2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference

The 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held simultaneously at the Shanghai Expo Center and Expo Exhibition Hall. Compared to last year, this year’s conference had significantly more attendees. On the morning of the first day, only pre-registered professional visitors with online reservations were allowed in, with no on-site registrations accepted. However, from the flow of people in the exhibition halls, the number of visitors was relatively low, far less than the Munich Electronics Show earlier this year.

1. National will was clearly evident. In the core exhibition hall’s main section, the top-level design and related policies of the AI industry were on display. Following that were the national teams, such as CITIC Group and state-owned banks showcasing their AI application scenarios. Further outside were booths from international companies like Tesla and Google.

2. The exhibitors mainly fell into two categories: companies that develop AI applications and those that sell development tools for AI.

3. Large AI models were the highlight of this year’s exhibition. Baidu’s Wenxin, Alibaba’s Tongyi, Huawei’s Pangu, and iFlytek’s Xinghuo all made appearances. These companies boldly offered on-site experiences where attendees could ask questions freely.

4. In industries like mining, hospitals, transportation, and logistics, robots have already entered widespread practical use.

5. Elon Musk and the Chinese government have entered a honeymoon period. Not only did Musk speak as a keynote guest at the opening ceremony, but Tesla also shipped the Tesla Bot from the U.S. for display. Its accompanying description was classic Tesla style.

   The future mission of Tesla Bot: To liberate humans from dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks.

6. Unmanned trucks have entered practical use, particularly in internal transport scenarios at mines and ports. Last year, multiple companies showcased unmanned trucks, most of which were traditional trucks retrofitted. This year, only Westwell participated, bringing a brand-new truck without a cabin.

7. Another interesting point: in the past, Alibaba’s products were concentrated at one booth. This year, Alibaba had one booth, and Ant Group had a separate booth, and the two booths were far apart, which seemed a bit conspicuous.