03:22
One of the most influential tech websites, TechCrunch, has just wrapped up its annual Disrupt conference. The event is a chance for start-ups to present their work to the industry and try to impress potential investors. The San Francisco event has become increasingly global, featuring companies from around the world including many from China. Mark Niu has the details.
Twelve hundred startups provide a glimpse of what could be in or on our hands soon.
RYAN BECKERCO-FOUNDER, CY5 "And then, it is going to stay on your skin for two or three days. This tracks heart rate as well as blood pressure, you can do blood glucose, melanoma detection and endocrinal pressure."
Tech here moves from a few centimeters to a full body view. This startup unveiled a smart mirror that tracks your heart rate, your calories burned and live streams fitness classes run by professional trainers.
With ten-thousand attendees, this is the largest TechCrunch Disrupt ever, with its largest Chinese company presence too.
MARK NIUSAN FRANCISCO "And Chinese companies are also making a big splash here in the world of auto tech. This is M-Byte, an all-electric intelligent SUV. It's made by the Chinese company Byton, which is headquartered in Nanjing, China and has research and development centers in Silicon Valley and design centers in Germany."
ABE CHENVP OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, BYTON "Our car is designed around the large 1.25 meter display. Using machine learning and AI, our vehicle has the intelligence to understand what are your normal activities and help you based on what you often to do."
Also, taking the TechCrunch stage is Derek Haoyang Li, the Founder of Shanghai's YiXue Education.
He's introducing the audience to the Squirrel AI adaptive learning platform, which uses algorithms to detect the learning gaps in every student to accelerate their learning.
DEREK LI HAOYANG, FOUNDERSQUIRREL AI LEARNING "So that they won't waste time on something they already know. Also for the students, especially the poor student, we can give them knowledge at a very low level so they can easily understand. I think maybe ten years later, a student can learn ten times more knowledge than now."
Squirrel AI has held five contests where its virtual teachers were pitted against real teachers. Every time, students learning from Squirrel scored higher.
"Should teachers be worried about their jobs?"
DEREK LI HAOYANG, FOUNDERSQUIRREL AI LEARNING "We still need teachers to communicate with students, to care about their feelings and also how to form the student's personality. I think the teaching part, the knowledge teaching part will be mostly replaced by machine."
Also marveling at the development of AI in China, the former President of Google China, Kai-Fu Lee.
KAI-FU LEE, FOUNDER & CEOSINOVATION VENTURES "China was behind in many areas, but now we can use AI and mobile to re-invent education, clinics, retail. And all of those are just full of opportunities."
At tech events, Lee is mobbed like a rock star, especially as he prepares to launch his new book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order. Mark Niu, CGTN, San Francisco.