China forms 1st AI alliance

China set up its first artificial intelligence alliance on Wednesday in a move to expand the industry at a gallop.

Led by the China Center for Information Industry Development, tech giants like Intel China, iFlytek Co Ltd, JD.com, SAP China and Ecovacs Robotics Co teamed up to form the non-profit organization, called China Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Alliance, or CAIIIA for short.

It focuses on creating AI value through adjusting nimbly to technological acceleration that AI breakthroughs will bring about.

The newly formed alliance set goals to incubate 50 AI-enabled products and 40 firms, launch 20 pilot projects, and set up a general technology platform in the next three years.

At the launching ceremony, CAIIIA reached agreements with government officials to construct four industry bases in Tongzhou in Beijing, Songjiang in Shanghai, Qingshan in Wuhan, and Xixian New Area in Shaanxi province.

The launching ceremony kicked off at the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Conference 2017, where industry leaders gathered to address opportunities and challenges with AI technologies.

"AI has arrived, incontrovertibly," said Yang Xueshan, former vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the honorary advisor appointed by CAIIIA.

All human tasks, without exception, could be completed by AI technologies by 2050, said Yang, whose prediction is based on China's ever-increasing massive computing power and affordable tech resources in the long run.

So far, over 200 enterprises, including tech firms and research institutions, have joined the alliance.