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Tuesday June 6, 2017

IT is now a common acknowledgement that AI will not only be utilized for more general purposes in human life, but will also shake up the landscapes of a range of industries from e-commerce to health care.

What’s behind AlphaGo AI basically relies on algorithms

and big data, according to Luo Jiebo, professor of computer science at the University of Rochester. AlphaGo uses a type of search algorithm to fi nd its moves based on the knowledge it previ-ously “learned” by a type of AI called deep learning, or neural networks that mimic human learning, through playing a large number of games with both humans and machines.

This time, Go player Ke Jie confronted with a newly upgraded version of AlphaGo bettered by reinforcement learning, which enables AlphaGo to sort out the best solu-tion on its own.

Luo held that owing to deep learning, AI has improved remarkably in its capabil-ity to identify visuals and recognize voices after gobbling up a huge mass of data.

He added that so far in China, face detection and recognition has been applied successfully in practical terms, which relies largely on a combination of deep learning and big data.

AI in traditional industriesE-commerce giants, such as Amazon and Alibaba, have used a form of machine learning in their online recommenda-tion systems to boost sales, which are based on data collected from customers’ browsing and purchasing preferences.

Alibaba will roll out facial recognition payment software in the near future. According to a video demonstrating the payment system, shoppers will be able to complete payment by scanning their faces and inputing the last four digits of their mobile phone numbers.

AI applications that will make human life smarter involve health care, autonomous driving and smart robotics industries.

One of the most anticipated sectors is health care. Researchers have claimed that AI software will likely serve as an experienced assistant by helping doctors

sift through loads of patient information and accumulate clinical data and experi-ence for better disease diagnosis, such as cancer diagnosis and the recognition of magnetic resonance imaging.

“In the medical fi eld, AI can learn from cases from around the world, at which it excels. However, a doctor can only gain experience from the cases he has seen, which has limits,” said Luo.

Elaborating on his blueprint, Li Yan-hong, CEO of Chinese Internet giant Baidu, predicted that AI would be the “main course” for the future, calling the Internet “the appetizer,” in a speech during the 2017 Baidu Union Summit held in Southwest China’s Chongqing on May 23.

Jobs on edge However, it has sparked huge con-

cerns that AI would shake up traditional industries by slashing hordes of jobs.

At present, some lenders and fi nancial institutions in the United States have used AI underwriting and loan-distrib-uting machines to replace humans.

“The machines can decide whether

and how much to lend, as well as how long the loans should be with a wealth of data,” said Luo, “Decisions made by machines are more accurate and without human bias.”

In Luo’s opinion, although unemploy-ment caused by AI would be inevitable, it should not be viewed negatively because machines are not on the opposite side of humans.

“There must be new jobs turning up. For example, machines need (people) to maintain them,” he said.

He gave the example of the use of AI in health care. “AI will make doctors’ work easier, as machines process pre-liminary information. But it is humans who make critical and fi nal decisions,” he said. “That’s because machines would only consider things that humans order them to.”

“I think the ultimate purpose of AI is not to replace humans, but rather to co-exist with humans and achieve common prosperity, which is the right direction (for the development of AI),” Luo stressed. (Xinhua)

AI fuels visions on smart future

OVER the past two weeks, the Internet has yet again been buzzing about the future of artifi cial intelligence (AI).

And once again, the heat was gener-ated by AlphaGo, Google’s AI program, which completed a 3-0 clean sweep May 27 over Ke Jie, the current world No.1 Go player.

In contrast to the generally negative reactions to AlphaGo’s 4-1 victory over South Korean master Lee Se-dol in March last year, people are now more optimistic towards the future of AI.

“AlphaGo was not designed just to play Go,” said Qian Jianlun, a Go teacher in East China’s Zhejiang Province. “As an AI project, it will change a lot of aspects of our lives.”

Full speed ahead Qian’s words echoed the overall posi-

tivity shown by the status quo of China’s AI industry.

According to data from iiMedia Research, a major research institution, China’s AI industry increased by 43.3 percent in 2016, surpassing 10 billion yuan (US$1.47 billion), and is expected to reach 15.21 billion in 2017 and 34.43 billion yuan in 2019.

The numbers were driven by a boom in the amount of research taking place in the industry. China has applied for 15,745 AI patents, ranking second worldwide, according to Liu Lihua, vice minister of industry and information technology.

Favorable policies came as a con-sequence. Over 40 robotics industry parks have now been or are currently being set up around the country, and for the fi rst time ever, AI was included in the government work report Premier Li Keqiang presented to the Fifth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress in March.

“We will accelerate research and development, and commercialization of new materials, artifi cial intelligence [...] and develop industrial clusters in these fi elds,” the report read.

“AI has become a key driving force behind Chinese companies,” said Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu, China’s Internet giant. “In the AI era, China can innovate not only in products, but also in technologies,” he added.

China's AI businessready to lead the world

Data set the base For insiders, the further development

of China’s AI industry will continue to depend largely on data.

“The core of AI development lies in the massive amounts of data,” said Li Kaifu, chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ven-tures, a venture capital company aiming to create successful Chinese start-ups.

“In China, we have a huge database, and it has proved to be quite valuable to us,” he continued.

Bai Chunli, president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, agreed. “By 2020, China will hold 20 percent of the global data, which is expected to reach 44 tril-lion gigabytes,” he stated at an expo on big data May 29.

AI has been playing a bigger role in people’s everyday lives. For example, an AI system monitoring vehicles to intel-

ligently control traffi c was applied in East China’s Hangzhou, and increased vehicle passing speeds by up to 11 per-cent during its trial last year.

“China is already leading the world in fi elds such as computer vision and auto-matic speech recognition,” Vice Minister Liu added. “We believe that AI presents the most favorable opportunity for us to lead the world,” Li resonated.

Business yet to uniteHowever, for some, what has been

transpiring in the industry is not enough for it to successfully achieve sustainable development.

Despite predicting that China’s AI market will enjoy a 50-percent annual increase, way above the global rate of 20 percent, McKinsey and Company, a worldwide management consulting

fi rm, also noted that less than 25 per-cent of the AI industry insiders in China have over 10 years of experience in the business, while in the United States that number is 50 percent.

Also, the country’s AI companies are yet to join forces.

“There’s been a lack of technical col-laboration in our AI industry,” said Wen Xiaojun from CCID Wise, a major Chi-nese think tank. “The inter-connectibil-ity of products is poor, and there is no effi cient coordination between upstream and downstream producers.”

He believes an industry service plat-form needs to be set up to boost functions including research and development, application and product examining. “We need such an incubation center for AI to prosper,” he added.

(Xinhua)

Visitors interact with a smart robot at the 4th China Robot Summit in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province on May 16. Xinhua