Visitors attend the Yunqi Conference in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on October 31, 2023. Opening early that day, the conference this year focuses on the integration of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, bringing together more than 240 companies to showcase more than 3,000 technologies and products and the latest achievements in technological development. Photo: VCG

As human society steps into the era of artificial intelligence, it is believed that with intensified and collective efforts, China will carve out a technological path that aligns with its national conditions, enable the safe development of General Artificial Intelligence (AI) and benefit the whole humankind, a Chinese national political advisor said during the two sessions.

General AI has emerged as the strategic high ground in global technological competition. “To win this crucial technological race, which is of paramount importance to our nation, the key lies in nurturing the talent,” Zhu Songchun, director of the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said at a group interview held by the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee on Sunday.

General AI stands as a typical representative of the new quality productive forces. The “general” in General AI refers to AI’s ability to perform an infinite number of tasks in daily physical and social scenarios, autonomously discover tasks as if it has a “mind of its own,” and possess autonomous value-driven motivation, Zhu said.

Zhu introduced “Tongtong,” the world’s first prototype of a general intelligent humanoid robot being showcased in Beijing. “She has the complete neural and value system of a three or four-year-old child and is currently undergoing rapid iterations. In the future, she will be integrated into various aspects of our lives, such as pouring tea and providing warm companionship,” he said.

Behind the most ordinary abilities in daily life are actually the core technical issues that General Artificial Intelligence needs to research, Zhu said, emphasizing that achieving General AI hinges on giving machines a “mind of their own.”

During this year’s two sessions, AI has emerged as one of the hottest topics. The annual Government Work Report released on Tuesday also highlighted that a stream of innovations emerged in frontier areas such as AI and quantum technology in 2023.

While for major tasks in 2024, the Government Work Report stressed to step up research and development and application of big data and AI, launch an AI Plus initiative, and build digital industry clusters with international competitiveness.

China’s AI industry has entered a period of rapid development. According to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the core AI industry in China reached a scale of 508 billion yuan ($70.69 billion) in 2022, an increase of 18 percent year-on-year. Preliminary statistics indicate that the scale reached 578.4 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 13.9 percent.

Global Times