Top executives of China's tech giants called for accelerated AI development at World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit

By Greg Gao

(JW Insights) Nov 10 -- The top executives of China's biggest internet and technology companies called for accelerated efforts to develop AI infrastructure and an open AI ecosystem at this week’s World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, reported China Daily.

The 2023 World Internet Conference was staged on November 8-10 in Wuzhen, eastern China’s Zhejiang Province. The summit, centered around the theme “Creating an Inclusive and Resilient Digital World Beneficial to All -- Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace”, covered topics on global development initiatives, digital cooperation, artificial intelligence, and coordinated transformation for digital and green development.

Industry experts also called for more coordinated international efforts for AI governance, believing it is the only way to harness AI for humanity amid rising global economic uncertainties.

Wu Yongming, CEO of Alibaba Group, said: "The key to developing AI is to create a strong infrastructure and an open ecosystem. AI and cloud computing will become Alibaba's two-wheel drive for future underlying capabilities and the company will insist on building a more solid infrastructure base and a more open and prosperous AI ecosystem."

Robin Li, chairman of Baidu Inc, emphasized that current large models and computing power cannot generate value themselves and the key is to use large models and other technologies to build a prosperous AI native ecosystem.

Guo Kaitian, senior vice-president of Tencent Holdings, said that the company has developed technologies related to large models, including model algorithms, machine learning frameworks and AI infrastructure, all by itself.

In another session, Yang Yuanxi, co-founder of Kuaishou, a publisher of short videos and one of the country's largest online platforms with 400 million daily active users, disclosed that the company is developing its own large language model and a video recommendation system based on large models.

Since the company has a portfolio of more than 10 billion short videos, it is difficult to use human power to enable users to find content that matches their interests. So, AI is expected to help in this regard, Yang said.

Last month, China launched the Global AI Governance Initiative with the avowed goal of creating an open, inclusive and fair approach for the development, security and governance of emerging AI technologies and services.

Francis Gurry, vice-chair of the WIC and former director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said: "The future of the internet and the future of AI are closely connected with each other. Realizing the potential of AI also requires international cooperation, just like promoting the continued development of the internet," according to the China Daily report.