Artificial Intelligence: Driving China's Economic Growth (Chinese version)

The report, titled "Artificial Intelligence: Powering China's Economic Growth," delves into the impact of artificial intelligence technology on China's economy. According to a modeling analysis conducted jointly by Accenture and Economic Frontiers, when artificial intelligence is used as a new factor of production rather than just a productivity enhancement tool, it has the potential to bring huge growth opportunities to China's economy.

The study compared the size of China's economy in 2035 as a baseline scenario (i.e., the expected economic growth under current conditions) with the AI ​​effect scenario (i.e., the expected economic growth under full application of AI). Accenture found that as a new factor of production, AI has the potential to increase China's total economic value added by $7.111 trillion in 2035. The report also found that AI is expected to boost China's labor productivity by 27% by 2035, thanks to AI helping employees use their time more efficiently.

“China has made tremendous progress in AI, and our research shows that AI has the potential to boost China’s currently slowing economic growth,” said Chuan Neo Chong, chairman of Accenture Greater China. “Of course, as with any transformative technology, we should also be aware of the challenges and risks that AI brings. Stakeholders should prepare for a future led by AI in terms of intellectual, technical, political, ethical and social aspects.”

The report found that AI could spark economic growth in three ways:

• First, it creates a new virtual workforce capable of solving complex tasks that require adaptability and agility. We call this “intelligent automation” to distinguish it from traditional automation solutions.
• Second, AI will effectively supplement and enhance existing labor and physical assets, improve employee capabilities, and increase capital efficiency;
• Third, the popularization of artificial intelligence will promote related innovations in multiple industries, improve total factor productivity, and open up new space for economic growth.

Based on the simulation analysis of the overall impact of artificial intelligence on China's economy and combined with industry scale data, Accenture further interpreted the possible economic impact of artificial intelligence on 15 industries in China. The research shows that manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and wholesale and retail will become the three industries that benefit the most from the application of artificial intelligence. By 2035, artificial intelligence will drive the annual growth rates of these three industries to increase by 2%, 1.8% and 1.7% respectively.

“Artificial intelligence will change the future of every industry in China,” said Xiaobing Chen, president of Accenture Greater China Information Technology Services. “To realize its full potential, business leaders need to incorporate artificial intelligence into their development strategies, which means adjusting their corporate structures to fully utilize artificial intelligence and thinking more innovatively about their operations and business models. Ultimately, companies need to shift from adopting new ways of working to opening up new business areas.”

To fully realize the potential of AI to stimulate economic growth and revitalize industries in China, Accenture recommends that Chinese policymakers and business leaders take the following steps:

• Embracing artificial intelligence - seamlessly integrating human and machine intelligence so that both can learn from each other and coexist perfectly. At the same time, policymakers need to reassess the types of knowledge and skills of the future.
• Develop ethical guidelines - Policymakers need to effectively develop ethical guidelines for the AI ​​ecosystem and establish clearer standards and best practices through ethical discussions in the development of intelligent machines.
• Pay attention to the redistribution effect - Policymakers should fully understand the tangible benefits brought by artificial intelligence, but at the same time they need to be prepared for the possible impact of artificial intelligence and develop strategies to help people who are at higher risk of unemployment.
• Go beyond automation and unlock new innovation models - Business leaders should incorporate artificial intelligence into their development strategies and use dynamic machine intelligence with autonomous learning and self-control capabilities to create new business opportunities for their companies.
• Develop new capabilities required for AI-based enterprises - To realize the potential of AI, human intelligence and machine intelligence must be closely integrated. Employee teams need to actively master important human-specific capabilities such as judgment, communication and creative thinking. For Chinese companies, it is also very important to create a culture that is both inclusive and diverse.

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