Research and development of artificial intelligence in China

Abstract

Abstract This year saw several milestones in the development of artificial intelligence. In March, AlphaGo, a computer algorithm developed by Google's London-based company, DeepMind, beat the world champion Lee Sedol at Go, an ancient Chinese board game. In October, the same company unveiled in the journal Nature its latest technique that allows a machine to solve tasks that require logic and reasoning, such as finding its way around the London Underground using a map it has never seen before. Such progress in recent years has provided significant impetus to developing cutting-edge learning machines around the world, including China. In 2015, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) set up the Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology—a consortium of laboratories from more than 20 CAS institutes and universities. Early this year, China rolled out the China Brain Project, a fifteen-year programme that will focus on brain mapping, neurological diseases and brain-inspired artificial intelligence. In a forum chaired by National Science Review's Executive Associative Editor, Mu-ming Poo, who also leads the CAS centre for excellence and the China Brain Project, several researchers discussed China's latest initiatives and progress in artificial intelligence, where the future lies and what the main challenges are. Yunji Chen Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Tieniu Tan Institute of Automation, Deputy President of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Yi Zeng Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Hongbin Zha Director of Key Lab of Machine Perception (MOE), Peking University, Beijing Mu-ming Poo (Chair) Director of Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai