Beijing, May 28 (Xinhua) - Visitors to the 2023 Zhongguancun Forum exhibition are being welcomed by various robots providing services such as delivery, reception, guidance, and information inquiry, showcasing the diverse range of artificial intelligence (AI) applications driven by Chinese enterprises. This reflects China's initiatives to expedite AI applications for propelling and augmenting the real economy.

China's Leading Role in AI Development and Promoting AI Applications

In August 2022, China promised to promote AI applications across 10 scenarios such as agriculture, mining, autonomous driving, and medical services to advance AI applications and foster a new growth point for the national economy. Thanks to these policies, China has become a leading country in AI development in recent years. By 2022, the country had outperformed the rest of the world in the number of patent applications filed for AI technologies, with the core AI industry size surging beyond 500 billion yuan (about 70.66 billion U.S. dollars) and more than 4,200 significant enterprises in operation, accounting for approximately 16 percent of the global total.

China and the US Lead in Large AI Model Development

Since 2020, China has been experiencing rapid development in terms of large AI models. By now, the number of large AI models published in China and the United States adds up to more than 80 percent of the world totals, according to Zhao Zhiyun, Director of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China.

AI Applications Must Be Implemented in Diverse Sectors of the Real Economy

"AI has developed into the nucleus of human innovation, and the era of AI with large models at its core has led the way in technological innovation," said Robin Li, Board Chair and CEO of Baidu. "AI applications integrated with large models can extend their support to a variety of services related to transportation and energy, along with other realms of the real economy."

"It should be noted that, although large AI models have been abundant, we should accelerate their implementation in diverse sectors of the real economy," said Zhou Ming, former Vice President of Microsoft Research Asia.

China's upper hand in AI development is due to the plethora of application scenarios brought about by the intelligent upgrading of the real economy. AI technology should be amalgamated with useful application scenarios for it to function in the best possible way, Zhou added.

The 2023 Zhongguancun Forum Showcases Cutting-Edge Technological Advances

The 2023 Zhongguancun Forum has summoned eminent scientists, institutions, and well-known innovation and entrepreneurship institutions globally to deliberate on international cooperation in terms of technological development and innovation. The exhibition, a side event, has hosted the presence of around 650 enterprises and institutions around the world to expose their cutting-edge technological advances and accomplishments in information technology, intelligent manufacturing, medicine and health, and the digital economy. This event is being held from May 25 to 30.