China has used the "Wu Dao" system, which attempts to simulate the human brain and has made a leap in the world of machine learning, and made China's capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence outperform its counterparts in the world.
The British Economist magazine said in a report that the "Wu Dao" self-learning system is at the heart of China's policy to make artificial intelligence technology the core of its technological and economic plan that it first announced in 2017, a plan that raised Western governments' concern about the uses of artificial intelligence. The illegal use of artificial intelligence technology in areas such as surveillance and wars, especially as this technology has become excited by investors, who want to seize the huge commercial opportunities offered by this technology.
As examples of the implementation of that plan;
The report stated that jd.com, an e-commerce company, operates one of the world's most advanced automated warehouses near Shanghai, and Baidu, the Chinese search giant, was launched last May. Self-driving cars in Beijing SenseTime has launched smart surveillance cameras that track traffic accidents and illegally parked cars, and deployed them in more than 100 cities in China and abroad.
According to the report;
China deploys more AI-based industrial robots than any other country. As a result, the top 5 Chinese AI companies are valued at nearly $120 billion;
The market value of the Chinese company, Hikvision, is $60 billion, while the value of SenseTime, which was put up for public subscription in Hong Kong on December 30, is $28 billion, and investments amounted to $60 billion. There will be about $10 billion in unlisted AI startups in 2020, according to the Artificial Intelligence Index report published by the Stanford Institute.
SenseTime predicts that revenue from AI-based image recognition software could reach 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) by 2025, up from 24 billion yuan in 2021, the report said.
China deploys more artificial intelligence-based industrial robots than any other country (Getty Images)
The report noted that although China has made progress in the field of artificial intelligence, it is almost certain that it still lags behind America in terms of investment and cutting-edge innovation;
In 2020, three years after the master plan was developed, Chinese AI companies have received less than half the investment of their American counterparts, and all public and private money flowing into the sector will likely go to waste.
China's goals
The report pointed out that Beijing's master plan for artificial intelligence set a number of goals;
For example, by 2025, the country's revenue from this industry is expected to reach 400 billion yuan ($64 billion), not to mention that it will make "huge technological breakthroughs" and dominate the industry in the next five years with sales of up to 1 trillion yuan.
The report reviewed the means of the ruling party in China to achieve the plan;
The Ministry of Science and Technology has instructed tech giants in China with existing projects in some AI sub-disciplines — such as medical image recognition firm Tencent and self-driving Baidu — to double their research.
The report indicated that the policy of ignoring risks involves spending a lot of public funds, whether by providing tax exemptions to these companies or subsidies, such as the "Little Giants" program developed by the Chinese government to sponsor 10,000 promising startups in various sectors, including artificial intelligence. Even in poorer provinces such as Liaoning, local governments have offered similar incentives to AI firms.
The report showed that the state invests in artificial intelligence companies directly;
The central government operates many technology investment vehicles, and local governments are increasingly creating their own companies, often backed by billions of dollars;
The coastal city of Tianjin, for example, announced the creation of an artificial intelligence fund worth $16 billion in 2018.
The report said that government capital has helped fill the gap left by foreign investors who fear US sanctions against some of the AI firms favored by China, which are seen as too close to the ruling party.
For example, a fund managed by China's Cyberspace Administration has acquired an undisclosed stake in SenseTime, which was hit last month with US sanctions over its alleged involvement in the government's suppression of the Uighur minority, while SenseTime says the sanctions are based on a "misconception." for her business.
According to the report, the mixed-ownership reform fund represents $200 million of the $765 million the company previously raised in the initial public offering, and local governments have injected another $220 million.
Baidu, the Chinese search giant, launched last May self-driving cars in Beijing (Reuters)
wasted money
The report went on to explain the government's assistance - in addition to the ability to access a large number of public data - in transforming Chinese companies for artificial intelligence into centers of power in some areas;
According to consultancy Bain, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in June was providing 62 AI-powered services, from voice recognition to video analytics, compared to 47 services provided by Microsoft. (Microsoft), its closest Western competitor.
The report added that SenseTime and Megvii produce large-scale computer vision software and hardware that can be adapted and installed in individual factories. dollars) in foreign revenue in 2020, compared to 319 million yuan ($50 million) two years ago, which was mostly from Southeast Asia.
The report emphasized that despite these successes, the artificial intelligence industry in China lags behind the West in several important matters.
Including that it produces a lot of research related to artificial intelligence - and even more than America - but most of it is not reviewed by similar institutions that include academic writers and specialized companies, and it is not presented at conferences, and it ranks lower than India and America, as well as with regard to the number of skilled programmers artificial intelligence for its inhabitants.
The report indicated that there are 3 reasons that contribute to the persistence of these shortcomings: first, that capital may not be allocated efficiently;
For example, it is unclear how much of the $16 billion Tianjin fund has actually been published.
China's second problem - according to the report - is its inability to recruit the best human minds in the world, especially those who work in the field of high-level research;
A study published in 2020 by the Macropolo think tank, based in Chicago, showed that more than half of the high-level researchers in the field were working outside their home countries.
The report said that America and Europe seem most attractive to such minds, including many Chinese;
Because while about a third of the world's best AI talent is from China, only a tenth of them work there, which hampers China's research capabilities, said Matt Sheehan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.
The report pointed out that the third problem is that the Chinese government ignored in its plan advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence;
Since their publication, Chinese companies have found it more difficult to obtain advanced computer chips, because nearly all of these microprocessors are either American or made from American equipment, which are thus subject to restrictions on exports to China set by former US President Donald Trump and extended by his successor, Joe Biden.
The report concluded by saying that these challenges will continue to hamper all of China's high-tech industries, and leave their AI companies stranded;
It is successfully producing relatively under-developed products, while tracking Europe and America in paradigm-changing developments of greater financial and strategic value.