The global spotlight on artificial intelligence will once again focus on China as the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance are set to begin in Shanghai on July 4. Preparations for the conference are in the final stages.

Themed "Governing AI for Good and for All," this year's conference has been upgraded and expanded compared to the previous six editions.

Prominent figures in attendance

The conference will emphasize global governance, international cooperation, and fundamental research in the AI field, and feature an unprecedented participation of prominent figures.

AI safety expert Chris Meserole, who was named executive director of the Frontier Model Forum last year by AI giants such as OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, has confirmed his attendance. Other notable attendees include Zeng Yi, a member of the UN Advisory Body on AI, and Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, along with about 20 top scholars.

The conference will host eight forums on AI governance, covering topics such as AI safety and value alignment, AI privacy computing, AI for good, and intelligent social governance.

The conference will also emphasize the exploration of fundamental disciplines and cutting-edge innovations. Nine winners of prestigious awards like the Turing Award, Fields Medal, or Nobel Prize, including Raj Reddy and Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, along with 88 top academicians from around the world, will gather to discuss the application of "causal inference" methods in data science and their key roles in promoting the development of trustworthy AI technology.

Record-breaking exhibition

While the participation of numerous international academic giants adds significant authority to the conference, the exhibition part of the event presents a different kind of excitement.

This year, the exhibition area exceeds 52,000 square meters, with the number of participating companies, highlight exhibits, and debut products all hitting record highs. This showcases the rich application scenarios and accelerated commercialization loop of China's AI industry.

For instance, in the field of large models, the number of large models on display will exceed 100, compared to more than 30 last year.

SenseTime, which released "SenseNova 5.0" just over two months ago, will launch "SenseNova 5.5" at the exhibition, further demonstrating its powerful hybrid modality capabilities.

Transwarp Technology, committed to training large models from "liberal arts students" to "science students," will launch the Infinity Intelligence large model product, showcasing its ability to meet the 99%+ high accuracy requirements of financial clients.

Soul App, aiming to "make no one in the world feel lonely," launched the self-developed large model SoulX last year and has been promoting the "integration of models and applications" in social scenarios. Besides adding features like anthropomorphic intelligent dialogue robots and AI chat assistants within the platform, it recently launched a new app "EchoVerse," providing users with customizable virtual companions that offer 24-hour emotionally intelligent interaction.

Additionally, products from tech giants like Baidu's Ernie Bot (Wenxin Yiyan) and Tencent's Yuanbao, along with those from emerging companies like Minimax and Zhipu AI, will compete to showcase their innovative products.

Furthermore, in the field of embodied intelligence, this exhibition will feature 45 intelligent robots, including 25 humanoid robots.

Tesla will debut its second-generation Optimus at the exhibition, and Unitree Robotics will showcase China's first full-size general-purpose humanoid robot capable of running, the H1. The exhibition will also see the release of the world's first full-size open-source standard humanoid robot Qinglong and China's first full-size humanoid robot open-source community.

AI in Shanghai

One of Shanghai's three leading industries, artificial intelligence has formed a complete industrial chain, ranging from software models to intelligent terminals, and from fundamental research to innovative applications.

The number of enterprises above designated size has grown from 183 in 2018 to 348 in 2023, and the industry scale has increased from 134 billion yuan ($18.4 billion) to over 380 billion yuan. Currently, Shanghai's AI industry employs about 250,000 people, accounting for one-third of the national total.

Source: shanghai.gov.cn