Why many in China – unlike in the US – see AI as a force for good

The 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai from July 6 to 8 attracted 400 companies and hundreds of thousands of attendees in-person and online. The public was wowed by exhibitions that included large language models, service robots making coffee, machines capable of carrying out precision surgery and metaverse mirrors that produce a moving image of one’s virtual self. The event brought together business executives, academics and policymakers to share insights on trends in AI technology across industries and to discuss issues related to AI ethics and governance. The conference primarily aimed to highlight the benefits of AI. It overlapped with the United Nations’ AI for Good summit in Geneva, where humanoid robots assured reporters at a press conference that they would not rebel against humans or steal our jobs. According to a survey conducted in 2021 by market research firm Ipsos, 78 per cent of Chinese people thought that the benefits of artificial intelligence outweighed its drawbacks, the highest among all the countries surveyed. Only 35 per cent of Americans surveyed agreed that AI offered more benefits than dangers. This comes as a surprise considering that the US is home to the world’s leading AI companies such as Open AI, Google DeepMind and Nvidia. What accounts for the difference in attitudes to AI in China and the US? The systematic embedding of AI into people’s everyday lives may be a critical factor in its wide acceptance in China. For instance, artificial intelligence in China has been strategically integrated into urban landscapes. First, the government has adopted AI to improve infrastructure on which everyone relies. Second, AI operates in many consumer-facing apps which the public is already comfortable with. AI augmentations to infrastructure related to transport has made its contribution to people’s daily lives more visible. According to a 2020 report by Deloitte, China had the largest percentage of consumers who trust self-driving cars out of the six countries surveyed. The internet giant Baidu now operates fully driverless taxi services in government-approved areas of Wuhan, Chongqing and Beijing. Baidu is testing the service in 10 cities and plans to expand to dozens more by 2030. The development aligns with China’s vision in its 14th five-year plan, which encourages the commercial application of autonomous driving. AI-powered traffic control systems such as Alibaba’s City Brain and the start-up Beijing Sinoits Tech are used in Chinese cities to help reduce traffic jams and identify safety hazards. (Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.) Although it will be years before these systems can fully manage traffic, improvements have made both the administration and the public prone to welcoming the technology. In addition, China’s maglev sky trains are on track to increasing traffic efficiency while reducing carbon emissions. Meanwhile, the increasing use of AI by consumer apps has boosted public acceptance of the new technology. For example, the shopping platform Meituan now uses AI to navigate its drones to deliver meals to consumers. By making use of space above the ground, this technology has redefined the cityscape. Chinese brands are also using AI-generated content, such as virtual personas in the metaverse, in marketing. This can help reduce costs for small business owners. A metaverse application designed for public use during the 2023 WAIC provided enhanced views of four landmarks in Shanghai. At these locations, people could turn on the app on their iPad, and engage in a world in which the landmarks were overlaid with virtual elements, such as a singing mascot and fireworks. During part of the WAIC opening ceremony, the massive screen flanking the stage showed an AI-generated image of Shanghai’s cityscape. Traditional Chinese architecture was interspersed with the skyscrapers of modern Shanghai, representing the conference’s vision of pursuing innovation while preserving rich cultural traditions. This year’s WAIC highlighted various uses for AI in daily life, such as in making PowerPoints, performing medical diagnosis, writing calligraphy, discovering clean energy solutions, and intelligent financial management systems. This helps Chinese consumers appreciate its value in solving practical problems, and as a result, they feel less intimidated by the exponential growth of this technology. At the same time, the conference’s sessions on AI ethics were a reminder of the necessity of creating guardrails for AI development. On July 13, the Cyberspace Administration of China released its interim measures for the management of generative artificial intelligence services. No doubt, it is important for governments around the world to draft regulations to ensure safe, transparent and responsible use of AI to mitigate potential risks. Gerui Wang is a visiting scholar at Stanford University