Mr. Li Qiang, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, pointed out in his opening speech that artificial intelligence is fully empowering all walks of life, and will further release the tremendous energy of scientific and technological changes and industrial reforms, and promote the overall rise of social productivity. Shanghai regards the development of artificial intelligence as a priority strategic choice to accelerate the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy as the main line, and to enhance the artificial intelligence technology innovation ability as the main direction. Based on the advantages of science and education resources, application scenarios, massive data, and infrastructure, Shanghai will focus on innovation, policy, application, demonstration, institutional supply and talent pooling to accelerate the construction of “Shanghai as a Highland” for the development of artificial intelligence.
During the conference, Vice Premier Liu He, Secretary Li Qiang, Minister Miao Wei, Mayor Ying Yong and other leaders visited the Artificial Intelligence Exhibition and the AIPark Application Experience Zone, and inspected the new technologies, products and applications of Chinese and foreign artificial intelligence exhibitors. Shanghai municipal leaders, including YinYizhen, Dong Yunhu, Zhou Bo, Yu Shaoliang, Zheng Gangyu, Weng Zuliang, Zhou Huilin, ZhugeYujie, Xu Zezhou, Sha Hailin, Cai Wei, Gao Xiaomei, Xiao Guiyu, Mo Yanchun, Shi Guanghui, Wu Qing, Xu Kunlin, Chen Qun, Gong Daoan, Fang Huiping, Zhao Wen, Li Yiping, Jin Xingming, Huang Zhen, Liu Xiaoyun and Zhang Bencai, participated in relevant forums and activities.
The conference centered on five major frontier topics such as cutting-edge scientific research and responsible development of artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence security ethics, artificial intelligence and national security, artificial intelligence and network security, and artificial intelligence. Through one main forum, 33 theme forums, 5 high-end dialogues and 22 launch events, it has created a world's top artificial intelligence cooperation and communication platform. 335 academic and industry leaders, including the winners of Turing Award, delivered speeches and presentations, including 50 Chinese and foreign academicians and more than 100 experts in the field of artificial intelligence. The proportion of foreign guests reached 40%. They shined on the rostrum of 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, just like the drones on the west bank of Huangpu River illuminated the night sky of Shanghai. The unprecedented event and extensive attention reflect the significance of artificial intelligence to economic and social development.
In addition to academic dialogues, this conference also introduced a wide range of technical applications and demonstrations. In the AI Boutique Zone and seven “AI+” application experience areas in the main conference area, a total of 146 domestic and foreign top hi-tech companies showcased the latest technologies of artificial intelligence and visitors perceived the profound changes brought by artificial intelligence in the interactive experience and enjoyed the convenience and good life brought by “artificial intelligence+”. At the same time, the main forum of the conference also tested the application of the simultaneous interpretation technologies from Tencent and iFlytek, demonstrating the latest developments in the application of artificial intelligence in speech recognition and machine translation.
In 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Innovation Competition, 525 teams and 1953 players from 15 countries participated in medical innovation, human-computer interaction, intelligent robots and unmanned driving. The winners were awarded four SAIL Awards, including Superior Award, Applicative Award, Innovative Award and Leading Award, presented during the main forum of the conference.
The conference has achieved fruitful results. It issued the “Implementation Measures for Accelerating the High-quality Development of Artificial Intelligence in Shanghai”, focusing on accelerating the construction of artificial intelligence talents, deepening the opening and application of data resources, enhancing the collaborative innovation of artificial intelligence industry, promoting industrial layout and agglomeration, and increasing government guidance. In five aspects, including investment and financing supports, 22 specific measures were proposed to strengthen the targeted policies and provide strong support for the high-quality development of artificial intelligence in Shanghai.
During the conference, 53 result announcement, project signings and innovation entity establishment events were held. The conference released 12 professional research reports and achievements such as the global AI industry map, the annual global artificial intelligence technology maturity curve, and the AI@SH action report. It proposed three initiatives, including Shanghai initiative on artificial intelligence and rule of law in Shanghai, initiative on best practices of personal information protection indata circulation initiative, and Shanghai Initiative onartificial intelligence security development. It witnessed the establishment of 3 research institutes, including Amazon AWS Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, Microsoft Shanghai Research Institute and Microsoft-INESA Artificial Intelligence Innovation Institute and iFlytek (Shanghai) Artificial Intelligence and Brain Science Research Institute; 8 AI innovation platforms, including Jingdong Smart City Platform, Tencent Artificial Intelligence Innovation Platform and Huawei Artificial Intelligence Cloud Platform; 11 innovation centers, including Anmou Technology Artificial Intelligence Headquarters, Alibaba (Shanghai) R&D Center and Baidu (Shanghai) Innovation Center; 5 innovation alliances such as the Global College Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance, the National Artificial Intelligence Venture Investment Service Alliance, and the Shanghai Youth AI Scientists Alliance; and 4 funds, including Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund, G60 Science and Technology Corridor Artificial Intelligence Industry Fund, and Industry M&A Fund. Five important new products, such as Shangtang AI Platform, Tencent AI Open Platform + Tencent AI Accelerator Phase II, and Amazon Polly Chinese Putonghua Support Edition, were launched during the conference.
The Main Forum of 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, which brought together "World Wisdom" and proposed "Shanghai Program", come to a successful conclusion. The application display area will continue to open to the reserved audience until September 23rd.
