Introduction

It's very difficult to summarize a topic as deep as AI in a place a big as China. The objective of this chapter is to provide a snapshot of the current industry status as well as potential future developments, drawing heavily on the direct experience of the author. AI's 60-plus year history has been characterized by five to six waves of development and stagnation. Each wave has been driven by a new approach (such as expert systems or symbolic AI) which achieves breakthroughs in a specific area. This is followed by excitement, investment, and overexpectation followed almost inevitably by disappointment and abandonment. China has largely been absent from these waves of development, except the most recent cycle that started in the early 2010s. This wave has been driven by a new technology known as machine learning. It is unclear whether this new wave of development will meet the same fate as earlier cycles. Whatever the case, it's clear that China has already made big inroads in this area, both in terms of applications as well as research and development. China's entry into this phase of AI development has less to do with any particular expertise in machine learning and much more to do with the overall market and economic conditions of the country, which has enabled both private enterprises and government to invest significantly. No one could have anticipated that China would factor so heavily in the development of AI globally. Like many mega-trends, things began in a modest way.

Humble Beginnings

Unlike the West, AI developments in China were initially driven by start-ups much more than the technology giants. This seems counterintuitive given the level of technological complexity and investment required. But China's tech landscape has historically been driven more by business models and operational innovation than investment in technology. In fact given the legal environment and often high degree of employee churn, it was often very difficult to protect any intellectual property or investments in research and development. Therefore, the first wave of Chinese technology companies were mainly consumer-focused internet companies such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent (collectively known as “BAT”) where sustained competitive advantage came through operations and implementation more than technology.