What Chinese tech giants told us at Big Data Expo?

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The 2018 China International Big Data Expo ends on May 29. During the four-day event, the exciting tech exhibition, the in-depth Internet giant leaders dialogues, e-commerce summits gave a wonderful journey to all the people participated.

Now let’s look at the latest thoughts and ideas shared by those industry tycoons who have reshaped China’s economy with CGTN.

‍Jack Ma Yun: how to alleviate poverty by taking advantage of the big data?

Jack Ma, CEO, Alibaba Group /VCG Photo

Despite its fast economic growth, China still has tens of millions of people living in poverty. How to help people get out of it remains the toughest problem for the country leaders.

Echoing with the theme, Jack Ma pointed out poverty alleviation is not about just giving money, but to teach the poor how to make money by themselves, how to make best use of their own assets--the land they live on to monetize it into an agriculture industry powered by the high-tech? And how big data can help farmers sell their products?

Companies like Alibaba are expected to address the market needs by targeting the potential customers for farmers based on the technology they have. Only in this way can people living in poverty find a way to count on themselves.

Thanks to the rapid development of high-tech, Guiyang, the capital of southwestern Guizhou Province in southwest China, is now home to China’s first big data pilot zone. It can be set as an example for the whole world that a less-developed region is able to transform into a major technology centre.

When it comes to poverty alleviation, Jack also mentioned that charity is for the people in need, but public welfare is the for sake of everybody. Employees within Alibaba will continue to take a longer view to assist people getting rid of poverty.

Pony Ma Huateng: China risks losing out of other countries on core technologies

Pony Ma Huateng, CEO, Tencent Holdings /VCG Photo

Speaking of the current hot technology trends like AI, quantum computing, chips, Pony, chairman of Tencent Holdings, emphasized Chinese companies should keep a close eye on the basic scientific research in the core technology fields.

“You have no idea when people will catch up with you if you don’t take it seriously.” He told the audience at the “Digital Economy” dialogue session.

China’s digitalization has expanded at a speed faster than ever before, covering from individual users, companies to even the government agencies. As one of China’s Internet giant with the largest user base, Tencent aims to bridge the gap and make the benefits accessible to all.

Robin Li Yanhong: Security; Forever ad-free app; AI ethics

Robin Li Yanhong, co-founder of Baidu /VCG Photo

Robin expressed his concern over the security of the self-driving vehicle. He promised during this year’s two Session meetings that those autonomous cars will be delivered at a large scale by the end of July. He reassured safety should be the “first law”.

At the keynote speech, Robin advertised Baidu’s latest ad-free app--Simple Search Engine. Featuring image-scanning and voice-activated search, this application is able to tailor the search to the different mode like “adults”, “standard”, “children” based on users’ voice characters.

He also made some comments on the future AI development during his first public appearance after Baidu’s former AI chief operating officer Lu Qi stepping down from the office.

“The vision for AI is to ensure people have more equal access to technologies and its capabilities. Both Baidu and society should rethink values about AI” said Li.