China's Race for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technology

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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).

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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)