Shanghai launched 22 artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives worth tens of billions of dollars at the opening of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference on Monday, aimed at fostering talent, opening up data resources to innovators, adopting regulations to support business and providing funding.
The architectural scenery of Lujiazui (Photo: VCG)
In order to gather top talent, Shanghai will craft custom packages to draw skilled individuals with support for AI innovation, entrepreneurship, and the costs and logistics of living in Shanghai. Shanghai will also configure its business development platform to ensure international competitiveness.
The Shanghai municipal government promised to make data more available in key areas such as government affairs, education, medical treatment and tourism. It will encourage AI developers to work in areas such as transportation, business services and modern agriculture, and assist them in developing new technologies, products and models to make city life easier.
Shanghai will help fund efforts to incorporate AI into strategic emerging industries, and guide capital to set up AI development funds to provide financial support for enterprise development.
In addition, Shanghai will further encourage enterprises to participate in the formulation of AI-related standards, security protocols and regulations. Shanghai has identified 60 areas of city life and industrial production that could be improved with artificial intelligence.
In the future, Shanghai is going to set up over 100 demonstration projects featuring AI applications. It will build three or four “smart” towns using AI, and five model AI industrial parks. It will also set up an AI industrial development fund worth tens of billions of dollars.
At a policy conference on Monday, Shanghai and high tech firms signed agreements to create 20 innovation projects aimed at core areas of the AI industrial chain, innovation chain and value chain. The partners included Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei, Microsoft, Amazon, the MIT Industrial Liaison Program and other AI related organizations.
(Compiled by Wang Xiangyu)