China’s ‘two sessions’ 2024: Big Tech delegates call for more home-made chips and brains to advance AI development
- Xiaomi co-founder and CEO Lei Jun says that teaching of AI literacy should start as early as primary school
- Other delegates noted that the country needs more home-made advanced chips, needed to train large language models
Technology executives attending China’s biggest annual political gathering known as the “two sessions” have called for the country to make more home-grown advanced chips and train talent to help with its artificial intelligence (AI) push, according to tabled proposals.
Lei Jun, co-founder and CEO of smartphone giant Xiaomi and a delegate of the National People’s Congress, advocated in one of his four proposals that the country should strengthen AI education to drive the country’s technology and industry upgrades.
Lei said that the teaching of AI literacy should start as early as primary school, and continue throughout compulsory education, covering nine years in total.
“There is a significant lack of top AI talent [in our country] … ,” Lei wrote in his proposal, cautioning that the cultivation of AI talent would be a critical factor to upgrading China’s industries.
Lei also suggested introducing more AI-related subject studies across Chinese universities, stepping up investment in AI education and strengthening collaboration with overseas institutions.
Currently nearly 500 Chinese colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in AI, with around 200 institutions applying to set up similar degree studies, representing a relatively small portion of the over 3,000 Chinese colleges.
