China Flexes AI Muscle At Shanghai Expo

A Comprehensive Connection Hub introduced various AI-related projects to investment institutions and procurement groups. An AI+ Application Scenarios Comprehensive Zone hosted scenario providers from China and close to 20 other countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK and Singapore. The organizers estimate the total value of procurement requests made at the event at more than 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion).

The robot exhibition featured more than 20 humanoid robots from companies including Data Robotics, Deep Robotics, Robot Era, Fourier Intelligence, Unitree and Tesla, which showed off its Optimus Gen 2 inside a glass box. China's humanoid robot open-source community was also represented. Quadruped, wheeled and dexterous fixed robots were also on display.

But it was the presentation of large language models, their creators and capabilities that said the most about the state of AI in China. The following examples were selected by the Shanghai government organizers for their impact:

• China Mobile's“Jiutian Base Model,” the first model from a major state-owned enterprise, was the first to be registered with the National Cyberspace Administration for generative AI services and algorithms. It is already used in government, healthcare and numerous enterprises including China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC).

• China Unicom's“Yuanjing '1+1+M' LLM system”, which is already used in network management, customer service, fraud detection, government and industry.

• China Telecom's models and cloud computing are used in smart homes and smart city services.

• State-owned CITIC Group (previously China International Trust Investment Corporation) Group presented its“Lighthouse Factory,” an internet-based manufacturing system developed for the special steel industry and soon to be applied to aluminum auto parts.

• A collaboration between Google and Lanzhou University uses the open-source software library for machine learning developed by Google to incorporate Dunhuang mural patterns into the design of modern clothing. Dunhuang is an important archeological site on the ancient Silk Road, famous for the manuscripts, murals and Buddhist statues found in its hundreds of caves.

New large language models and applications were presented by more than 15 Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Ant Group, Baichuan Intelligence, Baidu, Huawei, iFLYTEK, Kingsoft, Midu, Minimax, Model Best, SenseTime, Tencent, Transwarp, Unisound and Zhipu AI.

Many of these companies are probably unfamiliar to most non-Chinese readers. Some, if not many, of them seem likely to become familiar names in the future. They illustrate the speed and extent of AI development in China, which combines Chinese entrepreneurship with Japan-style industrial policy and a US-style start-up culture.

Alibaba Group chairman Joe Tsai said in an interview reported by the South China Morning Post that China is“possibly two years behind” leading American AI developers. He blamed this on US export restrictions, which prevent Chinese companies from buying Nvidia's most advanced GPUs. He added that“it is an issue in the short run and probably the medium run.”

Not forgetting the difficulty of calculating the gap, it might rather be said that China's leading AI developers lag their US counterparts by only two years, or three, despite the sanctions.

The variety of products and services on display at the conference and exhibition in Shanghai suggests that in terms of the practical application of AI across society, China might be overtaking the US already.

According to the China Daily, the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center (SMC), a business incubator, has attracted more than 80 enterprises dedicated to the development of AI models. The number of large language models in the city is now up to 34.

With about 250,000 employees and a valuation of over 380 billion yuan ($52 billion), Shanghai's AI sector leads the nation.

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