Artificial intelligence, a key technology in driving digital transformation, has played a vital role in promoting the development of the real economy and accelerating China’s push for industrial upgrading, company executives and industry experts say.

AI has become a core driving force for the new round of technological and industrial revolution in China, bringing tremendous changes to the country’s development and people’s lives in many fields, including healthcare, education, transport, security and finance, said Ren Xianliang, chairman of the China Federation of Internet Societies.

During the pandemic, AI-powered technologies have been widely applied in sectors such as source tracing of virus transmissions, virus detection, remote diagnosis and treatment and resource allocation, Ren said.

The global AI industry was worth $156.5 billion (£117.4 billion) in 2020, 12 per cent more than a year earlier, the research firm IDC said. In China the figure was 303.1 billion yuan (£35.7 billion), 15 per cent more than a year earlier, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology said.

The country ranks first in the number of AI patents, Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July 2021. The core industry continues to grow, and the integration of AI and the real economy has further deepened, he said.

A total of 909,401 AI-related patents had been applied for by China by September, said a report by the China Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team and the Electronic Intellectual Property Centre that is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

China’s technology companies have invested heavily in AI-based research and development. Internet company Baidu Inc was chosen to lead the establishment of the country’s AI national laboratory on deep learning in 2017. Self-driving technologies are important for the national research project. Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence that sets up computers to solve problems based on experience.

The application of AI technology is reshaping industries to become a transformative force revolutionising future human development over the next 40 years, said Robin Li, co-founder and chief executive of Baidu.

“Baidu’s approach to AI technology has always revolved around delivering equitable outcomes by making technology more accessible, providing freedom and possibilities for all,” Li said.

The Beijing company has stepped up its effort to establish self-driving taxi services to increase large-scale commercial use of its growing transport options.

The goal of the intelligent transformation of industries and society ushered in by AI is to fulfil the needs of people, making technology meaningful only if it serves humanity through the creation of more value and contributes to society, Li said.

The technology company Tencent Holdings founded its AI Lab in April 2016. It emphasises basic research into computer vision, speech recognition, natural language processing and machine learning.

The company also works to put fundamental research to practical use, applying AI to its key businesses, including medicine, social interaction, online games and cloud computing. It also operates Youtu Lab, which has developed advanced technologies in facial and image recognition and voice identification.

Previously published on Chinadaily.com.cn