President Xi calls for cooperation to develop the internet, big data and AI
May 28, 2019 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
Countries should cooperate in developing the internet, big data and artificial intelligence (AI), Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a letter to the China International Big Data Industry Expo in the southwestern city of Guiyang. “The new generation of information technology, represented by the internet, big data and artificial intelligence, is booming at present and has significant and profound impacts on the economic development, social progress and people’s lives of all countries,” Xi said. Different countries need to strengthen cooperation, deepen exchanges, grasp the opportunities of digital, internet-based and intelligent development, and properly address the legal, security and governance challenges in the development of the big data industry, he said. China is willing to share opportunities of the digital economy’s development with other countries and jointly explore new growth drivers and development paths by exploring new technologies, new business forms and new models, Xi said.
The four-day international expo on big data in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, focused on the latest innovation of the technology and its applications, and was attended by 448 enterprises from 59 countries and regions, including more than 150 foreign companies. “Today, the internet, big data and artificial intelligence have integrated deeply with the real economy, while the digital economy has enjoyed rapid growth,” Miao Wei, China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at the opening ceremony of the expo. “Such integration has become the key driving force for high-quality development of the economy.”
By the end of 2018, the scale of China’s digital economy reached CNY31 trillion, accounting for about one-third of national GDP. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a message to the big data expo, expressing his best wishes for a fruitful event. “From medicine to transportation to farming, big data presents the world with a remarkable tool to advance global progress,” Guterres said. Since 2015, the expo has been held four times in Guiyang. As China’s first big data pilot zone, Guizhou province has attracted heavyweight players, including Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba and Foxconn, to establish cloud computing and big data centers as well as regional headquarters, the Shanghai Daily reports.
China is expected to generate and store 27.8% of global online data by 2025, up from 23.4% last year, according to a report by market researcher International Data Corp and data storage firm Seagate. In comparison, the U.S. share will stand at 17.5% by 2025, a drop from its 21% share in 2018, the China Daily added. It was also announced at a forum in Shanghai that a national pilot zone for next-generation artificial intelligence will be established in Shanghai. The new zone will focus on fundamental research in AI, such as brain-inspired intelligence and intelligent unmanned systems, and will aim to become a global center of AI theory, application and talent by 2023.
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