China's AI boom sees new wave of applications

"I'm thirsty," a visitor told a towering humanoid robot standing 1.7 meters tall and weighing 65 kilograms at the 7th World Voice Expo in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province.

Without hesitation, the black humanoid robot identified the bottle of coffee among the two other objects on the desk and handed it to the visitor.

"Powered by the large language model, our second-generation humanoid robot is smarter and can perform more delicate tasks such as pouring coffee," said Ji Chao, chief robotics scientist of artificial intelligence (AI) company iFLYTEK.

iFLYTEK's superbrain robotic platform has empowered 450 robotics enterprises and 15,000 developers across the country by opening up the company's large language model, according to Ji.

The 7th World Voice Expo, running from Thursday to Sunday, showcases over 200 AI products, including humanoid robots, human-machine interaction systems and upgraded large language models. This event highlights the remarkable speed at which AI has developed and the growing prevalence of its applications across various scenarios.

Unitree, a Hangzhou-based robotics startup, showcased its star humanoid robot, Unitree H1, which can move 3.3 meters per second.

"We have sold more than 100 such robots, priced at 90,000 U.S. dollars each, offering an insight into the huge market space for the full commercialization of humanoid robots," said Li Jun, head of technical services at Unitree.

In China, AI is becoming an important engine for the development of new quality productive forces. In this year's government work report, China unveiled an AI Plus initiative, a strategic move designed to propel the digital economy's expansion and spearhead the transformation and modernization of manufacturing sectors.

At the expo, an automatic voice-interaction testing system for new energy vehicles (NEVs) made its debut and garnered widespread interest.

Inside an NEV, a robot interacts with the vehicle just like a human passenger. Meanwhile, an external platform tracks and displays the accuracy, stability and timeliness of the interaction in real-time. It automatically compiles all of the collected data into a detailed report.

"Voice interaction is the core function of the intelligent cockpit of NEVs. Previously, it required weeks of human testing during the R&D period," said Wu Jiangzhao, general manager of the National Intelligent Voice Innovation Center. "With this autotest system, the testing time can be shortened to just two to three days, giving a strong boost to intelligent upgrades in the automobile industry."

"AI is reshaping the automobile industry," said Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chinese carmaker Chery. From developing talking vehicles to cars that can speak foreign languages for the overseas market and now the humanized intelligent cockpit system, Chery is embracing the AI boom, Yin said.

A range of daily necessities, from smart refrigerators to AI eyeglasses and smart cups, are now integrated with AI large language models, offering users exciting new experiences.

MiMouse, a high-tech company in Anhui, showcased its best-selling smart mouse at the expo, along with a newly developed smart keyboard powered by large language models.

Integrated with several large language models, this keyboard can effortlessly generate articles, create PowerPoint presentations, draw pictures and perform translations in an instant with just the click of a few keys.

"The smart keyboard and mouse can help reduce repetitive tasks for office workers," said Feng Haihong, general manager of MiMouse, adding that they sold about 10,000 smart mice in less than a month.

Thanks to the AI boom, China is now home to more than 4,500 AI companies. Its core AI industry reached a size of more than 578 billion yuan (about 81.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, up 13.9 percent year on year, according to official data.

In the future, AI will transform industrial and competition patterns as well as scientific research, bring changes to all trades and professions, and most importantly, meet people's aspirations for a better life, said Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK, at the expo.