Tencent unveils ambitious plans for AI

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Experience bus debuted in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province on September 9. Launched by Baidu Inc, the vehicle is aimed at giving the public a better understanding of AI's potential. As major Chinese Internet companies pursue the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an industry benchmark has been established, and Tencent Holdings has unveiled a multibillion-yuan plan to support start-ups while encouraging integration of AI technologies with traditional industries. The benchmark was launched by an AI industrial base called China Voice Valley in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui Province on Wednesday. Over the past six years, Tencent has accumulated more than 13 million partners like software and application developers, created 25 million jobs and paid 23 billion yuan in dividends, Lin Songtao, vice president of the company, said during Tencent's seventh global partner conference held in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Wednesday. "In the future, the company will focus on AI-powered technologies and further open up its platform," Lin said.