Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
Giancarlo Valori
In the process of developing and implementing AI technology, we need to be pragmatic and orderly. AI education intensifies the driving force for developing the related technology and industry, and it is also the fundamental guarantee for nurturing and cultivating high-quality AI talents and for the sustainable development of related technology and industry. China’s AI education initially created a subject teaching system, and curricula and courses at different levels were offered in universities such as computer science, intelligent science and technology, electronic information and automation. The existing problems of AI development in China and the basic construction of AI are inseparable from the education and training of AI experts. Only by nurturing and cultivating a sufficient number of high-quality AI talents can the smooth development of AI in China be ensured, so that it can climb to the top of international AI.
In terms of AI talent training, the State, Commissions, Ministries, and Departments have made and are making the following noteworthy suggestions:
1) increase AI talent training as a national educational priority.
Not long ago, AI-related playful and recreational activities promoted a wave of AI technology to promote economic and social intelligence in China. AI talents are the top priority in the construction activity to do a good job in planning development, mastering key technologies and promotion. Implementing all this requires high-quality talents. With a view to meeting this social demand, we need to comprehensively plan the training of high-quality AI talents and provide a guarantee for China’s AI to enter a new period of opportunities for sustainable development.
We need to further improve the understanding of AI staff training, establish a comprehensive planning system to create experts and raise the level of preparation as a national educational priority.
2) Establish and standardise AI education at all levels.
According to market demand, we need to comprehensively standardise AI education at all levels and open various schools of a certain scale and proportion, including universities, vocational and technical colleges, AI institutes, technical schools. In China, the Ministry of Education comprehensively expands the current intelligent science and technology, as well as the professional environment, which supports its management. The same holds true for other major universities which are taking action to strengthen the academic teaching of AI, also through the establishment of post-graduate education in some related institutes, as well as spreading basic technologies to primary and secondary schools. The same applies to popular science courses, which provide various forms of extracurricular activities, as well as helping to nurture and cultivate the interest of students of all ages and schools. This is because the level of teachers, who standardise and organise the preparation of various teaching materials, has improved.
3) Multimodal and multi-channel training of high-quality AI talents.
Efforts are made in China to explore and search for various types of high-quality AI talents through multimodal and multi-channel ways, carrying out activities aimed at enhancing and perfecting market-oriented products, and having the experience to promote them. The competent government Departments provide relevant policy support, and State and private research institutes primarily carry out AI product innovation, so that AI science and technology staff perform their tasks comprehensively. Besides participating in research and development of AI products, the main task of schools and colleges is to provide high-quality knowledge resources at all levels Companies strive for excellence in the production of AI products, so that skilled technicians and workers can fully perform their roles. An incentive mechanism for AI experts is established to encourage a higher-level elite to stand out. University students, graduates and science and technology practitioners engaged in AI learning and development are encouraged to pursue AI technological innovation and entrepreneurship and provide the business fund support for their innovative ideas and prototype results.
4) Make full use of the Internet to nurture and cultivate AI talents.
Full use is made of the Internet technology to lend effective technical support to provide effective means for nurturing and cultivating AI talents. The high-level AI platform is used, in line with international standards, to create and improve the domestic AI network teaching platform, provide network education services for AI teaching at all levels, and offer auxiliary teaching tools for other courses.
Some scholars or entrepreneurs believe that China’s AI technology level is already comparable to that of the United States of America. We need to scientifically and objectively evaluate the existing results. We also need to fully reaffirm the achievements and fully understand the shortcomings. Overestimating the existing AI achievements in China is neither realistic nor conducive to the healthy development of this industry.
The United States of America is now the country with the highest overall level of AI technology. Analysing the gap in AI between China and the United States of America helps to maintain a clear understanding. Many experts in the field of AI have pointed out that following the US theory in AI has meant that such applications and innovations are making the industry catch up quickly and regain ground. However, there is still a big gap with the United States of America in terms of basic theoretical research.
There are very few people carrying out basic theoretical research on AI in China. For example, the United States of America places brain science and other neurosciences at the top of research, while China’s independent research and development capabilities in this area are relatively weak and there are gaps in discoveries and innovations. Furthermore, many articles on deep learning have been published in China, but little research is truly innovative in theory or has significant application value.
The Americans are already figuring out what the next AI will be, while such a study has not yet begun at full speed in China. This is the biggest challenge facing the country: it is a difficult problem, involving a wide range of aspects, which cannot be solved by one or two teams. This gap is largely due to the national academic evaluation system and the orientation of practical application. There is room for improving the university analysis criterion: it may take 5-15 years to fully catch up with the United States in the field of AI.
US companies invest a lot of money to train a group of pure high-level technical staff who, from the moment they obtain a PhD, will be recruited by companies and employed in research and development of pure AI technology. Not surprisingly, such an elite team, driven by scientific and technological interests and beliefs, is far ahead at world level in AI research. Few companies in China are willing to spend a lot of money to train a purely technical AI research team and there is also a lack of incentive mechanism within companies. The level of AI research in national universities is also far below the world-leading level. (11. continued)
