World Telecommunication Day: China integrates 5G with artificial intelligence

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Wednesday is World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Leaders of China's telecom industry gathered in Beijing to discuss the proper use of artificial intelligence and how 5G technology can better integrate with AI. Natasha Hussain has the story.

China is making fast moves in the race to create artificial intelligence. Last July, the Chinese government unveiled an ambitious plan — to become a global innovation center in AI by 2030.

ZHANG FENG, GENERAL ENGINEER CHINESE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY "China already ranks number two globally in terms of published papers and licensed patents on AI. We have taken a lead in areas like voice recognition and the machine vision system. By 2020, the market value of China's AI-related industries is estimated to hit 150 billion yuan or more than 23 billion dollars."

China's telecom chiefs are also seizing the opportunity. While celebrating the world's annual telecom day, they set the agenda to discuss how to better connect AI with the 5G technology they are currently working on. But first, what's the link between the two cutting-edge technologies?

ZHONG YIXIN, FORMER CHIEF CHINA ASSOCIATION FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE "AI is one of the most advanced fields of science and technology. It needs support from communication networks like 1G, 2G, 5G or even further. So this relates to the application system and infrastructure. They connect to each other to become an entirely intelligent society."

Three main local telecom carriers namely China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom — have been building 5G test sites in major Chinese cities, as the country vows to commercialize the use of 5G by 2020. Other key players like Huawei and Datang are also joining the race. They all believe AI would help speed up 5G network construction.

CHEN SHANZHI, VICE PRESIDENT DATANG TELECOM "We have initiated the standard-setting for intelligent-connected cars in the 5G era. Recently, Datang and Ford conducted Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything technology trials in China. We hope to make driving safer and transportation more efficient."

AI is penetrating many aspects of our day-to-day lives, from face-recognition to the health sector. But as a late comer in the field, experts say China still has a long way ahead.

ZHONG YIXIN, FORMER CHIEF CHINA ASSOCIATION FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE "The universal theory for AI is still far away. So, as one of the big countries, China has to pay attention not only to the applied results of AI but also the fundamental theory of AI research. We must pay more attention to our young talents and be more innovative."

But one thing is crystal clear: the AI era has indeed come to China. Natasha Hussain, CGTN.