China has set plans to become a global leader in AI by 2025, posing a challenge to US dominance in this sector amid rising international tensions over military applications of technology. The State Council said China has issued a national plan for the development of artificial intelligence late on July 20, 2017, aiming to grow the country's basic industries to more than $ 22.15 billion by 2020 and $ 59.07 billion by 2025.
China is also looking to compete with US market leaders such as Google Inc. and Alphabet Inc. as they are keen not to fall behind the technology train, where they are increasingly important from smart cars to energy. Roy Yong, chief technology officer at Lenovo Computer Group, said on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Thursday:
The local and central government supports this effort by China to develop artificial intelligence.
China follows the US National Artificial Intelligence Development Plan in October 2016. China says it aims to catch up with the world's most powerful people, and Beijing will play a bigger role by supporting and organizing policies.
China has already invested in artificial intelligence, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang described strategic technology in an annual report earlier this year. In February, the country's powerful state-run scheme opened an AI laboratory in partnership with Baidu, the country's largest search engine, which gave a great boost to artificial intelligence.