China recruits Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent to AI ‘national team’
BAT, as well as iFlyTek, identified by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology as first members of artificial intelligence national team
The Chinese government has named its first batch of national champions in artificial intelligence as partners in an ambitious strategy to accelerate the country towards global technology leadership.
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology identified internet giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings – collectively known as BAT – and voice intelligence specialist iFlytek, as the first group to spur development of next generation AI technologies that are vital to everything from voice activated digital assistants to self-driving cars.
A notice published on the official ministry website on Monday said the four companies would leverage their respective strengths to build “open innovation platforms” in four different fields.
Baidu’s focus will be on autonomous driving; the cloud computing division of Alibaba is tasked with a project called “city brains”, a set of AI solutions to improve urban life, including smart transport; Tencent will focus on computer vision for medial diagnosis; while Shenzhen-listed iFlytek, a dominant player in voice recognition, will specialise in voice intelligence.
Representatives from Baidu and iFlyTek confirmed they were chosen for the “national team” when contacted by the South China Morning Post, while Tencent and Alibaba were not available for comment at press time.