China’s AI Development

An Asia House conference in partnership with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

Beijing has set its sights on becoming an AI superpower, with a blueprint for investing in AI that would create a US$150 billion industry by 2030. China has several key advantages: a large amount of data; the Chinese entrepreneurial system; and government support. According to Dr Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, while the US clearly leads in technology, Chinese policies are accelerating the launch adoption of things – “And with AI, the faster you launch, the faster you use the data to improve your algorithm, the more you’ll catch up.” Nonetheless, there are also detractors who play down China’s strengths and say the country is too far behind in technology and lacks the talent to catch up, as reported by the Financial Times.

This conference will discuss the state of AI development in China. It will look more closely at China’s key advantages vis-à-vis the US, China’s progress in AI development and where it has room for further growth, and more broadly address whether AI has been overhyped in China and beyond.

This conference will feature a keynote speech by Xu Chenggang, Professor of Economics at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), who has conducted research comparing the development of AI in China and the US. Through analysing indicators such as the volume of activity in academia, industry activity and open-source software, Professor Xu found that the degree of AI development in America is higher than that in China, but in recent years, China has grown faster in fields such as virtual agents, swarm intelligence, robotic process automation and natural language processing.

Programme: 

• 9.00 – 9.30am: Registration of guests and networking breakfast
• 9.30 – 10.05am: Presentation on ‘China’s AI Development’ by Xu Chenggang, Professor of Economics, CKGSB
• 10.05 – 11.00am: Panel discussion
  • Xu Chenggang, Professor of Economics, CKGSB
  • Professor Birgitte Andersen, CEO of Big Innovation Centre
  • Mark Purdy, Managing Director and Chief Economist, Accenture Research
  • Paul Clarke, Chief Technology Officer, Ocado
• 11.00 – 11.15am: Closing remarks by Sana Khareghani, Deputy Director, UK Government Office for Artificial Intelligence

About Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)

Established in Beijing in November 2002 with support from the Li Ka Shing Foundation, CKGSB is China’s first faculty-governed and independent business school. CKGSB boasts more than 40 full-time professors, many of whom previously held tenured faculty positions at leading business schools such as Wharton and Yale. Their research has provided the basis for more than 400 case studies of both China-specific and global issues. CKGSB also stands apart for its unmatched alumni network. More than half of CKGSB’s 10,000+ alumni are at the CEO or Chairman level and, collectively, they lead one fifth of China’s 100 most valuable brands.

Headquartered in Beijing, CKGSB is also located in Shanghai, Shenzhen, New York, Hong Kong and London. The school offers the following innovative courses: MBA, Finance MBA, Executive MBA, Business Scholars Program (DBA), and Executive Education programs.

To register interest in attending this event, please email aini.abdullah@asiahouse.co.uk.