The importance of artificial intelligence

Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, speaks at the Vision China event in Tianjin. CHINA DAILY

Speeches focus on technology's ability to drive economies, create dialogue

As digital technology becomes a pioneering force in driving the global technological revolution and industrial transformation, more effort is needed to allow intelligent technology to promote the national goal of the "building of a community with a shared future for mankind", according to Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily.

Speaking at the Vision China event on Thursday, Qu said that artificial intelligence, represented by ChatGPT, in particular, has become a buzzword, and many foreign experts believe that its advent is as important as the arrival of the PC or the internet.

An acronym for "Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer", ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, a company based in the United States. It has wowed the world with its ability to take on a variety of tasks such as writing essays, debugging programs and making business plans, abilities that differentiate it from earlier, more narrowly focused AI projects that excelled in only one area.

Though different views on GPT exist, it is widely hoped that the latest technology will play a "positive and proactive" role in improving well-being, Qu said.

According to him, this potential can be fully leveraged to promote the "building of a community with a shared future for mankind", a concept first proposed by President Xi Jinping in March 2013. "In the future, we should give full rein to the role of intelligent technology in implementing the 'Three Initiatives' proposed by President Xi, " Qu added. This refers to the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.

He made the comments as global economic recovery faces challenges, with problems including the disparity in development, dilemmas of governance, the digital divide and the equity deficit becoming more prominent. Concerns also exist that a new digital divide may emerge in the intelligent era.

"We should bridge the digital divide and create cohesiveness for the implementation of the Global Development Initiative," Qu said.

The publisher highlighted the fact that more effort is needed to nurture new drivers of economic growth in the post-epidemic era and create an open, fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for scientific and technological development.

While praising the convenience and potential dividends that intelligent technology offers humanity, Qu also acknowledged that it is a double-edged sword and may create many challenges, as well as ethical issues.

"We should improve global governance of science and technology, and ensure intelligent technology evolves in the right direction to provide a strong pillar for global security," Qu said.