Here’s how Baidu’s founder thinks AI will change the world

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Probably no Chinese company has put as much effort into developing AI as Robin Li’s Baidu. From its self-driving car project to its real-time faceswapping app, the company has been trying to push the boundaries of AI forward, aided by its Institute of Deep Learning research center.

So Robin Li is a guy who’s spent a lot of time thinking about AI. At the recent Yabuli Summer Summit, Li gave an address that went into quite a bit of depth about his thoughts on AI. Our translation of the AI-related part of that speech is below. (Note: we’ve added subheadings to make it a bit easier to browse.)

Baidu CEO and founder Robin Li

Robin Li: “The next stage of the internet”

[…]

On the development of AI

In the future, what sectors will produce big companies, startups, and high-speed-growth companies? That’s something we need to consider, but the answer is actually quite simple. Recently, and especially in this past year, we’ve seen the rise of the term artificial intelligence (AI). I think the next stage of the internet is the age of AI.

AI is not a new concept; the term was first coined by some MIT computing professors on a relaxed summer day around 60 years ago. At the time, they thought that this problem could be solved in one summer. Of course in actuality, even a half-century later the problem of AI still hasn’t been solved. Even today, AI is very, very difficult.

But we have seen a lot of changes in the field of AI over the past few years, progress has been really swift. We’ve seen some very influential people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk start calling on people to recognize the risks of AI, and consider whether machines could end up controlling humanity.

Of course everybody has their own perspective on this kind of fast technological development. I heard recently that an expert wrote a letter to China’s central leadership advising them that “AI has been overhyped and has no practical applications.” So one extreme is saying that AI could enslave humanity, and the other side is saying AI can’t even help humanity. But what is the real use of AI?

As entrepreneurs, we should look at what uses it can have in the market. First, we need to consider what AI can do now, and what it might be able to do in the near future. Second, we need to consider what industries it will influence.

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