China on the brink of AI, physical economy integration

The basic technologic conditions for the integration of artificial intelligence and China's physical economy have formed, and 106 items of innovation projects stand out among 638 shortlist candidates, an official said.

A total of 2,428 applications were received and 106 were chosen as innovative projects of AI and physical economy by a team consisting of more than 30 academicians, experts and scholars, Zhao Ce, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said during a forum at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference that started on Monday.

Among the projects, 48 percent were launched by privately-invested enterprises, and 75 percent come from non-listed companies. About 74 percent of the projects are from organizations with an annual revenue of more than 100 million yuan， and 35 percent have research and development investment that accounts for more than 20 percent of their core business revenue, Zhao added.

"The basic technologic conditions for AI to integrate with China's physical economy has formed, and has formed a complete industry chain full of development potential," Zhao said.

"Digitalization, internet and intelligent will lead the future development of manufacturing, and AI makes intelligent manufacturing possible," said Wu Hequan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Wu believes AI will be able to participate in all manufacturing processes, including planning, research and development, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, maintenance, after service, personal management, finance and accounting, and enterprise security.

"AI technology and application are still under development, and its future influence will be far beyond our imagination," Wu added.