简体中文
By APD writer Ling Xiaoyun
Translated by Ma Qian
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a prospective scientific research that mimics human intelligence by using algorithms based on computers, so as to make machines learn to gain humans’ analytical, reasoning and thinking abilities. Since it was developed, AI has been going through a long period of exploration. Its theories and technologies have become increasingly mature, with AI’s application has been broader and broader, making AI a critical starting point for technological revolution in the future.
Broader application fields
AI has been developed rapidly in 2017, as the countries around the world have highly valued the technical research of AI and constantly made breakthroughs in the fields of AI basics, cerebral research, 3D intelligent printing among others. So far, AI has been widely applied in the industries of automakers, medical services, security, online retailing, finance, education and home appliances.
3D intelligent printing
Relevant technologies can be used in multiple tasks, including, machine translation, management and control, professional systems, language and image comprehension, automatic programming, aerospace application, as well as colossal information processing. Thus, AI has become an invisible part for family life.
As a pioneer in AI technology, the United States boasts the most advanced AI technologies and the largest investment in AI. According to U.S. media reports, the country has 499 AI companies in 2017, over 52 percent of the sum of the world’s AI companies, which conducted research and development in technologies including computer upgrading, artificial neutral networks, big data, machine learning, automatic operating systems and robots.
A robot gestures during a demonstration of its skill
These companies have made achievements in four applications, including chatting robots, medical services, biometric identification software and proprietary APP software, which have paved the way for popularizing AI-equipped devices in household life and reaching every corner across the world in the future.
Except daily life, AI has also been widely utilized in the military domain and become a revolutionary technology as a “game changer.” For instance, the U.S. Department of Defense has seen AI as an important technological pillar for its "Third Offset Strategy," and been committed to pushing ahead with stronger AI, in order to further establish an advanced, intelligent combat system and occupy the commanding heights of future military operations.
In terms of national defense budget, the U.S. also took AI as an investment priority. Of the national defense budget of 2017, around 12—15 billion U.S. dollars were poured into research and development of AI and automatic weapons. In September 2017, a report by RAND Corporation, a high-end U.S. military scientific and technological research institute, said that the U.S. would set up a more sensitive, lower-cost and more efficient training system to improve its face recognition capability, and assist in the automatic operation during military drills and human-machine joint operations.
Moreover, the rapid development of computing technologies such as breakthroughs made in computer hardware and cloud computing, also allows faster processing of enormous data information with higher quality, which enables AI to be applied in broader military fields.
Tougher international competition
Though the U.S. has taken the lead in the high-tech race of AI technology, it does not have a monopoly. Other countries, including China and Russia, have begun to put emphasis on the role that AI will play in global economic and military affairs in the future.
China tries to catch up on AI
As the world’s only country that is able to compete with the U.S. in military, Russia has always prioritized AI as a way to push for the modernization of its military equipment. Speaking to students during a national "open lesson" in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country that takes the lead in the sphere of AI will rule.
"Artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia but of all of mankind," said Putin. "The one who could be the leader in AI is the one who would rule the world."
Russia is developing AI missiles to dominate the new arms race
So far, Russia has been proactive in driving the development of drones for both military and civil use, as well as automatic vehicles. It also set up a laboratory for the scientific research of robotic technologies. In 2014, The Russian Defense Ministry approved a complex program called ‘Creating of Advanced Military Robotics for 2025,’ which prioritized robotics as one of the top priorities of the Russian arms program. It also set out an ambitious blueprint to achieve major breakthroughs in intelligence and automation in the following 20 years.
As a rising star in AI technology research, China has viewed AI as a “new focus for international competition,” and reaped plenty of fruits in the field. In July, China’s State Council issued The Development Plan of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence, which sets the goal of improving AI theory, technology and application to the leading level of the world as a whole. The scale of core AI industries will exceed one trillion yuan (151 billion U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, national artificial intelligence will become the premier global AI innovation center.
On November 15, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology announced to set up an office to push for the development plan for new-generation AI. It also announced the first batch of national artificial intelligence open innovation platform, including platforms that rely on Baidu, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent and IFLYTEK, a software enterprise, to develop AI in various fields.
On November 28, a report by U.S. think tank the Center for a New American Security said "China is no longer in a position of technological inferiority relative to the United States but rather has become a true peer that may have the capability to overtake the United States in AI." The report also noted that competition between U.S. and China in the field of AI might alter the economic and military balance of world power.
A bright future
A number of AI technologies have been in the forefront of innovation, including various symbolic computing, speech recognition, pattern recognition, computer vision, machine translation and machine learning, intelligence information retrieval, problem solving and expert systems, logical reasoning and testifying and natural language processing. In the future, more fields will be further explored, such as information science, control science and bionics, which will gradually become intelligence science subjects and prompt new leaps in productivity.
On top of that, AI has promoted deep integration of multiple subjects and Internet technologies, which solved the seemingly unsolvable crux in the Internet age. Such fusion will possibly drive the Internet into a brand-new intelligence era and impact future development of Internet technology and information industry.
To date, there is no magnate in the AI-related industries, including medical service, education, consumption and marketing that are based on big data collection. However, as information industries constantly integrate with each other, there will be larger markets and more investment opportunities in the future. Therefore, AI will become a favorite that is vied for by various capitals and listed companies.
As AI research has been going vigorously and entering the craziest stage over the past 60 years, AI has rung in the fourth industrial revolution, and is reckoned as the most important pillar for the future of human society. It can be predicted that AI-equipped products in the future will be a “container” of human wisdom, which will exert far-reaching influence on core technological innovation in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, military and daily life.
Ling Xiaoyun, Research Fellow at Asia Pacific Institute, Specially-appointed Researcher of One Belt and One Road International Research Center in International Business School of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Doctor of Judicial Science, Post-doctorate of Military Strategy. Ling’s research mainly focuses on international strategy and defense hotspots.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
