SHANGHAI, July 9, 2021 — SenseTime, the leading global artificial intelligence (AI) company, hosted an industry forum themed "AI+: Ecosystem" at the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) today. The forum gathered influential entrepreneurs, academic scholars, leading innovators and government officials to discuss the latest developments and industry trends in AI, as well as share insights on how a sustainable AI ecosystem can be created.
On the opening ceremony of WAIC 2021 on July 8, Xu Li, Co-founder and CEO of SenseTime joined the session themed "Path to Inclusion – AI Brings New Life Blessings" with Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group, and Neil Shen, Founder & Managing Partner of Sequoia Capital. Xu Li and Neil Shen also had a dialogue on the AI development in Shanghai, as well as promoting fairness in the process of AI application.
In Xu Li’s keynote speech on the opening ceremony, he raised the concept of "Machine’s Conjecture" that creates a "new paradigm of innovation" and breaks the boundaries of human perception. He officially introduced the SenseCore AI Infrastructure, which is designed to develop powerful and efficient AI solutions that are scalable and adaptable for a wide range of applications.
SenseCore: Breaking the boundaries of AI applications
Xu Li, Co-founder and CEO of SenseTime introduced SenseCore AI Infrastructure
The SenseCore AI Infrastructure creates a new paradigm of technology advancement, by achieving efficient, low-cost, and highly scalable AI innovation and empowerment. This is enabled by integrating three layers – computing power, platforms and algorithms. SenseCore is built upon SenseTime’s New Generation Supercomputing Center (AIDC), which supports the analysis, training and reasoning of data, and algorithm models that ultimately accelerates applications at scale, addressing the long-tail challenges.
"We are heading towards a new era defined by the universal model, in which the demand for computing power will grow exponentially. The improvement in AI production efficiency will build the core competitiveness of SenseCore", Xu Li said at his keynote speech. "Every industry should be embracing AI to streamline daily operations and drive a new wave of intelligent transformation. With SenseCore, we will be able to meet the growing demand for long-tail scenarios among industries, integrating AI into more value chains. Going forward, SenseTime will continue to empower even more industries through our universal AI infrastructure and build a stronger AI ecosystem together with industries and academia."
AI for Humanity: Shaping sustainable future of AI
During the speech, Xu Li addressed that the new paradigm of innovation should come together with AI ethics governance which upholds sustainable development. This was further reinforced by another highlight of the SenseTime AI Forum today when Xue Lan, Professor and Dean, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and Xu Li had an exciting dialogue on emerging opportunities and challenges in an AI era and how to balance its innovation and ethics.
In the dialogue, Xue Lan pointed out the importance of collaboration in the development of ethical AI and noted, "To foster AI ethics that support the beneficial, trustworthy, and robust development of the technology, we should strengthen international cooperation on AI regulation so that we can jointly ramp up our efforts to make sure AI is developed in a safe and responsible manner."
Xu Li emphasized SenseTime’s commitment to a development-oriented principal of AI ethics that balances multiple objectives of making AI technologies sustainable, human-centric and controllable. He stressed that the development of AI should adhere to the objective of inclusiveness that can advance the development of human society.
AI + Sci-Fi: Connecting physical and virtual worlds
At this year’s forum, SenseTime announced that Mr. Liu Cixin, the renowned science fiction writer and Recipient of Hugo Award, has officially become Director of SenseTime Science Fiction Planet Research Center. Moreover, SenseTime will collaborate with The Three-Body Universe, copyright owner of The Three-Body Problem, to explore the new paradigm of "AI + Science Fiction" as well as create an innovative and immersive offline entertainment experience.
Mr. Liu Cixin noted, "AI is an accelerator of the imagination which can promote the development of science and technology, ultimately leading to the advancement of humanity. The Sci-Fi empowered by SenseTime’s AI technology will become an immersive world which welcomes everyone to experience the vastness of universe, the insignificance of human beings, and the infinite possibilities in the future."
Furthermore, SenseTime elevated WAIC 2021 through cutting-edge AR technologies. From an exclusive self-driving AR shuttle minibus to showcasing Digital Humans and the wide applications of the SenseMARS AR platform, SenseTime brought the guests and visitors to an immersive and interactive exhibition which was both fun and convenient, blurring the boundary between reality and virtuality.
Strengthening industry empowerment and international collaboration
A number of prominent industry experts in attendance at the event also shared how AI is changing the game across multiple industries. The world-renowned Chemistry Nobel Laureate Prof. Michael Levitt shared his insights on how AI empowers biological intelligence and other natural sciences to benefit society and humanity. YB Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia, and Mr. LEE Yi Shyan, Chairman of Business China, Singapore addressed the importance of AI adoption, development, and governance in the Southeast Asian region to accelerate digital transformation. ZU Sijie, Vice President & CTO, SAIC Motor Corporation Limited emphasized his views on how the innovation of intelligent vehicle turns cars into digital devices, while Ali Nimer, Executive Director, Digital and Technology, Miral Group, discussed how AI redefines entertainment and tourism.
Meanwhile, as the supporting organization, SenseTime co-organized the first-ever Hong Kong sub-forum of WAIC with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation this year, bringing distinguished keynote speakers including prominent AI experts, renowned scholars, and influential entrepreneurs to share their forward-looking insights on AI development in Hong Kong and beyond.
At the youth innovation panel discussion of the Hong Kong sub-forum, Mr. Shang Hailong, General Manager of SenseTime Hong Kong, shared, "We need to further capitalize on Hong Kong’s advantages in R&D capabilities, capital market and global connectivity. From stock connect to technology connect, Hong Kong and Shanghai can collaboratively push forward innovation, nurture more young AI talents and shape the future of AI development."
During the sub-forum, Prof. Zhang Xiang, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Prof. Wei Shyy, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) joined hands with academician Lin Zhongqin, President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, to hold a virtual signing ceremony for HKU and HKUST to join the "Global Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance".
The "Alliance" was a joint initiative by SenseTime and top global universities including Tsinghua University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and others in 2018.
About SenseTime
SenseTime is a leading global company focused on developing responsible AI technologies that advance the world’s economies, society and humanity for a better tomorrow.
We have made a number of technological breakthroughs, one of which is the first ever computer system in the world to achieve higher detection accuracy than the human eye. With our roots in the academic world, we invest in fundamental research to further our understanding and advance the state of art in AI technology and are one of the most prolific contributors of related papers in the research community.
Upholding the guiding principles in our AI Code of Ethics, our global team of talented individuals are dedicated to developing original AI algorithms that bring positive impact to the society. This has made us a leading global AI algorithm provider and one of the most efficient producers of AI algorithms.
The deep learning and computer vision technologies we have developed are already empowering many industries. Our universal AI infrastructure, SenseCore, allows us to develop powerful and efficient AI solutions that are scalable and adaptable for a wide range of applications and industries. Today, our technologies are trusted by customers and partners around the world to help address real world challenges ranging from education, healthcare and smart city to intelligent automobile, smartphone and entertainment. Going forward, we strive to empower more industries with our universal AI infrastructure and build a stronger AI ecosystem together with industry and academia.
We have presences in markets including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and Macau. For more information, please visit SenseTime’s website as well as its LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook pages.
