Baidu optimistic China to lead World AI development

China has world’s most competitive environment for the development and application of artificial intelligence, or AI, as local companies scramble to experiment with new ideas and benefit from the country's huge user base, according to Yaqin Zhang, president of China’s tech giant Baidu.

“We’re getting into the AI revolution and China has a chance to lead not only in parts manufacturing but also in technology and research,” said Mr. Zhang, during an interview with CGTN’s World Insight on the sidelines of this year's Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as summer Davos.

Firstly, though China embraces AI technologies only in recent years, the country has abundant accumulation of data, especially from the mobile internet. It’s an advantage for research and development.

The country has 700 million Internet users, 93 percent of whom use mobile phones to go online. Half of all smartphone users have downloaded Baidu Map, and many use the Baidu mobile search app.

Secondly, traditional industries in China regard the new technology as a key advantage for them, thus presenting a huge consumer market for application.

“If you talk to any store owners, manufacturing companies, they actually want to use new technology. that is amazing,” said Zhang.

China, teeming with a huge population, has enjoyed remarkable success in the development of AI that led to the emergence of homegrown tech giants.

Baidu is one of them. Earlier this year, the Chinese government appointed Baidu to lead the country’s new National Engineering Lab of Deep Learning Technology and Application.

The company is now working to make its latest AI technology accessible to developers and businesses as part of the company's latest move into AI, big data and cloud computing. Developers can access facial or voice recognition, algorithms for data analysis and projections, and deep learning applications.

“For AI I believe openness is important. It’s important to open a lot of the algorithms, source code and data. That’s what Baidu is doing,” Zhang added.

Dr. Yaqin Zhang is currently in charge of Baidu’s technology, emerging business, and global business operations. He is in China’s northeastern city of Dalian to attend the 2017 Summer Davos forum, which runs from June 27-29.