Abstract

Nowadays, as the new scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation going ahead, the emerging technologies represented by artificial intelligence (AI) technology are developing vigorously, changing the way of economic development at an unprecedented speed, and becoming an important engine for high-quality economic development. Driven by powerful algorithms and computing power as well as ever-expanding data, the emerging next-generation AI technology has profoundly affected the situation of international industrial competition where the strategic layout and industrial application development are both accelerated. Since AI technology has made significant progress in 2020, its influence and importance on global economic and social development have been further highlighted. Therefore, the global industrial competition of AI is becoming increasingly fierce: China continues to deepen the research and application of AI, the US implements its pioneering AI strategy, and the EU strives to lead the global artificial intelligence development direction by formulating industry standards and regulatory rules. At the same time, ethics, risk prevention, and supervision of AI have been attracting global attention.

Key technical breakthroughs represent the first significant result of AI development. The AI application scenarios like computer vision and intelligent voice have become mature, and the integration of multiple technologies and integrated innovation has accelerated. Many technologies such as neuromorphic computing, analog memory, multi-core computing, and silicon photonics have helped AI chips to break their performance record. The breakthroughs in 4D understanding, background replacement, and holoportation have promoted the further development of computer vision. The performance of the natural language processing model in terms of efficiency and long text sequence processing is continuously optimized, leading to the growingly significant dependence of large parameters. Relevant research on the automatic construction of knowledge graphs has achieved great progress in information extraction, knowledge fusion, and knowledge processing. Voiceprint recognition technology has achieved high stability and security, and its theoretical research results have been gradually applied.

Another outstanding result of AI development is the deepening integration of AI and traditional industries and the expansion of the application scenarios. The integrated development of artificial intelligence and manufacturing has achieved certain results, and the integrated development in quality inspection, equipment maintenance, and production scheduling has become more mature. The need for epidemic prevention and control has accelerated the application and commercialization of AI medical care services. Many countries have proposed to use artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to combat the epidemic. Supported by AI and big data, the technology revolution of smart transportation is driving the transportation industry forward, enabling the scientific optimization of traffic management.

Based on the long-term tracking and research of the global AI industry, China Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (CIC) published The Artificial Intelligence Development Report (2020-2021) to fully present the development trend of the global AI industry, the progress of AI technology and the application situation of AI in 2020, and to summarize and assess the problems in the industry. The report is composed of 7 parts: the general report, the technology, the integration, the investment and financing, the special topics, the case studies, and appendices. It focuses on the following special topics: the development and supervision of face recognition, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the Chinese AI industry, the development and cooperation prospects of China and the ASEAN AI industry, the regulatory policy of AI in the EU, data security risks of AI and countermeasures, and the deep forgery technology and its detection, etc. Moreover, it summarizes the six classical Chinese AI cases and the ten AI hot spots in the world in 2020, as well as the landscape of global AI industrial chains.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Fusion Application; Epidemic Prevention and Control; Artificial Intelligence Supervision; Data Security