The Chinese State Council has issued a guideline on the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and the establishment of a goal to become a global innovation center in this field by 2030. Here is the full translation of the guideline: A New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan. It is translated by Flora Sapio (FLIA Scholar), Weiming Chen (FLIA Research Assistant), and Adrian Lo (FLIA Research Intern).
Notice of the State Council Issuing the
New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan
State Council Document [2017] No. 35
To all people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, all State Council ministries, and all directly controlled institutions:
The “next generation of artificial intelligence development plan” is hereby issued to you, please carefully implement.
State Council
July 8, 2017
A New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan
The rapid development of artificial intelligence will profoundly change human social life and the world. To seize the major strategic opportunities for the development of artificial intelligence, build China’s first-mover advantage in artificial intelligence development, accelerate the construction of innovative countries and the world’s science and technology power, this plan is enacted in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and State Council.
- The Strategic Situation
Artificial intelligence has developed into a new stage. After 60 years of evolution, especially in the motivation of new theories and technologies (i.e mobile Internet, large data, super-computing, sensor network, brain science) and strong demand for economic and social development, artificial intelligence has accelerated with new features of deep learning, cross-border integration, man-machine collaboration, open group intelligence and autonomous control. Knowledge learning driven by large data, cross-media co-processing, man-machine collaboration to enhance intelligence, group integration intelligence and autonomous intelligence systems have become the focus of the development of artificial intelligence. Brain science research results inspired by the brain intelligence are ready, chip hardware platform development trend is more obvious and artificial intelligence has developed into a new stage. At present, the whole promotion of a new generation of artificial intelligence related disciplines, theoretical modeling, technological innovation, hardware and software upgrades is triggering chain breakthroughs and propelling the development of the economic and social fields from digitalization and networkization to automation.
Artificial intelligence has become the new focus of international competition. Artificial intelligence is thought to be the strategic technology leading the future, the world’s major developed countries regard the development of artificial intelligence as the major strategy to increase national competitiveness and enhance national security, therefore they intensify the introduction of plans and policies and the deployment of the core technology, top talent, standards etc. trying to grasp the initiative in the new round of international science and technology competition. At present, China’s national security and international competition situation are more complex, so we must look at the world, layout the artificial intelligence development on the national strategic level, grasp firmly the strategic initiative of international competition during the new stage of artificial intelligence development, create new competitive advantage, open up new spaces of development, and effectively protect national security.
Artificial intelligence has become a new engine of economic development. Artificial intelligence as the core driving force of a new round of industrial transformation, will further release the huge capacity accumulatedby previous scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, create a new powerful engine, reconstruct the economic activities of production, distribution, exchange, consumption and others, form the intelligent new demand from macro to the microscopic areas, promote the birth of new technologies, new products, new industries, new formats and new models, trigger significant changes in economic structure, profoundly change human production, lifestyle and thinking mode, and achieve the remarkable jump of social productivity as a whole. China’s economy has developed into a new normal situation and deepening the supply side of the structural reform task is very arduous, as a result, we must speed up the rapid application of artificial intelligence, cultivate and expand the artificial intelligence industry to inject new kinetic energy into China’s economic development.
Artificial intelligence brings new opportunities for social construction. China is in a comprehensive stage of building a well-off society, population aging, resource environment constraints and other challenges are still grim and the application of artificial intelligence in education, medical care, pension, environmental protection, urban operation, judicial services and other fields will greatly improve the precision level of public service, comprehensively enhancing the quality of life of the people. Artificial intelligence technology can accurately perceive, forecast, early warn the major trends of infrastructure and social security operation, timely grasp the change of group awareness and psychology, respond actively decision-making, significantly improve the ability and level of social governance, and it is indispensable for the effective maintenance of social stability.
Uncertainties in the development of artificial intelligence bring new challenges. Artificial intelligence is a disruptive technology that can affect government management, economic security and social stability, and even global governance, which may lead to problems of changes in employment structure, impact law and social ethics, violateng personal privacy and challenge international relations. While vigorously developing artificial intelligence, we must attach great importance to the possible safety risk challenges, strengthen the forward-looking prevention and restraint guidance, minimize risk and ensure the safe, reliable and controllable development of artificial intelligence.
China has a good basis for the development of artificial intelligence. The State has deployed special projects, such as intelligent manufacturing and other key research and development projects, issued three years implementation program of the “Internet+”, made a series of measures in aspects of research and development of science and technology, application and promotion and industrial development etc. After years of continuous accumulation, China has made important progresses in the field of artificial intelligence, the number of international scientific papers published and the amount of patented invention has been ranked second in the world and some key technologies have achieved an important breakthrough. Voice recognition, visual recognition technology are world-leading, adaptive autonomous learning, intuitive perception, comprehensive reasoning, mixed intelligence and group intelligence, etc., are with the ability of crossing development, Chinese information processing, intelligent monitoring, biometric identification, industrial robots, service robots, unmanned driving have gradually developed into the practical application, artificial intelligence innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly active and a number of leading enterprises growing remarkably have been widely concerned and recognized. The organic combination between the accelerating accumulation of technical capacity, massive data resources, huge application requirements and open market environment forms China’s unique advantages of artificial intelligence development.
At the same time, we must also clearly see that the overall level of development of China’s artificial intelligence and that of the developed countries still have gaps. China lacks major original results and there are huge gaps in the basic theory, the core algorithm, key equipment, high-end chips, major products and systems, components, software and interface and so on; scientific research institutions and enterprises have not yet formed the ecological circle and industrial chain with international influence in short of systematic research and development layout; artificial intelligence cutting-edge talent is far from meeting the demand; the infrastructure, policies and regulations and the standard system adapted to the development of artificial intelligence need to be improved.
Facing the new situation and new demands, we must take the initiative to change the strain, firmly grasp a major historical opportunity for the development of artificial intelligence, closely judge the general trend, take the initiative to grasp the direction, seize the initiative, lead the artificial intelligence development trend of the world, serve the economic and social development, support national security, and promote the overall competitiveness of the country and leapfrog development.
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