In today's special series, The Big Picture, we focus on artificial intelligence. AI is catching on in almost every aspect of life, and robotics technology will be a fourth retail revolution. CGTN correspondent Stephanie Freid brings us stories about the Artificial Intelligence cooperation between China and Israel.

 

STEPHANIE FREID TEL AVIV, ISRAEL When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, Israel is a world leader. According to a Forbes Magazine Report, Israeli companies traded on the Nasdaq have a market cap of seventy billion dollars. At the same time, Israel's start-ups are eyeing China for its tremendous market potential and China is not disappointing. Last year Chinese investment in Israel hit a record high - increasing ten times over the previous year. Here's what both sides are hoping to gain from a future together.

 

A match made in heaven. That's how one Israeli Artificial Intelligence expert describes the combination of China's methodology with Israel's "think out of the box" approach. The match plays out via joint ventures across the high tech realm. The hottest new collaborations are in the artificial intelligence or "AI" domain. Israel is innovating drones, robots, cyber security, software that controls factory operations and even self-driving cars. China is a high roller investor, to the tune of sixteen point five billion dollars last year.

 

ILAN MAOR VICE PRESIDENT, ISRAEL-ASIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE "The openness towards cooperation, the openness towards doing R&D together, the openness here towards creating new products for a new market - this is something that makes a difference. This is something that probably Israelis are probably more open than anybody else."

 

China's justice system is this voice detection company's number one client. They specialize in analyzing speech patterns for emotion and personality characteristics. China's senior population, the fastest growing population in the world, has the country's investors also eyeing A.I. start ups with medical slants. Like this algorithm-centric company staffed by genomics experts, data scientists and physicians who apply blood analysis data to predict a person's vulnerability to diseases like cancer and diabetes.

 

ORI GEVA CEO, MEDIAL EARLY SIGN "There is more need for, I would say, for more sophisticated ways to outreach to patients, to find populations at risk, try and prevent those who would be at high risk tomorrow from reaching there."

 

Israel's high tech industry is increasingly turning to China for collaboration - as new joint ventures emerge on a nearly daily basis, artificial intelligence is increasingly a driving force behind the collaborations.

 

For CGTN, This is Stephanie Freid in Tel Aviv, Israel.