The Machines are Coming: China’s Role in the Future of Artificial Intelligence
The Machines are Coming: China’s Role in the Future of Artificial Intelligence

The Machines are Coming: China’s Role in the Future of Artificial Intelligence

Try typing “the machines” into Google and chances are that one of the top results the artificial intelligence-powered search engine will return is the phrase: “The Machines are Coming”.

After a 2016 filled with high-profile advances in artificial intelligence (AI), leading technologists say this could be a breakout year in the development of intelligent machines that emulate humans.

Asia, until now lagging Silicon Valley in AI, will play a bigger role as the field cements itself at the pinnacle of the technology world in 2017, the experts say.

Pascale Fung, an AI researcher at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), said several milestones have been reached in developing computers that are similar to the human brain. Speech and emotional recognition were among the areas “reaching new milestones”, Fung said.

Asia-focused AI experts say the region has lagged the West in research, but its technology companies and universities have enormous potential to make up for lost ground.

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