The Rise Of A Science Superpower

China is all set to dominate the next tech wave in Artificial Intelligence and smart manufacturing, and India has plenty to learn

- Ananth Krishnan in Beijing

Driverless cars that can survive nearly all accidents. Hospitals and restaurants that use face recognition software to access patients’ medical history and to order your favourite dish. Artificial Intelligence (AI) that guides a city’s traffic movements, predicts traffic congestion and even arranges bicycles for commuters. Intelligent applications that get approvals for bank loans faster than one can imagine. A ‘big brother’ surveillance that uses ‘big data’ to predict street crime and also tracks citizens’ movements using one of the most powerful face recognition programmes.

This isn’t a peep into an Orwellian future. This is today’s China. No country is moving faster than China in harnessing ‘big data’ and AI to power its industries—what most experts see as the next technological wave. In September last year, Beijing outlined a plan aimed at deploying AI technology across sectors—from education to transport. For China, AI is at the heart of its technological leap forward.

THE NEW ‘MADE IN CHINA’