Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Shanghai to accelerate efforts to build itself into a pacesetter for scientific and technological innovation, saying that the municipality should strive to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) development. He made the remarks during a fact-finding trip to the city days after he emphasized the need for the country to promote self-reliance and strength in AI development during a group study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party fo China (CPC). During a visit to the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center, an incubator for AI startups, Xi said that as AI technologies are rapidly evolving with explosive growth, it is important for Shanghai to summarize its successful experiences and expand the exploration of AI to set an example for AI development and governance.
As Shanghai is establishing itself as a global hub for AI and building the world’s largest AI incubator, the market scale of the city's AI industry surpassed CNY450 billion according to the municipal government. The Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center, established in 2023 as China’s first specialized incubator for AI foundation models, has attracted more than 100 enterprises, leading to the clustering of nearly 400 enterprises in the AI sector to Shanghai’s Xuhui district. Xi also walked into an AI product experience store, where he learned about the features and sales of various innovative products and tried on a pair of smart glasses. Noting that China has abundant data resources, a complete industrial system and a huge market and broad prospects for AI development, Xi called for efforts to roll out more supportive policies, cultivate more talented people, and strive to develop more safe, reliable and high-quality products. Xi emphasized that technological development should truly serve society, improve people’s livelihood and achieve a safer and fairer future.
Dai Guohao, Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Artificial Intelligence, said that President Xi’s inspection of AI enterprises in Shanghai and his focus on technological applications highlighted the importance of deep integration of academia, industry and research. “As educators, we should concentrate on basic research, attempting to make breakthroughs in frontier challenges,” Dai said. “Meanwhile, we should align with national strategic demands to drive the deep empowerment of AI in fields such as healthcare, manufacturing and finance,” he added, as reported by the China Daily.
