Views from Boao: Human intelligence in AI is irreplaceable

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By CGTN's Chen Chen and Lester Xu‍

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most alluring industries to foreign investors, as Logan Allin, partner at Formation Group puts it. And it is likely to be a vital part of China's future, as it aims to develop a stronger force in meeting higher demand on the supply end.

So what is AI? Why are humans developing it?

AI is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, which is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, according to Stanford University.

Yuan Hui, founder and CEO of Xiaoi /CGTN Photo

Studying AI maintains human curiosity of exploring the future, according Yuan Hui, founder and CEO of Xiaoi, an intelligent robot technology provider specializing in the research and development of smart robots. He told CGTN that machines can help humans with repetitive work.

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Big Data, a necessary field in AI's development, is an area that fascinates the country’s government. China aims to more than triple the scale of its Big Data industry by 2020 in order to foster new economic drivers. The country already uses Big Data in many fields, ranging from medical to food safety.

Cui Xiaobo, founder and CEO of TalkingData, China’s largest Big Data service platform with a focus on the mobile Internet, discussed the significance of Big Data with CGTN. He said the developments in many fields are now driven by Big Data, such as online games, e-commerce and advertising.

Cui Xiaobo, founder and CEO of TalkingData /CGTN Photo

He also explained that Big Data is closely related to the development of AI.

He said if Big Data was the blood, AI would be the heart. “The development of AI is being hugely driven by the development of Big Data and the two are intertwined to each other,” he said.

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As AlphaGo stunned the world when it beat the best human Go players last year, questions arose as to how far machines will advance in the future.

But Yuan said instead of being afraid that machines topple humans, humans should know who they are first, and think about how we face the world, and why we are creating AI. “If you know who you are, then tools will always be tools,” he said.

But Cui added that “in this stage of AI’s development, human wisdom is irreplaceable.”

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There is also a concept named HI (Human Intelligence), which is human’s wisdom, he said. “The wisdom acts like the brain in this case, while Big Data is like the blood, and AI is like the heart,” Cui depicted.

He added human wisdom is the leading driving force in the maturity of AI, as well as the application of Big Data.

Discussing how advanced AI technology is, Yuan said as much as AI is an important force and rightly a hot topic, human development in the field is still shallow.

“AI is like a big ocean, We are all like little kids in front of it. We are ready to sail, but far from having the abilities to conquer it.”

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