What China’s Young AI Leaders Envision for the Future of Artificial Intelligence

The highly anticipated 2017 Hangzhou Cloud Expo featured a popular "China Youth π" round‑table, hosted by Alibaba Group’s Technical Ecosystem Lead Liu Xiangwen, with three prominent post‑85 tech leaders: Alibaba Cloud Chief Security Scientist Wu Hanqing, Cambricon CEO Chen Tianshi, and Ling.ai CEO Gu Jiawei.

Liu Xiangwen: She introduced the theme, likening the irrational number π to the endless changes young people face and the beauty of exploring uncertainty.

She referenced the MIT TR35 award, noting that two of the invited guests—Gu Jiawei (2016) and Wu Hanqing (2017)—are TR35 laureates, alongside 2015 winner Chen Yunji.

Chen Tianshi: Chen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and founder of Cambricon, works on AI chip research and product development, aiming to create specialized processors that accelerate AI workloads, making computing cheaper, more efficient, and power‑saving for innovators.

Wu Hanqing: Wu, a security scientist at Alibaba Cloud, described his ongoing learning in AI and emphasized the shift from deep learning to broader AI, driven by computational breakthroughs.

Gu Jiawei: Gu shared his background in human‑computer interaction at Microsoft Research and Baidu, and explained Ling.ai’s mission to bring AI into homes through smart hardware, leveraging advances in speech, vision, and data to create a new era of “intelligent things.”

Liu asked the panel how AI impacts innovators. Chen highlighted that AI chips enable cheaper, high‑performance hardware for developers, fostering new applications. Gu contrasted China’s AI development with the U.S., noting that while the U.S. still lacks mature component technologies, China can integrate AI across industries—manufacturing, finance, security, healthcare—through “industry + AI.” He described the next decade as “consumer + AI,” exemplified by products like smart speakers and envisioned future AI‑enabled devices such as home robots and personal assistants.

Wu reflected on AI’s history, stating that today’s AI boom, powered by deep learning, is part of a recurring wave of technological revolutions, and that AI’s true potential lies in solving problems humans cannot, rather than merely mimicking human behavior.

Gu concluded with a concrete example: the Luka picture‑book robot for children, which combines AI vision and speech to interact with kids, illustrating how AI can create meaningful consumer products.

The discussion ended with each speaker offering a concise piece of advice: lifelong learning, staying ahead of technological waves, and finding viable business models for AI‑driven products.