Two decades ago, there was a gigantic gap between China and the US on artificial intelligence (AI) research. While the US was seeing sustained growth by both private and public institutions, China was still carrying out low value activities in manufacturing. But recently, China has caught up. From a research viewpoint, it has become a global leader in artificial intelligence patents and publications. According to China Science News, the Middle Kingdom may also someday dominate AI-empowered businesses like image and speech recognition applications.
China's share of AI research papers has elevated from 4.26% in the 1990s to 28% in 2017, surpassing all countries including the US. China has been consistently filing more AI patents than any other country. As of 2019, the number of AI firms in China has reached 1200, second to the US, which has around two thousand active firms. These firms concentrate on speech (example - speech synthesis, speech recognition), and vision (example - video recognition, image recognition) than their counterparts in abroad.
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How Did China Catch Up?
How did China manage to leapfrog nations that had been working on AI for about twenty years? Below are two major reasons.
1. China's Market is Encouraging the Adoption as well as Improvement of Artificial Intelligence
China has a huge market and it helped the country catch up in AI. The market exhibits variety and is evolving at a considerable pace, enabling startups and established companies to explore different artificial intelligence apps in different sectors. Such a market dynamic let the Middle Kingdom develop new ventures and products.
2. China has Powerful AI Promoting Strategies and Poor Privacy Regulations
According to China Science News, China has lately passed a wide range of policies to promote artificial intelligence development. These polices send out a clear sign to AI stakeholders such as researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors that the field of artificial intelligence is supported by the government and worth their money.
China's weak privacy regulations also helped it catch up in certain AI applications. For instance, the omnipresence of surveillance cameras in China have created a lucrative market for AI companies specializing in facial and visual recognition. The market would not have succeeded in nations with stricter privacy regulations.
Challenges and Future Predictions
China is leading the field of artificial intelligence by plenty of indicators. The unique market, policies, and technological environments that Chinese companies face have given them the opportunity to keep pace with the global AI leaders. Now although the Middle Kingdom thankfully caught up, the conditions that helped it do so may obstruct AI's further development.
For instance, due to the open science nature of artificial intelligence, and the benefits of being dedicated followers, Chinese companies usually do not feel the urge to invest in fundamental AI technologies. Unlike in the developed economies of the West where firms are main holders of AI patents, in China, almost all AI patents are filed by research institutes and universities. These patents are government sponsored. However, the university-industry connections in China are quite weak, and technology transfer is rather limited. Now while the combined AI research yields are growing in China, breakthrough technologies and original ideas are lacking.
Furthermore, China's indefinite business environment together with the big market for AI products and consumer's willingness to adopt them motivate leading investors and companies to apply for AI research. Though AI research have long-lasting impacts and can bring money rapidly, at a fundamental level, research culture in China requires substantial improvement.
In terms of policy, the relaxed regulations have proven to be a double-edged sword. While many companies can take advantage of these regulations by pushing different AI apps to markets, others feel annoyed as due to policy uncertainty, they have no idea what's allowed.
At present, businesses all across the globe and technological environments face a series of political reservations. These include the trade war between China and the US, the deglobalization campaign, and increasing conflicts over intellectual properties. Such challenges will prevent China from catching up in AI. But the long-term consequences on the direction and rate of China's artificial intelligence innovation is still to be seen. Regardless of the reservations, the competition between the Middle Kingdom and the US for AI will continue.
