i3 - May/June 2018 - 22

FULFILLING MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES

China's AI mandate encompasses commercial as well
as government objectives. For example, the facial
recognition project, with vast enterprise opportunities, stems from the Xue Liang ("sharp eyes") initiative in which cameras in both public areas and
private properties will monitor individuals and
events. Experts believe that it may eventually power
China's Social Credit System, a metric to gauge the
"trustworthiness" of citizens. One startup company,
Megvii, backed by Sunshine Insurance Group,
already has access to 1.3 billion face data records.
That project represents much of China's aggressive
AI agenda. But, as many observers have noted, the
commercial innovation and technical capabilities are
often identical to ones needed in espionage and warfare. They've dubbed it China's "military-civil fusion"

AI policy, and point out that the government has
already established joint military/commercial AI
research and testing facilities. Ultimately, they contend, a factory that produces autonomous personal
vehicles could also make self-driving tanks.
The AI initiative is also tied to China's plan to massproduce neural-network processing chips, robots and
machine learning, all of which can be used in medical
applications and many other AI-related ventures.
Chinese authorities expect that use of AI will make
manufacturing more eco-friendly. One goal of the AI
mandate is to increase energy efficiency in the manufacturing sector by 10 percent in the next two years.
In addition to the national AI funding, many
local jurisdictions are seeking to build AI centers.
The government of Beijing has committed $2 billion to an AI development park there, and even
some small cities are assembling $100 million programs to support AI locally.

Thomas Peter/Reuters (2)

"North America will experience productivity
gains faster than China initially," PwC says, but
"China will begin to pull ahead of the U.S.'s AI productivity gains in ten years, after it catches up on a slower
build up to the technology and expertise needed."

CAPITAL COMMITMENTS

Another way to gauge China's AI's appeal is by looking at how the investment world views it. CB Insights,

The facial recognition project, with vast enterprise opportunities, stems
from the Xue Liang ("sharp eyes") initiative in which cameras in both
public areas and private properties will monitor individuals and events.

China's AI mandate encompasses commercial as well
as government objectives.
22

MAY/JUNE 2018

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
i3 - May/June 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - May/June 2018
