On July 4, the 2024
World AI Conference&High-Level Meeting on Global
AI Governance (WAIC 2024) kicked off at the Shanghai
Expo Center and the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center.
On the first day of the conference, over 180 overseas guests from
55 countries participated, engaging in in-depth discussions and
exchanges on three key areas: global governance, industrial
development, and scientific frontiers.
Keyword 1: Global
GovernanceArtificial intelligence represents a new frontier in
human development, significantly impacting economic and social
progress while posing unknown risks and complex challenges. Over
1,000 representatives from the United Nations and various
governments, representatives from professional international
organizations, globally renowned experts, entrepreneurs, and
investors attended the plenary session. Under the global agenda of
AI governance, they focused on development, security, and
governance, and engaged in a series of international,
cross-disciplinary, and multi-perspective in-depth
discussions..
Three globally renowned Turing Award
winners, Chi-Chih Yao, Raj Reddy, and Manuel Blum, along
with former Microsoft Executive Vice President and Foreign
Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Harry Shum,
engaged in a high-level dialogue on collaborative governance and
innovation. Through highly analytical discussions, they delved into
the double-edged nature of artificial intelligence, its
interpretability and predictability, as well as the rigorous
foundation and transformative qualities of AI. These discussions
provided valuable insights and perspectives on the global
development and governance of artificial intelligence.
At the Global
Governance Forum, over 30 ministerial-level officials from various
countries and heads of relevant international
organizations exchanged in-depth views on AI development, security,
and governance.
Throughout WAIC 2024,
ten forums related to global governance explored topics
of "governance" from multiple perspectives. Leading
forums held that day included the "ITU Al for Good: Innovate for
lmpact" and the "Frontier AI Safety and Governance Forum," focusing
on criticial issues such as AI safety and value
alignment, AI for Good, and AI legislation. These forums
bring together over 20 leading figures from around the world,
including Chris Meserole, Zeng Yi, and Xue Lan, for East-West
security dialogues and international, multi-dimensional
discussions. The Forum on AI and Education invited representatives
from academia and industry to discuss how to promote
sustainable development in education equity and quality enhancement
in the intelligent era from the perspective of global governance
talent cultivation.
Keyword 2: Industry
DevelopmentTo comprehensively deconstruct the new
elements, new business forms, and new models of the general AI
industry, and to analyze the global strategic trends of the current
AI industry development, WAIC 2024 hosted a series of
"Industry Development" forums. These forums discussed hot
topics such as AI application prospects and ecosystem
construction. Additionally, guests were invited to
interpret AI global governance from an industrial perspective,
focusing on how "AI+" can help bridge the intelligence gap and
enhance human well-being, working together with society to build a
"people-centered" AI industry ecosystem.
On the afternoon of the opening day,
the Industry Development Main Forum was successfully held. Over 20
top experts, industry leaders, emerging talents, and
representatives from various sectors of the AI industry chain,
including Social Data Lab founder, Andreas Weigend, Baidu
co-founder, Robin Li and member of
Chinese Academy, Wang Jian, focused on cutting-edge
topics such as large models, embodied AI, AI infrastructure,
and intelligent terminals. They deeply analyzed global strategic
trends in the AI industry, discussing AI application prospects,
industry governance, and ecosystem construction.
The release of the open-source general-purpose humanoid
robot "Qinglong" also injects new vitality into the creation
of an international digital industry cluster.
Several
parallel sub-forums were also held, including the AI for
Science-Artificial Intelligence Empowering Chinese Space Astronomy
Forum, focusing on the industrial development and
achievements in satellite manufacturing; the Summit on
Humanoid Robots and Embodied Intelligence Development;
discussing the application issues and solutions of
embodied AI in humanoid robots and solutions; and forums
related to technology empowering various industries, addressing
cutting-edge topics and attracting the attention of attendees.
Humanoid robots were
the biggest highlight of the exhibition. In the central hall
of the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center, an array of humanoid
robots named "Eighteen Arhats," from 15 companies, made a joint
appearance, showcasing collaborative control among 18 humanoid
robots with different technological architectures.
This year's exhibition focused on frontier AI
technologies such as humanoid robots, virtual and augmented reality
integration, autonomous driving, drones, and brain-machine
interfaces, creating a new intelligent "technology feast" for
practical applications. The intelligent terminal section highlights
intelligent robots, core components, and wearable devices,
with a dedicated area for humanoid robots. The exhibition
featured the debut of 56 products, including 42 intelligent robots,
among which 22 were humanoid robots, demonstrating the potential
applications of AI in fields such as healthcare, education,
transportation, agriculture, and more.
Keyword 3: Scientific
FrontiersThe Scientific Frontiers Main Forum, themed
"Next-Generation Trustworthy AI Technology", gathered top global
scientists and researchers from various interdisciplinary fields
and young researchers, including Juergen Schmidhuber, Dawn
Song and Zhou Bowen, to address fundamental issues in AI
to substantiate truly valuable topics for the sustainable
development of artificial intelligence.
To highlight the importance of foundational
disciplines and infrastructure in technological development, Smale
Institute for Mathematics and Computing co-hosted the "Mathematics
and Artificial Intelligence Forum." The forum brought together
global elites from the fields of mathematics and AI, including
experts and scholars like Manuel Blum, Jose A. Carrillo, Michael
Bronstein, and Xuan Xiaohua, to delve into in-depth discussions on
the mutual empowerment of mathematics and AI.
To lay a solid foundation for technological
development, the conference focused on trends, strategies, and
breakthroughs in the development of large models.
It held a series of sub-forums including the AI
Infrastructure Forum, the OpenAtom Open Source Large Language Model
Development Forum, and The Closed-Door Seminar on "Trends and
Innovations in the Application of AI Large Models in Industry."
These discussions aimed to contribute positively to the advancement
of technology at the forefront.
Sharon Gong
WAIC
media at worldaic.com.cn