AI to boost China's growth, with manufacturing, agriculture to benefit

Artificial intelligence (AI) could add as much as 1.6 percentage points to China's economic growth rate by 2035, with industries like manufacturing, agriculture and retail seeing the most value from the technology, according to a recent report. As China's economic growth slows, a report by consultancy firm Accenture suggests that the advent of AI could give the country a much-needed boost in productivity and growth, especially as the number of working-age population in the country continues to decline. "AI capabilities have only just matured, such that they are able to interpret data at a speed and a cost that is reasonable and affordable for companies to take advantage of," said Adam Burden, Accenture's global lead for advanced technology & architecture. "The largest area of opportunity for AI in China's growth is absolutely manufacturing...the instrumentation of manufacturing has really only just begun. The Internet of Things, taking data and telemetry off machines and manufacturing lines for greater productivity is really just beginning."