More than 90 percent of artificial intelligence-centered companies suffered losses in 2017, according to a report about AI technology commercialization by iyiou.com, an e-commerce market intelligence provider.

A wearable device attracts visitors at an exhibition. (Photo: China News Service)

Huang Yuanpu, the founder of iyiou.com, said the industry had high expectations for artificial intelligence in the past year and that various applications emerged but with few gains.

China's AI startup industry raised more than 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion), the cumulative revenue generated by the top 100 companies was less than 10 billion yuan, and more than 90 percent of AI companies suffered losses, said the report.

Insiders generally agreed with Huang regarding the difficulties involved with applying AI into business programs.

Yao Xing, vice president of Tencent and an AI Lab leader, said AI was only an aid, not a winning force in practical applications.

Dr. Eric Xing, a Carnegie Mellon machine learning professor and also the founder of software infrastructure and ecosystem provider Petuum, said what the AI industry lacked was not an algorithm but how it could be better translated into engineering tools.

Xing also suggested more effort be made to further integrate AI into civil engineering fields instead of focusing on self-driving and medical care.

The experts made the statements at the 2018 Global AI+ New Business Summit in Shanghai, where the 2018 Artificial Intelligence World Innovations (2018 AI-WIN) were also launched.