The scale of AI industry will exceed one trillion yuan in 2020. Autonomous driving and other issues will accelerate the formulation of laws and regulations

Driving on Beijing's Fifth Ring Road without holding the steering wheel is no longer an unattainable dream, and in the near future, you may not even alert the traffic police.

On July 20, the State Council issued the "Plan for the Development of New Generation Artificial Intelligence" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which clearly stated that by 2020, the ethical norms and policies and regulations for artificial intelligence in some fields will be initially established, and by 2030, a more complete artificial intelligence legal system, ethical norms and policies will be established.

The key tasks mentioned in the "Plan" include building an open and collaborative artificial intelligence science and technology innovation system, cultivating a high-end and efficient intelligent economy, building a safe and convenient intelligent society, strengthening military-civilian integration in the field of artificial intelligence, building a ubiquitous, safe and efficient intelligent infrastructure system, and proactively planning major new generation artificial intelligence scientific and technological projects.

To support the development of artificial intelligence, the "Plan" proposes to make full use of existing funds, bases and other stock resources, coordinate the allocation of international and domestic innovation resources, give full play to the guiding role of fiscal investment and policy incentives and the leading role of market allocation of resources, leverage enterprises and society to increase investment, and form a new pattern of multi-party support from fiscal funds, financial capital, and social capital.

The core industry scale will reach 150 billion within 3 years

Whoever becomes a strong country in artificial intelligence technology first will seize the opportunity of this round of scientific and technological revolution. In order to seize the major strategic opportunities for the development of artificial intelligence and build my country's first-mover advantage in the development of artificial intelligence, the State Council issued the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan".

The "Plan" first focuses on theoretical and technical issues of artificial intelligence, and proposes to establish a new generation of artificial intelligence basic theoretical system and a new generation of artificial intelligence key common technology system.

The basic theories that need to be broken through include strengthening big data intelligence, cross-media perception computing, human-machine hybrid intelligence, group intelligence, autonomous collaboration and decision-making, etc. Key common technologies include knowledge computing engines and knowledge services, cross-media analysis and reasoning, key technologies of group intelligence, new architectures and technologies of hybrid enhanced intelligence, and intelligent technologies of autonomous unmanned systems.

Liu Feng, director of the Institute of Industrial Technology Development at the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Strategic Development, told the Daily Economic News: "Artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing are broad concepts. Their main features include data-driven, self-perception, self-judgment, and self-adjustment of equipment."

The "Plan" mentions that my country's overall level of development in artificial intelligence still lags behind that of developed countries, and there is a lack of major original achievements. There are large gaps in basic theories, core algorithms, key equipment, high-end chips, major products and systems, basic materials, components, software and interfaces.

"Not only in China, but also in other developed countries, we are facing many technical bottlenecks. Technically, breakthroughs are needed in core components such as chips, control software, and sensors. There is also the cost issue. If the products produced are still the original products and the original prices, but the costs increase because of the use of smart devices, it is not cost-effective." Liu Feng said.

To seize the high ground in the field of international artificial intelligence, the "Plan" proposes a "three-step" strategic goal. In terms of theory and technology, the "Plan" proposes that by 2020, important progress will be made in basic theory and core technology, and the competitiveness of the artificial intelligence industry will enter the international first echelon; by 2025, some technologies and applications will reach the world's leading level, and artificial intelligence will become the main driving force for my country's industrial upgrading and economic transformation. By 2030, artificial intelligence theory, technology and application will generally reach the world's leading level, and become the world's major artificial intelligence innovation center.

According to the goals set in the Plan, by 2020, the scale of the core artificial intelligence industry will exceed 150 billion yuan, driving the scale of related industries to exceed 1 trillion yuan; by 2030, the scale of the core artificial intelligence industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan, driving the scale of related industries to exceed 10 trillion yuan.

Laying the legal foundation for the application of new technologies

In addition to technical challenges, the bottleneck of AI development also comes from ethical and legal aspects. On July 5 this year, Baidu CEO Robin Li was driving a self-driving car on the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing, which alarmed the traffic police.

Liu Feng commented to the reporter of National Business Daily: "In addition to theoretical technology, there are two other challenges that few people mention now: one is how to define the ownership and price of big data required for artificial intelligence; the other is that the legal liability brought by smart devices is still unclear. For example, if a self-driving car causes a traffic accident, who should be held responsible? These issues may involve adjustments at the level of market rules and legal systems."

In this regard, the "Plan" has a clear understanding: Artificial intelligence is a disruptive technology with a wide range of impacts. It may bring about changes in the employment structure, impact laws and social ethics, infringe on personal privacy, challenge the norms of international relations, and will have a profound impact on government management, economic security, social stability and even global governance.

The "Plan" proposes that we should not only increase the research and development and application of artificial intelligence to maximize the potential of artificial intelligence, but also anticipate the challenges of artificial intelligence, coordinate industrial policies, innovation policies and social policies, achieve coordination between incentives for development and reasonable regulation, and prevent risks to the greatest extent possible.

In terms of adjusting and improving laws and regulations, the "Plan" clearly states that it is necessary to establish a legal and regulatory and ethical framework to ensure the healthy development of artificial intelligence.

The improvement of laws and regulations related to artificial intelligence specifically includes conducting research on legal issues such as civil and criminal liability confirmation, privacy and property rights protection, and information security utilization related to the application of artificial intelligence, establishing a traceability and accountability system, and clarifying the legal subjects of artificial intelligence and related rights, obligations, and responsibilities.

The Plan specifically mentions that the focus should be on sub-sectors with good application foundations such as autonomous driving and service robots, and the research and formulation of relevant safety management regulations should be accelerated to lay a legal foundation for the rapid application of new technologies. Research on artificial intelligence behavioral science and ethics and other issues should be carried out to establish a multi-level judgment structure of ethics and an ethical framework for human-machine collaboration.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.