2000—2024
Current Development Status of AI in China
2024 Artificial Intelligence Development White Paper
Artificial Intelligence
Guide / Guide
When did AI enter your reality?
Was it when you witnessed AlphaGo’s victory in Go on television?
Was it when you saw the overwhelming discussions about ChatGPT on Weibo?
Was it when you struggled with a major assignment and finally turned to Wenxin Yiyan for brainstorming?
Or was it when a self-driving ride-hailing car smoothly pulled up in front of you?
Since its inception, AI has been a frequent subject in science fiction literature, games, and films.
As a natural host for human imagination, AI has become synonymous with concepts like “the future” and “high technology,” an image that has been ingrained in people’s minds through various sci-fi blockbusters.
Thus, when ChatGPT suddenly burst into public view in 2022, many people were pleasantly surprised to find that the future is not so far away; the phrase “the future is here” has become increasingly prominent against the backdrop of rapidly changing information technology.
What does the “future” that has already arrived look like?
What is the current state of AI development?
How far are we from the future we envision?
Today, we won’t talk about the future; we will focus on the present state of AI.
01#
Background of AI Development in China: Risks and Opportunities
Development Background
For China, the development of AI presents both opportunities and challenges. How to cultivate the soil for AI product incubation and clear obstacles on the path to development is a pressing issue to be resolved in the future.
Resources, Talent, and Favorable Policies/ADVANTAGE
Rich Data Resources for Artificial Intelligence
As of 2023, China has developed 2.33 billion cellular IoT terminal users through three major telecommunications companies. The number of internet users in China has reached 1.09 billion, with an internet penetration rate of 77.5%. A large amount of data is generated and collected every day. The vast amount of data, widespread internet infrastructure, and a large user base provide rich resources for developing AI databases in China.
Rapid Development of AI Education
In 2018, the Ministry of Education included AI as a newly approved undergraduate major. Currently, 537 ordinary higher education institutions in China have been approved to offer undergraduate programs in AI, laying a solid talent foundation for the long-term development of AI in China.
Favorable Policy Environment for AI Development
The Chinese government has released a series of supportive policies, such as the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan” and the “Artificial Intelligence Development Action Plan,” clearly stating that AI will be a key focus of national strategic development. Moreover, the government and local governments have provided significant funding support for AI-related projects, including the establishment of special funds and guiding social capital investment.
Related Laws Need Improvement/DISADVANTAGE
With the advent of the Internet of Things, data privacy and security issues have become increasingly serious. The laws and regulations concerning data collection, storage, and usage are still incomplete, leading to frequent negative events due to the improper use of AI technology, which affects data openness and sharing.
Commercial Applications Struggle to Land/DISADVANTAGE
In 2023, the global industry produced 51 notable machine learning models, while the academic community contributed only 15. Additionally, 21 notable models were generated through industry-academic collaboration in 2023, setting a new record. Furthermore, 108 newly released foundational models came from the industrial sector, while 28 came from academia.
Source: “2024 Artificial Intelligence Index Report”
In China, the integration of industry and academia is still not tight enough, and many research outcomes cannot be quickly transformed into products to achieve positive feedback.
Although artificial intelligence has shown its potential in many fields, factors such as high resource input and rapid technological iteration have led to high development and operational costs. Coupled with the current shortage of interdisciplinary talents and the need to explore user demands, the commercialization path of artificial intelligence remains unclear and immature.
02#
Current State of AI Development in China: Achievements and Shortcomings
Achievements and Inadequacies
In recent years, the scale of China’s core AI industry has steadily grown, demonstrating the vigorous development and broad prospects of the industry. As of the end of 2023, the scale of China’s core AI industry reached 175.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%.
From the perspective of patent applications
Although the growth rate has slowed in recent years, in 2023, China still maintained a high level of nearly 80,000 invention patent applications in AI-related fields;
From the perspective of enterprises
The number of AI-related enterprises in China reached 9,183, higher than India’s 3,281, but lower than the United States (over 14,000), ranking second in the world;
From the perspective of financing
The risk financing amount of Chinese AI startups reached 233.35 billion US dollars, far exceeding the third place, the United Kingdom (less than 50 billion US dollars), but lower than the United States (over 400 billion US dollars), ranking second in the world;
From the perspective of talent
As of the end of 2023, China had 1,014 top AI researchers, accounting for 11.1%, higher than the UK’s 10.6%, but lower than the US’s 35.3%, ranking second in the world.
Source: “2024 Artificial Intelligence Index Report”
In summary, China’s AI technology has made significant progress in recent years and has secured a place in the international arena. However, there are still considerable gaps compared to the United States in many aspects. How to fill these gaps and catch up with the advanced is an important goal for the future.
03#
Domestic AI Industry: Our Own GPT
Artificial Intelligence in China
After years of development, many representative enterprises have emerged in China’s AI industry chain, and corresponding AI product technologies have appeared in the market. In addition to the well-known Wenxin Yiyan, the following companies and products are also pillars and ballast stones of China’s AI industry.
Data Side
Well-known data companies in China include Aopeng and Yunce, which mainly provide AI training data services to facilitate the digital transformation of various industries.
Computing Power Side
Tencent Cloud, Jiangxing Intelligent, and other companies are leading cloud computing brands in China, providing cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data technology products and services to domestic and foreign enterprises, organizations, and individual developers.
Additionally, on the algorithm side, there are leading companies such as SenseTime and Moonlight, and on the application side, there are front-runners like Yunzhisheng and Ping An Technology. These companies are flagships in the field of AI technology in China, significantly advancing the process of industrial intelligence in China and marking China’s position in the international technology competition landscape.
Epilogue / Epilogue
By observing the current state of AI development in China, it is evident that we have firmly stood on the wave of the AI era. However, if we want to truly take the lead, we still have a long way to go.
In China, very few people use large models and benefit from them; I have very few around me who do. They may have heard of them but regard them merely as novelties; they may have had experiences but do not find them particularly useful.
——Excerpt from Zhihu
If this situation is the “future,”
then this “future” may not be satisfactory;
but if this situation is the “present,”
then this “future” is worth looking forward to with great expectations.
If the future does not come to us actively,
we will stride towards it.
The Future Has Arrived Network Culture Studio
Focusing on research and reporting in the field of artificial intelligence applications
Not discussing obscure theories
Only exploring simple and understandable usage methods
We firmly believe
AI is just a tool, like paper and pen
Imagined scenarios are continuously being realized
The future has arrived, it is upon us
*Content sourced from the Future Has Arrived Studio
Editor | Zhou Jian
Proofreader | Zhou Jian
Reviewer | Ding Jiaxue, Xue Lian
Chief Editor | Zhu Jiajun
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