Artificial Intelligence (AI) In China: The Amazing Ways Tencent Is Driving It's Adoption

As part of the quad of companies that were identified by China's Ministry of Science and Technology to develop the next generation of AI technologies, Tencent is forging ahead with new tech investments, research and development. Tencent is a top investor (reported to be $120 million) in robotics start-up UBTech, a firm that focuses on humanoid robots. Quite possibly UBTech's most famous contribution is Walker, a bipedal robot unveiled at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show that can walk downstairs. Of the Chinese tech firms known collectively as BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent), Tencent participated in the greatest number of AI equity deals and made the most AI investments in the United States. In partnership with several industry players including the Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC), Tencent is invested in developing AI technologies to be used in autonomous-driving vehicles.