Since 2011, advances in information technologies including big data, cloud computing, the Internet and the Internet of Things, together with ubiquitous sensing data and computing platforms such as graphics processing units (GPUs), have driven the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies represented by deep neural networks, bringing diversified AI application scenarios.

The fast-evolving AI technology is quietly shaping people’s lives. Service robots such as floor-cleaning robots, cooking robots and delivery robots are closely integrated into daily life. The adoption of service robots will continuously improve people’s quality of life, which is exactly what people strive for.

Beyond daily life, artificial intelligence also plays an indispensable role in boosting social production and economic growth.

AI Value in the Digital Economy

China attaches great importance to the development of the AI sector. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan sets out the policy of 'fostering new strengths in the digital economy', and highlights the important value of emerging digital industries such as artificial intelligence in enhancing national competitiveness.

From 2011 to 2020, China’s output of high-level AI papers maintained steady growth. Research achievements including the R-CNN algorithm and novel approaches to neural machine translation were accomplished. In terms of the country distribution of high-level research papers, China ranked second with 22,686 AI papers, only after the United States and far ahead of other nations.

From 2011 to 2020, the total number of global AI patent applications reached 521,264. China filed 389,571 AI patents, ranking first worldwide and accounting for 74.7% of the global total, 8.2 times the volume of the United States, which ranked second.

According to the latest report from Tortoise Intelligence, total AI investment hit USD 77.5 billion in 2021, representing a 115% increase from USD 36 billion in 2020.

Latest data from IDC shows that global AI revenue was projected to rise 19.6% year-on-year to USD 432.8 billion in 2022 and exceed the USD 500 billion threshold in 2023. China’s AI industry market size maintained rapid growth with strong industry prosperity. The core AI industry reached an estimated scale of RMB 199.8 billion in 2021. By 2026, the core AI industry is expected to surpass RMB 600 billion, driving an associated industrial scale of RMB 2.1077 trillion.

At present, the AI+ sector model has formed a virtuous commercial loop where technology drives products and products empower core industries. Among various application scenarios, sectors such as security, intelligent vehicles, new retail and education have achieved relatively mature deployment. AI applications have evolved from cost reduction and efficiency improvement to tapping new industrial growth potential, jointly building digital business models. AI is gradually shifting from a helpful supplement to industrial development into a core competitiveness for industrial digital transformation. Most enterprises and industries are integrating AI into their core business workflows to leverage AI’s technical strengths and explore new business growth points.

The targeted application of AI technologies in security monitoring and public security data sectors effectively addresses traditional pain points such as massive data volumes and analytical difficulties.

Keep Pace with the Times and Prioritize the Development of the AI Industry

Following the release of top-level national plans, Guangzhou issued the Guangzhou Digital Economy Promotion Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). The Regulations took effect on June 1, 2022, marking China’s first local municipal regulation on the digital economy.

Against the backdrop of a globally intelligent economy, prioritizing the development of the artificial intelligence industry can effectively boost economic growth. Statistics show that the term 'artificial intelligence' appears 17 times in the Regulations.

Artificial intelligence has penetrated key links of economic and production activities. AI can be found in multiple corporate workflows including design, production, management, marketing and sales. With the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, online, digital and intelligent government services have become an inevitable trend. In this context, Guangzhou’s strong emphasis on AI development is keeping up with the times.

Integrated Development of Green AI and the Digital Economy

Li Yanhong, founder of Baidu, put forward the concept of Green AI during the 2022 Two Sessions. He argued that guided by China’s 2030 carbon peaking and 2060 carbon neutrality goals, more environmentally-friendly 'Green AI' should be developed. On one hand, green computing power should be developed to optimize technical workflows and reduce energy consumption of data centers. On the other hand, greener algorithms should be created to build green and intensive large models and improve the energy efficiency ratio of infrastructure.

AI + Internet: Driving the Transformation and Upgrading of Manufacturing

Manufacturing, which plays a vital role in the national economy, is currently confronted with multiple challenges: poor matching between supply and market demand, risks to the stability of industrial and supply chains, and tightening constraints on resources and the environment. AI plus the Internet enables comprehensive collection of data from equipment, personnel, raw materials and other sources. Enterprises can migrate to the cloud for in-depth data analysis, so as to realize the accumulation and reuse of industrial knowledge and accelerate corporate digital transformation.

AI + Metaverse: Building Immersive Interactive Environments

Leveraging technologies such as computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing and intelligent speech, artificial intelligence can enhance the high immersion and diversity of the entire metaverse. Interaction sits at the core of the metaverse. The development of AI tools like universal machine translation brings the metaverse closer to people’s ideal vision and attracts more users to metaverse social scenarios. Social demands within the metaverse also drive advances in AI technology.

With continuous in-depth research and development in artificial intelligence, the digital economy will further expand, and the digital transformation of manufacturing will accelerate. In the future, artificial intelligence will take on a new form of 'AI+ for everything', delivering brand-new experiences that are more efficient, secure and convenient.