"Thirty years ago, I was working on AI products," Kai-Fu Lee, founder of Sinovation Ventures, said at the 18th anniversary celebration of Microsoft Research Asia on November 14th, jokingly saying he had become a martyr. He believes the biggest difference in the AI industry over the past 30 years is that companies used to be hesitant to admit they were involved in the field, but now, every company wants to claim some connection to AI.

This means we are now in a "golden age" for the formation of AI giants. Once these giants hold the "key" to AI, they will largely control the future of humanity. Harry Shum, Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Head of Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Division, pointed out that after the wave of innovation that saw the personal computer, the internet, and mobile, the current wave of intelligence will be even more impactful. "Whether it's a PC or a smartphone, all devices are merely extensions of the human body, while AI will be an extension of the human brain. It is part of human evolution."

Notably, within the global wave of AI, China has its own unique opportunities. "China currently has a relative shortage of AI scientists, and relatively few companies are developing AI-related applications and generating commercial value," Kai-Fu Lee admitted. "Currently, domestic companies dedicated to AI applications are concentrated in the BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Tencent). I believe China's greatest opportunity lies in rapidly demonstrating the value of AI technology in various fields, especially traditional ones."

Finding Opportunities in China

The contribution of Chinese people to the field of AI is already significant.

According to statistics provided by Sinovation Ventures, over the past 10 years, the proportion of Chinese-authored articles in the world's top 50 AI journals has increased from 23.2% in 2006 to 42.8% in 2015, and the proportion of citations has increased from 25.5% in 2006 to 55.8% in 2015.

Although China's academic research in AI has been impressive and growing rapidly, its top-level AI capabilities remain underdeveloped. Globally, Google has created the world's largest "Google Brain," and its self-driving car project is ahead of traditional automakers and most other companies. Microsoft has released Cortana, the world's first intelligent personal assistant, and Microsoft XiaoIce, with its unique emotional technology framework, has become the world's leading chatbot. Facebook uses neural networks to translate approximately 2 billion posts per day in over 40 languages and also uses neural networks for photo search and organization. The only comparable company in China is Baidu, which has created the country's largest "Baidu Brain."

"Currently, China still lags behind the rest of the world in basic research and application," Baidu President Zhang Yaqin admitted. "Chinese papers may already be having a significant impact, but it will take many more years for these impacts to be commercialized."

In Kai-Fu Lee's view, these gaps are also opportunities. He emphasized the need to rapidly popularize and demonstrate the value of AI technology in all fields, especially traditional ones. "With the widespread adoption of AI platforms, the development of more related tools, and the influx of young people, China's AI is expected to generate significant value within three years."

In fact, the prospects for AI application in many traditional fields in China are even greater than those in the United States. For example, American banks have long had their own data analysis systems in place and have been well-established. In contrast, Chinese banks can more quickly generate value with AI and big data technologies. Furthermore, while both Chinese and American companies experience a surge in users when applying AI, China's larger user base creates greater demand, presenting significant opportunities for China in the field of AI.

In an interview with 21st Century Business Herald, Microsoft Senior Vice President and Director of Microsoft Research Asia, Xiaowen Hong, explicitly stated that this is exactly what Microsoft is currently committed to. "We want to democratize AI and enable it to be used across all industries," Hong stated. For example, in the automotive industry, Microsoft's current AI technology can be well-suited for autonomous driving scenarios, empowering traditional automakers. Furthermore, Microsoft has partnered with the IngDan platform, a subsidiary of Cogobuy Group, to support smart hardware manufacturers in developing various AI features through software.

Calm down and take a long-term view.

While China's AI sector presents considerable opportunities, domestic expectations are currently too high. "Everything is AI now," Zhang Yaqin noted. "I don't want AI to be hyped up this year, only to be disappointed next year when progress falls short of expectations."

According to iResearch, the global AI market will reach 119 billion yuan by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 19.7%. The Chinese AI market will reach 9.1 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 50%. This surge in market size has triggered a rush of capital. According to VentureScanner, global investment in AI reached $1 billion in 2014, a year-on-year increase of nearly 50%. In 2015, global AI companies received nearly $1.2 billion in investment, of which approximately 65 Chinese AI startups received a total of 2.91 billion yuan.

However, the core of AI lies in technological development, which requires a strong focus on new algorithms. However, the long development cycle of core algorithms makes it difficult to achieve rapid improvements in the short term. Therefore, Zhang Yaqin emphasized the need to maintain a calm mindset and take a long-term view regarding AI.

With such long-term expectations, companies committed to AI research will inevitably invest heavily, making a robust business strategy essential. "Making AI accessible to other businesses and developers through intelligent cloud APIs will be a future trend, but this will take time. Just as some companies were developing smartphones in the early 1990s, but they didn't truly blossom until 2007, fundamental business and product development must be robust. For example, during Microsoft's transformation, our core businesses like Windows and Office remained very stable," Hong Xiaowen told reporters.

Hong Xiaowen also emphasized that during the transition to AI, companies must also identify their strengths and positioning, recognizing their expertise. "For example, Microsoft's expertise lies in software, so we should continue to strengthen this area. Even when exploring new areas, we need to leverage our unique characteristics and strengths, focusing on what we should and shouldn't do."