services today and the release of Baidu Brain 3.0 With the release of Brain 3.0, the platform that can supply simple drag-and-drop training of AI models has 110 AI services ranging from computer vision to natural language processing to facial recognition software.

By comparison, at the last Baidu Create, the Brain platform offered 60 AI services, a spokesperson said.



Baidu unveils Kunlun AI chip for edge and cloud computing | venturebeat.com

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## JSCh

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1014347495000846336*Baidu Inc.*‏Verified account @Baidu_Inc 1h1 hour ago
Baidu Senior Vice President and Head of AI Group Dr. Haifeng Wang introduces #BaiduBrain 3.0 - now empowering over 110 #AI capabilities from mapping to recommendations, #facialrecognition and #deeplearning - making life simpler through technology #*BaiduCreate2018* #AI

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## TaiShang

*Four big announcements from Baidu’s AI Developer Conference 2018*

By Pan Zhaoyi
2018-07-05 






Baidu, one of China’s major tech giants, kicked off its annual Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer Conference at the National Convention Center in Beijing. Here are some big announcements from today’s conference.

*Volume production of autonomous bus*

Powered by Apollo autonomous driving platform, Baidu’s self-driving mini bus, Apolong, is expected to enter the volume production phase.

Apolong, equipped with Baidu’s voice-activated software, is able to perform driverless tasks like obstacle avoidance, automatic transshipment, and swerving. 

You will see the buses running in some tourist attractions, airports, and other enclosed areas to cover the last-mile journey.





Baidu's Apolong /VCG Photo

Its open source platform Apollo also gathered over 100 partners at home and abroad from automotive and technology industries, including Ford, Intel, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.

“The autonomous driving is a large and fast-growing market,” said Mr. Ji from Quanta Computer, a tech company from Taiwan. “I think it is a good opportunity for us to promote our hardware and software to our customers.”

*AI chip for edge and cloud computing*

The boom of AI applications drives higher requirements for the computing capabilities, however, the traditional AI accelerator cannot keep the pace.

The new AI chip, designed for the edge and cloud computing and as an answer to demands, is ready to deliver large-scale AI scenarios in terms of natural language processing, speech recognition, autonomous driving, etc.





Baidu brain /VCG Photo

Robin Li, the CEO of Baidu, said that China has long been relying on imported chips from global companies, especially the high-end chips, but when Baidu’s first AI chip comes out, things will change.

*Baidu Brain: making machines more human*

The Baidu Brain 3.0 is an update from its 1.0 version, a platform intended to figure out how to make the machine interact like humans do.





The algorithm is analyzing the World Cup players. /VCG Pho

The new version, with over 110 AI services ranging from natural language processing to facial and voice recognition, is aimed at allowing the machine to see, to hear, and to understand more clearly.

Wang Haifeng, Baidu’s vice president, demonstrated how a machine commented like a human does on a World Cup video clip. Based on its technology, the machine is able to recognize every object in the video including the players, the referee, the ball, the goal, the goal line. It can also capture great moments like shoots, free kicks, and corners. So with this data, the brain can perform like a real commentator.





A detailed analysis of Cristiano Ronaldo in one game /VCG Photo

*Mini Program*

Last year, WeChat, China’s largest mobile social media network, offered its 768 million users a function—“mini-program” which serves as a one-stop-shop for everything from reading news and booking taxis to ordering takeaways and making payments.





Shen Dou, vice president of Baidu Inc., speaks during the Baidu Inc. Create Conference in Beijing, China, July 4, 2018. /VCG Photo

*Today, Baidu announced a similar platform but with wider accessibility. Users will have access to merchants’ services without having to download their apps, a move aimed at the Apple and Google app store. App developers only need to modify the relevant code to adjust to Baidu’s mini-program.*

Attributed to its "All in AI" strategy, Baidu is now leading China's AI industry. It is clear that Baidu has long put AI at the heart of the company’s future development.

(With input from CGTN's Ning Hong)

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414e3163544e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html

*Four big announcements from Baidu’s AI Developer Conference 2018*

By Pan Zhaoyi
2018-07-05 






Baidu, one of China’s major tech giants, kicked off its annual Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer Conference at the National Convention Center in Beijing. Here are some big announcements from today’s conference.

*Volume production of autonomous bus*

Powered by Apollo autonomous driving platform, Baidu’s self-driving mini bus, Apolong, is expected to enter the volume production phase.

Apolong, equipped with Baidu’s voice-activated software, is able to perform driverless tasks like obstacle avoidance, automatic transshipment, and swerving. 

You will see the buses running in some tourist attractions, airports, and other enclosed areas to cover the last-mile journey.





Baidu's Apolong /VCG Photo

Its open source platform Apollo also gathered over 100 partners at home and abroad from automotive and technology industries, including Ford, Intel, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.

“The autonomous driving is a large and fast-growing market,” said Mr. Ji from Quanta Computer, a tech company from Taiwan. “I think it is a good opportunity for us to promote our hardware and software to our customers.”

*AI chip for edge and cloud computing*

The boom of AI applications drives higher requirements for the computing capabilities, however, the traditional AI accelerator cannot keep the pace.

The new AI chip, designed for the edge and cloud computing and as an answer to demands, is ready to deliver large-scale AI scenarios in terms of natural language processing, speech recognition, autonomous driving, etc.





Baidu brain /VCG Photo

Robin Li, the CEO of Baidu, said that China has long been relying on imported chips from global companies, especially the high-end chips, but when Baidu’s first AI chip comes out, things will change.

*Baidu Brain: making machines more human*

The Baidu Brain 3.0 is an update from its 1.0 version, a platform intended to figure out how to make the machine interact like humans do.





The algorithm is analyzing the World Cup players. /VCG Pho

The new version, with over 110 AI services ranging from natural language processing to facial and voice recognition, is aimed at allowing the machine to see, to hear, and to understand more clearly.

Wang Haifeng, Baidu’s vice president, demonstrated how a machine commented like a human does on a World Cup video clip. Based on its technology, the machine is able to recognize every object in the video including the players, the referee, the ball, the goal, the goal line. It can also capture great moments like shoots, free kicks, and corners. So with this data, the brain can perform like a real commentator.





A detailed analysis of Cristiano Ronaldo in one game /VCG Photo

*Mini Program*

Last year, WeChat, China’s largest mobile social media network, offered its 768 million users a function—“mini-program” which serves as a one-stop-shop for everything from reading news and booking taxis to ordering takeaways and making payments.





Shen Dou, vice president of Baidu Inc., speaks during the Baidu Inc. Create Conference in Beijing, China, July 4, 2018. /VCG Photo

*Today, Baidu announced a similar platform but with wider accessibility. Users will have access to merchants’ services without having to download their apps, a move aimed at the Apple and Google app store. App developers only need to modify the relevant code to adjust to Baidu’s mini-program.*

Attributed to its "All in AI" strategy, Baidu is now leading China's AI industry. It is clear that Baidu has long put AI at the heart of the company’s future development.

(With input from CGTN's Ning Hong)

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414e3163544e78457a6333566d54/share_p.html

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## cirr

*AI-aided 3D embroidered panda*

2018-07-05 15:51:24 Ecns.cn Editor : Mo Hong'e

Video:http://www.ecns.cn/video/2018-07-05/detail-ifyvvuhv1810080.shtml

(ECNS) — An embroidered panda work featuring a 3D effect and AI-aided technology was finished at Shujing Hall in Sichuan on Thursday.

This artwork, for the first time, applied image processing technology via AI to Shu embroidery.

Since ancient times, Sichuan has been well known for its brocades and embroidery.

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## TaiShang

*AI ambulances and robot doctors: China seeks digital salve to ease hospital strain*

Source:Reuters-Global Times Published: 2018/7/8 

*China seeks digital salve to ease hospital inefficacy*




A robot provides information for visitors at Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing on November 22, 2017. Photo: IC


In Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, an ambulance speeds through traffic on a wave of green lights, helped along by an artificial intelligence (AI) system and big data.

*The system, which involves sending information to a centralized computer linked to the city's transport networks, is part of a trial by Alibaba Group Holding. *The Chinese tech giant is hoping to use its cloud and data systems to tackle issues hobbling China's healthcare system like snarled city traffic, long patient queues and a lack of doctors.

*Alibaba's push into healthcare reflects a wider trend in China, where technology firms are racing to shake up a creaking State-run health sector and take a slice of spending that McKinsey & Co estimates will hit $1 trillion by 2020.*

Tencent-backed WeDoctor, which offers online consultations and doctor appointments, raised $500 million in May at a valuation of $5.5 billion. Ping An Good Doctor, a similar platform backed by Ping An Insurance, raised $1.1 billion in an IPO earlier this year.

"The opportunity is growing very fast," said Min Wanli, the Hangzhou-based chief machine intelligence scientist at Alibaba's cloud division.

Alibaba is working with a hospital in Shanghai through using data to predict patient demand and to allocate doctors. In Zhejiang, the company is working on AI-assisted diagnosis tools to help analyze medical images such as CT scans and MRIs.

"You need to go through very specialized training in order to read these images, but we know that experts are a very scarce resource," said Min.

Chinese hospitals are increasingly using technology to bridge the gap between urban centers and remote parts of the country where doctors are in short supply. Using document-sharing systems and livestreaming, specialists can direct more junior medical staff on-site doing patient diagnoses.

DXY, one of China's biggest online networks of doctors, offers consultations via social media giant WeChat for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes with the help of a team of nurses and doctors.

China is pressing to reduce healthcare costs that are soaring as the population ages, putting huge strains on the State insurance system.

At the same time, the country has been promising better access to healthcare and improved grassroots care, which has brought technology into the spotlight as a way of maximizing resources.

"Educating doctors is going to take too long," said Rogier Janssens, Beijing-based general manager of Germany's Merck KGaA's biopharma business in China. He added that smartphones could help deliver primary care faster and cheaper.

"There are hundreds of millions of people who still go without care for relatively simple diseases."

China's healthcare system has long grappled with a shortage of doctors, exacerbated by low wages and a dearth of local clinics and general practitioners. That means patients often crowd into large, specialist hospitals for even minor ailments.

The Chinese government has been trying to fix the problem, setting targets to increase the number of family doctors across the country.

*Online drug sales* 

China has been enacting legislation over the last two years that has included strong support for basic internet-based healthcare services.

China may be about to approve the sales of some prescription drugs online, creating a major opportunity for local and global firms, according to companies in the sector.

Janssens of Merck KGaA said the company had "good indications" that policymakers were addressing the prospect of pharmaceutical e-commerce "as we speak."

Li Tiantian, founder and chairman of DXY, said the health ministry had met with healthcare companies like his own and planned to soon release a policy on "internet hospitals," which would open up some online sales.

"I think the new policy will be released very soon, potentially in July," he said.

The policy would allow approved hospitals to consult, prescribe and sell drugs to chronic disease patients online. However, regulatory concerns over safety and pushback from State-run distributors sank a similar plan several years ago.

Li added that Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region had already been approving some internet hospital providers on a test basis.

Global drugmakers are taking notice. A move to open up online sales - if approved nationwide - would help shake up a drug market dominated by State-owned distributors and public hospitals, where most medicines are still prescribed and sold.

Merck KGaA, for example, recently announced a tie-up with Alibaba Health that is focused on systems to help track medicines to avoid counterfeiting, but also on online drug sales and potential online direct-to-patient sales.

*False hope?*

In the US, technology firms like Amazon, Google and Apple have made pushes into healthcare, with mixed results, often finding sprawling medical markets tougher to crack than entertainment or media.

*Technology firms in China also face major obstacles.*

One is convincing patients to see doctors online or getting hospitals to spend extra money on high-tech tools that promise efficiency boosts or improvements for patients. And regulators still have concerns about drug sales online.

Doctors and industry insiders also said that technology alone could not solve the issues facing the sector.

"Technology is important but is not enough on its own," said DXY's Li, a former doctor, adding that the most immediate benefit was creating new channels for simple primary care.

For most people in China, however, AI ambulances and robot doctors may need to wait a bit longer.

Tony Li, 55, a cancer patient in Shanghai, said he had seen little cutting-edge tech in Chinese hospitals during regular visits over the past few years.

*"From what I have heard, some of the newest technologies can help doctors identify tumors at earlier stages, and that's great," he said. "But the internet has a tendency of exaggerating things, giving us enormous false hope."*

Alibaba Cloud's Min acknowledged that the company is still working to prove the value of its technology, and that many hospital administrators remain suspicious of things like cloud computing. 

But, he said, "In China, once a new technology is proven useful then everybody is crazy about it."

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1109862.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Visual AI technology to shine in 2018, China leads in facial recognition*

By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/3/29 22:27:15

*China leading the way in facial recognition sector*




High-speed train passengers have their faces scanned at the barrier gates of a station in East China's Zhejiang Province so they can enter. Photo: VCG


Endless queues and long waits at the ticket inspection desks at China's major train stations were signature of the Spring Festival travel rush before this year. Every year, as the country's biggest national holiday unfolded, a huge flow of travelers would leave staff at the check-in desks feeling swamped.

*But with the installment of artificial intelligence (AI) in dozens of train stations this year, including a facial recognition system which is able to process passenger identification within five seconds and therefore speed up the waiting process, busy scenes started to become something of the past.*

When a passenger approaches the camera inside the facial recognition system at the station, it scans their face and then quickly compares it to the photograph shown on their identification card in real time. If the information matches, the barrier gates will open and allow the passenger to go through. 

Such use of facial recognition technology is in line with discussions heard at the recent two sessions meeting, a key annual political event, which focused on the widespread application of a security network named Tianwang ("Sky Net" in English) currently being used by China's public security department.

The network, according to reports by the People's Daily, has the potential to recognize the facial features of anyone in the world and match them on the spot with photographs on a database of criminal suspects. In fact, it can analyze photographic identity so quickly that it can scan every single Chinese face on the planet in just one second, and it would only take two seconds to scan every face in the world, with an accuracy rate of up to 99.8 percent. 

Those are just two examples that highlight the development of Chinese visual AI technology, which industry insiders predict could contribute to robust growth in the global technology sector this year.

*Growing trend* 

"The year 2018 will mark a fast-track year in facial recognition technology, whose speed of growth is likely to override other AI sectors including robotics, voice recognition and natural language processing," Yang Yuxin, the vice president of Beijing-based operating system provider Thundersoft Software Technology Co, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

*An industry report published on news website sohu.com in March echoed Yang's prediction by summarizing the financing of China's AI start-ups and concluding that the computer vision and image analysis sector has been the "hottest" destination for domestic investors lately. *

The sector has even topped the country's investment list with a financing amount of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.27 billion), representing 23 percent of the total funds flowing into the global AI industry. 

One of the reasons behind the popularity of AI-powered visual technology is the wide range of scenarios in which it can be applied, making it easier for investors to "envision a bright business prospect and quickly capitalize on their investment," Yang explained.

Security is just one of many areas where visual technology is being applied. In addition to targeting consumers, AI start-ups have already started to tailor their visual technology services to domestic companies focused on such technology as unmanned vehicle-makers and manufacturing. 

For example, Thundersoft has partnered with local factories to facilitate the application of AI visual technology in production lines so as to maintain quality control and supervise the production environment, Yang said. The move has helped manufacturers reduce labor costs and improve efficiency. 

Lu Feng, an industry analyst at Beijing-based consultancy firm CCID Consulting, also underscored the trend of combing AI visual technology with 2018's emerging industries, for example, the new retail sector.

In unmanned supermarkets, which are part of the new retail concept, visual technology can help capture and analyze consumer behavior, through which, companies can improve their store's setting and displays to attract more buyers. Adopting a facial recognition system could also prevent shoplifting and help analyze consumer data. 

With market players deeming those technologies as promising, they have in turn pumped up the number of start-ups in the sector. Currently, there are 146 visual AI technology companies in China, the biggest number of any type of AI firm across the country, the news report by sohu.com showed.

But analysts do not expect all those start-ups to thrive. 

"I think an industry reshuffle will take place next year… the clock is ticking and visual AI start-ups that focus on researching basic algorithms should scramble to find applications, otherwise their capital pool will dry out in 2019," Yang noted.

*M&A in Europe*

Taking into account the abovementioned scenarios and China's large amount of data,* the nation has an edge over US rivals in terms of AI visual technology application. However, in terms of the industry's foundation, such as basic theory and algorithms, domestic companies are still catching up with the standards set by foreign competitors,* Lu noted.

But recent mergers and acquisitions (M&A) inked between Thundersoft and European peers may offer some insight into Chinese companies that are aiming to introduce cutting-edged AI technologies. 

*Thundersoft, for example, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Bulgarian software provider MM Solutions AD (MMS) in a deal worth 31 million euros ($38.16 million). *

"Acquiring MMS will largely reduce the time we take to achieve new technological breakthroughs, which in turn will elevate our technological competitiveness… It's like strengthening our innovation ability through external dynamics," Zhao Hongfei, CEO of Thundersoft, said.

*In a similar move, Thundersoft also acquired Finnish auto software maker Rightward for $68 million in December 2016.*

Asked why Thundersoft has been eyeing European firms recently, Yang explained that compared with the US, European AI start-ups can be seen as "unexploited gold mines" with long-term business prospects and market competitive M&A prices.

"Most European firms have rich experiences in developing technology, they also have a very strict system when training talents," Yang said.

By this, Yang was referring to the fact that it can take about 18 months for MMS to fully train a visual technology engineer. In contrast, the training period is generally six months in China. Yang also noted that after the MMS deal was completed, he would send some employees from Thundersoft to MMS for further training.

Furthermore, the European capital market has not been developing as fast as either market in China or the US, meaning it is usually a great bargain when Chinese investors acquire European tech peers.

"We bought the two European tech firms at a price that was less than ten times their price-earnings (PE) ratio. The price has to be at least twenty times the PE ratio here in China," he added.


*Newspaper headline: Visual AI technology to shine in 2018*

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## JSCh

*AI-backed vascular disease diagnosis, treatment system in pipeline*
By Liu Zhihua | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-07-30 15:04


















[Photo provided to China Daily]​
An artificial intelligence-supported vascular disease diagnosis and treatment collaboration system is being researched and is in development, and will be applied in 300 Chinese hospitals among 1,000 doctors by 2020, according to experts attending the 15th Chinese International Congress of Vascular Medicine held in Beijing on Friday and Saturday.

The system is designed to to enhance diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease in the country by collecting and analyzing medical records of vascular disease and related illnesses, such as heart disease and stroke, in volunteer hospitals. Then, based on data comparison and analysis, it will be able to make diagnosis and treatment suggestions to doctors, as well as enable online collaboration between doctors and hospitals for difficult cases.

"The aim is to change vascular disease diagnosis and treatment practice in China, because the system is able to bridge the information gap between doctors and hospitals, and make great use of medical data," said Wang Hongyu, director of the Department of Vascular Medicine, Peking University Shougang Hospital.

The hospital is one of the initiators of the program. The others include Tsinghua University, Xiamen University, and China National Software and Service Co Ltd.

China has about 400 million people suffering from vascular disease, Wang said, adding early detection and intervention, including educating the public to adopt healthy lifestyles, are crucial for China to reduce the economic burden of vascular disease.

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## JSCh

*Future of healthcare could lie in artificial intelligence technology*
By Zheng Yiran | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-07 09:14
















Doctors from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, perform an eye operation wearing 3D glasses. [Photo/for China Daily by Lin Yunlong]

China's deployment of artificial intelligence technologies in the healthcare industry will continue to boom in 2018, better serving grassroots medical institutions in particular, according to industry experts.

The country's medical AI industry scale is estimated to reach 20 billion yuan ($2.93 billion) in 2018, surging 53.8 percent year-on-year, according to industry information provider qianzhan.com.

Xie Guotong, chief healthcare scientist at industry leader Ping An Technology, said: "AI is expanding at an exponential rate. The whole AI value chain, from the basic level to the technical and application levels, is full of opportunities. When you combine AI with the nation's trillion-dollar healthcare sector, especially healthcare at the primary (smaller, local-scale) level, there are infinite possibilities."

The National Health Commission's 2017 national healthcare report, issued in June, estimated that last year, the nation's healthcare budget surpassed 5 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.2 percent of GDP. Per capita medical expenses hit 3,712 yuan.

"The figures will continue to rise, leaving heavy burdens for both the public and the government," Xie said.

Another problem is the shortage of medical resources, according to Xie.

"With the advent of the aging population problem and chronic diseases, the number of people going to hospital is rising. Official statistics from the National Health Commission show that currently, total visits to Chinese hospitals per year have reached 8 billion. Meanwhile the growth rate of newly trained doctors isn't matching the growth rate of hospital visits," Xie said.

"However, the introduction of AI is greatly improving the efficiency of hospitals and doctors."

In terms of technology, events such as IBM's man-versus-machine battle and Google's AlphaGo program have proven that machines' search ability, image visual understanding and decision-making capability have reached an unprecedented level, raising the development of AI technology to a relatively mature level.

Ping An Technology has signed strategic partnerships with roughly 100 hospitals and numerous provincial medical administrative departments across China. According to the company, it will continue to broaden its coverage to benefit more hospitals.

After the People's Hospital of Longli county in Southwest China's Guizhou province adopted AI-enabled technology, AI robots scanned more than 4,000 lung image reports within three months, and helped to diagnose over 300 cases involving lung nodules in four months.

Currently, Ping An's AI robots can detect 35 diseases, covering 200 million patients and 600 million potential patients.

"AI robots are processing 15 to 40 percent of the hospitals' image reports. The scanning rate has improved 15 times over, as it takes only one minute for the AI robot to scan the image and generate a diagnostic report," Xie said.

He added that among the nation's 8 billion annual hospital visits, over 50 percent happen in hospitals in second or lower-tier cities, while healthcare professionals in those grassroots level institutions have relatively limited medical knowledge and business training.

"They are in more urgent need of AI-based technologies to help them improve efficiency," he said.

Xiao Fei, a medical analyst at Beijing-based market consultancy Analysys, said that at present, domestic medical resources are inadequate and unbalanced.

"Qualified healthcare resources are mainly located in major hospitals in first-tier cities. Urban residents have access to two to three times the medical human resources that those living in rural areas do. Yet, rural areas contain larger populations," Xiao said.

She said if AI can possess the diagnostic experience of human doctors, the technology can assist doctors, empowering grassroots hospitals.

Ping An Technology's cloud platform achieves all-online, intelligent and real-time control. The platform's smart disease scanning system helps to realize effective disease control.

According to Xie, many doctors initially held doubts about the application of AI in their hospitals.

"Now, they have learned about and experienced medical AI for themselves, their mindsets have changed significantly," Xie said.

Shang Yang, an AI specialist with Beijing-headquartered think tank iyiou.com, said: "China's real demand gap lies in primary hospitals, rather than Grade 3A (higher-tier) hospitals, as the latter have plenty of excellent doctors with more than 10 years of experience. I think the future trend is updated medical AI products being tested in Grade 3A hospitals, and finally applied broadly in those grassroots medical institutions, where there is heavy demand."

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## JSCh

*Shanghai hopes new award will become Oscars of AI industry*
Yang Meiping, Zhang Jinyao
14:57 UTC+8, 2018-08-09 

Shanghai launched an award on Wednesday to honor projects involving new AI technologies and new application models that will "change future life."

Selections for the SAIL award, which stands for Superior, Applicative, Innovative and Leading, kicked off on Wednesday. The results will be announced during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, to be held in Shanghai next month.

A panel of AI experts from related academic research institutions, enterprises, and investment companies, as well as media from home and abroad, will recommend outstanding programs, which they believe will guide the development of future AI technologies or application models that will "change future life."

As the finals of the AI World Innovation Contest will also be organized during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, winning programs from that contest will also be on the candidate list for the SAIL award.

The AI World Innovation Contest, launched in June, has already attracted about 600 teams from home and abroad to compete for championships in human-machine interaction, unmanned driving, medical innovation and intelligent robots.

All the candidate programs for the SAIL award will be reviewed and voted on by an assessment committee in September, and the winners will be awarded at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference.

Zhang Ying, chief engineer of the Shanghai Economy and Informatization Commission, one of the organizers of the contest, said it was expected that the SAIL award could one day be as influential in the AI sector as the Oscars are in the film industry.

Source: SHINE Editor: Shen Ke

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## JSCh

*Internet technology to assist healthcare in Yangtze region*
By He Wei in Shanghai | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-15 09:29















A riverside view of Shanghai, a city situated at the estuary of the Yangtze River. [Photo/VCG]

Residents of China's Yangtze River delta region stand to benefit from distant medical diagnosis and algorithm-backed disease detection services.

Thanks to a healthcare agreement between local authorities and Chinese internet giant Tencent, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence technologies will be applied to digitalize the medical sectors of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces and Shanghai.

"Technologies will help aggregate the resources of offline public hospitals into a medical network serving local residents," according to a joint statement.

Under the agreement, patients are entitled to go through the medical checkup process starting with the online appointment. After that comes a video consultation and diagnosis, and then e-prescriptions, online payment and delivery of medicine, all with a few taps on the phone.

A trial by four hospitals will use WeChat to fulfill a variety of functions that previously required people to line up in overcrowded hallways.

Medical records, encrypted to protect information, will be attainable at any time, as people shuffle between hospitals.

Another major highlight is the introduction of Tencent AIMIS, an AI-enabled diagnostic imaging solution developed last year to detect early symptoms of various cancers.

Chen Guangyu, Tencent's vice-president, said the program has scanned hundreds of thousands of gastroscopy images and is more than 90 percent accurate in diagnosing preliminary esophageal cancer.

"By accumulating massive troves of data, the analysis is expected to become even more reliable ... and can effectively assist younger doctors," Chen said.

Smart healthcare solutions are mushrooming across China in light of the country's aging population and the relatively unbalanced allocation of medical resources. The State Council issued a guideline in April to promote health services using internet technologies.

Alibaba Group rolled out an ET medical brain that can aid doctors in medical imaging, drug development and health management, while search engine Baidu launched an AI-powered chatbot designed to talk with patients and collect data on their conditions.

"When you combine AI with the nation's trillion-dollar healthcare sector - especially healthcare at the smaller, local level - there are infinite possibilities," said Xie Guotong, chief healthcare scientist at Ping An Technology.

China's internet healthcare market is expected to surpass 90 billion yuan ($13.1 billion) by 2020 from 22.3 billion yuan in 2016, according to a Sootoo Research Institute report in April.

hewei@chinadaily.com.cn

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## JSCh

*China’s Golaxy AI chimes victory at 2018 Go Conference*
CGTN
Published on Aug 16, 2018

The 2018 Weiqi (Go) Conference concluded on Wednesday in Nanning, the capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with the Chinese team, Golaxy, winning first place.

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## JSCh

*Google, Microsoft Sign Up to 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference*
QIAN TONGXIN 
DATE: MON, 08/20/2018 - 11:05 / SOURCE:YICAI




Google, Microsoft Sign Up to 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference​
(Yicai Global) Aug. 20 -- Google and Microsoft have put their names down for the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, slated to take place in Shanghai next month to discuss a new era empowered by artificial intelligence.

The two American tech giants will join the likes of Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and Huawei at the conference, the event organizer said. A host of Chinese firms focused specifically on artificial intelligence, such as Ifytek and SenseTime, will also attend.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences will host the conference in tandem with the Academy of Engineering and a slew of government bodies, including the Shanghai municipal government. The organizers want to investigate global development trends in AI technologies, industries and applications, and look at its uses in traffic management, finance, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, education and other services.

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## JSCh

*Downloads of Julia Programming Language Surge in China*
August 22, 2018

BOSTON, Mass., Aug. 22, 2018 — Less than two weeks after Julia 1.0 was released, China has for the first time become the number one country for downloads of the Julia programming language. This highlights the broad international appeal of Julia for artificial intelligence, machine learning, numerical and scientific computing.

Julia is a free and open source computer programming language that delivers the speed of C++ and Java together with the high-level productivity, simplicity and ease of use of Python and R.

The August 2018 release of Julia 1.0 is the most important Julia milestone since Julia was launchedin Feb 2012 by computer scientists Jeff Bezanson, Stefan Karpinski, Viral Shah and MIT professor Alan Edelman.

Since the Julia 1.0 release, 34% of unique visitors to the Julia download page are from China, 22% are from the United States, 5% are from Japan, 4% are from Germany and 3% are from the United Kingdom. Julia has been downloaded in more than 140 countries during the past two weeks.

Professor Alan Edelman explained: “Since we first launched Julia six and a half years ago, Julia has reached more than 2 million downloads and early adopters have already put Julia into production to power self-driving cars, robots, 3D printers and applications in precision medicine, augmented reality, genomics, energy trading, machine learning, financial risk management and space mission planning. The future belongs to artificial intelligence and machine learning, and that future is powered by Julia.”

_Source: Julia Computing_


https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/downloads-of-julia-programming-language-surge-in-china/


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## JSCh

*Chinese scientists develop smart app to identify pests on crops*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-25 16:05:08|Editor: Liangyu




HEFEI, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- It is difficult for even veteran farmers to recognize every pest variety, making choosing the right pesticide to kill them difficult. But Chinese scientists have made the work as easy as using a smartphone to photo them.

A pest-recognizing application developed by the Hefei Intelligent Machine Institute with the Chinese Academy of Sciences has tested successful for recognizing over 50 varieties of rice pests.

Xie Chengjun with the program said excessive use of pesticide and a lack of pest monitoring and farming technology support for farmers were the primary problems in China's agriculture.

He said the application developed with artificial intelligence technology and a database of 1 million pictures of pests could immediately match the photo with pictures in its memory, diagnose pest types and give tips on how to accurately use pesticide to control the damage.

"The system will provide strong support to help the country reach the goal of curbing the growth of pesticide use by 2020," Xie said.

He said the institute had teamed up with experts from the Anhui Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences to rapidly extend the system's applications to recognize more pest varieties in agricultural plants ranging from wheat, corn, soybean, to rapeseed, vegetables and fruit trees.

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## TaiShang

*Intelligent robot maker raises funds as demand grows*

By Ouyang Shijia | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-28





A woman looks at an intelligent robot at Popular Science Products Expo in Shanghai, Aug 27, 2018. [Photo/IC]

*International Intelligent Machines Co Ltd, a leading Chinese intelligent service robots developer and manufacturer, has announced it raised tens of millions of dollars in a Series A financing round, amid growing demand in the service robots market.*

The new fundraising is backed by the China-Belarus industrial investment fund, managed by China Merchants Capital.

Proceeds from the new funding will be used for research, development and manufacturing of smart service robots in the property management and education sectors, system construction, channel deepening and team building.

"We will continue to deepen cooperation with China Merchants Group, seeking new business opportunities in fields such as the property management sector," said Zheng Xiaogang, chairman and CEO of International Intelligent Machines.

Zheng said with the smart community construction boom across China, the smart property management era is coming.

"With the development of robotics and changing user habits, robots will gradually perform some of the jobs that used to be done by humans," Zheng added. "Intelligent service robots clearly have advantages, as they will help reduce labor costs, increase efficiency and improve service and living standards."

Yang Hong, general manager of the China-Belarus industrial investment fund said the new funding marked China Merchants Group's attempt to tap into the artificial intelligence sector.

Established in 2017, the $585 million investment fund aims to introduce high-quality projects and firms to the China-Belarus Industrial Park, focusing on fields such as the fine chemical, healthcare, advanced manufacturing and high-tech sectors. In early 2018, International Intelligent Machines officially settled in the park.

"We look forward to the firm's good prospects and huge potential in the future. And we believe that China Merchants Group and the fund will empower the company with abundant overseas resources and industrial experiences," Yang added.

Founded in 2015, International Intelligent Machines focuses on the development of smart service robots, intelligent hardware and robotics application, owning a wide range of patents in the fields of machine vision, positioning and navigation, electromechanical control and smart voice.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, the company has an overseas technology R&D center in Singapore and an AI institute in Great Stone, Belarus. It mainly offers intelligent service robots and visual products, providing a complete set of intelligent solutions for smart property systems.

"We will see growing demand for smart products in the property service market," Zheng said. "We will be committed to offering a total solution for the property ecology chain, allowing the application of smart robots to conform to actual needs."

To date, the company has cooperated with China Merchants Group in the fields of smart property, smart parks and smart ports. It has signed agreements with smart manufacturing firm Sinomach Intelligence Technology Co Ltd and Shenzhen GTA Education Tech Ltd.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201808/28/WS5b84bbf0a310add14f388293.html


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## TaiShang

*China takes lead in 5G and AI technologies*


By Kou Jie (People's Daily Online) 17:52, August 28, 2018


Following the swift development of advanced technologies including 5G and artificial intelligence, the world is now heading towards a smart era, with China taking the lead in emerging smart industries, said experts during the 2018 Smart China Expo.

Held in Chongqing Municipality on Aug. 23, the first Smart China Expo attracted over 500 domestic and international companies as exhibitors. The three-day tech event heralds the global surge in smart technologies, with a focus on intelligence industries, 5G and big data.

“There’s no doubt that China is one of the leaders in 5G research. It has been making great contributions to the ITU with its own 5G research and proposals. The ITU’s job is to collect such proposals and then combine them into a single international standard, while China’s proposal for IMT-2020 will also be taken into the final consideration,” Mario Maniewicz, deputy director of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Radiocommunication Bureau, told People’s Daily Online.

Stressing China’s achievement in 5G technologies and the telecommunication industry, such as the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, Maniewicz noted that China will play a more important role in smart technologies in the future.

“Such scientific advancement will surely promote China’s economic growth in the long run,” said Maniewicz.

Echoing Maniewich, Penny Baldwin, CMO of Qualcomm, told People’s Daily Online that 5G and AI technologies will fundamentally change the way we live, while her company is willing to cooperate with its Chinese counterparts to further promote such technological advancements, noting the importance of the Chinese market.

With nearly 800 million internet users, China has the world's largest market for smartphones, mobile payment and online retail sales. The country has been the top consumer of industrial robots for six consecutive years, with the size of its artificial intelligence market growing an average of over 40 percent annually. 

http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0828/c90000-9494935.html

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## JSCh

*China Focus: China-developed AI helps assess brain injury patients*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-02 21:02:00|Editor: Li Xia



by Xinhua writer Yuan Quan

BEIJNG, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers and doctors have built an artificial intelligence (AI) model with medical imaging to help determine whether patients with severe brain damage might regain consciousness.

Severe brain injury can lead to disorders of consciousness (DOC). Some patients can recover from an acute brain injury, but others fall into chronic DOC, also known as a vegetative state. They cannot communicate or act consciously.

China has more than 500,000 patients with chronic DOC caused by brain trauma, stroke, and other brain diseases, with 70,000 to 100,000 new cases each year. Most patients remain bedridden, and require laborious care, bringing great stress and heavy costs to their families.

Most doctors assess the chances of recovery according to three main indicators: the patient's age, the cause and the duration of the disorder. Studies have shown that patients with traumatic brain injury have a higher likelihood of recovery than those with non-traumatic brain injury, and young patients are more likely to have a favorable outcome than older ones.

Doctors also observe patients' actions, with tests such as clapping hands or tracking eyes, to find any evidence of awareness.

However, behavioral assessments are subjective and vulnerable to personal interpretation. For doctors, a lack of experience, poor training or ignorance of a patient's other health problems can give rise to misjudgments, said Song Ming, lead researcher of the study.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with doctors from PLA Army General Hospital and General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, over five years developed an AI model, which can make an assessment based on images of brain functional networks.

"When a brain functions, multiple brain regions are involved, and they form a network, working together. Like two mobile phones, though no actual wire links them, they have a functional connection when people make a phone call," said Song.

To study the brain functions of DOC patients, resting state functional MRI (fMRI), a medical imaging technique, has been widely used in recent years. Through MRI scanning, Song and his research team have found typical features seen in the brain functional networks of DOC patients, which can be biomarkers to trace the level of consciousness and predict the possibility of recovery.

To train the AI, developers fed it tens of thousands of brain images of 63 DOC patients at least one month after their brain injury.

The model diagnosed patients who would recover consciousness and those who would not with an accuracy of 88 percent in 100 cases.

The research was recently published in the international journal eLife.

Reviewers of the journal were impressed by the sample size used in the paper, but Song thought more data was still needed to confirm the validity and reliability of the model.

"We believe the model can make an accurate assessment and might help families of DOC patients understand the outcomes in advance and make an informed decision," said Song.

It is not the first AI technology to help doctors. In June, a Beijing hospital made headlines after unveiling an AI system that can diagnose brain tumors and forecast hematoma expansion faster and more accurately than doctors.

Song thought most research and applications focused on diseases that can be observed by doctors through medical images.

In this study, doctors cannot see directly the brain functional network and its relevance to DOC.

"Thus, the model also provides a new clue to understand the disease," said Song.

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## cirr

*Microsoft Considering Huawei AI Chips In Blow To NVIDIA: Report*

September 5, 2018 - Written By Dominik Bosnjak

Microsoft is presently considering using new artificial intelligence chips from Huawei in a number of its data centers, potentially making a major infrastructure change that would effectively deal a significant blow to NVIDIA, The Information reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. The talks between the two are said to be at an early stage and no definitive agreement has been reached, with both involved parties offering no comments on the revelation.

Microsoft’s data centers tasked with machine learning processing and general AI computing predominantly rely on NVIDIA-made GPUs and the Redmond, Washington-based juggernaut has no interest in replacing the entirety of that hardware for the time being, insiders claim. Instead, the currently ongoing talks between Microsoft and Huawei are understood to be pertaining to the former’s data centers in China. Huawei’s home country houses a number of Microsoft’s data centers, with more being likely to open in the near future. Microsoft repeatedly pointed to AI technologies as the backbone of its long-term strategy and already uses such solutions in a wide variety of products and services, ranging from digital assistants and communication platforms to infrastructure management and Bing’s search algorithms.

Huawei believes its new chip that’s already being sampled can replace NVIDIA’s GPUs but has been tasked with modifying its solutions in order to comply with Microsoft’s performance requirements. Last week, Huawei’s subsidiary HiSilicon unveiled a consumer-facing chip for smartphones in the form of the Kirin 980, with that particular silicon boasting two neural processing unit for on-device AI, twice as many as last year’s Kirin 970. A potential partnership with Huawei revolving around data center technologies could put Microsoft at odds with Washington. As evidenced by the example of Google, U.S. lawmakers are taking issues with American companies collaborating with Chinese firms on what they deem are critical technologies, with the last clash between Capitol Hill and Alphabet’s subsidiary being prompted by widespread reports that a censored Google Search engine is on its way to China.

https://www.androidheadlines.com/20...huawei-ai-chips-in-blow-to-nvidia-report.html

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## TaiShang

cirr said:


> Microsoft is presently considering using new artificial intelligence chips from Huawei in a number of its data centers, potentially making a major infrastructure change that would effectively deal a significant blow to NVIDIA, The Information reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.



True MAGA! Work with the best.

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## JSCh

*The 4 Waves of AI: Who Will Own the Future of Technology?*
By Peter H. Diamandis, MD Sep 07, 2018

Recently, I picked up Kai-Fu Lee’s newest book, _AI Superpowers_.

Kai-Fu Lee is one of the most plugged-in AI investors on the planet, managing over $2 billion between six funds and over 300 portfolio companies in the US and China.

Drawing from his pioneering work in AI, executive leadership at Microsoft, Apple, and Google (where he served as founding president of Google China), and his founding of VC fund Sinovation Ventures, Lee shares invaluable insights about:


The four factors driving today’s AI ecosystems;
China’s extraordinary inroads in AI implementation;
Where autonomous systems are headed;
How we’ll need to adapt.
With a foothold in both Beijing and Silicon Valley, Lee looks at the power balance between Chinese and US tech behemoths—each turbocharging new applications of deep learning and sweeping up global markets in the process.

In this post, I’ll be discussing Lee’s “Four Waves of AI,” an excellent framework for discussing where AI is today and where it’s going. I’ll also be featuring some of the hottest Chinese tech companies leading the charge, worth watching right now.

I’m super excited that this Tuesday, I’ve scored the opportunity to sit down with Kai-Fu Lee to discuss his book in detail via a webinar.

With Sino-US competition heating up, who will own the future of technology?

Let’s dive in.

*The First Wave: Internet AI*
In this first stage of AI deployment, we’re dealing primarily with recommendation engines—algorithmic systems that learn from masses of user data to curate online content personalized to each one of us.

Think Amazon’s spot-on product recommendations, or that “Up Next” YouTube video you just _have_ to watch before getting back to work, or Facebook ads that seem to know what you’ll buy before you do.

Powered by the data flowing through our networks, internet AI leverages the fact that users automatically label data as we browse. Clicking versus not clicking; lingering on a web page longer than we did on another; hovering over a Facebook video to see what happens at the end.

These cascades of labeled data build a detailed picture of our personalities, habits, demands, and desires: the perfect recipe for more tailored content to keep us on a given platform.

Currently, Lee estimates that Chinese and American companies stand head-to-head when it comes to deployment of internet AI. But given China’s data advantage, he predicts that Chinese tech giants will have a slight lead (60-40) over their US counterparts in the next five years.

While you’ve most definitely heard of Alibaba and Baidu, you’ve probably never stumbled upon Toutiao.

Starting out as a copycat of America’s wildly popular Buzzfeed, Toutiao reached a valuation of $20 billion by 2017, dwarfing Buzzfeed’s valuation by more than a factor of 10. But with almost 120 million _daily _active users, Toutiao doesn’t just stop at creating viral content.

Equipped with natural-language processing and computer vision, Toutiao’s AI engines survey a vast network of different sites and contributors, rewriting headlines to optimize for user engagement, and processing each user’s online behavior—clicks, comments, engagement time—to curate individualized news feeds for millions of consumers.

And as users grow more engaged with Toutiao’s content, the company’s algorithms get better and better at recommending content, optimizing headlines, and delivering a truly personalized feed.

It’s this kind of positive feedback loop that fuels today’s AI giants surfing the wave of internet AI.

*The Second Wave: Business AI*
While internet AI takes advantage of the fact that netizens are constantly labeling data via clicks and other engagement metrics, business AI jumps on the data that traditional companies have already labeled in the past.

Think banks issuing loans and recording repayment rates; hospitals archiving diagnoses, imaging data, and subsequent health outcomes; or courts noting conviction history, recidivism, and flight.

While we humans make predictions based on obvious root causes (_strong features_), AI algorithms can process thousands of weakly correlated variables (_weak features_) that may have much more to do with a given outcome than the usual suspects.

By scouting out hidden correlations that escape our linear cause-and-effect logic, business AI leverages labeled data to train algorithms that outperform even the most veteran of experts.

Apply these data-trained AI engines to banking, insurance, and legal sentencing, and you get minimized default rates, optimized premiums, and plummeting recidivism rates.

While Lee confidently places America in the lead (90-10) for business AI, China’s substantial lag in structured industry data could actually work in its favor going forward.

In industries where Chinese startups can leapfrog over legacy systems, China has a major advantage.

Take Chinese app Smart Finance, for instance.

While Americans embraced credit and debit cards in the 1970s, China was still in the throes of its Cultural Revolution, largely missing the bus on this technology.

Fast forward to 2017, and China’s mobile payment spending outnumbered that of Americans’ by a ratio of 50 to 1. Without the competition of deeply entrenched credit cards, mobile payments were an obvious upgrade to China’s cash-heavy economy, embraced by 70 percent of China’s 753 million smartphone users by the end of 2017.

But by leapfrogging over credit cards and into mobile payments, China largely left behind the notion of credit.

And here’s where Smart Finance comes in.

An AI-powered app for microfinance, Smart Finance depends almost exclusively on its algorithms to make millions of microloans. For each potential borrower, the app simply requests access to a portion of the user’s phone data.

On the basis of variables as subtle as your typing speed and battery percentage, Smart Finance can predict with astounding accuracy your likelihood of repaying a $300 loan.

Such deployments of business AI and internet AI are already revolutionizing our industries and individual lifestyles. But still on the horizon lie two even more monumental waves— perception AI and autonomous AI.

*The Third Wave: Perception AI*
In this wave, AI gets an upgrade with eyes, ears, and myriad other senses, merging the digital world with our physical environments.

As sensors and smart devices proliferate through our homes and cities, we are on the verge of entering a trillion-sensor economy.

Companies like China’s Xiaomi are putting out millions of IoT-connected devices, and teams of researchers have already begun prototyping smart dust—solar cell- and sensor-geared particulates that can store and communicate troves of data anywhere, anytime.

As Kai-Fu explains, perception AI “will bring the convenience and abundance of the online world into our offline reality.” Sensor-enabled hardware devices will turn everything from hospitals to cars to schools into online-merge-offline (OMO) environments.

Imagine walking into a grocery store, scanning your face to pull up your most common purchases, and then picking up a virtual assistant (VA) shopping cart. Having pre-loaded your data, the cart adjusts your usual grocery list with voice input, reminds you to get your spouse’s favorite wine for an upcoming anniversary, and guides you through a personalized store route.

While we haven’t yet leveraged the full potential of perception AI, China and the US are already making incredible strides. Given China’s hardware advantage, Lee predicts China currently has a 60-40 edge over its American tech counterparts.

Now the go-to city for startups building robots, drones, wearable technology, and IoT infrastructure, Shenzhen has turned into a powerhouse for intelligent hardware, as I discussed last week. Turbocharging output of sensors and electronic parts via thousands of factories, Shenzhen’s skilled engineers can prototype and iterate new products at unprecedented scale and speed.

With the added fuel of Chinese government support and a relaxed Chinese attitude toward data privacy, China’s lead may even reach 80-20 in the next five years.

Jumping on this wave are companies like Xiaomi, which aims to turn bathrooms, kitchens, and living rooms into smart OMO environments. Having invested in 220 companies and incubated 29 startups that produce its products, Xiaomi surpassed 85 millionintelligent home devices by the end of 2017, making it the world’s largest network of these connected products.

One KFC restaurant in China has even teamed up with Alipay (Alibaba’s mobile payments platform) to pioneer a ‘pay-with-your-face’ feature. Forget cash, cards, and cell phones, and let OMO do the work.

*The Fourth Wave: Autonomous AI*
But the most monumental—and unpredictable—wave is the fourth and final: autonomous AI.

Integrating all previous waves, autonomous AI gives machines the ability to sense and respond to the world around them, enabling AI to move and act productively.

While today’s machines can outperform us on repetitive tasks in structured and even unstructured environments (think Boston Dynamics’ humanoid Atlas or oncoming autonomous vehicles), machines with the power to see, hear, touch and optimize data will be a whole new ballgame.

Think: swarms of drones that can selectively spray and harvest entire farms with computer vision and remarkable dexterity, heat-resistant drones that can put out forest fires 100X more efficiently, or Level 5 autonomous vehicles that navigate smart roads and traffic systems all on their own.

While autonomous AI will first involve robots that create direct economic value—automating tasks on a one-to-one replacement basis—these intelligent machines will ultimately revamp entire industries from the ground up.

Kai-Fu Lee currently puts America in a commanding lead of 90-10 in autonomous AI, especially when it comes to self-driving vehicles. But Chinese government efforts are quickly ramping up the competition.

Already in China’s Zhejiang province, highway regulators and government officials have plans to build China’s first intelligent superhighway, outfitted with sensors, road-embedded solar panels and wireless communication between cars, roads and drivers.

Aimed at increasing transit efficiency by up to 30 percent while minimizing fatalities, the project may one day allow autonomous electric vehicles to continuously charge as they drive.

A similar government-fueled project involves Beijing’s new neighbor Xiong’an. Projected to take in over $580 billion in infrastructure spending over the next 20 years, Xiong’an New Area could one day become the world’s first city built around autonomous vehicles.

Baidu is already working with Xiong’an’s local government to build out this AI city with an environmental focus. Possibilities include sensor-geared cement, computer vision-enabled traffic lights, intersections with facial recognition, and parking lots-turned parks.

Lastly, Lee predicts China will almost certainly lead the charge in autonomous drones. Already, Shenzhen is home to premier drone maker DJI—a company I’ll be visiting with 24 top executives later this month as part of my annual China Platinum Trip.

Named “the best company I have ever encountered” by Chris Anderson, DJI owns an estimated 50 percent of the North American drone market, supercharged by Shenzhen’s extraordinary maker movement.

While the long-term Sino-US competitive balance in fourth wave AI remains to be seen, one thing is certain: in a matter of decades, we will witness the rise of AI-embedded cityscapes and autonomous machines that can interact with the real world and help solve today’s most pressing grand challenges.



The 4 Waves of AI: Who Will Own the Future of Technology? | SingularityHub

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## JSCh

*Opinion: China is surging ahead in cancer treatment R&D, especially through AI*
Li Xing
2018-09-17 12:28 GMT+8





_*Editor's note:* Li Xing is the CEO and founder of Deep Intelligent Pharma Co., Ltd. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN._

Recent years saw the accelerated pace of research and innovation in cancer treatment, and CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Immunotherapy) became the focus of increased attention in 2017.

Statistics show that 143 CAR-T studies have been conducted in the United States, while 141 CAR-T related researches have been done in China, gradually making the country world's first echelon in CAR-T research. 

CAR-T has become one of the few areas in which China can compete with western countries in medical research and development (R&D).

Recently, nine companies including JW Therapeutics, Fosun Kite Biotechnology, CARsgen Therapeutics, HRAIN Biotechnology, Genor Biopharma have established the Immune Cell Therapy Alliance of Shanghai (iCTAS).



A technician conducting an experiment in the National Gene Center, Hefei, China, July 18, 2018 /VCG Photo.

It can be foreseen that small companies that want to make quick money cannot survive in the CAR-T field in the future, while the "regular armies" can survive which have scientific strength, research data, production capacity, and capital.

The CAR-T collaboration between Janssen Biotech, Inc. and Legend Biotech last year can be seen as a microcosm of the rise of Chinese cell therapy. Geographically speaking, North America and East Asia are the two major centers of global cell therapy. 

The United States and China have the biggest number of cell therapy R&D in the world, and the total number of the two countries account for three-quarter of the global cell therapy R&D.

On October 28, 2016, China entered the history books as the first country ever to use the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing technology on humans.



Britain's Dakota Clarke after regaining her sight post two-year long revolutionary stem cell treatment in China, February 2009 /VCG Photo.

In addition, China's emerging artificial intelligence (AI)-driven new drug R&D has also provided the country with a good opportunity to get ahead in the race of emerging cancer treatment technologies and drug development.

The AI-driven super brain can calculate with huge computational power, integrate global databases, learn the hidden rules, drug design and optimization, and even design drugs from scratch.

AI can not only play a role in the early stages of drug discovery but also shorten the drug clinical development cycle, thus bringing good drugs to market at an early date. This is a historic opportunity. If China catches this fast train, the future is very promising.

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## JSCh

*AI Algorithm Is High Point of Chinese AI Congress 2018*
MIAO QI 
DATE: MON, 09/17/2018 - 15:20 / SOURCE:YICAI




AI Algorithm Is High Point of Chinese AI Congress 2018​
(Yicai Global) Sept. 17 -- Evolutionary algorithms and solutions and their practical applications really stole the show from the eye-catching driverless vehicles, drones and robots at the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Yicai Global noted when exploring the exhibition area prior to today’s opening in Shanghai.

Technologies which usually hide behind the scenes also came out on stage at the two-day event.

At over 10 million per day, the city’s subway ridership is massive, Cai Feng, the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group guide, told Yicai Global in front of a big real-time data display in the mass transit company’s display.

Shanghai’s subway has equipped 70 percent of trains with instant failure report mechanisms, uploading and relaying all real-time train conditions to the control center for timely decisions and solutions, Cai said.

“Failure feedbacks used to take over 10 minutes at a minimum, but now they are instantaneous, thus reducing failure handling time,” Cai said.

Shentong Metro Group released its payment app in May. It lets passengers enter stations by scanning a code with their smartphones. Riders now no longer need to line up for tickets as the app allows electronic payments.

This is China’s first real-time QR code. It imposes high requirements for connections and QR code algorithms. The app has enrolled 7.4 million real name registered users three months after its release, or 20 percent of passengers, Cai told Yicai Global.

At another stand, Shanghai Electric Vehicle Public Data Collecting, Monitoring and Research Center’s (SHEVDC) Big Data platform having achieved real-time monitoring, was displaying actual new energy vehicles running on the road.

“The application platform refreshes every 30 seconds. Look, the current NEV traffic count is 25,788. We have linked about 200,000 NEVs to this platform, covering all of Shanghai’s,” Zhang Wenjie, the SHEVDC’s senior project manager, told Yicai Global.

Each car’s data is embedded directly at the finished vehicle assembly plant. The system can use these data to instantly calculate the NEVs’ charge levels, helping authorities to direct and manage them, Zhang said.

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## JSCh

*Hype vs reality: AI development discussed at Shanghai conference*
Gong Zhe
2018-09-18 11:50 GMT+8




Many much-hyped AI functions need more than five years to become reality, said Phil Todd, managing vice president of US research firm Gartner.

*The hype cycle*

He showed a graph representing the "AI hype cycle," to separate the reality from the hype.

The graph was updated in July 2018 to represent the latest status.



Phil Todd explains the AI Hype Cycle at WAIC in Shanghai, August 17, 2018. /CGTN Photo

In Gartner's view, we will only be sitting in autonomous vehicles a decade later despite the huge amount of news reports showing progress.

But AI based speech recognition will be widely used before 2020.

Many AI-based technologies, though much anticipated, may need another five years to see actual application. These techs include AI governance, augmented reality, smart robots, graph analytics and many others.

*The industry map*

The same conclusion was also drawn by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). Head of the academy Liu Duo introduced an update to its "Global AI Industry Map," saying AI industry is still far from matured.

"Although major countries are putting big efforts into the AI sector, only technologies like speech recognition and machine vision is maturing fast to reach practical level," she said.



A part of the Global AI Industry Map, version 2.0 /CGTN Photo



A part of the Global AI Industry Map, version 2.0 /CGTN Photo

With that said, the future for AI is as promising as the hype indicated.

"As we all know, AI needs three things to develop: Chips, algorithms and data. These three things are getting massive now," she told the audience.

The yearly growth rate of data used for deep learning will be 24 percent in the next decade. And many companies, especially those in Europe and Asia, are trying hard to develop faster chips and algorithms to process those precious data.

Watch the WAIC 2018 exhibition and get amazed by latest AI products​
*China vs. US?*

After the breakout of the China-US trade war, the world has been paying much attention to the AI sector of the two countries.

Is China leading the world AI development instead of the US? Which country will eventually gain dominance in the sector?

Gartner's Phil Todd told reporters at the conference these are not the right questions.

"The development of AI is not a competition between countries. It's a global co-op," he explained.

"The trend of globalization is obvious," added CAICT's Liu Duo.

So what are the right questions to ask then? Liu Duo said, "We may need to pay more attention on how the general public view AI."

"There are a lot of ethical problems we need to solve for AI development. It's too early to draw any conclusions around how should we regulate AI in the future. But we have to start the discussion now," she told CGTN.

"From my point of view, it's dangerous if humans failed to meet a proper consensus before AI is widely applied."

(Cover photo from VCG)

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## TaiShang

*Visual AI technology to shine in 2018, 
China leads in facial recognition*

By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/3/29 

*China leading the way in facial recognition sector*





High-speed train passengers have their faces scanned at the barrier gates of a station in East China's Zhejiang Province so they can enter. Photo: VCG

Endless queues and long waits at the ticket inspection desks at China's major train stations were signature of the Spring Festival travel rush before this year. Every year, as the country's biggest national holiday unfolded, a huge flow of travelers would leave staff at the check-in desks feeling swamped.

But with the installment of artificial intelligence (AI) in dozens of train stations this year, including a facial recognition system which is able to process passenger identification within five seconds and therefore speed up the waiting process, busy scenes started to become something of the past.

When a passenger approaches the camera inside the facial recognition system at the station, it scans their face and then quickly compares it to the photograph shown on their identification card in real time. If the information matches, the barrier gates will open and allow the passenger to go through. 

Such use of facial recognition technology is in line with discussions heard at the recent two sessions meeting, a key annual political event, which focused on the widespread application of a security network named Tianwang ("Sky Net" in English) currently being used by China's public security department.

The network, according to reports by the People's Daily, has the potential to recognize the facial features of anyone in the world and match them on the spot with photographs on a database of criminal suspects. In fact, it can analyze photographic identity so quickly that it can scan every single Chinese face on the planet in just one second, and it would only take two seconds to scan every face in the world, with an accuracy rate of up to 99.8 percent. 

Those are just two examples that highlight the development of Chinese visual AI technology, which industry insiders predict could contribute to robust growth in the global technology sector this year.

*Growing trend* 

"The year 2018 will mark a fast-track year in facial recognition technology, whose speed of growth is likely to override other AI sectors including robotics, voice recognition and natural language processing," Yang Yuxin, the vice president of Beijing-based operating system provider Thundersoft Software Technology Co, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

An industry report published on news website sohu.com in March echoed Yang's prediction by summarizing the financing of China's AI start-ups and concluding that the computer vision and image analysis sector has been the "hottest" destination for domestic investors lately. 

The sector has even topped the country's investment list with a financing amount of 14.3 billion yuan ($2.27 billion), representing 23 percent of the total funds flowing into the global AI industry. 

One of the reasons behind the popularity of AI-powered visual technology is the wide range of scenarios in which it can be applied, making it easier for investors to "envision a bright business prospect and quickly capitalize on their investment," Yang explained.

Security is just one of many areas where visual technology is being applied. In addition to targeting consumers, AI start-ups have already started to tailor their visual technology services to domestic companies focused on such technology as unmanned vehicle-makers and manufacturing. 

For example, Thundersoft has partnered with local factories to facilitate the application of AI visual technology in production lines so as to maintain quality control and supervise the production environment, Yang said. The move has helped manufacturers reduce labor costs and improve efficiency. 
Lu Feng, an industry analyst at Beijing-based consultancy firm CCID Consulting, also underscored the trend of combing AI visual technology with 2018's emerging industries, for example, the new retail sector.

In unmanned supermarkets, which are part of the new retail concept, visual technology can help capture and analyze consumer behavior, through which, companies can improve their store's setting and displays to attract more buyers. Adopting a facial recognition system could also prevent shoplifting and help analyze consumer data. 

With market players deeming those technologies as promising, they have in turn pumped up the number of start-ups in the sector. Currently, there are 146 visual AI technology companies in China, the biggest number of any type of AI firm across the country, the news report by sohu.com showed.

But analysts do not expect all those start-ups to thrive. 

"I think an industry reshuffle will take place next year… the clock is ticking and visual AI start-ups that focus on researching basic algorithms should scramble to find applications, otherwise their capital pool will dry out in 2019," Yang noted.

*M&A in Europe*

Taking into account the abovementioned scenarios and China's large amount of data, the nation has an edge over US rivals in terms of AI visual technology application. However, in terms of the industry's foundation, such as basic theory and algorithms, domestic companies are still catching up with the standards set by foreign competitors, Lu noted.

But recent mergers and acquisitions (M&A) inked between Thundersoft and European peers may offer some insight into Chinese companies that are aiming to introduce cutting-edged AI technologies. 

Thundersoft, for example, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Bulgarian software provider MM Solutions AD (MMS) in a deal worth 31 million euros ($38.16 million). 

"Acquiring MMS will largely reduce the time we take to achieve new technological breakthroughs, which in turn will elevate our technological competitiveness… It's like strengthening our innovation ability through external dynamics," Zhao Hongfei, CEO of Thundersoft, said.

In a similar move, Thundersoft also acquired Finnish auto software maker Rightward for $68 million in December 2016.

Asked why Thundersoft has been eyeing European firms recently, Yang explained that compared with the US, European AI start-ups can be seen as "unexploited gold mines" with long-term business prospects and market competitive M&A prices.

"Most European firms have rich experiences in developing technology, they also have a very strict system when training talents," Yang said.

By this, Yang was referring to the fact that it can take about 18 months for MMS to fully train a visual technology engineer. In contrast, the training period is generally six months in China. Yang also noted that after the MMS deal was completed, he would send some employees from Thundersoft to MMS for further training.

Furthermore, the European capital market has not been developing as fast as either market in China or the US, meaning it is usually a great bargain when Chinese investors acquire European tech peers.

"We bought the two European tech firms at a price that was less than ten times their price-earnings (PE) ratio. The price has to be at least twenty times the PE ratio here in China," he added.


*Newspaper headline: Visual AI technology to shine in 2018*

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1095874.shtml

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## JSCh

20 Sep 2018 | 13:16 GMT
*Former Head of Google China Foresees an AI Crisis—and Proposes a Solution*
*Q&A: Kai-Fu Lee talks about AI, jobs, and the human heart*
By Eliza Strickland





Photos: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt​When the former president of Google China talks about artificial intelligence and its potential to cause global upheaval, people listen. His hope is that enough people will listen to avert catastrophic disruption on three different scales: to the global balance of power, to national economies, and to human beings’ delicate souls.

Kai-Fu Lee has been fascinated by AI since he was an eager computer science student applying to Carnegie Mellon University’s Ph.D. program; his admission essay extolled the promise of AI, which he called “the quantification of the human thinking process.” His studies led him to executive positions in Apple, Microsoft, and Google China, before his 2009 founding of Sinovation Ventures, a venture-capital firm focusing on high-tech companies in China. 

His new book, _AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order _(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), is something of a bait and switch. The first half explores the diverging AI capabilities of China and the United States and frames the discussion as a battle for global dominance. Then, he boldly declares that we shouldn’t waste time worrying about who will win and says the “real AI crisis” will come from automation that wipes out whole job sectors, reshaping economies and societies in both nations. 

“Lurking beneath this social and economic turmoil will be a psychological struggle,” he writes. “As more and more people see themselves displaced by machines, they will be forced to answer a far deeper question: In an age of intelligent machines, what does it mean to be human?”

In a wide-ranging Q&A with _IEEE Spectrum_, Lee not only explored this question further, he also gave his answer. 

*Kai-Fu Lee on . . .*

Why China Will Overtake the U.S. in AI
“50 Percent of Jobs Are in Danger”
The Inevitability of the AI Revolution 
Facing Death
A “Blueprint for Coexistence”


---> Former Head of Google China Foresees an AI Crisis—and Proposes a Solution - IEEE Spectrum

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## cirr

*Chinese acoustics tech startup SoundAI unveils AI sound box lamp*

2018-09-20 16:32:45 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping

Chinese acoustics technology start-up SoundAI has teamed up with Internet giant Baidu to roll out a smart sound box lamp solution built on AI technologies.

Equipped with the company's smart voice interaction system, the AI sound box unveiled Wednesday is also an intelligent lamp capable of offering a wide range of shades and light colors.

The gadget also integrates Baidu's AI voice control system DuerOS, enabling smart services such as playing music, reading audio books and turning on or off home appliances, with a voice interaction process that takes less than two seconds, the company said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, SoundAI develops sonic technologies focusing on acoustics, including far-field voice interaction and real-time communication technologies, to support AI technology applications. The company's technology has been used in Alibaba's Magic Box, Qihoo 360's smart camera and Baidu's and Xiaomi's AI speakers.

China has become the world's fastest growing smart sound box market. Data from global technology market analyst firm Canalys shows that China contributed 52 percent to worldwide growth volume in the second quarter of this year.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2018-09-20/detail-ifyyehna1448313.shtml

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## JSCh

*Beijing targets subleasing of affordable housing in city*
Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/8 23:18:40

Beijing authorities will accelerate the deployment of face-recognition technology to clamp down on illegal subleasing of government-funded affordable rental housing, reports said Monday.

Face recognition technology will be installed in all Beijing's affordable housing and data will be gathered on residents' use of water, electricity, heating and the internet, Shanghai-based news portal thepaper.cn reported on Monday.

The technology had been installed with more than 20,000 pieces of data "gathered in Beijing's 12,600 affordable housing as of June 2018," the Xinhua News Agency reported in July. 

Officials from the Beijing Municipal Commission on Housing and Urban-Rural Development inspected projects in four districts during the National Day holiday.

The inspection identified problems in registering families' information, reporting channels and adoption of face recognition technology.

Authorities checked on agencies located near the affordable housing projects and found that some housing managers were improperly handling alleged subleases.

Any agency assisting in illegal subleasing will be fined 30,000 yuan ($4,400) and banned from trading apartments, the news site said. 

The agents will also be fined 10,000 yuan each and families that engage in subleasing will be ejected and banned from applying for future housing. 

People who confidentially report illegal subleasing can receive cash rewards, Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror reported Monday.


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## JSCh

*Huawei Releases AI Strategy and Full-Stack, All-Scenario AI Portfolio - Huawei*
Oct 10, 2018

[Shanghai, China, October 10, 2018] The third annual HUAWEI CONNECT, a global event for the ICT industry, opened today at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. Themed “Activate Intelligence”, this year's event focuses on AI: its challenges, opportunities, innovations, and practices.



Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu announced Huawei’s AI strategy, as well as its full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio at HUAWEI CONNECT 2018.

At the event, Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu announced Huawei’s AI strategy, as well as its full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio. Huawei’s AI portfolio includes its new Ascend series of AI chips – the world’s first AI IP and chip series designed for a full range of scenarios (see below for more information). The portfolio also includes new products and cloud services that are built on Ascend chip capabilities. With its full-stack AI portfolio, Huawei aims to provide pervasive intelligence to help drive industry development and build a fully connected, intelligent world.

Ten future changes: Driving Huawei’s AI strategy

Huawei predicts that by 2025, the world will see upwards of 40 billion personal smart devices, and 90% of device users will have a smart digital assistant. Data utilization will reach 86% and AI services will be readily available, as prevalent as the air we breathe. According to Huawei, AI has become a new general purpose technology and will change all industries and organizations on earth.

Proactive change is the first step towards a better future in AI. Huawei has defined ten changes that will help pave the way. They include:


Faster model training
Abundant and affordable computing power
AI deployment and user privacy
New algorithms
AI automation
Practical application
Real-time, closed-loop system
Multi-tech synergy
Platform support
Talent availability
These ten changes are not only Huawei's hope for the AI industry; they are the inspiration behind its AI strategy.

“Huawei’s AI strategy is to invest in basic research and talent development, build a full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio, and foster an open global ecosystem,” said Eric Xu during his keynote.

He explained: “Within Huawei, we will continue exploring ways to improve management and efficiency with AI. In the telecom sector, we will adopt SoftCOM AI to make network O&M more efficient. In the consumer market, HiAI will bring true intelligence to our consumer devices, making them smarter than ever. Our Huawei EI public cloud services and FusionMind private cloud solutions will provide abundant and affordable computing power for all organizations – especially businesses and governments – and help them use AI with greater ease. Our portfolio will also include an AI acceleration card, AI server, AI appliance, and many other products.”

Huawei’s AI strategy has five areas of focus:

1. Invest in AI research: Develop fundamental capabilities for machine learning in domains like computer vision, natural language processing, and decision/inference, etc. Huawei places special emphasis on machine learning that is:


data and power-efficient (i.e., less data, computing, and power needed)
secure and trusted
automated/autonomous
2. Build a full-stack AI portfolio:


Deliver abundant and affordable computing power
Provide an efficient and easy-to-use AI platform with full-pipeline services
Make the portfolio adaptive to all scenarios, both standalone and cooperative scenarios between cloud, edge, and device
3. Develop an open ecosystem and talent: Collaborate widely with global academia, industries, and partners.

4. Strengthen existing portfolio: Introduce an AI mindset and techniques into existing products and solutions to create greater value and enhance competitive strengths.

5. Drive operational efficiency at Huawei: Apply AI to massive volumes of routine business activities for better efficiency and quality.

Xu envisions that Huawei’s full-stack AI portfolio will speed up AI adoption in all industries to provide pervasive intelligence for a fully connected, intelligent world.

Huawei’s full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio: Abundant and affordable computing power will enable inclusive AI

As part of its full-stack AI portfolio, Huawei today unveiled the Ascend AI IP and chip series, the world's first AI IP and chip series that natively serves all scenarios, providing optimal TeraOPS per watt. The Ascend series delivers excellent performance per watt in every scenario, whether it’s minimum energy consumption or maximum computing power in data centers. Their unified architecture also makes it easy to deploy, migrate, and interconnect AI applications across different scenarios.

The Ascend 910 and Ascend 310 chips, which were announced at today’s event, mark Huawei’s leading AI capabilities at the chip level – the bottom layer of the stack. These chips will help greatly accelerate AI adoption in all industries.

Apart from the Ascend series of chips, Huawei’s full-stack AI portfolio also includes the following:


CANN (Compute Architecture for Neural Networks): A chip operators library and highly automated operators development toolkit
MindSpore: A unified training and inference framework for device, edge, and cloud (both standalone and cooperative)
Application enablement: Full-pipeline services (ModelArts), hierarchical APIs, and pre-integrated solutions
Why "full stack" and "all scenarios"?

“Full stack” refers to the functionality of Huawei’s technology. Huawei’s full-stack portfolio includes chips, chip enablement, a training and inference framework, and application enablement.

By “all scenarios”, Huawei means different deployment scenarios for AI, including public clouds, private clouds, edge computing in all forms, industrial IoT devices, and consumer devices.

Providing inclusive AI is one of Huawei’s core goals in developing a comprehensive AI strategy and full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio. Huawei is ready to work with all stakeholders to turn AI into a practical reality, making it inclusive and available for every person, every home, and every organization.

In September 2017, Huawei released Huawei Cloud EI, an AI service platform for enterprises and governments. In April 2018, Huawei announced HiAI, its AI engine for smart devices. The company’s full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio is designed to provide powerful support for Huawei Cloud EI and HiAI.

Backed by its AI portfolio, Huawei Cloud EI will be able to deliver a full-stack portfolio for enterprise and government customers, and HiAI will provide a full-stack portfolio for smart devices. HiAI services are deployed on Huawei Cloud EI.

HUAWEI CONNECT 2018 – "Activate Intelligence" – is held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center and Expo Center from October 10 to 12.

This year’s HUAWEI CONNECT conference is designed to help all businesses and organizations step over the threshold and stake their claim in the intelligent world. You will be joined by the best minds in the industry – including global ICT leaders, industry experts, and ecosystem partners – to chart the way forward and explore new opportunities.

For more information, please visit: Link


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1049906529376325632

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## TaiShang

*China advances its AI agenda with new national platform*

By Zhang Hongpei Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/12 

The Chinese AI start-up CloudWalk on Friday launched an open-source platform offering basic resources to companies and public institutions that will allow them to develop artificial intelligence (AI) services, marking the country's strengthening efforts in realizing its target by leading the world in the AI sector by 2030.

The Guangzhou-based CloudWalk, an AI start-up known for its facial recognition technologies, became the first enterprise to launch such a platform, a task assigned by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2017.

In comparison to traditional AI platforms, the new one features data and information protection. It is more easily integrated with a variety of business applications and aims to accelerate industrial upgrading, said Zhang Li, senior vice president of CloudWalk, during a conference held on Friday in Beijing.

"The US has targeted China's economic transformation, from low and middle level to middle-and-top one, and especially our gradually enhancing high tech sector," said Hou Yunchun, deputy director at the Development Research Center of the State Council, at the conference. 

"We have no way out but to improve our economic standards based on the new round of technology revolution represented by AI." 

"Cooperation with developed countries including the US is also quite necessary and we have to acknowledge the current gap in terms of technology research," Zhou Xi, founder of CloudWalk, told the Global Times Friday. 

"In the era of AI, platform plays the role of determining the battle," Zhou said, noting that providing and developing workable solutions is the key.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1122763.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Huawei to invest 1 billion yuan in fostering AI specialists*

China Plus Published: 2018-10-13 


China's telecommunications giant Huawei announced plans on Friday for a three-year talent development program that will see one billion yuan (144 million U.S. dollars) invested to cultivate one million artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, reports Chinanews.com.






Artificial Intelligence [Photo: VCG]

The announcement was made at this year's Huawei Connect conference, where Huawei's Vice President Zheng Yelai said, "We have assembled a professional team to carry out the plan, and we have cooperated with many elite universities in China in order to develop a better AI curriculum." He also said that some overseas universities will join the program in the future, and that Huawei will invest more money if it's required.

Fostering talent has always been one of Huawei's priorities when it comes to developing its AI strategy. Zheng said that Huawei provides employees with free training on AI, and held its Worldwide Developers Conference to improve their AI engineering skills. "AI will be a basic skill set for engineers," Zheng said.

According to a recent report by the Tencent Research Institute, the world is short 700,000 AI specialists. Only 367 universities offer AI majors, and less than 20,000 students graduate with an AI major each year.

http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20181013/195106.html

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## JSCh

*New AI-powered lab set up to support aviation sector*
By WANG YING in Shanghai | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-10-12 15:25



Xiamen Airlines' passenger airplanes are seen at Fuzhou Changle International Airport in Fuzhou, Fujian province, on March 21. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China's first algorithms laboratory for the aviation sector was jointly launched by Tongji University and Xiamen Airlines in Shanghai on Oct 11, and the two parties expect the lab to play a key role in utilizing artificial intelligence to solve problems and improve the overall efficiency of the industry.

The lab, which is situated within the campus of Tongji University, will have about 20 permanent researchers from Tongji University and Xiamen Airlines.

"In the past few years, the rapid development of the aviation sector has led to a growing density of flights and an increasingly complex airlines network which makes it more difficult than ever for management by human," said Wang Hongjian, chief information officer of Xiamen Airlines.

Wang added that the joint lab is also expected to play a key role in assisting or even replacing human labor in the scheduling of aircraft and crew.

Last June, Liang Zhe, a professor with Tongji University who is in charge of the lab, and his team designed a solution for large-scale flight delays that outperformed more than 1,600 teams from around the world in a smart aviation AI contest organized by Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group.

This award-winning solution has since been implemented by Xiamen Airlines and has greatly shortened the flight recovery time in large-scale flight delays caused by weather.

Through the joint efforts of Tongji and Xiamen Airlines, the lab also creates smart solutions for safe and convenient air trips, said Wang.

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## JSCh

*China to develop intelligent stethoscope*
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-20 09:43:58|Editor: Yang Yi




BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- A group of Chinese hospitals will jointly launch an intelligent heart and lung stethoscope project to make the diagnosis of heart and lung diseases more accurate and convenient.

An auscultation cloud system will provide intelligent auxiliary diagnosis, remote monitoring and illness tracking of heart, lung and vascular diseases, by integrating the technologies of the intelligent electronic stethoscope, AI, cloud computing and telemedicine, according to a Science and Technology Daily report.

The cloud system will keep the information of diagnosis and treatment accurate and in time, according to the newspaper. It aims to shorten consultation time at hospital and help grassroots medical units conduct remote diagnosis and treatment.

The project was joined by the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing and Xiangya Hospital in Changsha.

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## JSCh

23 Oct 2018 | 21:30 GMT
*Baidu's AI Can Do Simultaneous Translation Between Any Two Languages*
Baidu Research reveals a translation tool that keeps up by predicting the future

By Eliza Strickland






Photo-illustration: Shutterstock​
Would-be travelers of the galaxy, rejoice: The Chinese tech giant Baidu has invented a translation system that brings us one step closer to a software Babel fish.

For those unfamiliar with the Douglas Adams masterworks of science fiction, let me explain. The Babel fish is a slithery fictional creature that takes up residence in the ear canal of humans, tapping into their neural systems to provide instant translation of any language they hear.

In the real world, until now, we’ve had to make do with human and software interpreters that do their best to keep up. But the new AI-powered tool from Baidu Research, called STACL, could speed things up considerably. It uses a sophisticated type of natural language processing that lags only a few words behind, and keeps up by predicting the future.

“What’s remarkable is that it predicts and anticipates the words a speaker is about to say a few seconds in the future,” says Liang Huang, principal scientist of Baidu’s Silicon Valley AI Lab. “That’s a technique that human interpreters use all the time—and it’s critical for real-world applications of interpretation technology.”






The STACL (Simultaneous Translation with Anticipation and Controllable Latency) tool is comparable to the human interpreters who sit in booths during UN meetings. These humans have a tough job. As a dignitary speaks, the interpreters must simultaneously listen, mentally translate, and speak in another language, usually lagging only a few words behind. It’s such a difficult task that UN interpreters usually work in teams and take shifts of only 10 to 30 minutes.

A task requiring that kind of parallel processing—listening, translating, speaking—seems well suited for computers. But until now, it was too hard for them too. The best “real-time” translating systems still do what’s called consecutive translation, in which they wait for each sentence to conclude before rendering its equivalent in another language. These systems provide quite accurate translations, but they’re slow.

Huang tells _IEEE Spectrum_ that the big challenge in simultaneous interpretation comes from word order differences in various languages. “In the UN, there’s a famous joke that an interpreter who’s translating from German to English will pause, and seem to get stuck,” he says. “If you ask why, they say, ‘I’m waiting for the German verb.’” In English, the verb comes early in the sentence, he explains, while in German it comes at the very end of the sentence.

STACL gets around that problem by predicting the verb to come, based on all the sentences it has seen in the past. For their current paper, the Baidu researchers trained STACL on newswire articles, where the same story appeared in multiple languages. As a result, it’s good at making predictions about sentences dealing with international politics.

Huang gives an example of a Chinese sentence, which would be most directly translated as “Xi Jinping French president visit expresses appreciation.” STACL, however, would guess from the beginning of the sentence that the visit would go well, and translates it into English as “Xi Jinping expresses appreciation for the French president’s visit.”

For their current paper, the researchers demonstrated its capabilities in translating from Chinese to English (two languages with big differences in word order). “In principle, it can work on any language pair,” Huang says. “There’s data on all those other languages. We just haven’t run those experiments yet.”

Clearly, STACL can make mistakes. If the French president’s visit hadn’t gone well, and Xi Jinping instead expressed regret and dismay, the translation would have a glaring error. At the moment, it can’t correct its mistakes. “A human interpreter would apologize, but our current system doesn’t have the capability to revise an error,” Huang says.

However, the system is adjustable, and users will be able to make trade-offs between speed and accuracy. If STACL is programmed to have longer latency—to lag 5 words behind the original text instead of 3 words behind—it’s more likely to get things right.

It can also be made more accurate by training it in a particular subject, so that it understands the likely sentences that will appear in presentations at, say, a medical conference. “Just like a human simultaneous interpreter, it would need to do some homework before the event,” Huang says.

Huang says STACL will be demoed at a Baidu World conference on 1 November, where it will provide live simultaneous translation of the speeches. The aim is to eventually put this capability into consumers’ pockets. Baidu has previously shown off a prototype consumer device that does sentence-by-sentence translation, and Huang says his team plans to integrate STACL into that gadget.

Right now, STACL works on text-to-text translation and speech-to-text translation. To make it useful for a consumer device, the researchers want to master speech-to-speech translation. That will require integrating speech synthesis into the system. And when the speech is being synthesized only a few words at a time, without any knowledge of the whole sentence’s structure, it will be a challenge to make it sound natural.

Huang says his goal is to make instant translation services more readily accessible and affordable to the general public. But he notes that STACL is “not intended to replace human interpreters—especially for high-stakes situations that require precise and consistent translations.” After all, nobody wants an AI to be at the center of an international incident because it erroneously predicts Xi Jinping’s expressions of appreciation or regret.



Baidu's AI Can Do Simultaneous Translation Between Any Two Languages - IEEE Spectrum

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## JSCh

*Beijing firm unveils gait recognition product to help identify suspects*
By Liu Caiyu Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/26 14:09:40



This product targets suspects by using gait recognition to monitor human postures and is on display in Beijing. Photo: Liu Caiyu/GT

A Beijing-based high-tech company released a security product on Friday using gait recognition technology to search for targets, which is likely to assist China's public security department in identifying suspects. 

Developed by WATRIX, this product, called "Shuidi Shenjian" can target suspects by monitoring their posture as the suspects walk from a distance of up to 50 meters. 

Different from facial recognition, the gait recognition technology is more flexible. It is capable of identifying targets from any angle regardless of if they cover their faces or wear different clothes or walk outside at night, without suspects being aware, Huang Yongzhen, CEO of the WATRIX, told the Global Times on Friday. 

Huang said that the company had inked deals with public security departments in Beijing's Fengtai district and Shanghai. The public security department in Xinjiang also expressed interest in the security product. 

The portable machine, weighing about 15 kilograms, can replace manual workers by quickly spotting suspects while they are walking. Users need to upload videos onto the machine first and offer the machine an example video of the target, then the machine can complete a search through one hour of video in 10 minutes. Its accuracy is about 94 percent. 

But Huang said the technology still cannot detect targets in real-time videos, which is the next step of their research. 

At present, the product has been piloted in the public security system for more than 1,000 hours, being used in the detection of more than 20 cases. It had retrieved 2,000G of public security videos so far. 

The gait recognition technology can also be applied in the medical field by allowing medical personnel to examine whether a patient has fallen down and it can also be applied in oil fields to seek out intruders, as well as being used in designing smart home furniture, Huang noted.

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## TaiShang

*AI start-up CloudWalk claims new international record for speech*

Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/29 


Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up CloudWalk Technology Co on Monday revealed that *its new voice-recognition model achieved a new accuracy record, a fresh sign of the country's growing strength in AI. *

The new model, known as Pyramidal-FSMN, *had a word error rate of 2.97 percent, setting a new world record in the area of speech recognition technology based on the world's largest open source speech corpus Librispeech*, read a press release sent to the Global Times on Monday.

The new milestone signaled a leap forward in speech recognition - an error rate of 5.9 percent is generally considered to equal human parity while professional transcribers who have received strict training post an error of about 3 percent. The numbers alone also marked a conspicuous advancement from previous efforts achieved by global industry giants including Microsoft and IBM. 

Microsoft and IBM competed to claim the accuracy crown last year with speech recognition software falling in the ballpark of roughly 5 percent, based on the Switchboard corpus of telephone conversations.

*The Chinese start-up, born out of the Chongqing Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, was only founded in 2015* and has over recent years established itself as a major face-recognition supplier. 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1125032.shtml

@qwerrty

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## TaiShang

*Tech giants rally to authorities' call*

By Ma Si and Zhou Lanxu | China Daily | Updated: 2018-11-02 





Liu Qingfeng, chairman and CEO of iFlytek. [Photo/IC]

iFlytek chief says that leadership's emphasis on role of AI will put it on fast-growth track

*Chinese tech heavyweights and startups said on Thursday that they will boost investment to promote original research and industrial applications of artificial intelligence*, in response to the central authorities' call to build the nation into a leading AI power.

Liu Qingfeng, chairman and CEO of iFlytek, China's largest voice recognition company, said the top leadership's emphasis on AI's role in buoying overall social development will put it on a superfast-growth track.

*"We will pour more resources into exploring 'no man's land' in the scientific territory, and work very hard on incorporating AI into a wide range of sectors,"* Liu said. The company has been devoting 25 percent of its annual revenue to R&D for six years.

The comments came after Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday called for more efforts to develop the new generation of AI to inject a fresh driving force into the country's high-quality economic growth.

*China aims to grow the country's core AI industries to over 150 billion yuan ($22.15 billion) by 2020, 400 billion yuan by 2025, and 1 trillion yuan by 2030.*





Tang Xiao'ou, founder of SenseTime and a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Tang Xiao'ou, founder of SenseTime and a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said scientific planning is needed to widen the use of AI. "The technology is not an independent industry. It must be tightly associated with traditional sectors to unleash its potential and to boost efficiency.

*"More efforts are needed to strengthen the partnership between State-owned and private companies when exploring the application of AI,"* Tang added. The four-year-old company is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to further advance research on computer vision and it is developing self-driving solutions in partnership with Japanese carmaker Honda.

*China is building five national AI open innovation platforms by relying on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in smart city technologies, Baidu Inc in self-driving technologies, Tencent Holdings Ltd in AI-enabled medical treatments, and iFlytek in voice-recognition technologies, as well as SenseTime in facial recognition technologies.*

The nation is working hard to boost the application of AI in the automobile, robotics, healthcare and other sectors. In the first nine months of this year, China's industrial robot output increased 9.3 percent year-on-year, official data show.

On Thursday, A shares related to AI industries registered strong performances and led the rise of the market. Among sub-indices that went up more than 2 percent were those tracking the companies engaged in facial and speech recognition, cashier-free retailing, intelligent transportation, and cloud computing.

The sub-index of the robot industry rose by 2.14 percent, with eight companies in this sector jumping by their daily limits of 10 percent, according to financial information provider Wind Info.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201811/02/WS5bdbaddba310eff3032861e5.html

@cirr

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## TaiShang

*China's first AI theme park opens in Beijing*

Source:Xinhua Published: 2018/11/5 


China's first artificial intelligence (AI) theme park opened to public in early November, after 10 months renovation of a municipal park in northern Beijing. 

Driverless shuttle buses, smart lamp posts that can record exercise data, and intelligent speakers that can respond to human instructions have been installed in Haidian Park, which covers about 34 hectares near the 4th Ring Road. 

The district government of Haidian and Internet company Baidu signed an agreement in January to jointly explore "smart city" building. Haidian Park, which received about 1.2 million tourists last year, was chosen to run the pilot program. 

A total of 10 government departments and companies participated in the renovation of the park over the past 10 months, said Che Jianguo from the district's park administration office. 

In recent years, Chinese high-tech companies have set foot in the AI industry, while the central government also stressed in October that it would boost the development of the country's new generation of artificial intelligence.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1125923.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Huawei’s chipset consume only 200 watts in autonomous driving*

Ramy From Gasgoo| November 08 , 2018


*



*

*Shanghai (Gasgoo)- *The Ascend 310 chip from Huawei is *the most powerful AI SoC chip for edge computing scenarios, including autonomous driving*, Yan Lida, Director of the Board at Huawei and President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said at the Fifth World Internet Conference, held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province.

At the conference, the Ascend 310 was granted the conference’s World Leading Internet Scientific and Technological Achievement award. In October, *Huawei unveiled its AI strategy and full-stack portfolio, including a series of chips, cloud services and products.* The Ascend 310 is the first product of the Ascend family.

Nowadays, the most typical edge computing scenarios includes security and protection, autonomous driving and smart manufacturing, all of which require stringent conditions in space, consumption and computing capability. The Ascend 310 boasts a maximum of 16TOPS on-site calculations and supports the identification of over 200 different objects at the same time, including human beings, cars, barriers and traffic signs. What’s more, the chip can process thousands of pictures within one second.

The Ascend 310 can offer cost-efficient and powerful computing capability under various real-life scenarios, such as running vehicles and complex scientific research. In October, Huawei teamed up with Audi to road test L4 autonomous driving vehicles equipped with Huawei’s Mobile Data Center (MDC) computing unit. Huawei said that estimate showed that the 310 chipset can only consume 200 watts of power to support L4 autonomous driving.

http://autonews.gasgoo.com/70015351.html

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## JSCh

*China a world leader in facial recognition algorithms*
By Liu Xuanzun Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/20 18:38:40

*Design can recognize 10 million people without error
*


A screen shows visitors being filmed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) security cameras with facial recognition technology at the 14th China International Exhibition on Public Safety and Security at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

China is leading the world in facial recognition algorithms with its best algorithm able to recognize 10 million people without a single mistake in less than a second.

The top five of the 39 facial recognition algorithms in the world come from China, according to the Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the US Department of Commerce, which released the test results for 2018 on Friday.

YITU Technology, a Shanghai-based company that claimed both the top and second spot on the list, told the Global Times in a statement on Tuesday that its top algorithm can accurately recognize nearly every person in a sample base of 10 million.

In comparison, "it is very likely for a human brain to make a mistake in recognizing the identities of 100 people," the company said.

Algorithms from Beijing-based company SenseTime won the third and fourth spot, while the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) claimed fifth in the test.

YITU said that high facial recognition accuracy means that users gain better experiences when using related products.

For example, when a user uses facial ID for payment on a smartphone, the device will not authorize the payment for someone else with a similar appearance as the user, the company noted.

YITU used models that are used in actual products during the FRVT, the company said. It proves the real capabilities of its algorithms in real-life applications, according to the company.

China is heading the Sharp Eyes project, which uses surveillance cameras, artificial intelligence, facial recognition and big data to provide security and conduct comprehensive governance that fulfill citizens' miscellaneous demands.

Police in Guiyang, Southwest China's Guizhou Province are already deploying a facial recognition system that can catch fugitives and suspects who have managed to hide their identities for years.

The command center of Guiyang Public Security Bureau used the system to give orders to community policemen after a 4-year-old boy was reported missing in February. The boy was found and returned to his home by police within half an hour.

Some 39 companies and institutes around the world participated in the FRVT, including Russian company NtechLab, US company Ever AI and German company Cognitec, according to the NIST leaderboard.

The FRVT is considered to be the gold standard in the global facial recognition industry, Chinese news website thepaper.cn said.

The FRVT is aimed at measuring the performance of automated face recognition technologies applied to a wide range of civil, law enforcement and homeland security applications, including verification of visa images, de-duplication of passports, recognition across photojournalism images, and identification of child exploitation victims, according to the NIST website.

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## TaiShang

*Chinese AI promises hope for short-sighted children*
Xinhua, November 20, 2018

Will your kids be short-sighted? *A Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) model made from millions of eyesight records could help to predict whether they'll be needing glasses.*

Myopia is the most common visual impairment in children. China has an unprecedented rate of nearsightedness. A recent World Health Organization report showed about 600 million Chinese, almost half the population, are short-sighted, including more than 70 percent of high school or college students and 40 percent of primary school children.


Current approaches to curb vision loss include eyedrops, glasses, contact lenses and surgery, which can be effective, but have side effects, such as higher recurrence rates, eye infections and other ailments.


If short-sightedness could be forecast, doctors could intervene with appropriate therapies to help reduce the risk of high myopia, which is measured by a focusing power at -6 diopters and above.


After analyzing 1.25 million eyesight records over three years, researchers from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University, have identified myopia development rules, and built an AI model to predict the condition in children and teenagers.


The study involved children aged 5 to 18 who had eyesight checks from 2005 to 2015 in eight of the largest ophthalmic centers in south China's Guangdong Province.


The researchers discovered that nearsightedness usually occurs at age 7, and rapidly develops before 10. It can grow to -3 diopters in the teenage years and up to -6 diopters in the 20s.


There were few cases of high myopia among school-age children, and researchers did not find the onset or development age of high myopia.


Researchers used age, the diopter and annual myopia progression rate as the main variables to develop an algorithm to predict myopia degrees over 10 years and the possibility of high myopia before 18 years.


To test the model, developers fed it about 687,000 eyesight records of more than 129,000 people.


The diagnostic accuracy was 90 percent within three years, and 80 percent within 10 years. It can also predict high myopia eight years in advance, providing a scientific basis for intervention, said study leader Liu Yizhi.


The research team made the AI model public this month and demonstrated how it works with the case of a 5-year-old boy who was nearsighted and began wearing glasses at -1 diopters last year.


After a researcher input two myopia records taken at least 12 months apart, within seconds the model showed that the boy's diopters might reach -3 diopter after 10 years, but he had little risk of high myopia.


High myopia usually progresses fast, and can cause blindness or other severe eye conditions, said Lin Haotian, first author of the study. It can also be associated with genes.


The risk of children developing high myopia is a great concern to Chinese parents, with thousands of students seeking care at hospital and ophthalmic clinics during school holidays.


The rise in myopia is partly driven by children spending more time reading, studying or glued to computer and smartphone screens.


Research indicates that effective intervention to curb worsening myopia is spending more time outdoors.


"Studies have proved that if children have an additional 40 minutes outside every day, the myopia rate will decrease by 23 percent in three years," said Liu.


The AI model can also help the limited number of specialists. By the end of 2014, China had just 36,000 ophthalmologists, with 70 percent in large cities.


Most doctors spend most of their time treating severe eye conditions, but little time on prevention and control of myopia.


"The AI model will help release the workload for doctors and improve diagnostic accuracy," said Liu.


Last year, Liu's team, and researchers from other universities, unveiled an AI system that diagnoses cataracts with high accuracy.


The myopia prediction model will soon be put into clinical use.


The study was published in the international journal PLOS Medicine.

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## TaiShang

*AI textbooks for Chinese kindergarteners released*

2018-11-22

An experimental AI textbook series designed for students from kindergartens to high schools came to light recently when a photo of the textbook appeared online, sparking discussions about the possibility of kindergarten children learning AI.

The series printed by Henan People's Publishing House includes 33 textbooks, two textbooks a year for students in kindergartens and those in primary, middle and high schools, but one textbook a year for students at vocational schools.

*Experts from the Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Google and some universities offered opinions on the series, which was finished in three years,* according to aiera.com.cn, an information exchange and think tank platform focusing on AI technology.

The textbooks rely on a cloud platform to update their embedded digital content in real time. The electronic textbooks are updated every six months, while paper versions are updated each year.

Students can also learn Scratch and Python integrated development environment (IDE) on its supporting cloud platform.

However, some internet users exclaimed that it was too early to learn AI at such a young age. "After all most of them can't even do basic arithmetic," an internet user said on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter.

*Currently, about 67.5 percent of children in the US in kindergarten through 12th grade have received online programming education.*

*Taking Scratch, the world's leading children's programming language as an example, its penetration rate is the highest in the US at 44.80 percent. In the UK it's 9.31 percent, while in China it is only 0.96 percent.*

Significant progress is being reported in China in AI technological research and development. *As early as 2016, the government had estimated that demand for AI professionals may surge to 5 million in the coming years.*

Authorities have already moved to promote AI-related education. The central government last year made a plan to include AI courses in primary and secondary schools.

*In June, China published its first nine-chapter AI textbook for high school students, which was produced through joint efforts by the research center for MOOC at East China Normal University and AI startup SenseTime Group.*

The paper.cn reported Tuesday that a 10-volume series designed for primary and secondary school students was recently released in Shanghai, and the textbooks are to be introduced to hundreds of schools across the country next year.

*(CHINA DAILY)*

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## JSCh

*First AI textbook series to be introduced into Chinese schools*
CGTN
2018-11-27 20:59 GMT+8




In order to educate the future generation about the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, China has introduced its first comprehensive AI textbook series designed for primary and secondary schools.

Starting spring semester next year, hundreds of elementary and high schools across China will incorporate AI courses into their school's curriculum using a 10-volume series, Shanghai-based media outlet the Paper reported.

Six volumes within the series have been published and piloted over the fall semester at a number of middle schools in Shanghai where the publisher East China Normal University Press is based. Students reportedly welcomed the fun, innovative courses.





Six published volumes of China's first AI textbook series. /East China Normal University Press Photo​
"The reason we want our students to systematically gain AI-related knowledge is to prepare them for a future where robots roam around and AI application prevails," Professor Wang Qingji, the chief editor of the series said.

Wang added that experienced educators, AI technology experts and government officials in the education sector were involved in the compilation project, so the textbooks could provide comprehensive, targeted knowledge for children based on their different cognitive levels.

The AI textbook series covers a wide range of topics ranging from robot pets, AI engineering to the more advanced programming language of Python.

China hopes to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030. To reach that goal, the country has stepped up its effort to equip its future generations with curiosity and practical knowledge of the field. 

Last year, the State Council launched an ambitious plan to require elementary and secondary schools to incorporate AI courses in their school's curriculum.

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## TaiShang

*China debuts AI-driven ground penetrating radar to prevent soil disasters*

Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/29


Eagle Eye-A, a ground-penetrating radar using artificial intelligence (AI), has been developed in China, *aiming at effectively preventing road cave-ins and accidents related to underground pipelines.*

The 35th Institute of the 3rd Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced Tuesday the debut of Eagle Eye-A, which can *scan petrol and gas pipelines underground and detect potential perils such as road cave-ins in urban underground space.*

The AI module mounted in the radar generates a real-time report, offering a panoramic view of the pipeline network underground.

*Preliminary statistics show that a total of more than 160 accidents due to underground pipelines and over 60 road collapses happened in China from July to October 2018.*

As China's first ground-penetrating radar with AI, *Eagle Eye-A has an accuracy as high as 90 percent and a false alarm rate as low as 5 percent.*

The AI processing system enables the radar to proactively detect, spot and mark exceptional information and generates an immediate report.

Jiao Xiaoliang, director of the institute's science and technology committee, said the newly-developed radar is capable of detecting soil diseases and pipelines as deep as six meters underground, with a fast response and no harm to the environment.

Intelligent sensors such as a laser gas detection module can be installed in the Eagle Eye-A in a patrol vehicle to spot leaky pipes, combining a detector for combustible gas in the air and the vision of the underground pipelines scanned by the radar.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1129584.shtml

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## JSCh

*China debuts AI-driven ground penetrating radar to prevent soil disasters*
Source:Global Times Published: 2018/11/29 19:32:11

Eagle Eye-A, a ground-penetrating radar using artificial intelligence (AI), has been developed in China, aiming at effectively preventing road cave-ins and accidents related to underground pipelines.

The 35th Institute of the 3rd Academy, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation announced Tuesday the debut of Eagle Eye-A, which can scan petrol and gas pipelines underground and detect potential perils such as road cave-ins in urban underground space.

The AI module mounted in the radar generates a real-time report, offering a panoramic view of the pipeline network underground.

Preliminary statistics show that a total of more than 160 accidents due to underground pipelines and over 60 road collapses happened in China from July to October 2018.

As China's first ground-penetrating radar with AI, Eagle Eye-A has an accuracy as high as 90 percent and a false alarm rate as low as 5 percent.

The AI processing system enables the radar to proactively detect, spot and mark exceptional information and generates an immediate report.

Jiao Xiaoliang, director of the institute's science and technology committee, said the newly-developed radar is capable of detecting soil diseases and pipelines as deep as six meters underground, with a fast response and no harm to the environment.

Intelligent sensors such as a laser gas detection module can be installed in the Eagle Eye-A in a patrol vehicle to spot leaky pipes, combining a detector for combustible gas in the air and the vision of the underground pipelines scanned by the radar.

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## JSCh

*Chinese AI gives nearsighted children a glimpse of the future*
By YUAN QUAN/JING HUAIQIAO | China Daily | Updated: 2018-12-07 09:05


















[Photo/IC]​
If you are concerned that your child will be nearsighted, a new artificial intelligence model developed from millions of eyesight records could help predict whether your offspring will need glasses.

Myopia is the most common visual impairment in children, and China has an unprecedented rate of nearsightedness. A recent World Health Organization report showed that about 600 million Chinese, almost half the population, are nearsighted, including more than 70 percent of high school and college students, and 40 percent of primary school children.

Current approaches to curbing vision loss include eyedrops, glasses, contact lenses and surgery. However, while these can be effective, they have side effects, such as higher rates of recurrence, eye infections and other ailments.

If nearsightedness could be predicted, medical professionals could intervene with appropriate treatments to help reduce the risk of high myopia, which is measured by a focusing power of－6 diopters, a measurement of the optical power of a lens, and higher.

After analyzing 1.25 million eyesight records over three years, researchers from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong province have identified myopia development rules, and built an AI model to predict the condition in children and teenagers.

The study, published in the international journal PLOS Medicine, involved children ages 5 to 18 who had eyesight checks from 2005 to 2015 in eight of the largest ophthalmic centers in the southern province.

The researchers discovered that nearsightedness usually occurs at age 7, and rapidly develops before age 10. It can grow to－3 diopters during the teenage years and up to－6 diopters in the 20s.

There were few cases of high myopia among school-age children, and researchers did not find the onset or development age of high myopia.

The researchers used age, the diopter and annual myopia progression rates as the main variables to develop an algorithm to predict degrees of myopia over 10 years and the possibility of high myopia before 18 years.

To test the model, the developers fed it about 687,000 eyesight records of more than 129,000 people.

The diagnostic accuracy was 90 percent within three years, and 80 percent within 10 years. It can also predict high myopia eight years in advance, providing a scientific basis for intervention, study leader Liu Yizhi said.

The research team recently made the AI model public and demonstrated how it works by using the case of a 5-year-old boy who was nearsighted and began wearing glasses at-1 diopter last year.

A researcher inputted two myopia records taken at least 12 months apart, and within seconds the model showed that the boy's diopters might reach-3 after 10 years, but he had little risk of high myopia.

High myopia usually progresses rapidly, and can cause blindness or other severe eye conditions, said Lin Haotian, the lead author of the study. The condition can also be associated with genetics.

The risk of children developing high myopia is a great concern for Chinese parents, with thousands of students seeking care at hospitals and ophthalmic clinics during school holidays.

The rise in myopia is partly driven by children spending more time reading, studying, or glued to computer and smartphone screens.

Research indicates that an effective way of curbing worsening myopia is to spend more time outdoors.

"Studies have proved that if children have an additional 40 minutes outside every day, the myopia rate will fall by 23 percent in three years," Liu said.

The AI model could also help combat the limited number of specialists. By the end of 2014, China had just 36,000 ophthalmologists, with 70 percent of them working in big cities.

Many spend most of their time treating severe eye conditions, but little on the prevention and control of myopia.

"The AI model will help ease the workload for ophthalmologists and improve diagnostic accuracy," Liu said.

Last year, Liu's team and researchers from other universities unveiled an AI system that diagnoses cataracts with a high degree of accuracy.

The myopia prediction model will be put into clinical use soon.

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## JSCh

*Xuhui releases 'T-plan' for AI development*
Yang Jian 11:39 UTC+8, 2018-12-07



Government and company officials jointly illuminate the landmark AI Tower on the West Bund waterfront, to house AI tech firms and become a global AI development and exhibition center.

Shanghai's first artificial intelligence town will be built in Beiyang area in Xuhui District, featuring AI firms, labs and a residential community with wide AI applications, officials said on Thursday.

It is part of a "T-plan" to further support the development of AI firms and attract more to come to the district. The T-plan is interpreted as Top and Tomorrow, (AI) Tower and Town, as well as Tech and Talent, district director Fang Shizhong said.

The Beiyang AI Town, covering 600,000 square meters along the Dianpu River, will gather technological companies mainly focusing on brain simulation, IntelliSense and automated driving. AI technologies will be applied in medical, finance, transport, media and business industries within the town.

The site, formerly known for the Beiyang wharf, an industrial port, will preserve some of the warehouses, cranes and other industrial relics and convert historical structures into education centers and commercial facilities.

The project is part of the Xuhui government’s efforts to develop into an “AI highland.”

In another key project, a 200-meter-tall landmark building, the AI Tower, has already been completed on Longyao Road in the West Bund and will become a global AI development and exhibition center. Multinational headquarters of AI companies will be based in the building.

The first batch of companies, including Microsoft Research Asia, attended a lighting ceremony for the landmark building.

Around the building, Xuhui District will build a West Bund “Intelligence Valley” covering a million square meters along the Huangpu River for AI industries, said Fang.

Xuhui announced it will subsidize at most 20 million yuan a year for each AI-related project, which will become one of the city’s highest government subsidies for a single project. Newly developed AI technologies will be allowed to be used for government affairs, urban management and traffic.

Local hospitals, schools and administrative service centers will also be encouraged to initially use AI technologies, the district government said.

Xuhui will also offer 1,500 talent apartments a year with low rent for professionals of the AI companies. The first batch of about 2,000 low-rent apartments at the West Bund are ready to accommodate professionals, with the lowest rents, at 1,800 yuan per month, in sharp contrast to the city’s usual sky-high housing prices.

Xuhui has attracted one fourth of the city’s total of 403 key AI companies, including internet giants Tencent, Netease, Xiaomi, Microsoft and Amazon. The gross output of these AI firms in Xuhui is expected to reach 21 billion yuan in 2018, a 30 percent increase year on year. The 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference was also held in the West Bund in Xuhui between September 17 and 19.

Source: SHINE Editor: Shen Ke

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## TaiShang

*China's core AI industry to exceed 145 bln USD by 2030: report*

Source: Xinhua Published: 2018/12/9







Photo: Xinhua


*The value of China's core Artificial Intelligence (AI) industries could exceed 1 trillion yuan (145.47 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030,* with that of AI-enabled industries more than 10 trillion yuan, a latest report by Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) said.

Titled "China's great tech leap forward", the report said that China's push to commercialize AI technologies,* supported by the rollout of the world's biggest 5G network*, could position the country as a global leader for technology and innovation.

*"Based on the growth trajectory in the past decade, China may overtake the U.S. in global technology-patents share by 2025,*" said the report.

AI-related industries may exceed 6 percent of China's GDP by 2030, according to the report.

In the report, BI analysts said the country's abundance of data may fuel the acceleration of the industry.

China's breakneck pace of consumer-lifestyle digitization potentially gives researchers unique access to Chinese-language data generated by its 1.4 billion people as they go about their daily activities both online and offline.

Vey-Sern Ling, senior industry analyst at Bloomberg intelligence, said China may overtake global peers in the commercialization of AI technologies, as large amount of capital is likely to continue pouring into the industry.

*According to Tsinghua University, private funding for Chinese AI-related companies in 2017 totaled 27.7 billion dollars, equivalent to 70 percent of global investments in the industry.*

Data showed China's cumulative venture-capital investments in AI startups had already caught up with the United States by 2016.

Ling, also the lead analyst of the report, said the top-down support is an important factor apart from the multi-faceted user data and the funding available in China to the industry's fast development.

"I don't think anywhere else in the world you have the government so strongly behind, identifying the technology pillar and bearing full weight," said Ling.

He added that China's potential dominance in AI by 2030 may be led by developments in transportation, corporate services, health care and finance.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1130967.shtml

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## TaiShang

*AI technology aims to reduce road deaths in China*
China Plus, December 12, 2018

An AI-powered in-car monitoring system will be installed in trucks in China's Shenzhen City next year, in an effort to solve the problem of accidents caused by distracted drivers, reports huanqiu.com.

The system is being developed by EyeSight, an Israel-based artificial intelligence and hardware startup, in partnership with Wuhan Yixun, a navigation company based in China.

The system is designed to track the direction of a driver's gaze, eye movement, and head position, and uses an algorithm to assess the driver's level of drowsiness and distraction. It can also measure pupil dilation, which is a reliable indicator of drug or alcohol use. If the system assesses the driver as being distracted, it will alert the driver.

According to a survey by the World Health Organization, more than 250,000 people are killed in car crashes each year in China – more than 700 lives lost each day. Car crashes are the single largest cause of death for people in China aged 15 to 44.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2018-12/12/content_74265910.htm

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## cirr

*Huawei's new AI app improves story time for deaf children*

2018-12-10 13:29:31 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping





StorySign. /Photo via Huawei's website

Learning to read is a time-consuming and complex task for many kids, and for deaf children, it's even more difficult.

Chinese mobile giant Huawei has recently launched StorySign, a free mobile app that translates children's books into sign language, so as to enrich family story times and enhance learning experiences for kids with hearing problems.

When users open the app, an animated girl named Star pops out, and when you hold the smartphone over the page, she will start to recognize and sign the text on screen in real time. Each printed word is highlighted as she goes.

By using a combination of augmented reality and AI technologies, the app is designed to provide more opportunities for deaf children who are underserved in early years reading resources.

The app became available to download for free on both Google Play and Huawei's own AppGallery in 10 European markets on December 4. But it has yet to be confirmed whether it will be available on iPhone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in March that around 466 million people worldwide have a disabling hearing loss, including 34 million children. 

They also noted that children with deafness should be given the opportunity to learn sign language along with their families to minimize the impact of hearing loss on their development and education.

However, few people know sign language outside the deaf community as 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents.

Supported by charities including the European Union of the Deaf and the British Deaf Association, StorySign is an example of AI technologies with the potential to bridge the gap between the hearing and non-hearing. 

"We're very hopeful that it will make a significant impact in the deaf community, helping more deaf children learn how to read at the same level as hearing children," said Mark Wheatley, executive director for the European Union of the Deaf in a statement.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2018-12-10/detail-ifzanuxq9377378.shtml

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## JSCh

*China to overtake Europe in AI research*
By Angus Mcneice in London | China Daily | Updated: 2018-12-13 09:34
















The artificial intelligent robot Zhen Zhen serves visitors at the Shanghai Stock Exchange Building in the Lujiazui financial district in Pudong, Shanghai, on Jan 2, 2018. [Photo/IC]

The nation is set to overtake Europe as the world's biggest contributor to artificial intelligence research within four years, according to a new report.

The study of global AI trends also found that China is attracting more academic talent than it is losing, while Europe, the world's largest AI research market by number of publications, is suffering a "brain drain".

Dutch publisher and analytics company Elsevier carried out the study focusing on the three largest countries and regions contributing to the field of AI - China, the United States and the European Union.

"Europe is still the largest contributor to AI research but continues to lose publication share," the study authors said. "The United States is regaining ground lost in the last five years. China is bound to overtake Europe in publication output in AI in the near future, having already overtaken the United States in 2004."

Elsevier analyzed the number of research paper publications coming out of regions in five-year periods over the last two decades. It found that Europe's share of global AI research has consistently decreased.

Europe contributed 35 percent of publications between 1998 and 2002, falling gradually over each subsequent five-year period to reach 30 percent between 2013 and 2017.

Meanwhile China's share has increased dramatically, from 9 percent of global publications between 1998 and 2002 to 24 percent between 2013 and 2017.

The US lost ground in each five-year period between 1998 and 2012; however the rate of publications rose slightly between 2013 and 2017 to reach 17 percent of the global share.

"China's artificial intelligence research has developed very fast in recent years, increasing its global significance within the field," said Sun Zhenan, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Automation.

He added: "China has unique advantages in applied technology research and development, for example, in the area of face recognition. AI education has been receiving more and more attention in recent years, not only in universities, but also in vocational colleges, and even in secondary and primary schools. This growing AI talent base will result in even greater future development of the AI field in China."

Authors of the report noted that China "aspires to lead globally in AI" and is supported by "ambitious policies and rapid growth". A net "brain gain" of AI researchers also suggests an increasingly attractive research environment.

Over the 20-year period, China has experienced a 0.1 percent surplus in inflow of AI researchers, achieved through a migratory outflow of 3.5 percent versus an inflow of 3.6 percent. The US experienced an inflow surplus of 0.3 percent over the period. Meanwhile in Europe there was a 7.8 percent outflow of researchers compared with a 6.8 percent inflow, contributing to a net loss of AI talent of 1 percent.

The study also found that AI talent is increasingly migrating from the academic sector into industry, and the rise of large tech companies in the US and China may contribute to the European "brain drain".

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## cirr

*Alipay upgrades facial-recognition system*

2018-12-14 09:56:46 China Daily Editor : Sun Tian





An Alipay employee tests the Dragonfly, formerly known as 'Smile to Pay', at a convenience store in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Mobile payment giant Alipay on Thursday announced a major upgrade to its 'Smile to Pay' service, aiming to make its facial-recognition process more accessible to merchants and customers.

The new version, dubbed Dragonfly, is essentially a plug-and play device that Alipay claims to be just one-tenth the size of a traditional self-service POS machine and can be placed in a backpack.

Compared with its previous generation, Dragonfly is adaptable to a wide array of terminals and does not require merchants to overhaul their existing Enterprise Resource Planning system. This lowers the threshold for adopting facial-scanning facilities, said Zhong Yao, general manager of Alipay's internet of things business.

"The cost to deploy Dragonfly is 80 percent lower than traditional self-service POS machines which mainly serve large businesses, eliminating barriers to adoption for small and micro merchants, such as convenient stores and fresh market stalls," he told an Alipay Open Day event in Shanghai.

The new gadget includes a 3D structured light camera to improve accuracy, and an upgraded processor to speed up payment times.

Tens of thousands of merchants across 300 cities in China offer Alipay's facial recognition payment. Zhong said the updated functions will be introduced to all Alipay self-service POS machines－including the KFC canteen in Hangzhou where the solution debuted a year ago.

Yuan Linhua, assistant vice-president of marketing at supermarket chain CP Lotus, noted that with the deployment of Alipay's Smile-to-Pay solution, a cashier now can handle up to three POS machines at once, and the efficiency of supermarket checkouts has improved by 50 percent.

Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital has installed 40 of the machines. According to deputy director Huo Yanan, the move has effectively shortened patient queueing times and reduced the burdens on administrators.

When combined with certain hardware and software innovations, the solution can also effectively prevent forgery and ensure account safety, even if a user attempts to use still photos or recorded videos to abuse the system.

In a video detailing how the payment process works, one woman uses the machine in a variety of different appearances－with a variety of makeup styles and an assortment of wigs. The machine still accurately recognizes her facial features each time for payment.

While preventing biometric spoofing, the system extracts the minimum amount of facial feature data necessary to verify the payment, the company said. The data is algorithmically encrypted to ensure user privacy and cannot be accessed by merchants.

Facial-recognition payment is theoretically a more secure and convenient method than the conventional use of passwords, according to Pan Helin, a postdoctoral fellow at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences. He predicts the sector to experience "explosive" growth in the coming three years.

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## cirr

*Cheek for check-in: Alibaba opens AI 'future hotel'*

2018-12-18 15:36:50 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping

Chinese internet giant Alibaba on Tuesday opened a hotel loaded with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots, automating a series of procedures like check-in, lights control and room service.

FlyZoo Hotel, opened in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, where Alibaba is headquartered, is known as the company's first "future hotel".

Customers can check into the hotel by simply scanning their faces. The facial recognition system installed in the hotel also enables customers to use their faces as key cards to open doors and access other hotel services.

Users can also control the lights, television and curtains in the room via Alibaba's voice-activated digital assistant, while robots are deployed to serve dishes, cocktails and coffee.

Hotel bookings and check-out can also be done with a few clicks on mobile through an app.

"The AI-based solution can help customers save time and relieve hotel employees from repetitive work," said Wang Qun, CEO of FlyZoo Hotel.

The hotel is the latest example of Chinese tech companies' foray into traditional industries such as the hospitality sector.

E-commerce giant JD.com announced in October its strategy to put smart home and electronic devices sold on its platform into hotels, in an effort to boost online sales.

In July, Baidu teamed up with Intercontinental Hotels Group in Beijing to allow guests to use its voice-controlled assistant to adjust room temperature and order room service at ease.

Before that, social media giant Tencent introduced QQfamily, a similar tech solution for hotel operators, in the southern city of Zhuhai last year.

"We want to install a 'smart brain' for hotels," said Wang. "In the future, we will continue to make hotels smarter and more automated, as well as create more customized experiences for consumers."

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## JSCh

*AI startup contributing to nation's medical reform*
By Zhou Wenting in Hangzhou | China Daily | Updated: 2018-12-19 09:50
















The booth of Deepwise.com at an international medical equipment and technology exhibition in Beijing on Aug 17. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Deepwise.com, a startup that is using artificial intelligence to interpret medical imaging, said its final goal is to help people nationwide to access the same high-quality standard of medical services.

The company said it aims to contribute to the country's medical system reform, with a focus on improving community hospitals.

By playing a larger role in the screening and early detection of major diseases, such local facilities will eventually reduce the medical burden on individuals and the country, according to Deepwise.

However, doctors in community hospitals are generally less well-trained and experienced than those in larger hospitals, said Qiao Xin, co-founder and CEO of the company.

Deepwise.com's AI system gives detailed reports of medical images from top-rated public and community hospitals. The tech startup specializes in supporting facilities to achieve a higher diagnosis accuracy rate and to relieve doctors' workload, especially in remote and less-developed regions.

Its independently developed system is based on machine learning and deep learning technology. So far, the system's accuracy has reached 95 percent, higher than the average level among human doctors, said Qiao.

He added that the system has been used in more than 200 hospitals all over the country since last year, and more than 20,000 reports are produced by the system each day.

Leading hospitals like Peking University First Hospital and the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, and Shanghai Chest Hospital are using the system to interpret CT scans. The system gives a report first and then doctors will double check the results, Qiao said.

Deepwise claims to be the country's largest player in the industry. The company has a research and development team of more than 60 people, and it forecasts its research and development investment will hit 50 million yuan ($7.25 million) next year.

Deepwise.com's system has mainly been used in medical imaging to screen for lung cancer, breast cancer, cerebral hemorrhages and cerebral infarctions. It is expected to expand to more diseases, according to the company.

According to Qiao, most foreign competitors can only work on medical imaging to screen one type of disease.

"The reason that we began with such diseases is that they threaten people's health severely. Lung cancer and breast cancer are among the top killers for men and women, respectively," Qiao said.

The company is taking steps to expand overseas, with the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative as a main focus.

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## TaiShang

*Double-deck AI tour bus debuts in Shanghai*

Xinhua Published: 2018-12-19


A fleet of sightseeing buses equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) technology have started trial operation Wednesday in Shanghai.






A tourist gets on the bus through facial recognition in Shanghai, December 18, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

*Co-developed by Chinese search engine giant Baidu and a Shanghai-based tourism company*, the double-deck tour bus aims to make travel more convenient for tourists through AI technology.

Tourists are allowed to get on the bus through facial recognition -- no tickets required. Meanwhile, the wireless translators on the bus are able to provide diverse services for tourists, including translation, answering questions and audio guides.

*The translator supports multiple languages including English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Russian, Spanish, German and Arabic.*

So far, there are two tour routes, covering the most famous and classic travel destinations in Shanghai.

The buses will start official operation from January 2019. A fleet of 10 tour buses will be initially put into use and another 10 buses will join the fleet later next year.

Baidu and Shanghai inked a strategic cooperative framework in November to promote the construction of Shanghai as a smart city.

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## cirr

*China releases first short video AI production platform*

Source: Xinhua| 2018-12-28 13:00:24|Editor: ZD

CHENGDU, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China's state-run Xinhua News Agency and internet giant Alibaba on Thursday jointly launched the country's first short video intelligent production platform to improve news reporting efficiency.

The platform, with the domain name "magic.shuwen.com.", made its debut at the 6th China Emerging Media Industry Integration and Development Conference in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

As the first application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the field of media integration, the platform is independently developed by Xinhua Zhiyun Technology Co. Ltd., a joint venture founded by Xinhua and Alibaba.

At the conference, the platform gave a real-time demonstration of the short video intelligent production process. On Thursday morning alone, it produced 186 short videos, among which 97 were produced by AI and the other 89 by man-machine collaboration.

Currently, all domestic media outlets can use the platform to produce high-quality short videos after applying for certification via the website, according to the conference.

With the advent of the 5G era, short videos will become the main carrier of news reporting in the future. Liu Siyang, vice president of Xinhua, said that the platform will help editorial staff produce more short videos that users are drawn to.

Multiple news templates are set up on the platform, including politics, emergencies, sports, fashion and entertainment. The platform is able to analyze and capture information with high news value, such as fires, earthquakes and other emergencies, so as to help journalists and editors save time when reporting.

In specific fields such as sports live broadcasting and financial news, it realizes data visualization, data-to-video transformation and video production automation.

The platform enables journalists and editors to devote themselves to more valuable reporting work where human beings cannot easily be replaced by machines, said Shao Xiaofeng, secretary-general of the Alibaba group.

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## bobsm

Dec 16, 2018, 11:59am
*How China Is Dominating Artificial Intelligence*

Louis Columbus Contributor
Enterprise & Cloud

Boston Consulting Group’s study Mind the (AI) Gap: Leadership Makes the Difference published earlier this month provides insights into China’s emerging global leadership of AI. A copy of the study can be downloaded here (PDF, 20 pp., no opt-in). BCG’s study focuses on the key drivers of success in AI implementations and is based on a global survey of over 2,700 managers in seven countries. Please see page 4 of the study for additional details regarding the methodology.

The study found that there is a strong connection between bold, disruption-friendly management styles including actively putting AI high on the agenda, encouraging rapid development and piloting, and fostering cross-functional, agile R&D, all leading to AI industry leadership. Chinese organizations are beginning to dominate AI due to these factors combined with their shorter innovation cycles than their peer organizations. BCG found that structural improvements at the national level do play an important role in laying the foundations for AI growth—investments in data infrastructure, in research hubs and networks, and higher education for IT and data-related fields.

Key insights from BCG’s study that illustrate China’s rising dominance in AI include the following:


*85% of Chinese companies are active players in the field of AI, leading all seven nations in the study.* BCG defines active players as those companies making tangible progress in unlocking the value of AI in two dimensions: They are already moving to adopt AI into some existing processes or currently running pilot initiatives, and their efforts thus far have generally been successful. China’s dominance can be attributed to their New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan introduced in 2017, which is delivering strong results.



SOURCE: BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP MIND THE (AI) GAP: LEADERSHIP MAKES THE DIFFERENCE, DECEMBER, 2018 BY SYLVAIN DURANTON, JÖRG ERLEBACH, AND MARC PAULY


*China’s AI dominance reaches across multiple industries compared to the majority of nations only concentrating on a few.* BCG interviewed 500 Chinese companies and found that the impact of their 2017 New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan is having a successful cross-industry impact on AI piloting, adoption and success with AI initiatives. Unlike in the U.S. and other nations, China’s overall lead in the race to extract value from AI is not driven by the strong dominance of one or two particular industries; it’s succeeding as a nation and the industry-wide phenomenon that is rooted in how Chinese managers approach AI innovation.




more@ https://www.forbes.com/sites/louisc...-china-is-dominating-artificial-intelligence/

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## cirr

*Ultra-high sensitive pressure sensor developed for wearable devices*

2019-01-04 16:05:00 Xinhua Editor : Jing Yuxin

Chinese researchers have developed a pressure sensor with ultra-high sensitivity and fast response time.

The new wearable pressure sensor is capable of monitoring real-time pulse waves and act as artificial skin for robots' hands to detect weak pressure changes.

It was designed with a low detection limit, and the response time of the new pressure sensor is less than one millisecond.

"Our sensor can feel the pressure of light objects such as feathers or rice, and it can transform the pressure into electricity," said Chen Ming, a researcher of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The researchers developed the high-performance wearable pressure sensor based on microstructured electrodes, according to the article published in the scientific journal American Chemical Society (ACS) Applied Materials and Interfaces.

It has great application promise in the fields of biomedicine, real-time health monitoring and *artificial intelligence*.

*Ultra-high sensitive pressure sensor developed for wearable devices*

2019-01-04 16:05:00 Xinhua Editor : Jing Yuxin

Chinese researchers have developed a pressure sensor with ultra-high sensitivity and fast response time.

The new wearable pressure sensor is capable of monitoring real-time pulse waves and act as artificial skin for robots' hands to detect weak pressure changes.

It was designed with a low detection limit, and the response time of the new pressure sensor is less than one millisecond.

"Our sensor can feel the pressure of light objects such as feathers or rice, and it can transform the pressure into electricity," said Chen Ming, a researcher of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The researchers developed the high-performance wearable pressure sensor based on microstructured electrodes, according to the article published in the scientific journal American Chemical Society (ACS) Applied Materials and Interfaces.

It has great application promise in the fields of biomedicine, real-time health monitoring and *artificial intelligence*.

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## TaiShang

*Delve into the core of AI and e-commerce in Guangzhou*

By He Zhuoyan (People's Daily Online) 16:56, January 04, 2019


*More than 800 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty over the past 40 years, a stunning contribution to the global fight against poverty. China, however, is not yet satisfied with this result.*

China’s Guangdong Province, a long-time trailblazer over the decades of reform and opening-up, plays an important role in the search for an answer to change the service industry and benefit the people. Currently, the answer is technology.

For years, Guangdong has been exploring a new way to develop itself into a technological haven. Nansha Area, one of three new areas in the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), shoulders part the responsibility of propelling innovation through technology.

*By shifting its focus onto “IAB”, namely Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Biopharmaceuticals, Nansha New Area, the sixth state-level New Area in China of its kind, rose in response. *It has developed into a new harbor for entrepreneurs in pursuit of notable achievements in technological industries, such as AI and e-commerce.






*Administrative simplification for hi-tech companies*

“The facilitation of strategical emerging industries is a major feature of Nansha Area. The AI industry, especially, is the core of a new round of technological innovation. AI technology penetrates through the advanced manufacturing industry, modern service industry and the construction of smart cities.” Said Mao Yanhua, Vice Dean of Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute for FTZ Research.

In recent years, one of the only words that we hear time and time again when it comes to cars is "electric", indicating a relatively slow development in the car industry, especially when it covers a timespan of over 150 years. Its infusion with AI technology, however, might change the game.

*“We say, ‘self-driving car projects are the mother of all AI projects,’” said Dai Xiaoming, an employee of the Strategic Development Department of Pony.ai, a self-driving car unicorn company with offices in China and Silicon Valley.*

The phrase he quoted was once said by Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, on the future dominance of the autonomous car industry.

Entrepreneurs aren't the only ones who see a future in AI, so too does the government. In Oct. 2017, Nansha Development Zone sealed a deal with Pony.ai to reach an agreement to locate the company headquarter in the Nansha Area for further research and development.

Talking about the support from the local authorities, Cao Tiantian, Chief Business Officer of Pony.ai said, “We’ve received lots of support from the local government. We would often report to the government in advance, asking for a specific area in the city to test our product.”

She added that the only way to make AI even smarter is to retrieve valid data from real road tests, and Nansha Area plays an essential role in making that happen.

An official experimental instruction for the road test of autonomous-vehicles released by Nansha Area earlier this year prioritizes the idea “Be propelled by innovation, be the first to carry and try”.

It only takes 15 days for a self-driving car company to receive a governmental reply granting permission for a real road trial.

Aiming to become the world’s best autonomous car company, Pony.ai pays particular attention to employing more adroit talents in the industry. “The basic rule to compete in this industry is to attract as many talented people as you can,” said Dai.

Adding to this, Cai mentioned that there are collaborations among local authorities to cater to their needs. “The FTZ offers us huge support when it comes to employee settlement, tax preference and talent attraction. Most importantly, it takes much less time for an employee to settle down because of the simplification of the administrative procedure.”

Technological advantages make a smarter customs system

The past 40 years have witnessed a soaring change in per capita disposable income of Chinese citizens, from an average of 171 yuan (24.8 U.S. dollars) to 25,974 yuan (3768.4 U.S. dollars). The growing desire for high-quality products acts as a stimulus to the market that eventually incubates high-end e-commerce companies such as VIPSHOP (China), one of the leading B2C online retailers in China.

As an e-commerce company born and raised locally, VIPSHOP couldn’t be a better embodiment of the advancement of its mother town.

“Since the trial of cross-border e-commerce business started, VIPSHOP’s cross-border business has generated an annual revenue of over 8.24 billion yuan (11.9 billion U.S. dollars) as well as 1.1 billion (159 million U.S. dollars) in tax,” said Peng Xinguo, Senior Warehouse Manager of VIPSHOP’s warehouse located near the Nansha harbor.

None of these achievements could’ve been made without the help of technology, especially the GQTS, aka the Global Quality Traceability System.

The Global Quality Traceability System, according to Yangcheng Evening News, is the world’s first quality inspection system which ensures the customers have complete knowledge about their imported products.

“It’s urgent for Guangzhou Harbor, which is now the fifth largest harbor in the world, to necessitate the smart custom clearance system,” said professor Mao. “The GQTS remains a pivotal part in the development of cross-border e-commerce through its advanced quality inspection system,” he added.

According to Int. Business Daily, by 2017, over 44 million tracing codes had been issued for products worth over 50.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Taking advantage of technological innovations and applying them to the construction of “smart harbors”, according to professor Mao, is a method that could be applied to other harbors in China along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road under the Belt and Road Initiative.

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## TaiShang

*WeChat AI conversation system makes debut*

Xinhua, January 10, 2019





China's instant messaging app WeChat is seen on a phone in Moscow, Russia, May 6, 2017. [Photo / Xinhua]

An artificial intelligence (AI) conversation system developed by the team behind WeChat, China's most popular social media platform, made its debut Wednesday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

*The system, with a voice recognition function, will be able to provide easier access to music, weather, communication apps and mini-programs for ride-hailing, bike-sharing and online shopping, the design team said at the 2019 WeChat Open Course being held Jan. 9-10.*

WeChat created more than 22 million jobs in the first three quarters 2018, among which 1.8 million were created by mini-programs, which covered 200 sub-industries, according to Tencent Holdings Ltd., the company that owns WeChat.

WeChat has over 1 billion monthly active users, with daily messaging of 45 billion, according to the company. 

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2019-01/10/content_74358344.htm

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## JSCh

*Chinese researchers use AI to explore diabetes classification*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-01-10 19:05:25|Editor: Xiang Bo

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to classify different types of diabetes, which may help Chinese patients obtain more precise treatment.

Different types of diabetes require diverse treatment. The current diabetes classification system, which has been used for more than 20 years is based on cause and pathological features, which has limitations in guiding clinical treatment.

Researchers from Peking University People's Hospital are working on a more elaborate classification of diabetes that may support individualized treatment.

They conducted research on diabetes classification based on the data of 2,316 Chinese people newly diagnosed with diabetes and 815 Americans.

Using the AI clustering method, they separate the two groups into four diabete subtypes based on five variables including age, BMI, blood glucose levels and insulin resistance indexes.

According to Zou Xiantong, one of the researchers, a previous study from Northern Europe has used similar methods to divide diabetes into five subgroups and demonstrated that the subgroups have different clinical manifestations and corresponding treatments. However, all cases involved in the study were from Northern Europe, and it is unknown whether it is applicable to other populations.

"We hope our research may provide data support for more accurate typing and treatment of diabetes in the Chinese population," Zou said.

The data analysis showed that the main clinical features of the four subtypes were basically consistent in the Chinese and U.S. groups, which also coincided with the subtype characteristics of the Northern Europe research.

The research was published in the journal _The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology_.

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## JSCh

*No longer lost in translation: Chinese tech firm wins CES Innovation Prize for AI translator*
New China TV
Published on Jan 14, 2019

#CES2019 Innovation Award for its newly upgraded iFLYTEK Translator 2.0. It supports translations between Chinese and more than 50 other languages. Find out more.

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## TaiShang

*China grows fast in AI research: report*

(People's Daily Online) 10:00, January 15, 2019








_An AI robot displayed during the inaugural China International Import Expo (CIIE) attracted much attention from many female visitors. The robot can do a makeup for someone in 5 minutes. (Photo/Chinanews.com)_

China's share of publications on global AI research has grown by 13 percent annually between 2013 and 2017, according to a report by Dutch publisher and analytics company Elsevier, Science and Technology Daily reported on Jan. 13.

The report found that China’s publications on AI ranked first in the world in 2017, after its number of AI publications overtook the United States in 2004. If this momentum continues, the country will pass Europe in AI research within four years.

In recent years, conference papers made up 44 percent of China’s overall AI publications, the reported indicated. The study on global AI trends also found that China is attracting more academic talents than it is losing.

With a focus on the three largest countries and regions contributing to the field of AI - China, the US, and Europe, the report showed that *China’s AI research is more regional than global, and suffers from a low level of international cooperation and slow fluidity of researchers.*

Chinese research institutes’ cooperation with global technology giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, IBM, and Microsoft is currently insufficient, said Sun Zhenan, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation.

The report pointed out that China’s AI research, which focuses on computer vision, is yet to publish papers on natural language processing and knowledge representation.

*Farsighted Chinese companies such as Huawei, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have started to invest in basic AI research, *Sun said, noting that it will take further efforts for them to catch up with their international peers.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0115/c90000-9537813.html

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## Han Patriot

JSCh said:


> *No longer lost in translation: Chinese tech firm wins CES Innovation Prize for AI translator*
> New China TV
> Published on Jan 14, 2019
> 
> #CES2019 Innovation Award for its newly upgraded iFLYTEK Translator 2.0. It supports translations between Chinese and more than 50 other languages. Find out more.


Hey CES award man...that's a big recognition of Chinese technology.

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## JSCh

*Voice authorization technology to be used widely with high accuracy rate*
Zhu Shenshen
17:53 UTC+8, 2019-01-18 

The accuracy rate of a new VPR or Voiceprint Recognition technology has surpassed 99 percent, which makes it ready for commercial use on various industries, Shanghai Daily learned today.

The technology, which allows people to access accounts by voice, is developed by Shanghai-based Ping An Good Doctor and Beijing-based startup Unisound. It’s now used in some applications especially those targeting aged people, who are not familiar with other authorization technologies.

With the new VPR technology, the authorization process becomes safer and easier for most users. Previously, the technology has also been used in more than 200 million smartphones, said Unisound. 

The VPR technology is now used in its application, which is suitable for many aged people, said Ping An Good Doctor with more than 200 million register users.

Overseas firms including IBM, Microsoft and AT&T have created a unified standard for voice recognition in the English language. A similar standard and technology for Chinese language is needed, according to industry officials.

In December of 2017, the both sides have established a join venture on VPR technology and related standard.

HK-listed Ping An Good Doctor surged 9.28 percent to close at 35.9 Hong Kong dollars (US$5.28), compared with a 1.25 percent gain of the Hang Seng Index today.

The technology is expected to be used in healthcare, finance, customer service and logistics industries, according to Unisound.

Source: SHINE Editor: Wang Yanlin

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## TaiShang

*Xiaomi launched the Machine Island AI Point Pen, a new reading pen*

The large Chinese technology company, Xiaomi, decided to introduce its users a new product under the Youpin crowdfunding platform, who used to have the name Mijia, and this is the 304th product that comes out of this technological giant’s platform. This new product is called Machine Island AI Point Pen, but instead of being a pen used to write, it has the function of interpreting words.

*As such, this product was made by third parties, because it was manufactured by Nanjing Machine Island Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd.*







*This is the new reading pen Machine Island AI Point Pen*

The new Machine Island AI Point Pen does not have the function of writing, but works as a braille reader, in the sense that it reads the words as the pen is slid over a book. *That being said, it is possible that the most spectacular feature that this product has is the integration of the intelligent assistant* Xiao AI. On the other hand, this device also functions as a story machine, a learning machine, and a translator, because it can provide translations from Chinese to English and vice versa.

This device can be synchronized with the application made by Mijia to collect useful data, as well as to promote the interest and learning process of the person who is using it. It comes with Wifi 802.711 b/g/n, which provides unlimited download capacity, along with an automatic content update.







*The Machine Island AI Point Pen is specially designed to help the development of the child in five basic skills, which are self-care, social, psychological, cognitive and logical thinking. *Its database contains 20 subtopics, in addition to 1200 knowledge points and more than 2000 words in Chinese and English. Since this is a product for children, the design is simple and fun, having a body made of silicone with a soft finish that ends up being comfortable to hold.

*Design of this new Xiaomi product*

As for the design, this pen has a common shape, although it has a structure a little more robust than normal. In the upper half of the body, the microphone opening is located, and just below it, there is an intelligent intercom key.






The volume control buttons are located next to the intercom key, while on the other side are the power button and the USB charging port. The design of the Machine Island AI Point Pen is specially made so that the pen can also be used as a walkie talkie. Finally, the tip of this is actually the area of reading recognition, and cannot produce ink to write.

With respect to its market price, this new intelligent product is expected to start shipping on February 28 with a price tag of 299 yuan (which is around $44).

Source

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## JSCh

*China stockpiles talent as AI battle looms*
By Li Xuanmin Source:Global Times Published: 2019/1/23 23:13:40

*Higher pay, better training key to closing gap*



An attendee looks at a facial recognition product of CloudWalk at a forum in Beijing. File photo: VCG

While the US has been trying to suppress China's technology rise by imposing bans on the sales of US high-tech components or asking its allies to do that, it seems that the strategy is bound to fail.

In China's technology area, especially in artificial intelligence (AI) sector, many Chinese companies have been arming themselves for the global AI race.

Domestic AI start-ups aim to close an estimated talent gap of about 1 million people by dishing out hefty salaries and setting up research centers abroad to recruit talent from around the world.

"Our top AI scientists can command a salary of more than 1 million yuan ($147,375) a year plus an ownership stake. Fresh AI graduates can move their hukou (registered permanent residence) to Beijing. 

For employees that are from big-name companies, we'll offer raises of up to 50 percent to attract them," a PR director of a Beijing-based AI start-up told the Global Times.

The person indicated that Chinese technology start-ups' salaries for AI engineers are catching up with or even outpacing those of their US competitors. 

An AI researcher in San Francisco makes an average of $112,659 a year, the Strait Times reported, citing data from job search site Indeed.com.

*Closing the gap
*
As the director's words indicate, the AI industry now offers some of the best-paid jobs in the nation because of public and private support. The State Council, China's cabinet, released a plan in July 2017 that aims to make China a world leader in AI by 2030. Along with policy stimulus, venture capital funds invested $27.71 billion in Chinese AI start-ups in 2017. 

The huge investment sent salaries for AI-related positions in China "up 50 percent to 100 percent in recent years," which has retained high-level talent and attracted more engineers to join the booming industry, Yao Zhiqiang, co-founder of AI start-up CloudWalk, told the Global Times.

A report issued by IDG Capital showed that compensation for top AI experts in China is 55 percent higher than the internet sector average, while for intermediate and junior positions, salaries could be 90 to 110 percent higher. 

Although reports pointed to an AI supply shortage in China of up to 1 million people, technology executives have voiced confidence that they could fill the gap by recruiting locally and expanding their efforts abroad. 

Yang Xingyi, CEO of AI start-up Chongqing Menlo Robot, said that his company has launched a number of AI projects in China in partnership with professors and scholars from foreign universities and research institutions. 

"Chinese companies have an overwhelming edge in providing support facilities and translating research findings into commercialized use… That is the key reason why top AI talent from overseas is willing to pursue a career in China," Yang told the Global Times. 

The US containment of China's technological rise has also stoked worries among Chinese students who studied at US universities, driving them to return to the motherland to enrich China's AI talent pool, industry insiders said. In addition, some technology companies have set up research centers abroad, targeting AI talent in Silicon Valley and Europe. For example, CloudWalk has set up an advanced lab in Silicon Valley to recruit international talent, according to a note the company sent to the Global Times on Monday. 

Baidu has reportedly opened a second research facility in Silicon Valley amid a push to attract local talent for its AI projects.

*Weaker infrastructure* 

As of the end of 2017, China was home to about 18,232 AI experts, representing 8.9 percent of the world's total and trailing the US' 13.9 percent share, according to a report released by Tsinghua University. 

Despite these efforts, the talent gap between China and the US has exposed a thorny issue - China's "weak" educational infrastructure in AI, including inexperienced faculty and well-rounded interdisciplinary training, according to Fang Yongchun, dean of the AI College under Nankai University in Tianjin. 

"Given this situation, how can China foster high-level experts who are able to produce high-quality innovations?" Fang asked.

A government-led initiative is on the way to overhauling the thorny issue. In April 2018, the Ministry of Education, Peking University and Sinovation AI Lab jointly launched a program to train at least 500 AI teachers and 5,000 AI students in top universities in five years. The model will also be expanded. 

As of the end of 2017, 57 Chinese universities had set up either a major or a department in AI, according to data provided by Fang. "China is loading its ammunition for the global tech competition," the PR director said.

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## TaiShang

11-Feb-2019

*Half of world's top AI unicorns come from China*
CGTN







*Six of the 11 artificial intelligence (AI) startups that are considered to be unicorns – which means to have a value of one billion U.S. dollars or above – come from China*, according to CB Insights, a research firm that tracks venture capital and startups.

*SenseTime took the top spot with a valuation of 4.5 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Yitu Technology at 2.3 billion U.S. dollars and smaller unicorns 4Paradigm, Horizon Robotics and Momenta.*

The annual report published by CB Insights compiles a list of 100 of the most promising private companies. The selection is based on several factors, including patent activity, investor profile and market potential. From emerging startups to established unicorns, the cohort is a mix of startups in different stages of funding and product commercialization.

*Twenty-three startups on the list are headquartered outside the U.S., including six each from China, Israel, and the United Kingdom.*

*China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast-growing area of “deep learning” – a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems.*

The country unveiled a national AI development plan in July 2017, aiming to build an AI technologically world-leading domestic industry by 2030. *The value of China's core AI industries is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan (22.15 billion US dollars) by 2020 and 400 billion yuan (59.07 billion US dollars) by 2025.*

China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate AI, according to a study by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published January.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d33496a4e32457a6333566d54/index.html

@qwerrty , @cirr , @Dungeness not bad for a developing country

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## Dungeness

TaiShang said:


> 11-Feb-2019
> 
> *Half of world's top AI unicorns come from China*
> CGTN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *Six of the 11 artificial intelligence (AI) startups that are considered to be unicorns – which means to have a value of one billion U.S. dollars or above – come from China*, according to CB Insights, a research firm that tracks venture capital and startups.
> 
> *SenseTime took the top spot with a valuation of 4.5 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Yitu Technology at 2.3 billion U.S. dollars and smaller unicorns 4Paradigm, Horizon Robotics and Momenta.*
> 
> The annual report published by CB Insights compiles a list of 100 of the most promising private companies. The selection is based on several factors, including patent activity, investor profile and market potential. From emerging startups to established unicorns, the cohort is a mix of startups in different stages of funding and product commercialization.
> 
> *Twenty-three startups on the list are headquartered outside the U.S., including six each from China, Israel, and the United Kingdom.*
> 
> *China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast-growing area of “deep learning” – a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems.*
> 
> The country unveiled a national AI development plan in July 2017, aiming to build an AI technologically world-leading domestic industry by 2030. *The value of China's core AI industries is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan (22.15 billion US dollars) by 2020 and 400 billion yuan (59.07 billion US dollars) by 2025.*
> 
> China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate AI, according to a study by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published January.
> 
> https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d33496a4e32457a6333566d54/index.html
> 
> @qwerrty , @cirr , @Dungeness not bad for a developing country



This "lowly developing country" is getting the whole "developed world" so worried that they have to ask China to do "structural changes" so they can keep it up.

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## TaiShang

For further reference:

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/arti...de-in-china-2025-policy.601602/#post-11166097

Thank you @Offshore 

***

*Beijing readies for possible high-tech Cold War*

By Li Ruohan Source:Global Times Published: 2019/2/12






Over 140 companies will present their latest AI applications in the areas of finance, smart manufacturing, education, transportation, healthcare, retail and services at the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai from September 17 to 19. Speakers from 40 companies, including Google, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Microsoft, SAP and Baidu are expected to attend forums at the event. Photos: Yang Hui/GT

In its latest move to maintain leadership in the high-tech sector, the US on Monday rolled out a plan to give artificial intelligence (AI) more priority and resources, a move that Chinese observers warned may represent the formal launch of a new high-technology Cold War. 

Industry insiders said the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump showed the US expanding its containment of Chinese technology from the 5G to the AI sector as a debate rages over a possible AI arms race in which the US may be ceding leadership to China.

Trump signed an executive order Monday prioritizing AI investment in research and development, increased access to federal data, models for that research and preparation of workers to adapt to the AI era, Reuters reported. 

The executive order stressed the "paramount" importance of US leadership in AI to the country's national security and to shape global evolution of AI to be consistent with US values and priorities. 

It comes two years after the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a plan that lists AI development as a national strategy and sets the target of China becoming a major center for AI innovation before leading the world in AI technology and applications by 2030.

Li Yi, a senior research fellow at the Internet Research Center affiliated to the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the Trump executive order launches a new US offensive in the high-tech sector that will certainly bring about more containment of its biggest competitor, China.

The executive order requested protection for US AI technology from "attempted acquisition by strategic competitors and adversarial nations."

Just like the fierce competition in 5G technologies, the US will likely tighten technology and talent exchanges with China, said Chinese analysts.

Chinese AI enterprises will face more pressure and a less friendly environment for their business in the US, but those changes will only make them stronger and more resilient, said Li. 

The executive order brings higher policy risks for US investors and entrepreneurs who do business with Chinese partners, analysts predicted. 

International academic exchanges may also face stricter scrutiny, especially in the defense sector, they said. 

The global AI industry might split into two camps if the US drives this style of competition with China, and in the worst-case scenario, the US might start an ideological alliance and warn allies to pick sides, said Li. But that scenario also requires cooperation by the allies, Li noted. 

*Competition or collaboration?*

China and the US are ahead of the global competition in AI although other countries, such as Japan and Russia are also expressing ambitions for the sector, according to a January 31 report by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 

The deployment of AI in the decade ahead will add $15.7 trillion to the global GDP, with China predicted to take $7 trillion and North America $3.7 trillion, The Guardian reported in December, citing data from consulting firm PwC.

China's large population, including a large middle class, gives it advantages in having rich data and a huge market for AI applications while the US, the AI industry benchmark setter, has advantages in equipment and technology, Chinese industry insiders noted.

The Trump administration is feeling pressure from China's AI mode, characterized by strong government support and guidance, Chris Dong, an expert from International Data Corp which oversees both Chinese and US technology sectors, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Some US media and scholars fear the US is losing a perceived AI war to China. An opinion piece in Forbes in November suggested US leaders were mostly unaware of the issue and had no strategies to prevent a "historic loss." 

Not a single political candidate in the US midterm elections could be found to have discussed AI, the AI war, or how the US will likely lose that war, author Steve Andriole noted.

"China welcomes such competition, but the US should be warned not to try any tricks or dishonest behavior, such as arresting Chinese," Jin Canrong, associate dean of Renmin University of China's School of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Even if the US seeks to block China's development, it won't succeed as the huge domestic market of China alone is sufficient to boost a mature AI industry, Jin told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Technology should not serve a political agenda nor fall victim to games between world powers, said Dong. The wiser US approach would be to focus on technological collaboration with China, he said. 

Meanwhile, the influence of the Trump executive order remained unclear as it included no new funding for AI research or a detailed road map. 

Much of the world's leading research in AI takes place at private US companies such as Google, and Trump's executive order does not lay out a plan to change that, NBC News reported on Monday. 

China's AI industry output was 18 billion yuan ($2.85 billion) in 2017 and the value of related industries reached 220 billion yuan, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

AI textbooks were introduced to the curriculum in at least 40 Chinese high schools, and more than 70 universities opened AI-related majors by the end of 2017. 

AI colleges and research institutions have also been set up in universities like Tsinghua and the University of Science and Technology of China.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1138645.shtml

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## cirr

*AI system 'can diagnose diseases like a doctor'*

2019-02-13 10:11:53 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping

A team of Chinese and US researchers has developed an artificial intelligence system that can "read" health records and give diagnoses as accurately as experienced doctors.

In a paper published in Nature Medicine on Tuesday, the researchers said they have built an AI-based system that can automatically diagnose common childhood diseases after processing the patient's symptoms, medical history and other clinical data.

To train and validate the "smart" system, the scientists used it to study and interpret electronic health records collected from more than 1.36 million pediatric visits to a major referral center in China.

The system was highly accurate - comparable to experienced pediatricians - and may aid future doctors in diagnosing complex or rare diseases by providing more diagnostic predictions, the paper said.

In addition, it may be useful for triage patients, an important factor in areas that are short of medical resources.

"The study demonstrates that AI may help diagnose more diseases after systematically studying health records, but we still have much work to do," said Xia Huimin, co-author of the paper and a researcher at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center.

"We need a wider range of data to validate the system's level of accuracy.

"The collection and analysis of high-quality data is a long process that requires close cooperation between algorithm engineers, clinicians and epidemiologists."

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-02-13/detail-ifzeratr8867505.shtml

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## cirr

*China moves firmly ahead with incentives to boost AI*

2019-02-18 10:17:11 Global Times Editor : Li Yan

From the central government to local authorities, China is firmly moving ahead to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) sector, as part of a major effort to push forward new technologies and upgrade the traditional manufacturing sector. 

Experts said that China's efforts to strengthen its advanced technology will not be interrupted by external uncertainties, and more incentive policies will be rolled out this year to promote new technology development.

Chengdu, capital of Southeast China's Sichuan Province, adopted 12 measures to boost AI development, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency over the weekend. 

The local government vows to promote R&D involving key AI technologies and will earmark as much as 10 million yuan ($1.48 million) in subsidies to enterprises and universities engaged in the sector, the report said.

"Chengdu's move is not a surprise, and more cities are set to engage in this effort soon, with the central government's support and a vast application scenario within the country, " Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Separately, Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province announced the establishment of research bases for the standardization of two AI technologies in January. Also, the Shanghai municipal government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with domestic technology giant Baidu Inc in November last year to develop the AI industry in the city. 

Also in November last year, Beijing issued an action plan to develop AI and established an AI research institute to promote the industry. 

China is driving technological innovation in emerging areas - not only in AI, but also in next-generation telecommunication technologies, big data, new-energy vehicles and e-commerce, experts said.

"The emergence of new technologies is a critical opportunity that China must seize and will be the key for China in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. In terms of AI and 5G, China is already one of the leading players in the world," Cong noted.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Chinese institutions make up 17 of the world's top 20 academic players in AI patenting and 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications.

Cong noted that breakthroughs in these new technologies are reshaping the traditional manufacturing sector. 

"The country also has to support the manufacturing industry to adapt to and apply AI and 5G into its existing business models in a fast and efficient way, said Cong. This trend is inevitable, Cong said.

"To continue the upgrading of the country's manufacturing sector, while at the same time strengthening technological innovation, will be the two tasks for China in 2019 and for a long time thereafter," Cong said.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2019-02-18/detail-ifzeratr8870332.shtml

*China moves firmly ahead with incentives to boost AI*

2019-02-18 10:17:11 Global Times Editor : Li Yan

From the central government to local authorities, China is firmly moving ahead to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) sector, as part of a major effort to push forward new technologies and upgrade the traditional manufacturing sector. 

Experts said that China's efforts to strengthen its advanced technology will not be interrupted by external uncertainties, and more incentive policies will be rolled out this year to promote new technology development.

Chengdu, capital of Southeast China's Sichuan Province, adopted 12 measures to boost AI development, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency over the weekend. 

The local government vows to promote R&D involving key AI technologies and will earmark as much as 10 million yuan ($1.48 million) in subsidies to enterprises and universities engaged in the sector, the report said.

"Chengdu's move is not a surprise, and more cities are set to engage in this effort soon, with the central government's support and a vast application scenario within the country, " Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Separately, Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province announced the establishment of research bases for the standardization of two AI technologies in January. Also, the Shanghai municipal government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with domestic technology giant Baidu Inc in November last year to develop the AI industry in the city. 

Also in November last year, Beijing issued an action plan to develop AI and established an AI research institute to promote the industry. 

China is driving technological innovation in emerging areas - not only in AI, but also in next-generation telecommunication technologies, big data, new-energy vehicles and e-commerce, experts said.

"The emergence of new technologies is a critical opportunity that China must seize and will be the key for China in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. In terms of AI and 5G, China is already one of the leading players in the world," Cong noted.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Chinese institutions make up 17 of the world's top 20 academic players in AI patenting and 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications.

Cong noted that breakthroughs in these new technologies are reshaping the traditional manufacturing sector. 

"The country also has to support the manufacturing industry to adapt to and apply AI and 5G into its existing business models in a fast and efficient way, said Cong. This trend is inevitable, Cong said.

"To continue the upgrading of the country's manufacturing sector, while at the same time strengthening technological innovation, will be the two tasks for China in 2019 and for a long time thereafter," Cong said.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2019-02-18/detail-ifzeratr8870332.shtml

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## TaiShang

*Anhui takes big steps in enhancing AI prowess*

By Cheng Yu in Huangshan, Anhui | China Daily | Updated: 2019-02-21 





A student tries Hyphen's AI-enabled learning system at a brand-upgrading conference in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Cheng Minggui, a retired State-owned enterprise worker from Huangshan, Anhui province, is showcasing to the family his "friend", who accompanied him and his wife during their five-nation trip across Europe this Spring Festival.

Though the couple in their late 50s do not speak English, they managed to find hotels, ask for directions, buy food and amuse themselves in foreign countries, all thanks to their "friend".

However, their "friend" is not a person but a translator developed by a local voice recognition company iFlytek Co Ltd, which can support real-time translation between Chinese and over 50 languages.

Cheng was not alone as the gadgets offered 1.8 million translation services during the 11 days of this year's Spring Festival. With the second-generation AI translator, the Hefei, Anhui-based company has once again made a name for itself.

The cutting-edge technology also marks broader efforts by Anhui province to promote original research and industrial applications in artificial intelligence, in response to China's call to transform the nation into a leading AI power.

Anhui plans to serve more than 1.2 billion users in intelligent voice and AI products by 2020 and over 1.5 billion such users by 2025. Revenue from related voice recognition companies is expected to hit 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) by 2020, a 40 percent growth year-on-year.

The province also plans to expand the Speech Valley, an industrial park forming part of the Hefei National High-Tech Industry Development Zone, to include more than 1,000 companies over the next three years.

As a shining example, iFlytek has been scrambling to leverage AI into sectors including voice recognition. Other notable products include voice-based digital assistants, medical robots and automated court clerks that review certain types of cases.

"We will pour more resources into exploring 'no man's land' in the scientific territory, and will scramble to incorporate AI into a wide range of sectors," said Liu Qingfeng, chairman and CEO of iFlytek.

The tech firm was ranked the smartest Chinese company of 2017 by the MIT Technology Review, an established science magazine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In addition, the company has also been beefing up its presence in overseas markets, aiming to take Chinese innovations to the world stage.

This year, the company brought its latest translator to the 2019 CES show in Las Vegas, United States and won an innovation award.

Charlene Li, general manager of iFlytek America, said in an interview that expansion in the US market might be an uphill journey in the short term, but prove to be an uphill task later without the necessary spadework.

Qi Dongfeng, president of Anhui Information Investment, pointed out earlier that Anhui province aims to become China's Speech Valley to further fuel the nation's AI strides.

"The province will have an open mind and develop more core technologies so as to nurture a fertile environment for AI to flourish in the next few years," said Qi.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201902/21/WS5c6e0bd1a3106c65c34ea8d3.html

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## cirr

*Beijing launches pilot zone for AI development*

2019-02-21 09:56:57 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping





Robotic arms prepare dishes at a hot pot restaurant in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

Beijing has launched a pilot zone to develop new-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the municipal commission of science and technology announced on Wednesday.

The zone will focus on exploring an innovative system to develop the AI technology through coordinating efforts of the government, academia and the industry, aiming to develop Beijing into a major producer of AI-related theories, ideas and talent, according to the commission.

The zone will also launch platforms for AI application, which will offer clues for authorities to deliberate AI-related policies and regulations that are conducive to the healthy development of the industry.

According to China's plan for AI development issued in 2017, the AI industry will serve as a new major economic growth engine and help improve people's lives by 2020.

The plan set the target of China becoming a major center for AI innovation and leading the world in AI technology and applications by 2030.

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## TaiShang

*Chinese news station unveils world’s first female AI news anchor*

Published time: 20 Feb, 2019





Xinhua's new female AI anchor

Chinese news agency Xinhua has unveiled “the world’s first female AI news anchor.” The computer-generated journo will team up with Xinhua’s existing male AI anchors at an upcoming series of political meetings in China.

The virtual reporter, named Xin Xiaomeng, was developed by Xinhua, in conjunction with a search engine company called Sogou. Developers modeled her speech and mannerisms on Xinhua news anchor Qui Meng, and showed her off in a video released on Tuesday.

Xiaomeng is lifelike, blinking and adjusting her hands as she speaks into the camera. Save for some rigid mouth movement, she could pass for the real thing.

Before Xiaomeng, the Chinese network revealed a pair of male AI anchors last November, one speaking English and another speaking Chinese. While their speech is often stunted and their facial expressions limited, Xinhua said at the time that unlike their human colleagues, these reporters can _“work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms.”_

With both reporters set to cover China’s upcoming Two Sessions political conference next month, Xinhua revealed a series of upgrades to its male reporter. The anchor can now deliver pieces to camera from a standing position, and uses more expressive body language to fool the untrained eye.





Journalists fearful of the robot uprising can rest easy for now though. Both anchors still need human writers and editors to supply the copy they read.

https://www.rt.com/news/452006-china-female-ai-anchor/

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## Dungeness

TaiShang said:


> *Chinese news station unveils world’s first female AI news anchor*
> 
> Published time: 20 Feb, 2019
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Xinhua's new female AI anchor
> 
> Chinese news agency Xinhua has unveiled “the world’s first female AI news anchor.” The computer-generated journo will team up with Xinhua’s existing male AI anchors at an upcoming series of political meetings in China.
> 
> The virtual reporter, named Xin Xiaomeng, was developed by Xinhua, in conjunction with a search engine company called Sogou. Developers modeled her speech and mannerisms on Xinhua news anchor Qui Meng, and showed her off in a video released on Tuesday.
> 
> Xiaomeng is lifelike, blinking and adjusting her hands as she speaks into the camera. Save for some rigid mouth movement, she could pass for the real thing.
> 
> Before Xiaomeng, the Chinese network revealed a pair of male AI anchors last November, one speaking English and another speaking Chinese. While their speech is often stunted and their facial expressions limited, Xinhua said at the time that unlike their human colleagues, these reporters can _“work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms.”_
> 
> With both reporters set to cover China’s upcoming Two Sessions political conference next month, Xinhua revealed a series of upgrades to its male reporter. The anchor can now deliver pieces to camera from a standing position, and uses more expressive body language to fool the untrained eye.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Journalists fearful of the robot uprising can rest easy for now though. Both anchors still need human writers and editors to supply the copy they read.
> 
> https://www.rt.com/news/452006-china-female-ai-anchor/




It would be fun if Chinese make an AI talking head molded after Trump.

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## TaiShang

*AI-aided justice: How technology is changing Chinese courts*

Updated 14:29, 23-Feb-2019
By Wu Lei

A Shanghai court has become China's first court to officially adopt an artificial intelligence-supported software to facilitate judicial hearings, with judges and prosecutors using the new technology to improve efficiency and accuracy in delivering justice.

This also means using less paper and manpower.

The software was first put to test in January during a case involving robbery and murder.







No paperwork was filed during the trial and nearly all evidence were presented in the court through electronic display. /CGTN Photo

Huang Boqing, a deputy chief judge of the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, told CGTN that during previous trials, identifying and verifying evidence took a lot of time and attention. But the new AI software is helping them get better results in lesser time. 

The system can act as a stenographer, transcribe testimonies, and identify judges, prosecutors, defendants and witnesses according to their roles.

Cui Yadong, a former president of the Shanghai High People's Court, told CGTN that from investigations to prosecutions to delivering justice, the AI system works through the entire procedure. 







After Shanghai, the AI support system is expected to be launched in other courts across the country. /CGTN Photo

In addition to criminal cases, Chinese courts are also using information technology to handle online disputes and civil cases. 

At the Hangzhou Court of the Internet, the lawyers representing their clients don't even need to be physically present in the courtroom. They can present their arguments before the judges using an online communication system.

Ni Defeng, the vice president of the Hangzhou Court of the Internet told CGTN that they are planning to reshape the entire trial process for Internet-related cases to overcome logistical problems. 

However, Ni also acknowledged that several challenges remain as judicial reforms continue. He stressed that data security and technology neutrality will always be paramount for the benefit of everyone's legal rights. 

(Cover: The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court has become the first court in China to adopt a new artificial intelligence-supported system. /CGTN Photo)

https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414f7a67444f32457a6333566d54/index.html

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## TaiShang

*AI-powered waste management underway in China*


(People's Daily Online) 13:38, February 26, 2019







_Residents use a waste sorting bin of Xiaohuanggou in a community in Shenzhen. (Photo courtesy of Xiaohuanggou)_

Waste management powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is getting off the ground in China as the country works to build itself into a greener place with more Chinese residents realizing the importance of garbage classification and recycling.

Xiaohuanggou ( which means little yellow dog in English), a company principally engaged in environmental protection, has rolled out more than 10,000 AI-powered waste sorting bins in 33 Chinese cities, gaining over 2.6 million users on its app in less than a year under the support of government policy.

The State Council recently issued a plan to build zero-waste cities which promote the “Internet Plus recycling model” to integrate new technologies with garbage sorting.

The AI-powered garbage sorting bin could automatically identify waste using cameras or the average density and size of items. It also pays users when they recycle metals, plastic and paper boxes.

A user surnamed Li, who lives in Beijing, received an environmental protection fund of 0.25 yuan for simply scanning the QR code and putting her broken pan into a smart waste sorting bin. The money is credited to her Xiaohuanggou account and can be cashed once it exceeds 10 yuan.






_A worker of Xiaohuanggou operates a machine to compress and pack cardboard recycled. (Photo/Zhang Chuxin)_

Besides image identification and real-time payment, the smart waste sorting bins also provide services such as big data, cloud computing, and accurate location, which enable users to trace their waste.

The monitoring system will notify garbage collectors once 80 percent of bin space is used and deliver the waste to the sorting center, where the garbage will be further processed and transferred to factories as renewable resources.

Xiaohuanggou plans to establish an online shopping mall and personal credit rating system as well as build industrial parks and chains for garbage classification.

Alipay, the Chinese mobile payment giant, has also gone full speed in this race. It has introduced platforms for garbage sorting into over 30,000 communities in 14 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Statistics show that China produces about 10 billion tons of solid waste every year. It requires the participation of every Chinese citizen to win the battle against pollution.

Li Guoqing, director of the urban and environmental studies department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that society needs to raise public awareness for environmental protection instead of just focusing on personal income from recycling.

“We will continue recycling through the ‘Internet Plus’ model and draw more people to join us to contribute to China’s waste management,” said Tang Jun, founder of Xiaohuanggou. 

http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0226/c98649-9549956.html

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## TaiShang

*Zhejiang to cultivate 100 model enterprises on AI applications*

Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/2/26 


East China's Zhejiang Province will cultivate more than 100 model enterprises to boost artificial intelligence (AI) industry applications in the next three years. 

The model companies refer to those which do well in incorporating AI with traditional manufacturing, according to an action plan for new-generation AI development jointly released by the provincial department of economics and information and department of science and technology. 

The firms are subject to specific thresholds including increasing labor productivity and shortening the design cycles by over 20 percent each, said Li Yongwei, director of AI office under the provincial department of economics and information. 

"Driven by model enterprises, AI's role can be amplified in industrial clusters across the province," said Li. 

The plan also proposed the launch of 500 pilot smart manufacturing projects, setting up 100 intelligent plants and increasing the number of industrial robots in service to 150,000 units by 2022. 

Zhejiang now has a complete AI industrial chain, from core technology and industry and smart terminal manufacturing to intelligent application. It is also home to a large number of high-tech firms in fields like machine learning, cloud computing and services, intelligent security and sensors. 

To adapt to AI development and market demand, Zhejiang is exploring a model of industrial development pushed by different entities. Zhejiang Lab, jointly built by the provincial government, Zhejiang University and Alibaba Group, has launched open platforms to make breakthroughs in the AI industry.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1140187.shtml

Reserved for further reference.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/hori...emiconductor-giants-and-top-auto-oems.604417/

Thank you @cirr

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## TaiShang

*Real benefits from artificial intelligence start to show up in sales sector*

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/2/28






Photo: VCG



You may think you are talking to a salesperson - but actually, it's a robot that can mimic human vocal tones, emotions and even dialects. 

*Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has improved so much that it's being used by some Chinese companies to make sales calls using robots.*

If you get such a call, you may hear what sounds like a woman, asking if you need a loan. If you say yes, she will likely provide the information you want. But even if you get angry and yell at her, she'll stay calm and end the call politely. You probably wouldn't even realize that "she" was a robot.

"There are two AI-related technologies involved in this process - natural language understanding and voice recognition," Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based industry analyst, said. 

The former allows a robot to analyze your question and search its database for answers that match the key words in the question. The latter allows the robot to understand you, even if you speak with an accent, he said.

The robot can use dialects because its conversational vocabulary has been recorded from the speech of actual people. However, there are limitations - a robot might comprehend frequently used dialects such as that used in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, but it might not understand more obscure ones, Liu added.

Service industries are keen to use robots in this manner. The 12321 Internet Obscene and Trash Information Reporting Center established by the Internet Society of China received 216,000 complaints on annoying sales calls from October to December. Loans, securities and real estate promotions were among the top complaints. 

AI-powered sales calls are cost-efficient. The robots can make 1,000 to 1,500 phone calls per day, doing the work of a 40-person sales team at the cost of one person, according to an article published on qq.com.

"You need to buy a cellphone SIM card and mail it to us. The card will be put into our equipment, and all the calls will be made using this number," a customer service person at a technology company in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, on e-commerce platform taobao.com told Global Times.

The company charges 800 yuan ($120) a month for a package of services, including forming a database, building a vocabulary, drawing up dialogues and other technical support. 

"The AI will select customers who are interested and refer them to you," the person explained.

Technology is neutral. It's not only used in making perhaps-unwanted sales calls, it's also prevalent among online food ordering and other customer services in China, said Liu. 

"The technology is already mature in China on that front."

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1140538.shtml

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## TaiShang

*AI company makes breakthrough Re ID for public security*

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/3 





A visitor at the booth of CloudWalk at CES ASIA in Shanghai in June 2018 File photo: VCG


An artificial intelligence (AI) start-up in China has made major breakthroughs *in the development of person Re-identification (Re ID) technology, which enables users to search, recognize and track a person's location via clothing, hairstyles and posture as captured by different cameras without the need for facial images.*

Such technology is an extension and supplement of AI facial recognition technology.

The AI start-up, CloudWalk, has so far applied it in different industries including security and protection, transportation and finance.

Specifically in the public security system, the Re ID technology could help police officers integrate data in facial recognition and body images so as to "strengthen the tracking ability and deepen the application capacity of public security videos," said a statement CloudWalk sent to the Global Times over the weekend. 

CloudWalk has cooperated widely with China's public security departments in different regions to provide facial recognition technology support to supervise and capture criminal suspects. 

*The company has also "played a vital role in the security and protection work" in Northwest China's Xinjiang Region.*

The Re ID technology it developed has broken three world records including mean average precision and rank-1 accuracy, CloudWalk said. Meanwhile, the speed of the core algorithm of the Re ID technology has improved about 10 times compared with last year.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1140770.shtml

@qwerrty , @Dungeness

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## TaiShang

*China's Top Music University Recruits AI PhD Students*

By Liu Caiyu (Global Times) 10:33, March 06, 2019







_The So-na performer Liu Wenwen and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra played the Concerto “Hundred Birds and Phoenix” at 2019 Tandun New Year’s Concert (Photo: Fang Yingxin, People’s Daily）_


China's top music university is recruiting PhD students majoring in music and artificial intelligence (AI), as the country is moving quickly to embrace AI technology. 

The Beijing-based Central Conservatory of Music started to recruit students with the combined ability in music and AI on March 1st for a three-year PhD program to nurture them in both disciplines, according to its official website.

*The project is open to students who major in computer, AI and electronic information, and the university will also test their musical capabilities.*

The university said it believes that “science and technology is one of the main driving forces of musical development, and artificial intelligence will be another important opportunity for musical development in the future.”

*AI studies could help musicians create music by capturing the music patterns of popular music or customizing music by calculating various parameters, including music genre, rhythm, instrument and mood, according to AI specialists reached by Global Times.*

Music relies heavily on science and technology. It cannot be seen but every musical instrument and song is produced from accurate math calculations, Zhang Zhentao, a musician and professor at the Music Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Arts, told the Global Times.

The university has recommended five books for students on algorithms, AI theory, machine learning and basic music theory.

Sun Maosong, a professor at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University and Wu Xihong, a professor at the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science at Peking University, have been invited as instructors of the PhD project. However, some is not optimistic about the job market for the music students specializing in AI technology. It seems that the commercial application market of AI music is unprofitable and still in the initial stages.

The recruitment will end on March 15. 

http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0306/c90000-9553109.html

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## JSCh

*AI surpasses humans in comprehension test*
By Tan Yingzi in Chongqing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-03-12 16:21





[Photo/IC]​
A computer program developed in China has outscored humans in a reading test – the first time a computer program has done so.

It represents a major artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough, its developers have said.

The program on March 8 was awarded first place in RACE (Large-scale Reading Comprehension Dataset from Examination), a reading comprehension dataset with more than 28,000 passages and nearly 100,000 questions.

Jointly developed by Chinese tech company CloudWalk Technologhy and Shanghai Jiaotong University, the program is a dual co-matching network (DCMN),

The network has managed to increase machines' accuracy to 69.8 percent in high school reading tests, beating humans' score of 69.4 percent.

This means that machines can surpass humans in data collection while reading, said CloudWalk in a Monday statement, also however noting that this does not represent a decisive victory for machine over man.

"This technology can be applied widely in the service industry and help humans deal with paperwork," said Zhou Xiang, deputy director of the CloudWalk Research Institute.

The technology can for example help clients read through files, search for information, and review words on social networking platforms and search engines, he said.

At the Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin on Sept 19 last year, CloudWalk Technology, a startup in Chongqing's Liangjiang New Area, was listed among China's top 50 AI companies.

After its establishment in 2015, CloudWalk took just three years to reach unicorn status.

Many world-famous research institutes participate in RACE, including OpenAI, Nanyang Technological University, IBM and Carnegie Mellon University.

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## TaiShang

*Tech minister: AI development pace "too aggressive"*

Updated 17:18, 11-Mar-2019
Xia Cheng

China is investing billions of yuan in Artificial Intelligence (AI). *“China's AI development is ahead of moral and legal progression in this country and in the world,”* the country's tech minister said Monday, adding that *the pace of development might be too aggressive.*

Officials from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology met with the press Monday to explain what their policies mean for a variety of sectors. The officials touched on a number of issues that could redirect China's innovation drive in AI and basic sciences.

Wang Zhigang, Chinese Minister of Science and Technology, described new technology as “a double-edged sword that could bring both benefit and risks,” and asked tech professionals to “have strong senses of responsibility and morality.”

“Technology is a double-edged sword that could bring both benefit and risks. That's why when turning new technologies into material applications, there will be uncertain consequences,” Wang said.







VCG Photo

China is the world's 17th most inventive country, according to the Global Innovation Index in 2018. China wants to be in the top 15 on that list by 2020. But just that two-place advancement will require an across-the-board progression in China's research ethics, academic practices, and better development for young scientists.

The minister mentioned that China's investment into basic science research lags far behind other economies, such as the United States.

“The five percent investment into basic science research is mainly offered by the central government budget. Local governments and the private sector are rarely involved. That's unlike the U.S. where the federal and local governments and corporations are all investing in basic sciences,” he addressed.

Meanwhile, Wang called for more talents to “focus on basic sciences, not tech applications and product design.”

“It's good news that there are hi-tech companies investing in talent. Those people focus on basic sciences, not tech applications and product design,” the minister stressed.

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## TaiShang

*Alibaba Nabs Ex-Facebook AI Scientist to Develop Big Data Platforms*

LIAO SHUMIN
DATE : MAR 19 2019/SOURCE : YICAI





Alibaba Nabs Ex-Facebook AI Scientist to Develop Big Data Platforms

(Yicai Global) March 19 -- Jia Yangqing, a former artificial intelligence expert for Facebook, has joined Alibaba Group Holding as vice president of engineering.

Jia will lead research and development on Big Data computing platforms, the Hangzhou-based tech giant's AI lab Alibaba Damo Academy said on Quora-like question-and-answer platform Zhihu.

The Tsinghua University graduate joined Facebook three years ago as a director involved in developing the California-based firm's solutions for computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition and augmented reality. Before that, he was a research scientist at Google's deep learning team Google Brain.

Founded in October 2017, Damo Acadamy was set up to help Alibaba achieve its goal of becoming the world's fifth-largest economy over the next two decades, according to its website. It has seven global locations including in Hangzhou and Silicon Valley.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/al...i-scientist-jia-to-develop-big-data-platforms

Nice brain-regain @cirr , @GS Zhou , @Beidou2020 , @Cybernetics 

Below is also a related news.

***

*AI race between China, US shifts to talent in battle for dominance*

By Wang Cong Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/19

*Chinese firms becoming more attractive than US rivals, but still lag: insiders*




Photo: VCG


News that a top Chinese scientist specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) has left US technology giant Facebook Inc to join Alibaba Group grabbed much attention in China's technology circles, with some suggesting that the competition between China and the US for AI talent might be escalating as both countries rush for dominance in the area.

Though the US still leads in many areas related to AI from innovation to talent, China has been steadily closing the gap in recent years and is stepping up its efforts in both research and development and talent acquisition, insiders said on Tuesday.

Jia Yangqing, a research scientist and director of Facebook's AI Infrastructure, has officially joined Alibaba's Damo Academy, the AI research arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba said on Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.

Jia will serve as the vice president of engineering at Alibaba and lead research and development into big data computing platforms, according to Damo.

*Born in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang Province and a graduate of Tsinghua University, Jia has become a leading scientist in the AI field.* Before joining Facebook in 2016, he developed a machine-learning framework known as Caffe, which provides advanced deep learning algorithms and reference models for researchers.

"This is a big move by Alibaba to ramp up its endeavors in the AI field," Xiang Yang, an industry analyst at Beijing-based CCID Consulting, told the Global Times on Tuesday. He noted that Alibaba has been lagging behind its main domestic rivals - Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings - in AI research and development. 

"Alibaba has been spending big money to recruit top talent to catch up," Xiang said.

But behind Alibaba's move is a broader trend in China, where both the government and private companies are trying their best to build a talent pool, as the country aims to achieve global power in AI by 2025.

"This is an area where a pool of world-class talent is absolutely necessary to get ahead," a technology sector insider told the Global Times. "But so far, most researchers, including those from China, tend to choose to work in the US."

Though Chinese universities have produced more than 12,500 AI graduates, only 31 percent of them have stayed in China, while 62 percent went to the US, according to a report released by California-based AI firm Diffbot in December. 

The US has the largest AI talent pool globally with nearly 221,600 workers, while China only ranked fifth, with about 18,450 workers, the report said.

"US companies are still leading in research and development in many areas and it has a great environment for innovation, so understandably, many experts choose to go to the US," said the insider, who requested anonymity. 

However, that may be changing as China has been investing heavily in AI, with many government policy guidelines and private-sector developments. Between 2013 and March 2018, investment in AI in China accounted for 60 percent of the world's total, according to a report from Tsinghua University in July 2018.

As a result, China has already surpassed the US in the total number of AI publications since 2006 and is poised to overtake the US in the most-cited 50 percent of papers this year, according to analysis from the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence released earlier this month.

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## Beidou2020

TaiShang said:


> *Alibaba Nabs Ex-Facebook AI Scientist to Develop Big Data Platforms*
> 
> LIAO SHUMIN
> DATE : MAR 19 2019/SOURCE : YICAI
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alibaba Nabs Ex-Facebook AI Scientist to Develop Big Data Platforms
> 
> (Yicai Global) March 19 -- Jia Yangqing, a former artificial intelligence expert for Facebook, has joined Alibaba Group Holding as vice president of engineering.
> 
> Jia will lead research and development on Big Data computing platforms, the Hangzhou-based tech giant's AI lab Alibaba Damo Academy said on Quora-like question-and-answer platform Zhihu.
> 
> The Tsinghua University graduate joined Facebook three years ago as a director involved in developing the California-based firm's solutions for computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition and augmented reality. Before that, he was a research scientist at Google's deep learning team Google Brain.
> 
> Founded in October 2017, Damo Acadamy was set up to help Alibaba achieve its goal of becoming the world's fifth-largest economy over the next two decades, according to its website. It has seven global locations including in Hangzhou and Silicon Valley.
> 
> https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/al...i-scientist-jia-to-develop-big-data-platforms
> 
> Nice brain-regain @cirr , @GS Zhou , @Beidou2020 , @Cybernetics
> 
> Below is also a related news.
> 
> ***
> 
> *AI race between China, US shifts to talent in battle for dominance*
> 
> By Wang Cong Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/19
> 
> *Chinese firms becoming more attractive than US rivals, but still lag: insiders*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo: VCG
> 
> 
> News that a top Chinese scientist specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) has left US technology giant Facebook Inc to join Alibaba Group grabbed much attention in China's technology circles, with some suggesting that the competition between China and the US for AI talent might be escalating as both countries rush for dominance in the area.
> 
> Though the US still leads in many areas related to AI from innovation to talent, China has been steadily closing the gap in recent years and is stepping up its efforts in both research and development and talent acquisition, insiders said on Tuesday.
> 
> Jia Yangqing, a research scientist and director of Facebook's AI Infrastructure, has officially joined Alibaba's Damo Academy, the AI research arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba said on Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.
> 
> Jia will serve as the vice president of engineering at Alibaba and lead research and development into big data computing platforms, according to Damo.
> 
> *Born in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang Province and a graduate of Tsinghua University, Jia has become a leading scientist in the AI field.* Before joining Facebook in 2016, he developed a machine-learning framework known as Caffe, which provides advanced deep learning algorithms and reference models for researchers.
> 
> "This is a big move by Alibaba to ramp up its endeavors in the AI field," Xiang Yang, an industry analyst at Beijing-based CCID Consulting, told the Global Times on Tuesday. He noted that Alibaba has been lagging behind its main domestic rivals - Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings - in AI research and development.
> 
> "Alibaba has been spending big money to recruit top talent to catch up," Xiang said.
> 
> But behind Alibaba's move is a broader trend in China, where both the government and private companies are trying their best to build a talent pool, as the country aims to achieve global power in AI by 2025.
> 
> "This is an area where a pool of world-class talent is absolutely necessary to get ahead," a technology sector insider told the Global Times. "But so far, most researchers, including those from China, tend to choose to work in the US."
> 
> Though Chinese universities have produced more than 12,500 AI graduates, only 31 percent of them have stayed in China, while 62 percent went to the US, according to a report released by California-based AI firm Diffbot in December.
> 
> The US has the largest AI talent pool globally with nearly 221,600 workers, while China only ranked fifth, with about 18,450 workers, the report said.
> 
> "US companies are still leading in research and development in many areas and it has a great environment for innovation, so understandably, many experts choose to go to the US," said the insider, who requested anonymity.
> 
> However, that may be changing as China has been investing heavily in AI, with many government policy guidelines and private-sector developments. Between 2013 and March 2018, investment in AI in China accounted for 60 percent of the world's total, according to a report from Tsinghua University in July 2018.
> 
> As a result, China has already surpassed the US in the total number of AI publications since 2006 and is poised to overtake the US in the most-cited 50 percent of papers this year, according to analysis from the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence released earlier this month.



221,600 vs 18,450 is a big difference. Talent recruitment is very important. Most innovation done in the US are done with foreign talent.

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## TaiShang

Alibaba Invests in Protection of China's Regional Dialects Through AI

ZHANG YUSHUO
DATE : MAR 21 2019/SOURCE : YICAI





Alibaba Invests in Protection of China's Regional Dialects Through AI

(Yicai Global) March 21 -- Alibaba Group Holding's AI Labs has set up a special team tasked with protecting China's regional dialects with an investment of CNY100 million (USD15 million).

*The Hangzhou-based tech giant will work to optimize the understanding of the western Sichuan dialect initially before expanding the program to other local languages in the country, reports online news outlet Sina Tech.*

AI Labs will build a national network based on samples of voice interactions with mobile applications and smart speakers as a basis and establish key performance indicators for language protection to protect those that are endangered.

The team will also work closely with policymakers, experts, scholars and universities to explore the protective development of dialects.

Alibaba AI Labs General Manager Chen Lijuan will lead the team. The team aims to boost the functions of the firm's Tmall Genie smart speaker product through its work, Chen said.

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## TaiShang

*China moves firmly ahead with incentives to boost AI*

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/2/17 

*More preferential policies anticipated*





A poster advertising smart face recognition technology in Shanghai in April 2018 Photo: VCG

From the central government to local authorities, China is firmly moving ahead to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) sector, as part of a major effort to push forward new technologies and upgrade the traditional manufacturing sector. 

Experts said that China's efforts to strengthen its advanced technology will not be interrupted by external uncertainties, and more incentive policies will be rolled out this year to promote new technology development.

*Chengdu, capital of Southeast China's Sichuan Province, adopted 12 measures to boost AI development, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency over the weekend. *

*The local government vows to promote R&D involving key AI technologies and will earmark as much as 10 million yuan ($1.48 million)* in subsidies to enterprises and universities engaged in the sector, the report said.

"Chengdu's move is not a surprise, and more cities are set to engage in this effort soon, with the central government's support and a vast application scenario within the country, " Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Separately, Xiamen in East China's Fujian Province announced the establishment of research bases for the standardization of two AI technologies in January. Also, the Shanghai municipal government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with domestic technology giant Baidu Inc in November last year to develop the AI industry in the city. 

Also in November last year, Beijing issued an action plan to develop AI and established an AI research institute to promote the industry. 

China is driving technological innovation in emerging areas - not only in AI, but also in next-generation telecommunication technologies, big data, new-energy vehicles and e-commerce, experts said.

"The emergence of new technologies is a critical opportunity that China must seize and will be the key for China in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. In terms of AI and 5G, China is already one of the leading players in the world," Cong noted.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Chinese institutions make up 17 of the world's top 20 academic players in AI patenting and 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications.

Cong noted that breakthroughs in these new technologies are reshaping the traditional manufacturing sector. 

"The country also has to support the manufacturing industry to adapt to and apply AI and 5G into its existing business models in a fast and efficient way,�?said Cong. This trend is inevitable, Cong said.

"To continue the upgrading of the country's manufacturing sector, while at the same time strengthening technological innovation, will be the two tasks for China in 2019 and for a long time thereafter," Cong said.

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## TaiShang

*Chinese AI company announces breakthrough in 3D human reconstruction technology*

(People's Daily Overseas New Media) 11:06, March 22, 2019







Photo via The Paper

A Chinese AI company affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Tuesday announced a new breakthrough in 3D human reconstruction technology, bringing down surface error by 30%, which is expected to make the advanced technology available on smartphones.

The company, Guangzhou-based Cloudwalk, announced that their breakthrough has set a new world record on 3D human reconstruction technology to build a single-frame image. On the key indexes of Human3.6M, Surreal, and UP-3D, the company decreased the surface error – a main indicator to measure the algorithm – at the millimeter level.

On Human3.6M, for example, the surface error of human joints has dropped from 59.9mm to 46.7mm.

In addition, execution speed has also been cut from 100 milliseconds to just 5 milliseconds, the company added.

Wu Fan, a scientist with the company, said they are using a brand new 3D information representation model that can predict human body postures by analyzing the three primary color images and can depict the human body with over 60,000 points, China Science Daily reported.

The breakthrough has reduced the requirement for input images. The technology can utilize ordinary optical cameras as sensing devices, which means applications that used to face restrictions in implementation can be gradually implemented in full and related smart image applications will be promoted, according to the company.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2019/0322/c90000-9559423.html

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## TaiShang

*AI, big data to bring more jobs in China*

Xinhua, March 23, 2019

Rapid development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing in China will help create more job opportunities, according to a report released Friday.

The report by recruitment agency Michael Page China said China's technological boom has led to increasing demand for local specialists, especially those in middle and senior management.

The report also showed that an increasing number of firms in China are attaching greater importance to the candidate's data analysis capacity.

Mark Tibbatts, managing director of Michael Page Greater China, said because many firms are basing their decision making on data, they have shown a growing demand for talent in data analysis and strategic communication.

The number of jobs in digital marketing has increased by 30 percent in the past 12 months, and employees in the sector can expect a salary increase of up to 30 percent when changing jobs, according to the report.

Tibbatts said that given the intense competition over local talent, firms in China need to emphasize their corporate culture and provide clear career paths to attract the cream of the crop.

Another recent survey by Michael Page China showed that 69 percent of job seekers consider personal development a key factor in job hunting, and 70 percent regard the opportunity to learn new skills and experience as the primary motivation for switching jobs.

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## TaiShang

*China's AI ecosystem is changing real economy, says Li Kaifu*

China Daily, April 4, 2019

*Artificial intelligence will bring about changes as fundamental as those enabled by electrification*, argues Li Kaifu, Chinese artificial intelligence specialist and founder of the venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures. *He says that China is leading in real-world applications of AI to businesses, factories and cities, and is catching up with the United States in basic research.*

Li's technological optimism contrasts with a widespread pessimism about technology prevalent among thinkers from Silicon Valley.

For example, famed venture capitalist Peter Theil uses the slogan "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters" as the subtitle of his investment fund. In many interviews, he has explained that we've seen "innovation in the world of bits, but not in the world of atoms".

In contrast, Li said in an interview with China Daily that we are already seeing people's lives improved by, for example, shopping websites that help you find what you are looking for. "For people who are feeling that this is not science fiction, this is just Taobao showing me an ad or a bank giving me a loan. Just wait. In the next five or 10 years, we'll see robotics and in the next 10-20 years autonomous vehicles - and they will be magical," he said.

"The atom part will take longer, but that will happen too. The hardest part today appears to be the atom side - robotics, autonomous vehicles, flying cars and things like that. Because the big breakthroughs have been just pure software."

Ironically, Theil, the co-founder of PayPal and a lead investor in Facebook and big data mining company Palantir, has said that we live in a financial age, rather than a scientific and technological age. "It's not clear it's enough to bring our civilization to the next level."

Most tellingly, Theil points out that the oligopolistic US tech giants - Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft - are each sitting on billions of dollars of cash, but they can't think of any technological opportunities where they can invest that money.

On the other hand, China's ferociously competitive tech sector is pushing real-world uses of AI.

Li said: "When you measure implementation and value creation, China is ahead. Roughly speaking, China's AI engineers are more massive, more hardworking and tenacious, and are moving forward and creating momentum."

He added that the Chinese tech sector is more competitive and its business model innovation is "definitely way ahead" of Silicon Valley. "We can count unicorns, we can count market cap, we can count revenue. Also, we can count who has more accurate speech recognition or face recognition or machine translation at the industrial level."

However, recent academic reports conclude that China still does lag behind the US in terms of fundamental scientific research in the field.

Li cited a March report, which he calls "most authoritative", by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle. The report shows that total Chinese academic publications on AI have surpassed the US, but high-quality publications have not yet caught up.

The Allen Institute "basically measures what percentage of the top 50 percent of AI papers originate from China compared to the US. The study paper counts citations in other research papers, which is commonly accepted as a metric of quality. In terms of the top 50 percent of papers, China has now caught up with the US. But, in terms of the top 10 percent, China is further behind, but will catch up within the next three to four years. If you measure the top 1 percent, China will need about five years to catch up." Li adds that he believes that China is about 10 years behind if you look at the key papers that are in the one-tenth of 1 percent most cited. No other country or region is close to China or the US in terms of AI applications or research.

A July 2018 report by Tsinghua University's China Institute for Science and Technology Policy concluded that China's economy has fundamentally moved from the process of catching up to an innovation-based economy: "Unlike in the past industrial revolutions where China was left behind and struggled to catch up, China has got a head start for the fourth industrial revolution. In AI, in fact, China has secured a leading position in the top echelon in both technology development and market applications and is in a race of 'two giants' with the US."

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## TaiShang

*AI major now available at universities*

By Zou Shuo | China Daily | Updated: 2019-04-15 





An artificial intelligence-powered robot welcomes a customer in the Xiangyang branch of Ping An Bank in Xiangyang, Hubei province. [Photo by Yang Dong/For China Daily]

*Universities in China will welcome the first group of undergraduate students majoring in artificial intelligence in September.*

According to a list issued by the Ministry of Education, *35 universities received approval to establish the four-year undergraduate AI-related majors amid the country's drive to build a strong AI talent pool.*

They include many prestigious universities such as Beijing Jiaotong University, Beihang University, Nanjing University and Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Lin Youfang, vice-dean of the School of Computer and Information Technology at Beijing Jiaotong University, said the school plans to enroll about 30 undergraduate students majoring in AI in September.

There might be more students majoring in AI who transfer from other majors through a selection process if the new major proves to be successful, he said.

The school established an AI research institute in December 2017 for graduate students. Many instructors at the school are working on AI-related research so there will be no problem finding capable teachers for the new students, Lin said.

China's booming AI industry has resulted in a growing demand for talent. It is common for students in AI-related fields to have already committed to companies before they even graduate and enter the job market, he said.

Master's graduates majoring in AI can easily find jobs with salaries over 300,000 yuan ($44,700) per year, and salaries for doctoral graduates are even higher, he said.

Chinese universities are catching up with their counterparts in the United States in terms of basic research in AI and the number of published papers, yet they still lag behind in transforming research into application, he added.

Zheng Nanning, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and head of the innovation research academy of intelligent robotics at Xi'an Jiaotong University, said the university began considering an undergraduate AI major in 2016, and it has since established an experimental undergraduate AI class in 2018 with 55 students taught by the country's leading AI experts.

The university established the academy in October 2017 and an AI school in January. The academy has 26 master's candidates and eight doctoral candidates, Zheng said.

"Universities should aim for major breakthroughs in basic research and core technology. We are still striving to achieve revolutionary and disruptive changes in AI theories, methods, tools and systems," he added.

The ministry issued an action plan in 2018 to promote AI education in universities. According to the plan, universities in China will improve AI discipline and make breakthroughs in basic theories and key technology research by 2020.

Chinese universities will become core forces for building major global AI innovation centers by 2030.

The plan calls for integration of AI with mathematics, statistics, physics, biology, psychology and sociology, among other disciplines. It promotes the "AI + X" interdisciplinary approach in universities and aims to set up 100 majors that combine AI and other subjects by 2020.

Many Chinese universities have set their sights on improving AI education and nurturing more AI talent and have established new AI departments and research institutes.

Tsinghua University established an AI institute in 2018 as part of its efforts to advance AI research and education.

Aiming to become a globally influential AI research institution, the institute focuses on the basic theory of AI and actively promotes cross-disciplinary AI research as well as the integration of academia and industry.

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## TaiShang

*Nearly Half of Global AI Funds Went to Chinese Firms Last Year*

DOU SHICONG
DATE : APR 26 2019/SOURCE : YICAI






Nearly Half of Global AI Funds Went to Chinese Firms Last Year

(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Funds secured by Chinese artificial intelligence companies made up almost one-half of the total worldwide last year.

*Chinese AI firms raised a total of USD15.7 billion in funds, accounting for nearly 47 percent of the global tally*, the latest report from Chinese think tank Wuzhen Institute shows. Each Chinese financing round yielded an average of over USD60 million.

Huge investments have given birth to a great number of AI companies. There were over 3,300 Chinese AI firms at the end of last year, accounting for more than 20 percent of all such companies in the world. About one-third of these Chinese firms came from the northern regions of Beijing, Hebei or northeastern Tianjin.

However, money streams are becoming more controlled as the number of early-stage financing rounds in the sector has declined for the first time this year. Investors are becoming increasingly mature as they pay more attention to core technologies as well as sustainable business models, the report added. 

Chinese firms obtained nearly 68,500 AI-related patents from 2009 to 2018, ranking first in the world. The number is over double that of the US. The top locations for these Chinese firms were Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu.

https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinese-ai-firms-got-nearly-one-half-of-global-ai-funds

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## JSCh

NEWS * 14 MAY 2019
*Artificial intelligence is selecting grant reviewers in China | Nature*
The country's major funding agency says the tool reduces the time it takes to find referees.

David Cyranoski

China’s largest funder of basic science is piloting an artificial intelligence tool that selects researchers to review grant applications, in an attempt to make the process more efficient, faster and fairer. Some researchers say the approach by the National Natural Science Foundation of China is world-leading, but others are sceptical about whether AI can improve the process.

Choosing researchers to peer review project proposals or publications is time-consuming and prone to bias. Several academic publishers are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) tools to select reviewers and carry out other tasks, and a few funding agencies, including some in North America and Europe, have trialled simple AI tools to identify potential reviewers. Some of these systems match keywords in grant applications to those in publications of other scientists.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is building a more sophisticated system that will crawl online scientific-literature databases and scientists’ personal web pages, using natural-language processing to glean detailed information about the publications or research projects of potential referees. The system will use semantic analysis of the text to compare the grant application with this information and identify the best matches, says agency head Li Jinghai, who is based in Beijing.

*Time saver*
An early version of the tool selected at least one member of each of nearly 44,000 panels that approved projects last year, says Yang Wei, the agency’s former head, who presented data on the pilot at a meeting on scholarly communication in Hangzhou last month. Panels are composed of between three and seven people. The system is already cutting the time administrative staff have to spend looking for referees, says Yang. A similar approach will be used this year to select reviewers, he says.

The NSFC has become a world leader in reforming grant-review processes, says Patrick Nédellec, director of the international-cooperation department of the French CNRS, Europe’s largest basic-research agency. The NSFC is being forced to innovate as the number of grant applications keeps growing, says Nédellec, who attended a meeting last September at which Li discussed the agency’s reform plans. “Because the pressure is so high, China has no choice but to find the best way,” he says.

In the past five years, the number of applications the NSFC receives has increased by roughly 10% a year. In 2018, the organization evaluated 225,000 grant applications — almost 6 times the number received by the US National Science Foundation. The NSFC is struggling to process applications and find appropriate reviewers, says Li. “The challenge is not having enough people,” he says. “AI will solve that.”

*Reducing bias*
Li also wants the tool to reduce bias in reviewer selection. In China, scientists try to lobby for their projects, he says. “A problem with evaluations is that people use connections. AI can’t be corrupted,” says Li.

This is also an issue in countries where applicants are asked to suggest experts who could review their proposals. For instance, the Swiss National Science Foundation has found that reviewers who were recommended by the applicants were much more likely to endorse a project than were referees chosen by the foundation.

The NSFC’s pilot AI system works only on websites written in Chinese characters, but Li wants it to be able to crawl English-language websites in the future.

“NSFC’s reform plan is ambitious, forward-looking and comprehensive,” says Manfred Horvat, a science-policy adviser at the Vienna University of Technology, who also heard Li’s talk last September.

Other countries are following China’s lead. Last month, the Research Council of Norway started using natural-language processing to cluster about 3,000 research proposals into groups and match them to the best reviewer panels, says Thomas Hansteen, an adviser to the council.

*Hints of scepticism*
But not everyone is convinced that AI should be used in the review process. Susan Guthrie, a science-policy specialist at research organization RAND Europe in Cambridge, UK, notes that the Canadian Institutes of Health Research ran into significant challenges with an algorithm used for reviewer selection.

The Canadian agency hired RAND Europe in 2016 to carry out a meta-analysis of studies on grant peer review. Based partly on that report, the agency concluded that the algorithm sometimes selected reviewers who had conflicts of interest or were otherwise not appropriate or qualified to evaluate the proposal. “While algorithm-based matching sounded attractive, there is a limit at this stage of artificial intelligence to what it can possibly achieve,” the independent expert panel concluded. “Reviewer selection must be primarily informed by scientific human judgement.”

Elizabeth Pier, a policy researcher at Education Analytics in Madison, Wisconsin, thinks AI will not remove selection bias. She fears that AI systems end up replicating the biases ingrained in human judgements, rather than avoiding them. She recommends that the NSFC should do a study comparing the reviewers selected by AI with those chosen by people. Li says the NSFC might consider this once the system is up and running.

*Credit for reviewers*
Li plans to introduce other tools to make the grant system fairer over the next five years. These include a credit system that will reward researchers for good, fair and timely reviews — although Li would not comment on the nature of the rewards.

The idea of the credit system is to encourage reviewers to take the job seriously and be professional, he says.

Statistician John Ioannidis of Stanford University in California applauds the NSFC’s efforts to use objective, data-driven tools in mapping proposals to select reviewers. But he thinks it will be difficult to evaluate whether reviewers have made good decisions and deserve credit. It can take decades for an idea to be considered “great or a waste”, says Ioannidis.

Li is ready to take on the challenges. “This task is not easy to accomplish and will require constant improvement in a long process of study and tests,” he says.

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## TaiShang

*Shanghai releases sponsorship plan for AI projects*

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/5/14 


Shanghai released a guideline on Monday to provide financial support for artificial intelligence (AI) projects, showing its ambition to build up an AI pilot zone for the nation amid the worldwide AI race.

An industry insider said the plan will strongly increase the city's attraction for ventures in the sector.

The involved projects include both basic theoretical research and related applications of AI core technology, and the application part will mainly focus on transportation, medical treatment and community management, according to the guideline.

The specific details of sponsorships for qualified entities were not given.

"The application of AI technology is always a critical step, which needs firm support from government resources, such as medical treatment and transportation," a senior AI engineer, who preferred anonymity, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Amid the escalating trade friction and technology competition between China and the US, "it also sends a signal to capital investment companies from around the world," he added.

According to a trend report on AI 2019 by the World Intellectual Property Organization in January, China has played a vital role in the field and is mainly competing with the US and Japan.

"Chinese organizations make up 17 of the top 20 academic players in AI patenting as well as 10 of the top 20 in AI-related scientific publications," said the report.

Theses written in China in the field of AI increased from 4.26 percent in 1997 to 27.68 percent in 2017 of the world's total amount, and the number of highly cited papers overtook the US to become the world's leader in 2013, a study by Tsinghua University showed in 2018.

In addition, China had 1,011 AI enterprises, taking it to second place in the world as of June 2018, and it had attracted the largest amount of capital from 2013 to the first quarter of 2018, the study said.

Google Inc set up an AI research center in China in 2017, which showed China's potential development in the field.

Shanghai has been taking steps to pursue AI leadership in the past few years. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference last year, Shanghai introduced 22 detailed plans focusing on talent cultivation, data resources and technological innovation, reported CCTV in September 2018.

As one of the core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, AI technology could be a critical strength for China's industrial upgrading, which needs comprehensive support, the engineer said.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1149894.shtml

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## cirr

*Microsoft opens largest AI & IoT lab in Shanghai*

2019-05-17 09:08:19 Xinhua Editor : Gu Liping

Microsoft Corporation has established an Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things Insider Lab in Shanghai to aid digital transformation across industries.

Located in a 2,800-square-meter building in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park of the Pudong New Area, the lab, which began operation Wednesday, is established in partnership with the state-run Zhangjiang Group. It is the fourth and also the largest such lab run by Microsoft around the world.

Microsoft said the lab provides "all-around support" for enterprises inside and taps into the Internet of Things and AI technologies to fuel the digital transformation taking place across industries, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, finance and urban construction.

Thirty Chinese and foreign businesses have been selected out of some 300 applicants as the first batch of "enterprises of empowerment" in the lab. They include both start-ups, among which 21 are based in Shanghai, and multinational corporations, such as ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd. and Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center Co., Ltd.

The lab will provide support for the enterprises in the next three to six months, offering hardware and software resources, cloud service and access to the Microsoft ecosystem, according to Microsoft.

"The combination and application of AI and Internet of Things technologies are becoming the latest trends leading global digital transformation," Alain Crozier, Microsoft corporate vice president, chairman and CEO of Greater China Region, said at a launch ceremony held Wednesday.

"A survey indicates that global Internet of Things business will exceed 255 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, and China will occupy nearly a quarter of it, which means a market with huge potentials," he said, adding that the lab aims to help enterprises "win market opportunities brought by the technology innovations."

The three other Microsoft AI & IoT Insider Labs are located in Redmond of Washington, Shenzhen of China and Munich of Germany.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2019-05-17/detail-ifzikase6324431.shtml

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## TaiShang

*China's AI industry poised to enter boom times*

Source:Global Times Published: 2019/5/19 

China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry made rapid strides during the past year, and it is about to enter a period of development and facilitate the transformation and upgrading of China's economy, according to a report by the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of AI. The Ministry of Industry and information Technology in 2017 issued a three-year action plan for promoting the development of the AI industry. The plan said that by 2020, major breakthroughs would be made in AI technologies.

Local Chinese governments have increased financial and educational investment in the AI industry.

Beijing raised $2.1 billion in 2018 to build a science and technology park centered on AI research and development (R&D). The park is scheduled to be completed in five years and will house more than 400 ventures.

In 2018, China ranked first in the world for financing in the AI industry, with 577 out of the 745 AI enterprises having raised 383 billion yuan ($ 55.4 billion), doubling the previous year's investment, according to the report.

Most of the important financing events in 2018 occurred to AI unicorn companies.

For example, SenseTime raised $1.62 billion and is valued at $6 billion, making it the AI unicorn company with the highest valuation. Megvii Technology, also a unicorn, raised $600 million in 2018 and set a new financing record in the facial recognition sector.

The development of the AI sector has also received support from Chinese schools. As of February 28, 2019, China had 94 AI universities and 75 non-university scientific research institutions engaged in AI basic research, technology development and talent cultivation.

China has the biggest database in the world. Big data is widely applied in many fields in China, including finance, medical treatment, telecoms and transportation.

"China's AI enterprises are positioned intensively at the application and technology layer," Liu Gang, director of the Nankai Institute of Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday. Liu is also the chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies. 

AI technology is being gradually applied in daily life in China in the sectors of big data, cloud computing, facial recognition and others.

Facial recognition is being used in banks, transport and other self-service situations. Passengers in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province, can use facial recognition to unlock entry gates. The technology can also be used to open self-service parcel pickup machines.

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## TaiShang

*Shanghai launches nation's 2nd pilot zone for AI*

Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/5/26 





Photo: Xinhua


Shanghai officially launched efforts to build a pilot zone for the new-generation innovation and development of artificial intelligence (AI) Saturday, the second in China after Beijing.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Shanghai Municipal Government jointly made the announcement on Saturday.

The pilot zone in Shanghai will focus on AI in medical care and health, smart transportation and smart communities, said Gan Pin, deputy director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.

"As we apply AI in the three fields, the result will be tremendous changes to people's lives, which will help us contribute to the nationwide development of AI," Gan said.

In building the pilot zone, Shanghai will raise the level of originality, develop industrial use, build an environment for innovation, and establish legal, regulatory and ethical standards for AI, he said.

Shanghai has vigorously promoted the development of the AI industry with its AI@SH action in recent years, attracting industrial leaders like Microsoft and IBM.

The city is eyeing a global AI hub with plans to expand the scale of its industry to more than 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020.

By 2023, the pilot zone aims to become a leader in the theory, technology, application, talent and governance of AI, according to the target.

Another pilot project was launched in Beijing in February.

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## JSCh

AI in China | Nature > Spotlight

*Articles*

Nature | Spotlight

*

*
Despite obstacles, such as an ongoing trade war between China and the United States, artificial-intelligence researchers are working to ensure they can collaborate internationally.

Sarah O’Meara
*AI researchers in China want to keep the global-sharing culture alive*​
*Partner content*

Advertisement Feature
*


*
Southeast University’s work on human-robot interaction systems has potential for use in manufacturing, surgery, and rehabilitation, as well as in exploration of extreme environments.
*Robots that share their feelings*​
Advertisement Feature

*

*
Using AI-assisted diagnostic technologists, a high-tech biomedical company in Wuhan is extending cervical screening services to local communities.
*Smart screening broadens cervical cancer monitoring*​
Advertisement Feature

*

*
Computer scientists at Wuhan University are making breakthroughs in AI theories and methods, leading to innovations in healthcare, unmanned systems, and more.
*Beyond the learning curve*​
Advertisement Feature

*

*
Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems leverages Tongji University’s strengths in autonomous systems and aims to stand at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovations.
*Engineering intelligent systems with AI*​
Advertisement Feature

*

*
A university-industry-government partnership is seeking to recruit talented researchers to advance AI research and meet industrial needs.
*An intelligent union for the future of AI*​

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## cirr

*Beijing district to promote AI classes in elementary schools*

2019-05-30 19:38:37 Xinhua Editor : Mo Hong'e

A district in Beijing Municipality is promoting pilot projects for opening artificial intelligence (AI) courses in elementary schools, according to the local education department.

Dongcheng District, which lies at the heart of the capital, has picked six elementary schools for pilot AI classes this year, and will promote such classes in more schools starting September, according to the department.

The department has also compiled a textbook for teaching AI in elementary school, which introduces the technology in the form of games or daily practices.

Beijing is not the only Chinese city to offer pupils AI courses. Shanghai has launched such pilot programs among pupils and Shanghai-based East China Normal University Press has also issued a 10-volume textbook series on AI.

China's Ministry of Education issued a directive in March, asking for AI courses to be offered at primary and secondary schools, and efforts to popularize programming education in steps.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-05-30/detail-ifziupva1113482.shtml

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## JSCh

*China's national supercomputing center launches AI testbed*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 14:44:51|Editor: mingmei

SHENZHEN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China's National Supercomputing Center in the south China city of Shenzhen on Friday launched a testbed for artificial intelligence (AI) experiments.

The AI testbed, named Tai, provides the basic environment of AI chips and systems for the research, development and application tests of AI inventions.

Tai is capable of dealing with large-scale and complex scenarios. Scientists have built an EB-level intelligent data management and analysis system for high-energy physics, as well as simulation of AI scenarios in real business situations and an AI-powered weather forecast platform.

The testbed is co-built by organizations, enterprises and research institutes from home and abroad, including the Bench Council, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Software Testing Center under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Alibaba and Cambricon.

It can simulate the verification environment for future smart devices, said Feng Shengzhong, head of the center.

As a part of the Bench Council's 2019 International Symposium on Intelligent Computers, an international AI competition started Friday in Shenzhen, which has made the new testbed the venue.

Feng said the center had taken charge of the operation and maintenance management together with the Beijing Academy of Frontier Sciences and Technology.

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## JSCh

*AI offers breakthrough in cancer diagnosis*
By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou | China Daily | Updated: 2019-06-13 09:10



Doctors use AI-enabled equipment to conduct online medical examinations at the 3rd World Intelligence Congress, in Tianjin. [Photo by Jia Lei / For China Daily]

Huawei Cloud, a subsidiary of the Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies, and Kingmed Diagnostics, a Guangzhou-based medical diagnostic testing company, have announced a technological breakthrough in the diagnosis of cervical cancer.

By leveraging AI technologies, they can diagnose the disease with a true positive rate of over 99.9 percent, and a true negative rate of more than 99 percent, which is currently the highest level in the world, according to Kingmed Diagnostics.

"It takes only 36 seconds to examine cervical smear cells, which would usually need an average six minutes by cytopathologists," said Luo Pifu, director of the Kingmed Diagnostics pathological department.

Cervical cancer remains one of the biggest threats to women, with about 100,000 new cases being reported each year in China, according to Luo.

"Early examination is key to treating cervical cancer," said Luo.

However, only 70 million women have been examined since China began a nationwide examination program against cervical and breast cancers in 2009, according to Liang Xiaoman, a Guangzhou-based cytologist.

Liang said China lags in the development of pathologists, especially in rural areas.

"The lack of enough pathologists has become a major factor affecting the nationwide examination of cervical cancer," said Liang.

The companies began collaborating in July, conducting research in the use of artificial technology in assisting examinations, and was based on 43.5 million cervical cell samples collected by Kingmed Diagnostics.

The breakthrough was also based on Huawei Cloud's Model-Arts, which provides data processing, intelligent labeling, a readily packaged development environment, automatic model generation and comprehensive AI development.

"The AI technology will help greatly increase efficiency of the diagnosis of cervical cancer, benefiting the country's 350 million women," said Liang.

According to Pan Jie, director of Huawei Cloud Guangdong business section, the AI technology may be expanded into areas of pathology such as breasts, digestion, kidneys and blood.

"We are exploring more uses of the cutting-edge AI technology in medical areas, aiming to provide more assistance to increase medical testing efficiency," said Pan.

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## JSCh

JSCh said:


> *Chinese physicist says revolutionary technique means alloys can be developed in hours instead of years*
> 
> Inspired by early colour television, method can create thousands of alloys quickly
> Leader of Beijing team says a ‘revolution in material science’ is close to hand
> 
> 
> 
> Stephen Chen
> Published: 7:10pm, 7 May, 2019
> 
> 
> 
> Speedy development of alloys may accelerate programmes to explore the harsh environments of space and ocean depths. Photo: Xinhua
> 
> Chinese physicists say they have developed a method that can cut the time involved in the discovery of alloys from years to hours.
> 
> The technique has led to the creation of high performance alloys, including the world's toughest amorphous metal, or metallic glass, for use in extremely hot environments.
> 
> The search for an alloy typically takes years, but now it can be done in less than two hours, the Chinese researchers said.
> 
> Part of their findings was published in the journal _Nature_ this month.
> 
> 
> 
> Inspired by the colour gun method used to create images for television sets, the Beijing team speeds up alloy discovery. Photo: Handout
> 
> In the conventional method, metals needed to be weighed, melted to an alloy and tested for performance. To find the right formula, researchers might need to test more than a thousand combinations and each test might take a day or two.
> 
> Professor Wang Weihua, researcher with the institute of physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and lead scientist of the study, said his team’s research was inspired by early colour televisions, which used three electric devices known as guns that fired red, green and blue light onto the back of the screen to create real-world colours for the viewer.
> 
> Wang’s team’s alloy technology also involved three guns, but instead of electronic pulses they fired “bullets” made of different metals. These struck a silicon board simultaneously and fused to form alloys.
> 
> Sensors quickly measured the alloys’ properties and picked the most appropriate for the researchers.
> 
> This approach allowed scientists to create more than 1,000 samples, test their performance and select the most promising within a couple of hours.
> 
> “We proved it works,” Wang said. “It will increase people's confidence. There will be a revolution in material science.”
> 
> The alloy reported in the _Nature_ paper contained iridium, nickel and tantalum. It had a distorted atomic structure similar to that of glass. Metallic glasses can be extremely strong but they usually weaken by temperatures of 400 degrees Celsius or more.
> 
> 
> 
> The Beijing team hopes artificial intelligence, in tandem with its technique, will start a materials revolution. Photo: Handout
> 
> The new alloy can maintain a tensile strength nearly eight times that of steel at more than 700 degrees Celsius, researchers said.
> 
> It can also remain intact for months in aqua regia, the mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid that can dissolve gold and platinum.
> 
> Such properties make the alloy an ideal candidate material for manufacturing critical components for use in harsh environments such as space, ocean depths and battlefields.
> 
> “We are introducing artificial intelligence into the design and search for new amorphous metals,” Wang said. “It can further increase the speed of discoveries. In the near future, we may even be able to create material on demand.
> 
> “The potential application is almost unlimited.”
> 
> 
> 
> Chinese physicist says revolutionary technique means alloys can be developed in hours instead of years | South China Morning Post
> 
> Ming-Xing Li, Shao-Fan Zhao, Zhen Lu, Akihiko Hirata, Ping Wen, Hai-Yang Bai, MingWei Chen, Jan Schroers, YanHui Liu, Wei-Hua Wang. *High-temperature bulk metallic glasses developed by combinatorial methods*. _Nature _(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1145-z​


*AI helps promote material science: Chinese experts*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-18 21:05:24|Editor: zh

GUANGZHOU, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Artificial Intelligence (AI) could help promote the development of material science and accelerate the invention of new materials, according to Chinese experts.

Many key and core technologies that need breakthroughs in China are related to the material science, and AI could help in these areas, Zhao Zhongxian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), who won China's top science award, said at a science forum opened in Dongguan, Guangdong Province Monday.

Traditional methods for material composition analysis are time-consuming and expensive. It takes an average of 10 years for a laboratory to develop new materials and 20 years for mass production. With AI technology, the development and application cycle of new materials is expected to be shortened by more than half.

Wang Weihua from the Institute of Physics under CAS said AI is changing the way new materials are discovered. Through machine learning of material data, AI could outperform many material scientists and make a more efficient prediction of new materials.

The fast development of AI also needs support from the material science. With emerging intelligent robots, wearable medical devices and IoT systems, future smart sensors will require good sensitivity, flexibility and stability, which puts new demands on materials.

AI and material science are closely related, and material research could offer a solution for AI-related sensitive components, Zhao said.


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## JSCh

*Shanghai hospital's AI pediatricians to outperform junior doctors*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-17 22:09:36|Editor: ZX

SHANGHAI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai Children's Medical Center on Monday presented a pediatric diagnostic system using artificial intelligence (AI) technology that could give medical advice on more than 300 illnesses.

Trained on millions of previous cases to learn how to make diagnoses, the new AI "pediatricians," the first in Shanghai, are capable of clinical service guiding, carrying out pre-examination and intelligent diagnosis with an accuracy rate of more than 90 percent, the hospital said.

Patients could speak out or text their symptoms on the "smart guide" platform on their mobile phones before the "AI doctors" assist them in registering and recommending the right clinician.

The system can make detailed inquiries and recommended necessary examinations if the patients continue to choose the intelligent pre-diagnosing inspections.

Doctors in the background can provide real-time reviews and let the computer system automatically issue the examination lists after confirmation.

Using the AI system will save patients at least one hour compared with the traditional medical process under which they need to go through a series of procedures including registration, interviews, lab examinations and taking medicine.

"AI pediatricians are growing and evolving together with human clinicians," said Zhao Liebin, deputy head of the hospital. "With millions of more cases learned, they will outperform junior doctors sometime in the future."


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## JSCh

*Beijing Internet court launches AI judge*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-27 20:08:56|Editor: Liangyu

BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Internet court on Thursday launched an online litigation service center, which includes an AI judge claimed to be "the first of its kind in the world."

The AI judge, based on intelligent synthesizing technologies of speech and image, will help the court's judges complete repetitive basic work, including litigation reception, and thus enables professional practitioners to focus on judicial trials.

The judge has a female image with a voice, facial expressions and actions based on a real person. It can also provide users with litigation guidance in real time, helping users to use the online litigation platform.

The innovation is expected to improve the quality and efficiency of judicial work. As technology advances, the AI judge is more likely to act as assistants, able to conduct intelligent question-and-answer communications with users based on the data of professional knowledge and the guidance from real judges.


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## JSCh

*Baidu Claims Its AI Has Reunited 6,700 Missing People With Their Families*
ZHANG YUSHUO
DATE : JUL 16 2019/SOURCE : YICAI





Baidu Claims Its AI Has Reunited 6,700 Missing People With Their Families​
(Yicai Global) July 16 -- Baidu's artificial intelligence technology has helped reunite more than 6,700 missing people with their families over the past three years, according to its latest corporate social responsibility report.

Users can access a mini program in the Baidu app and upload a photo to compare with tens of thousands of missing people's photos on the Ministry of Civil Affairs' website, the firm said in the second-quarter report published yesterday. The system, which has received more than 200,000 photo uploads since 2016, cross-checks images to find similarities between the uploaded image and the ministry's gallery.

The Beijing-based tech giant has also helped improve the lives of the disabled and combat domestic violence, it claims, saying it has set up a research team to create an AI-powered program to translate fingerspelling for hearing-impaired children.

More benefits of its AI tech include cracking down on clinics illegally using the names of public hospitals to foster patient trust, creating content for its Wikipedia-like Baidu Baike medical encyclopedia, safeguarding children in schools, protecting endangered languages and digitizing massage shops, according to the report.

The firm also sought to help users quit smoking by using its own PaddlePaddle technology to better understand human behavior and guide smokers toward giving up the habit.

Baidu will continue to disclose how its technologies and partnerships with public organizations are helping society, it added.


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## JSCh

*Hang-Shao-Tai Railway May Become China's First AI Railway*
XU WEI
DATE : JUL 18 2019/SOURCE : YICAI





Hang-Shao-Tai Railway May Become China's First AI Railway​
(Yicai Global) July 18 -- Hang-Shao-Tai Railway, China's first high-speed rail transit project that is in part funded by private capital, may also become the country's first high-speed railway that uses artificial intelligence in its operation.

China Railway Gecent Technology, which runs a train wifi application, and Hangshaotai Railway, the project company, penned a cooperation agreement, The Paper reported. The route, slated for 2021, will connect the cities of Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou in eastern Zhejiang province.

AI may be applied to the construction and client services, CRGT's Chief Executive Pan Yunbin told The Paper. CRGT, a joint venture between China Railway Investment, Geely Holding Group and Tencent Holdings, offers rail transit passengers with wifi services, including those related to entertainment, food takeout, and e-commerce. 

The project investment has risen to CNY14.8 billion (USD2.2 billion) as nearly all of the land has been secured while about one-third of the construction is done, according to the same report. Hangshaotai still needs to invest CNY13 billion this year. The firm started building the largest planned station of Taizhou in late June.

AI will be deployed at stations. New technologies can reduce labor costs so lighting among other equipment in the stations will be managed by robots, Pan said. 

The Internet of Things and AI can improve passengers' travel experiences by diversifying and customizing them, said Wu Peirong, general manager of Hangshaotai, which was formed by China State Railway Group, Zhejiang's provincial government and a clutch of private firms led by conglomerate Fosun International.


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## JSCh

*Chinese AI promotes accurate, quick diagnosis of cervical cancer*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-07-18 15:33:35|Editor: Liangyu

GUANGZHOU, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, Chinese researchers have developed a rapid and accurate screening model to diagnose cervical cancer, a common and fatal disease in women.

Cervical cancer, caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), is the fourth most frequent cancer in women worldwide, with an estimated 570,000 new cases reported and 311,000 deaths from the disease in 2018, according to the World Health Organization.

In China, the incidence and death rates of cervical cancer are also high, with 106,000 new cases reported and about 48,000 deaths last year.

The current method to detect abnormal cervical cells is cytology-based screening, known as the Pap test. It is often done during a pelvic examination which allows the health care professional to have a clear view of the cervix and upper vagina by a speculum and take a sample of cervical cells.

Based on more than 200,000 pathological images selected from over 43.5 million cervical screening samples, experts from KingMed Diagnostics, a Guangzhou-based medical diagnostic testing company, along with computer engineers from Huawei Cloud, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, over one year developed an AI-assisted screening model, which can diagnose the disease with an accuracy of over 99 percent, while costing only one-tenth of the examination time performed by pathologists.

"Pathologists spend an average of six minutes in examining a cervical screening sample under a microscope, while the AI model just needs 36 seconds per case," said Luo Pifu, director of the company's pathological department and lead researcher of the program.

According to Li Yinghua, chief information officer of KingMed Diagnostics, the company's AI-assisted screening will help offset the shortage of well-trained pathologists, as well as expand the scope of early examination of cervical cancer in China.

In 2018, KingMed and Huawei agreed to cooperate in building an AI model for cervical cancer screening.

To train, validate and test the AI, developers fed it with 32,000 samples collected by the company from six provinces in the past 12 years.

The AI was built on the basis of ModelArts, an AI development platform developed by Huawei Cloud which turned the diagnostic experiences accumulated by experts into algorithms and models.

The AI can automatically complete the diagnosis procedure, while the pathologists only need to review and confirm the positive cases, said Tu Dandan, a senior technical director of the Huawei Cloud.

The two companies will continue cooperation to explore more possible applications of the AI technologies in the field of pathology, such as breast, digestive system, kidney and blood diseases.

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## onebyone

Hang-Shao-Tai Railway May Become China's First AI Railway
XU WEI
DATE : JUL 18 2019/SOURCE : YICAI




Hang-Shao-Tai Railway May Become China's First AI Railway
(Yicai Global) July 18 -- Hang-Shao-Tai Railway, China's first high-speed rail transit project that is in part funded by private capital, may also become the country's first high-speed railway that uses artificial intelligence in its operation.

China Railway Gecent Technology, which runs a train wifi application, and Hangshaotai Railway, the project company, penned a cooperation agreement, The Paper reported. The route, slated for 2021, will connect the cities of Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou in eastern Zhejiang province.

AI may be applied to the construction and client services, CRGT's Chief Executive Pan Yunbin told The Paper. CRGT, a joint venture between China Railway Investment, Geely Holding Group and Tencent Holdings, offers rail transit passengers with wifi services, including those related to entertainment, food takeout, and e-commerce. 

The project investment has risen to CNY14.8 billion (USD2.2 billion) as nearly all of the land has been secured while about one-third of the construction is done, according to the same report. Hangshaotai still needs to invest CNY13 billion this year. The firm started building the largest planned station of Taizhou in late June.

AI will be deployed at stations. New technologies can reduce labor costs so lighting among other equipment in the stations will be managed by robots, Pan said. 

The Internet of Things and AI can improve passengers' travel experiences by diversifying and customizing them, said Wu Peirong, general manager of Hangshaotai, which was formed by China State Railway Group, Zhejiang's provincial government and a clutch of private firms led by conglomerate Fosun International.

Editor: Emmi Laine 

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:Hang-Shao-Tai Railway , China Railway Gecent Technology Co. , Smart Railway


ABOUT US|CONTACT US|CAREER|PRIVACY POLICY
© 2017 - 2018 Yicai Global, Yicai Media Group. All Rights Reserved.

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## JSCh

NEWS RELEASE 2-AUG-2019
*US and China should collaborate, not compete, to bring AI to healthcare*
SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE



​In the wake of the US government ordering the Chinese artificial intelligence company iCarbonX to divest its majority ownership stake in the Cambridge, Mass.-based company PatientsLikeMe, Eric Topol, M.D., of Scripps Research, argues for more, not less, collaboration between China and the U.S. on artificial intelligence development. *CREDIT: *Scripps Research

In the wake of the U.S. government ordering the Chinese artificial intelligence company iCarbonX to divest its majority ownership stake in the Cambridge, Mass.-based company PatientsLikeMe, Eric Topol, M.D., of Scripps Research, argues for more, not less, collaboration between China and the U.S. on artificial intelligence development.

In the latest edition of _Nature Biotechnology_, Topol co-authors the commentary article, titled "It Takes a Planet," with venture capitalist and artificial intelligence expert, Kai-Fu Li, Ph.D., CEO of the China-based tech investment firm Sinovation Ventures. They argue that the "global health benefits of international collaboration, although challenging to actualize, outweigh those of confrontation and competition."

They critique the forced divestiture of iCarbonX as misguided and harmful to the U.S. artificial intelligence sector. "Chinese academics and companies already have unfettered access to personal health data," they write. "To compete in AI health, U.S. companies will need access to clinical data on a similar scale. How will that be possible if the current isolationist policy continues?"

Topol and Li note that big data has irrevocably changed the landscape of medicine, with every individual representing vast amounts of medical information--genomic and otherwise--that no human can adequately process. This is occurring at a time when there are unacceptable levels of medical errors, inefficiency, waste, burnout and depression among clinicians, and high costs for medical care. In addition, they note that poor access to medical care among people living in rural areas increases inequities in healthcare.

"These problems mandate big thinking on how we can pool our resources to promote better health everywhere and for everyone," they write. "We have at our fingertips technology capable of analyzing petabytes of data. The difference now is that it is potentially achievable by capitalizing on the ability to analyze the data rather than capitulating to the challenge. Let us embrace this opportunity by working together collaboratively across the planet for the greater good of all."



US and China should collaborate, not compete, to bring AI to healthcare | EurekAlert! Science News

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## JSCh

23:06, 05-Aug-2019
*China's first 'land, sea and air' self-driving testing zone completed*
CGTN



CGTN Photo

China's first "land, sea and air" self-driving comprehensive testing area for intelligent connected vehicles (IVC), covering a closed testing area of 3.2 square kilometers in the Lingang area of Shanghai, is operational.

The newly built self-driving system demonstration area is equipped with the country's most comprehensive test scenarios and functions, which will provide vital data for future development of self-driving techniques and road conditions.

Since the recent opening of the testing center, the first of its kind in China, various vehicles have been put to the test.

One of the scenarios for self-driving trucks is the operation of autonomous docking.

Alley docking requires a specific process including proper vehicle speed control and braking to correctly back the vehicle into position for loading or unloading of containers in a port area to eliminate rough docking and related damage.

"Through this kind of environmental simulation, we want to better help artificial intelligence to energize the real economy," said Xue Jiancong, deputy general manager of TuSimple.

At the testing demonstration area, roads with a total length of 4.7 kilometers of different conditions were built. Dynamic scenarios include pedestrians crossing, obstacles on the road as well as other simulated scenarios such as light rain, moderate rain and rainstorms were set to test the sensitivity of self-driving sensing devices under various weather conditions.

With a total length of 500 meters, the tunnel at the demonstration area is the longest among the testing roads in China and was built to the national standard.

As vehicles enter the tunnel, they lose GPS signal and are tested on whether they can rely on their own sensory systems and inertial navigation.

The demonstration area will be opened to self-driving enterprises across China and provide services including self-driving testing methods research and data integration management.

"The scenes on the road are very abundant. Currently, we have accumulated more than 130 small scenes. We will make the scenes more complete according to, for example, the needs of the enterprises," said Zhou Anwu, test engineer of Shanghai Lingang Intelligent Connected Technology Research Center Company Limited.

Over one year since Lingang launched the construction of the "land, sea and air" self-driving system comprehensive demonstration area, the low-altitude navigable flight airspace, the one-square-kilometer Dishui Lake unmanned ship testing field and self-driving testing zone were launched in succession. The innovative platforms have already attracted a series of artificial intelligence enterprises of self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned vessels to gather around the Dishui Lake.

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## JSCh

*AI provides virtual hand in sorting trash*
By LIN SHUJUAN/HE QI | China Daily | Updated: 2019-08-17 07:11
















The AI automation trash bins. CHINA DAILY

Waste sorting is becoming less of a burden in China, especially with artificial intelligence helping streamline the process.

Shanghai enacted its compulsory waste sorting law on July 1, and announced a plan to expand AI's application in trash sorting as part of the city's attempt to become a national and global leader in the technology.

Shanghai, host of the 2019 World Artificial Intelligence Conference from Aug 29-31, announced the application scenario of AI-powered autonomous waste sorting on July 2 along with the expansion of 27 other new AI applications.

Trash bins that use AI to automatically sort and properly organize garbage have been set up in Shanghai's AIsland, a dedicated hub for AI innovation and application in Zhangjiang Science and Technology City, Pudong New Area. Established in May, the 66,000-square-meter hub is the first of its kind nationwide.

According to the scenario detailed in Shanghai Chengtou Holding Co's "application of AI technology in the classification of domestic waste", trash cans will eventually be able to distinguish between various kinds of waste and alarm users if they sort trash incorrectly. Garbage trucks will be able to identify different trash cans and process them accordingly. In waste disposal transfer stations, robots will collect recyclable trash and put it into recycling devices after inspecting it. Residents can also use apps to command robots to collect their trash.

Tao Junjie, director of Shanghai Chengtou's department of science, technology and information, said the company currently handles final disposal of waste.

"Improper disposal by households brings challenges to our final disposal. We hope AI can help improve waste sorting in the very beginning of trash disposal," Tao told Shanghai-based newspaper Jiefang Daily.

Jin Lei, founder of Alpheus Intelligence & IOT Technology Co in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, a company dedicated to AI-assisted waste sorting solutions, considered AI applications in the field as feasible to help China deal with its heaping trash challenge.

"Trash sorting is imperative in China. People are taking action but it will take quite a while for the culture to set in. We need AI to accelerate the process because we can't wait," Jin said.

In addition to waste sorting, the 28 new scenarios recently announced by Shanghai also cover many other fields such as smart buildings, smart businesses, smart driving and other scenarios that focus on tackling hard technological issues.

Officials said the scenarios will help create a comprehensive AI application cluster in Shanghai and the city will collect solutions from global AI companies to solve problems.

Wu Jincheng, chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, said the city will strive to open more application scenarios and encourage the latest achievements in AI.

With rich application scenarios, Shanghai has been vigorously promoting the development of AI in recent years, attracting industry leaders like Microsoft, IBM and Alibaba.

The city is eyeing a global AI hub with plans to expand the scale of its industry.

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## Menthol

It's crazy!

China put AI on everything, even a trashcan.

But truly a brilliant idea! A start of something big.

Sorting garbage is the impossible thing to do... if we put human psychology factor into it, not a nice job. Garbage has become a big problem for decades but unaware by the public. So many policies related to garbage are never successful and 100% effective. 

I think AI garbage sorting machine is the solution.

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## JSCh

*NEWS * *21 AUGUST 2019
*Will China lead the world in AI by 2030?*
The country’s artificial-intelligence research is growing in quality, but the field still plays catch up to the United States in terms of high-impact papers, people and ethics.

Sarah O’Meara


China’s huge population is helping the nation make great strides in facial-recognition technology.Credit: Gilles Sabrie/NYT/eyevine

China not only has the world’s largest population and looks set to become the largest economy — it also wants to lead the world when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI).

In 2017, the Communist Party of China set 2030 as the deadline for this ambitious AI goal, and, to get there, it laid out a bevy of milestones to reach by 2020. These include making significant contributions to fundamental research, being a favoured destination for the world’s brightest talents and having an AI industry that rivals global leaders in the field.

As this first deadline approaches, researchers note impressive leaps in the quality of China’s AI research. They also predict a shift in the nation’s ability to retain homegrown talent. That is partly because the government has implemented some successful retainment programmes and partly because worsening diplomatic and trade relations mean that the United States — its main rival when it comes to most things, including AI — has become a less-attractive destination.

“If America loses its openness edge, then the country risks pushing AI talents right back into the arms of its competitors, including China,” says AI analyst Joy Dantong Ma at the Paulson Institute, a think tank in Chicago, Illinois, aimed at fostering US–China relations.
​But observers warn that there are several factors that could stymie the nation’s plans, including a lack of contribution to the theories used to develop the tools underpinning the field, and a reticence by Chinese companies to invest in the research needed to make fundamental breakthroughs.

The country’s pursuit of AI domination is more than a symbolic race with the United States, say scientists. AI technologies promise advances in health care, transport and communications, and the nations that make fundamental breakthroughs in the field are likely to shape its future directions and reap the most benefits.

“There’s no doubt China sees AI as one of the critical technologies of this era and wants to match the United States,” says Jeffrey Ding, who studies China’s development of AI at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, UK.

The initiative unveiled in 2017, known as the _New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan_, has spurred myriad policies and billions of dollars of investment in research and development from ministries, provincial governments and private companies.

*Fundamental impact*
China is well on its way to making a significant impact, according to an analysis of the most-cited AI papers indexed on the scholarly search engine Microsoft Academic. The analysis, by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle, Washington, found that China has steadily increased its share of authorship of the top 10% most-cited papers. It’s share peaked at 26.5% in 2018, not far behind the United States, at 29%, and whose share is declining. If this trend continues, China could overtake the United States in this measure next year. Other analyses show that average citations for AI papers by authors in China have been steadily increasing and are above the world average, but lower than for papers by US authors.




China also has world-leading companies in computer vision, speech recognition and natural language processing, including SenseTime, Unisound, iFLYTEK and Face++, says Zheng Nanning, director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at Xi’an Jiaotong University.

But the country is still behind in shaping the core technological tools of AI. For instance, the open-source platforms TensorFlow and Caffe, developed by US academics and companies to design, build and train the sets of algorithms that enable computers to function more like the human brain, are widely used in industry and academia the world over. Yet PaddlePaddle, one of the major open-source platforms developed by Chinese company Baidu, is used mostly for the quick development of AI products, says Zheng.

China also lags behind in AI hardware, he says. Most of the world’s leading AI-enabled semiconductor chips are made by US companies such as Nvidia, Intel, Apple, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. “We also lack expertise in designing computing chips that can support advanced AI systems,” Zheng says.

Zheng predicts that it could take 5–10 years for China to reach the level of innovation in fundamental theories and algorithms occurring in the United States and the United Kingdom — but that it will get there.

Contributing to these fundamental theories and technologies will be key to China meeting its longer-term AI goals, says Kristin Shi-Kupfer, a political scientist at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think-tank in Berlin. Without progress in research to enable genuine breakthroughs in machine learning, there might be a ceiling to the growth that China can achieve in the field of AI, she says.

*Time for talent*
A factor that will be equally important to China’s progress — and in which there seems to be more promise — is the ability to hold onto talented researchers. According to the 2018 _China AI Development Report_, jointly written by academics and industry, by the end of 2017, China was home to the second-largest pool of AI scientists and engineers, about 18,200 people, ranking behind the United States, which had roughly 29,000. But China was just 6th in its number of top AI researchers — the most productive and highly cited authors, based on their h-index.




Ma says that computer scientists have typically trained in the United States and then stayed there to work for global technology companies.

There are signs that the situation is changing, however. AI institutes in China are trying to lure some of these researchers back to the mainland with high salaries. At Zheng’s robotics centre, for example, some of the professors are paid to 2–3 times more than others at the university, he says.

Zheng says that the centre also offers a more holistic evaluation system for staff than is found at many Chinese universities, which tend to reward high publication rates over other criteria. He has also implemented a hiring system that bypasses centralized university procedures and allows scientists to build teams of engineers quickly, and now runs undergraduate courses in AI.

*The art of deployment*
China’s plan to have globally leading AI companies by 2020 is also within reach, given the growing expertise of its three core tech companies, Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba, says Ding. “These companies have become global leaders in AI, although they are still not in the same tier as US companies, such as Google and Microsoft,” he says.

China also has at least ten privately owned AI start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion, including facial-recognition firm SenseTime, according to the research company CB Insights in New York.

Ma says that a big advantage for China is the size of its population, which creates a large potential workforce and unique opportunities to train AI systems, including large patient data sets for training software to predict disease. In February, Chinese researchers showed that their natural language processing system could diagnose common childhood conditions from electronic health records with comparable accuracy to experienced paediatricians1. The data set included nearly 600,000 children visiting a single hospital; accessing that amount of data would be difficult in many other countries.

*AI law unto China*
If China is to have global influence in the field of AI, it is also important that it has proper governance, says Ma, because this will allow researchers and companies in China to build the trust necessary to gain users across the world — and to build collaborations with researchers in other countries. Like many countries, China has begun the process of setting ethical principles for its development and use of AI. If Chinese companies don’t promise good governance, they won’t be allowed access to global data, says Ma. “It’s in their interest to play fair.”

In June, the National New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Governance Committee released eight principles to be observed by those working in AI development. These include harmony, fairness and justice, respect for privacy, safety, transparency, accountability and collaboration, and are similar to those released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in May, says Ding.

But the ethical issues can vary from country to country. China, for instance, has attracted criticism from human-rights advocates over alleged uses of facial recognition technology to track members of the Uighur people, a predominantly Muslim community in Xinjiang. That said, Chinese authorities are not alone in using AI for law enforcement — the US Federal Bureau of Investigation uses face recognition technology as part of its investigations.

One of the key challenges faced by all groups is transparency in how algorithms make decisions. But there are no agreed standards for this, so China, like many countries, is still working out how to proceed. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which gives users the right to ask how an algorithm comes to its decision when it relates to their own lives, is an example of good AI governance, says Ma.

Nature 572, 427-428 (2019)

doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-02360-7


Will China lead the world in AI by 2030? | Nature

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## Galactic Penguin SST

*Chinese murder suspect ‘caught by AI software that spotted dead person’s face’*

23 Aug, 2019

A man accused of murdering his girlfriend in southeast China was caught after facial recognition software suggested he had tried to scan a dead person’s face to apply for a loan.

...
Zhang is also accused of pretending to be the unnamed victim and contacting her employers via her WeChat account to ask for time off work.
...
When he arrived in his hometown of Sanming the next day, police said he tried to apply for a loan using an app called Money Station, which uses artificial intelligence to verify the applicants’ identity and asks them to wink to help the process along.

But the facial recognition technology found no signs of eye movement.

Staff at the lender contacted police after a manual check found bruises on the unnamed woman’s face and a thick red mark around her neck.
...

Its voice recognition software also detected that it was a man, rather than a woman, applying for the loan.



https://www.scmp.com/news/china/soc...spect-caught-ai-software-spotted-dead-persons


*Commentary*

This man would have been caught anyway, having left too many clues behind him, starting from the street CCTV (disguised as "traffic enforcement cameras"), and all the cellphone base stations...

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## JSCh

18:16, 15-Sep-2019
*Why can China lead in 5G and AI sectors?*
CGTN




Thirty-two percent of the Chinese firms have successfully adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their business process, followed by the United States (22 percent) and the European Union (estimated 18 percent), according to a 2019 report from U.S.-based think tank Center for Data Innovation (CDI).

AI research is increasingly gaining traction in a growing number of countries because AI is thought to be the foundation of next generation technology. A lot of hinges on AI development: competitiveness of companies, increase in industrial productivity, protection of national security and solving social challenges.

5G, which is expected to support various kinds of AI applications in the future, is also one of the hottest and most competitive fields today. China, without a doubt, has a leg up on other countries, after a number of European nations adopted its standard and technology as their first choice in 5G deployment.



VCG Photo

*Far-sighted national strategy*

China's strategy for the cutting-edge technologies was set several years ago under the framework of the "13th Five-Year Plan" (2016-2020) and "Made in China 2025," two state-level initiatives supporting the country's technology innovation.

After losing the battleground in the 1G and 2G eras, playing catch-up in 3G and 4G mobile technologies, China has been invested in the development of the 5G network to be a leading innovator.

In 2013 when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), along with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, jointly founded the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, companies, telecom operators and tech researchers teamed up with peers from the U.S. Europe, Japan, and South Korea to push forward the formulation of a global unified 5G standard.

In 2017, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang highlighted 5G as one of the emerging industries to be accelerated in his government work report. The same year, the MIIT issued the 5G Development Guidance document to make 5G an important infrastructure for China's economic and social development.

"Chinese operators see their job as implementing government policy, whereas most global telecom companies try to balance competitive factors and will naturally invest at a slower pace," Chris Lane, a research analyst for investment management firm Sanford C. Bernstein, told the MIT Technology Review.



VCG Photo

*Financial input*

China has already invested over 100 billion U.S. dollars in 4G from 2013 to 2018, according to Goldman Sachs, and is expected to invest another 150 billion U.S. dollars in its 5G network through 2025.

The domestic AI industry has attracted 60 percent of all global investment from 2013 to the first quarter of 2018, a report from Tsinghua University shows. In addition, the MIIT plans to allocate 950 million U.S. dollars annually to fund strategic AI projects.

China's AI market will reach 11.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2023, up from 1.76 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, according to IDC's latest report in May.

But from a comprehensive perspective, China still lags behind in terms of AI basic research, talent pool and hardware development – though this is set to change.

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## JSCh

*First AI bus debuts in Shanghai with customized services*
By Ji Yuqiao Source:Global Times Published: 2019/9/17 21:23:40



China's first AI custom bus. Photo: Courtesy of Alipay

China's first AI custom bus debuted in Shanghai on Tuesday. Its services include customized routes, making the bus as convenient as a cab, only much cheaper, according to the makers.

Passengers book online. The 40-seat bus waits at the appointed place between a fixed start and finish. Then the bus takes passengers where they want.

The AI bus, which was researched by Alipay, can save 30 percent on commuting time over a traditional bus and a one-way ticket is 16 yuan ($2.3).

Seeking to avoid too many passengers on one vehicle, the bus boasts a data platform that monitors the number of buses on the road, the amount and flow of passengers in real time with AI technology.

The bus has more than 100 routes in the city designed by AI analysis technology, according to an Alipay spokesperson.

Bus companies can plan routes according to a growing database on passengers' needs, said the staff member, who only gave her surname as Wang.

The 40 seats can be 80 percent occupied at morning peak rush hour, Wang said.

Custom buses have long existed, but AI buses that analyze real-time data from mobile map platforms to screen passengers' travel demands is new, she said.

Such AI buses might cover the whole country in the next three years.

A 25-year-old Shanghai white collar worker told the Global Times on Tuesday that if she had the opportunity, she would choose the bus for her daily commute.

"It will save time and it's cheaper than taxis. I was told the bus can even keep away from traffic jams through AI: much better than traditional buses," said the woman, who only gave the surname of Li.

A pregnant caller to Radio Shanghai said she too preferred the new AI bus.

"Through booking tickets online, I can have my own seat every day during the commute. It is convenient and safe for me," she told the station.

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## JSCh

*Chinese scientists develop AI-powered cancer diagnosis system*
By Li Wenfang in Guangzhou | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-10-09 16:29














Chinese scientists have developed an artificial intelligence-powered system for diagnosing upper gastrointestinal cancers through the analysis of endoscopic imaging data.

The system, based on data from more than 50,000 endoscopic images of upper gastrointestinal cancer patients and over 120,000 endoscopic images of non-patients, has registered a 96 percent accuracy rate in diagnosing upper gastrointestinal cancers and 90 percent accuracy in diagnosing such cancers at an early stage.

In the research led by Xu Ruihua, president of the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, the system examined more than 1.036 million endoscopic images of 84,424 upper gastrointestinal cancer patients in six hospitals.

An article on the research was published in international science journal Lancet Oncology earlier this month.

This Gastrointestinal Artificial Intelligence Diagnostic System (GRAIDS) was capable of analyzing as many as 118 images per second.

The research team also developed a computer-aided detection (CAD) system for real-time identification of upper gastrointestinal cancerous lesions in routine endoscopic examinations.

The computer with the CAD system was connected to an endoscopy unit, allowing for fully automated diagnostic assistance during endoscopic examinations.

The research team also constructed a cloud-based, multi-institutional AI-fuled platform for patients requiring upper gastrointestinal endoscopies.

It made available a website to provide free access to GRAIDS, allowing clinicians and patients to upload endoscopic images and get a second opinion from GRAIDS.

An open-access endoscopic image database was also made available on the website, which may be useful both for training endoscopists and to researchers in the field of endoscopy and AI-aided medical imaging.

Upper gastrointestinal cancers, including oesophageal cancer and gastric cancer, kill 400,000 patients in China every year.

Most upper gastrointestinal cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages because their signs and symptoms tend to be latent and non-specific, leading to poor prognoses.

In countries with an unbalanced distribution of medical resources between urban and rural areas, GRAIDS can help bridge the cancer diagnosis gap between national hospitals and primary care hospitals, according to the article in _Lancet Oncology_.

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## JSCh

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1182161604160282624

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## JSCh

*Chinese researchers develop evaluation system for infant vision*
Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-24 21:07:24|Editor: huaxia



File photo shows babies at a baby race in Xiangyang, central China's Hubei Province. (Xinhua/Yang Dong)

*The system can be used for the screening of infant visual functions as well as the timely detection of infant visual impairments.*

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed an intelligent system for evaluating infant vision with deep learning technology, according to the China Science Daily Thursday.

Researchers from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-sen University developed the system based on the behavioral changes of visually impaired infants. The system can be used for the screening of infant visual functions as well as the timely detection of infant visual impairments.

Researchers video-recorded the behavioral patterns of 4,196 infants who experienced varying degrees of visual loss and developed a deep learning algorithm trained with the videos to find out how vision loss is associated with behavioral changes.

They identified a quantitative relationship between the frequency of more than 10 behavioral patterns and the severity of visual impairment.

The results showed that video recording of behavioral patterns can help evaluate infants' visual function. Compared with traditional detection methods, the system has higher feasibility and accuracy, which has less demand for infant cooperation.

The research also offers a reference for further exploration of the visual development of infants and young children, according to the report.

The research was published in the journal _Nature Biomedical Engineering_.

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## JSCh

DECEMBER 6, 2019
*AI judges and verdicts via chat app: the brave new world of China's digital courts*
by Kelly Wang

Artificial-intelligence judges, cyber-courts, and verdicts delivered on chat apps—welcome to China's brave new world of justice spotlighted by authorities this week.

China is encouraging digitisation to streamline case-handling within its sprawling court system using cyberspace and technologies like blockchain and cloud computing, China's Supreme People's Court said in a policy paper.

The efforts include a "mobile court" offered on popular social media platform WeChat that has already handled more than three million legal cases or other judicial procedures since its launch in March, according to the Supreme People's Court.


...

https://techxplore.com/news/2019-12-ai-verdicts-chat-app-brave.html

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## JSCh

*'AI Robot' on the prowl to fight internet fraud*
China Daily | Updated: 2019-12-17 09:33



[Photo/VCG]
*
Online service warns potential victims about suspicious activity via voice, text*

An artificial intelligence service designed to prevent people from being defrauded was unveiled on Monday after a successful pilot program.

Called the AI Robot, the online service－released by the criminal investigation bureau of the Ministry of Public Security and designed by internet giant Alibaba－can warn residents about suspicious online activity through its voice or text system.

For example, if police detect that a phone number is frequently used by con artists, the service will call potential victims, warning them that information they received about money transfers is fraudulent. According to the bureau, people can see a special anti-fraud number for the police on their phone.

"The AI technology can help us save manpower and improve our work efficiency, and it can also keep people out of fraud traps more quickly than we can," said Liu Zhongyi, the bureau's head.

The service has successfully aided police in preventing more than 3,000 people each day from being swindled since the pilot program was launched in some public security bureaus on Nov 15, Liu said.

The service has been extended across the country since Monday.

"If residents ignore the robot's warning or do not believe the robot, we'll call the potential victims via our telephone number to save them from the fraud," said Zhao Wei, a police officer from an anti-fraud center under the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

As for those likely tricked by swindlers, Zhao said she and her colleagues would talk to them or help them face-to-face.

"Our aim is to prevent people from being cheated as quickly as we can and to help them reduce or avoid economic loss," she added.

Zheng Junfang, chief platform governance officer of Alibaba, said they technological innovations to assist police officers in fighting fraud and ensuring public security, "because combating fraud requires effort from all walks of life".

On Monday, several internet and technology companies including Qihoo 360, China's largest security software provider, and Xiaomi Corp, a Chinese smartphone maker, also joined the fraud fight.

Fighting telecom and online fraud as well as infringements of personal information has been a priority for public security departments in recent years, especially after Xu Yuyu, an 18-year-old college-bound student, died of cardiac arrest in 2016 after she found out she had been conned out of 9,900 yuan ($1,410) she had saved for her college tuition.

Since this year, police nationwide have solved about 162,000 cases related to telecom or online fraud and caught 139,000 suspects, up 42 percent and 93 percent year-on-year respectively, according to Liu.

Since January, Beijing police have intensified their fight against cybercrimes, especially those using computers or technologies to infringe on people's privacy and commit online fraud, a statement from the Beijing Public Security Bureau said.

The city's police have solved more than 7,800 internet-related cases and caught more than 8,600 suspects, it added.

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## Stranagor

*China's Canaan to Release Its Second AI Chip This Year*

PENG HAIBIN
DATE : JAN 15 2020/SOURCE : YICAI






China's Canaan to Release Its Second AI Chip This Year

,(Yicai Global) Jan. 15 --* Canaan Creative, the world's second-largest maker of cryptocurrency mining hardware, will launch its second-generation artificial intelligence chip later this year as the Chinese firm diversifies into supercomputing.*

With more than 90 percent of its earnings coming from sales of Bitcoin mining machines, the Beijing-based company's financial results and stock price are closely linked to the price of Bitcoin.

But with only a limited number of the coins available, Canaan is keen to change that and distance itself from the cryptocurrency, founder and Chief Executive Zhang Nangeng told Yicai Global at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Hence the push into AI chips. These are chips that are technologically advanced enough to perform machine learning tasks, eliminating the need for human control.

Canaan's first-generation AI chip, the Kendryte K210, was released in September 2018. After overcoming a few technical setbacks, it is now being used in such application scenarios as access control, smart zones, smart home appliances, smart energy consumption and smart agriculture.

There is still room for improvement, Zhang said. Many customers don't have the expertise to directly use AI chips, so the company needs to provide overall solutions such as algorithm optimization and product module implementation. So far, just 40 to 50 staff out of 300 are involved in its chip business.

Zhang expects revenue from AI chips to match the company's conventional mining hardware unit in about two years' time. Canaan's first half revenue last year came to CNY280 million (USD40.6 million).

Canaan listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange last November, raising USD90 million and becoming the first crypto mining machine maker to go public. Shares of the company have fallen 32 percent to a closing price of USD6.14 each yesterday from an initial offering price of USD9.

https://yicaiglobal.com/news/china-canaan-to-release-its-second-ai-chip-this-year


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## k s ahmed

Very good progress. But sadly this might only be used to suppress the other humans. 

They never caught a theif ever using cameras.

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## JSCh

Nature
Peng Yao, Huaqiang Wu, Bin Gao, Jianshi Tang, Qingtian Zhang, Wenqiang Zhang, He Qian (Tsinghua University), J. Joshua Yang (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Tsinghua University​
*Novel memristor-enabled computation in memory architecture could revolutionize artificial-intelligence hardware*
Conventional computing hardware are inefficient to tackle data-intensive artificial-intelligence tasks due to the underlying von Neumann architecture restriction.

23 hours ago by Tsinghua University

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revived these years because of the development of deep learning algorithms, which perform excellently in computer vision tasks (e.g. image recognition, detection) and nature language processing (e.g. machine translation, text generation). This is promising to revolutionize our society to enter an intelligent era. However, the fundamental computing hardware still face severe efficiency-issue when tackling these AI tasks, due to the limitations from the underlying von Neumann architecture. The frequent data shuffling between the separated computing and memory units accounts for large latency and power consumption in dealing with the data-intensive algorithms, which seriously limits the practical applications.

Memristor-enabled computation in memory (CIM) architecture is considered as a promising approach to substantially address the von Neumann bottleneck. Memristor is a kind of electrically synaptic device whose conductance could be easily modulated by applying appropriate voltages between the top and bottom electrodes. Organizing memristors in crossbar array and inputting the encoded voltage signals, the multiply-accumulate (MAC) computing, which is the key operation in deep neural networks, could be executed naturally in a physical manner (owing to basic Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s current law). Moreover, the massive MAC operations could be conducted in a parallel way within the memristor crossbars, where the calculating happens at the data-storage location. This emerging hardware with CIM architecture could strongly boost the computing efficiency in terms of the deep learning tasks and offer solid support for the wide AI scenarios from cloud to edge.



The schematic of multiple memristor-crossbar chips working jointly. The compact memristor crossbar arrays could realize parallel computation in memory naturally to go beyond von Neumann architecture. Credit: Huaqiang Wu’s Research Group

Recently, Prof. Huaqiang Wu’s research team from Tsinghua University reported the up-to-date breakthrough regarding the CIM in _Nature _journal, titled as “Fully hardware-implemented memristor convolutional neural network” (authored by P. Yao et al). In this work, hybrid training and spatial parallel computing techniques are proposed and demonstrated in a fully hardware-implemented CIM system to efficiently realize a convolutional neural network (CNN). The CIM system could beat its counterparts by achieving an energy efficiency more than two orders of magnitude greater than that of graphics-processing units.

Professor Huaqiang Wu, the corresponding author of this paper, comments: “Memristor device is capable to be scaled down to 2nm size. With the help of 3D process, we could further realize an incredible device integrating density in a chip as the synapses in the brain. Nowadays, researchers tend to investigate the computation in memory system based on single-array macro and mostly focus on the fully-connected structure. However, in practical applications, we must have multiple arrays or cores to run a more complicated neural network, such as the convolutional neural networks. The challenges would be different in multiple-array system with the single array case, and the convolutional operations are still inefficient in this novel computation in memory system.”​
In this research, a versatile memristor-based computing architecture was proposed for neural networks, and accordingly, eight 2K memristor crossbar arrays were integrated to implement the system. Especially, the team optimized the device stacks and developed a fabricating process which is compatible with current foundry process. The fabricated memristor arrays exhibit uniform multilevel resistive switching under identical programming conditions.



The photo of the hardware system with multiple memristor crossbar arrays. Credit: Huaqiang Wu’s Research Group

Mr. Peng Yao, the first author of this paper, comments: “When deploying a complete CNN into the multiple memristor arrays, the system performance would degrade due to the inherent device non-ideal characteristics within and between arrays. Conventional ex-situ training method could not address this problem with acceptable cost, and tuning all memristor weights by in-situ training method is hindered by the device nonlinearity and asymmetry and sophisticated peripheral modules.”​
The non-ideal device characteristics are considered as the substantial hurdles to result in the system performance degradation. To circumvent various non-ideal factors, a hybrid training method is proposed to implement the memristor-based CNN (mCNN). In the hybrid training, the ex-situ trained weights are firstly transferred to the memristor arrays, and in the next phase, only a part of the memristor weights are in-situ trained to recovery the system accuracy loss due to device non-ideal characteristics. In this paper, only the last FC layer is in-situ trained to reduce the hardware expense.

Meanwhile, in mCNN, the memristor-based convolutional operations are time-consuming due to the need to feed different patches of input during the sliding process. In this manner, the team proposed a spatial parallel technique by replicating the same kernels to different groups of memristor arrays. Different memristor arrays could deal with different input data in a parallel way and expedite convolutional sliding tremendously. The device non-ideal characteristics could incur the random transferring errors in different memristor groups regarding the same kernels, therefore, hybrid training method is adopted at the same time.



The system introduction. (a) Schematic of the system architecture with eight integrated memristor PE units and other functional blocks. (b) The structure of the five-layer mCNN for MNIST image recognition. Credit: Huaqiang Wu’s Research Group

The methods and experiments in the multiple memristor-array system are momentous for both fundamental studies and diverse applications. It suggests that for CIM system, the device non-ideal characteristics at the bottom level could be effectively addressed by the strategies at the system level. The proposed hybrid training method and spatial parallel technique at system-level have shown to be scalable to larger networks like ResNET, and they could be extrapolated to more general memristor-based CIM systems.

Professor Huaqiang Wu is positive and enthusiastic: “The hybrid-training method is a generic system-level solution that accommodates non-ideal device characteristics across different memristor crossbars for various neural networks, regardless of the type of memristive devices. Similarly, the spatial parallel technique could be generally extended to other computation in memory systems to efficiently enhance their overall performance. We expect that the proposed approach will enable the development of more powerful memristor-based neuromorphic systems, and finally revolutionize artificial-intelligence hardware”.​
Novel memristor-enabled computation in memory architecture could revolutionize artificial-intelligence hardware | SciGlow

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## Stranagor

*Shanghai Enlists AI in War Against Coronavirus*

TANG SHIHUA
DATE : FEB 05 2020/SOURCE : YICAI





Shanghai Enlists AI in War Against Coronavirus

(Yicai Global) Feb. 5 -- Shanghai today officially launched its novel coronavirus pneumonia smart evaluation system that uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to help clinicians efficiently and accurately diagnose and make medical decisions about this deadly new disease.

Preliminary examination of more than 70 patients' conditions show that the results of this intelligent evaluation mechanism are highly consistent with those of experts at the city's Public Health Clinical Center, Shanghai Observer reported. The system can complete a quantitative analysis in only two to three seconds, whereas a manual evaluation by doctors can often take two to three hours, or even longer.

Local AI startup Yitu Technology developed this new medical tool, which applies the new technologies to analyze, evaluate and predict the prognosis of virus-induced lesions in lung CT images, under the guidance of the city's public health center, which commissioned it. 

"Many employees are working into the wee hours every day," said Dr. Shi Lei, vice president of Yitu's healthcare division, referring to the more than 100 research and development staff who gave up their Spring Festival holiday and toiled day and night to bring the new breakthrough technology to fruition.

"This smart system will be popularized and used in designated hospitals across the country after more clinical verification," stated Shi Yuxin, deputy director of the public health center.

https://yicaiglobal.com/news/shanghai-enlists-ai-in-war-against-coronavirus


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