China sets out AI vision in three-year plan
China has outlined its three-year plan to foster the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to build a new economy. The ministry of industry and information technology last week published a document outlining its technological goals up to 2020. In this, China's leadership outlines its hopes for a new AI-driven economy that will be able to boost the energy efficiency of its manufacturing sector by 10%. It also details aims for the future such as mass production of neural-network processing chips and robot support for the disabled.

The national artificial-intelligence ambitions of China have just evolved into a detailed three-year action plan, building on a sweeping scheme announced in July.

On Thursday, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a document on how to foster the development of artificial intelligence from 2018 to 2020. But it’s far from simply a summary of technological goals: it’s essentially the top leadership’s vision for a new Chinese economy in the age of AI.

In this new economy, China will be able to mass-produce neural-network processing chips, robots will make accomplishing daily tasks easier for disabled people, and machine learning will help radiologists read x-ray scans. In addition, China hopes AI will make manufacturing more eco-friendly: the goal laid out in the document is to increase the energy efficiency of the manufacturing sector 10 percent by 2020.

To find out more about the nation’s huge machine-learning ambitions, read our recent feature, “China’s AI Awakening.”