
In a vocational and technical education center in Jingxing County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, students learn to debug artificial intelligence robots.
Photo by Zhang Xiaofeng (people’s picture)
What can artificial intelligence (AI) do? From driverless cars driving on the street to robots cooperating in factories, similar intelligent scenes are not uncommon in production and life. In China, artificial intelligence has been widely used in autonomous driving, smart cities and other fields, and has become an important driving force to improve the quality of life and promote industrial optimization and upgrading. The industry believes that artificial intelligence will show its talents in more fields of production and life, and drive the development of new technologies, new products and new formats.
"countdown to traffic lights" is also accurate.
Recently, Ms. Li, a Beijing resident, was waiting for a red light on her commute when she suddenly found that the mobile navigation she used could display the countdown of the traffic lights. "At that time, the red light was still on, and mobile navigation reminded me to get ready to start. It will turn green in 5 seconds, and the result is not bad."
Since last year, navigation software such as Gaode Map and Baidu Map have launched the countdown function of traffic lights, which has provided convenience for many drivers. Ms. Li told reporters that if there is a traffic jam, the navigation can also show the number of red lights that need to be waited, which is basically accurate, and it is simply a "prophet."
The reason why the "prophet" can "predict" the road conditions is that the "magic" in his hand is artificial intelligence. According to the relevant person of Gaode, this function is based on a large number of vehicle driving data at intersections, and learning and analyzing through artificial intelligence and digital technology, so as to accurately "predict" the red light countdown reading of the second level change.
From the navigation software of "predicting" traffic lights to the intelligent road network monitoring and command system, from the guided robot that can talk freely with people to the unmanned aerial vehicle & HELIP, which monitors crop growth in farmland; … These emerging innovative applications are all realized by artificial intelligence technology. In August last year, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the "Notice on Supporting the Construction of a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Demonstration Application Scenes". The first batch supported the construction of 10 demonstration application scenarios, including smart factories and autonomous driving, to further promote the integration of artificial intelligence and production and life scenarios.
"Artificial intelligence can not only support human exploration of the stars and the sea, but also really improve people’s production and life." Wang Haifeng, chief technology officer of Baidu, believes that the application of artificial intelligence technology presents a trend of low threshold, automation and scale, and all industries will accelerate the embrace of artificial intelligence.
Make AI more useful.
If artificial intelligence is to change from "usable" to "easy to use", it also needs the master to "guide the maze". Zhao Jianbo is a driving school coach in Beijing. Under the introduction of his colleagues, he participated in the development of an automatic driving software system and became an "artificial intelligence trainer".
"We will mark the key factors that affect driving safety, such as vehicles, pedestrians and buildings, in pictures and video materials that reflect various real road conditions, which is equivalent to helping AI to focus on a large number of learning materials." Zhao Jianbo believes that there are many "old drivers" in the team like himself. Although everyone is not familiar with AI and programming, they have rich experience in driving in complex road conditions. "We personally drive for AI to demonstrate how to safely complete overtaking, merging, car following and other actions, and assist engineers to optimize system algorithms, so that AI can learn from ‘ Beginners on the road ’ Grow into ‘ Look at six roads ’ 。”
A man can lead a horse to the water but he cannot make him drink. With the wide application of artificial intelligence in various fields, the database based on real use is constantly improving. On this basis, the learning mode of artificial intelligence has gradually developed from "listening carefully" to "self-taught".
At present, artificial intelligence can achieve deep learning. Compared with the traditional machine learning algorithm, deep learning can automatically complete learning without manual sample labeling, and at the same time, it can learn from massive data and large-scale knowledge, with better effect and higher efficiency, which provides the possibility for the application and development of artificial intelligence in more scenarios.
"Deep learning is highly universal, and its tentacles can be extended to all walks of life." Wang Haifeng believes that at present, large-scale AI production has been formed, deep learning has gradually matured in many dimensions such as technology, ecology and industry, and the technological innovation and industrial development of artificial intelligence are entering the stage of "deep learning+".
Inject "wisdom kinetic energy" into the industry
China’s artificial intelligence industry maintained rapid growth, and its innovation capability continued to improve. According to the statistics of China Information and Communication Institute, from 2012 to September 2022, the total number of global artificial intelligence patents granted was 250,000, of which 60% came from China.
At the same time, a large number of artificial intelligence-related enterprises are also growing rapidly. Enterprise survey data show that in the past 10 years, the number of newly-added artificial intelligence-related enterprises registered in China has increased year by year, and the number of newly-added enterprises increased by 18.55% in 2022.
The prosperity of artificial intelligence industry is inseparable from the support and guidance of policies. In recent years, China has issued a number of policy documents, such as "Three-year Action Plan for Promoting the Development of a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Industry", and various localities have successively introduced relevant measures to support and guide the development of the artificial intelligence industry. Beijing recently released the "White Paper on the Development of Artificial Intelligence Industry in Beijing in 2022", proposing to strengthen the layout of artificial intelligence computing infrastructure, accelerate the supply of basic data of artificial intelligence, support enterprises with advantages in artificial intelligence to carry out innovative applications, and comprehensively build an innovative highland of artificial intelligence scenes.
In the development of artificial intelligence industry, there are still some problems in China, such as the shortage of high-end talents and the "bottleneck" of key technologies. In this regard, some experts suggested that all parties in Industry-University-Research related to artificial intelligence should unite, explore the innovative mode of collaborative education, establish an all-round and multi-level talent training system, concentrate on actively promoting relevant technological innovation, and continuously inject "wisdom and kinetic energy" into the development of artificial intelligence industry in China.