Liu Qingfeng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Chinese AI company iFlytek, put forward a motion suggesting the country formulate an AGI (artificial general intelligence) development plan, aiming to promote the systematic growth of the country's AGI sector, while narrowing the technology gap between China and the US, according to a document sent to the Global Times on Tuesday by iFlytek.

The development plan could be initiated and implemented at the state level, in a bid to continuously narrow the gap between the US and China in AGI general base platforms and shore up China's industrial AI applications, according to Liu. 

The plan should make up for the shortcomings in the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan released in 2017, to cater to a wide range of aspects from forming independent and controllable computing power, high-quality data sharing to cultivation of talent in AGI development. 

Liu proposed nine measures to accelerate the development of the AGI sector.

For instance, Liu vowed to ramp up support for the research and development (R&D) of China's general large language models (LLMs) in the form of special projects targeting power, data and algorithms in the upcoming five years. 

Liu suggested local governments support R&D for LLMs and the construction of infrastructure for developing AGI industrial ecosystem, while formulating new policies to promote the application of large-scale models in sectors such as manufacturing.

Regarding global cooperation, Liu proposed to set up cooperation projects under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, supporting the R&D of multilingual LLMs and their broad applications.

Liu also proposed to accelerate the formation of an independent and controllable ecosystem centered on domestically developed LLMs, while propelling China's vigorous development in the ecology construction utilizing the AI Plus initiative.  

China will step up research and development (R&D) and application of big data and AI, launch an AI Plus initiative, and build digital industry clusters with international competitiveness, according to a government work report submitted to the NPC for deliberation.

Meanwhile, China vows to rely on scientific and technological innovation to lead the modernization of its industrial system and move faster to develop new quality productive forces in the Government Work Report.

iFlytek has integrated its LLMs into various sectors from education, healthcare, to the legal profession, and has been cooperating with major players from 12 industries to release corresponding LLMS, covering finance, automotive, culture and tourism, along with other ones since October 2023, the company said in a separate statement sent to the Global Times.

Amid China's rapid development of emerging industries including AI, some provincial plans have already covered the building of pilot zones focused on future industries such as quantum tech, 6G, life science, AI, and humanoid robotics. 

For instance, South China's Guangdong Province released 22 measures to develop local AGI sector in November 2023, with a goal to achieve the largest scale of intelligent computing power in the country while obtaining a leading position worldwide. 

Global Times