Chinese tech leaders articulated their vision for the post-internet future at the World Internet Conference held this past week, with artificial intelligence, complete digitisation of the economy and a call for more basic science being among the topics of discussion – though it was mostly a local affair with the absence of high profile US tech company representatives amid the ongoing US-China trade war. "Artificial intelligence and the internet represent two different eras," said Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong on Thursday. "We will step into the AI era in the coming three to five decades while the previous 20 years belonged to internet." Baidu, which operates China's largest internet search engine, is a so-called AI national champion with its efforts in the field endorsed by the central government. It was also the first Chinese company to join an international AI ethics group set up last month, alongside members such as Apple and Alphabet's Google.

That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead." Hollywood has been speculating on the subject via the big screen for decades. Indeed one of its most famous seemingly prophetic films opened some 34 years ago as a near-indestructible humanoid cyborg returned from 2029 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son would lead humanity in a war against the machines. A sculpture of Terminator seen during the temporary exhibition called'Gallery of Steel Figures' at the Museum of Municipal Engineering in Krakow. The exhibition of Steel Figures is inspired by the study of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London. The exhibition of Steel Figures is inspired by the study of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London. And though the ramifications of the unknown to our pre-computerized world scared us a bit at the time, we've found that The Information Age and shift from the Industrial Revolution has been far more beneficial than destructive. One company born of the digital or computer age is using artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning for drug discovery, biomarker development and aging research, and its founder couldn't be more hopeful. Insilico Medicine is a Baltimore-based company focusing on next-generation AI and blockchain technologies for drug discovery, biomarker development and aging research. Through bioinformatics (using computer science to understand biological processes), research and development offices in six countries around the globe, 49 employees and more than $12 million in venture funding, Insilico and Founder and CEO Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov aspire to extend healthy longevity through innovative AI solutions for drug discovery, aging research and preventing and/or curing disease. Zhavoronkov said the company's value is mainly in its intellectual property or the molecules Insilico is creating that could eventually be sold for billions of dollars. "We are a sizable player in AI--one of the top 100 AI companies in the world," he said. But as with most ideas that change the world--think Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Apple Computers--profits are rarely the focus. Zhavoronkov said his founding Insilico was a "calculated decision" based on "basic mathematics." Consider the quality-adjusted life year. The QALY, as it's referred to by scientists, is a generic measure of disease burden, including both the quality and the quantity of life lived. The QALY is used in economic evaluation to determine the value for money of medical interventions, thus one QALY equates to one year in perfect health. The US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health says the QALY calculation is simple: "the change in utility value induced by the treatment is multiplied by the duration of the treatment effect to provide the number of QALYs gained.

Artificial intelligence companies have shown off their tracking technology at the World Internet Conference in China - giving a glimpse of how citizens are being watched everyday. Companies such as China's facial recognition start-up Face showed how their technology is already being used to identify and describe people. For the first time, the'Big Brother' conference was attended by top executives like Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google and Jack Ma of Alibaba. Guided by the hand of the state, tracking technology has become widely accepted in China and this vast data collection could mean these companies have an edge over American competitors. One company present at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen was Face which used its technology to identify people in the audience's gender, hair length, colour and clothing.

Some of the world's leading technology professionals have gathered for the third World Internet Conference, being held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, and top of everyone's agenda is the booming growth of artificial intelligence (AI), as it continues to penetrate every aspect of business and daily life. From customer services to wealth management, to reshaping the jobs market by replacing low-skilled workers, the sector is growing at an unprecedented pace, said analysts gathered for the event. Big names speaking during the three-day forum include Facebook's vice president Vaughan Smith and smartphone maker Huawei's chief executive Richard Yu. Senior officials from Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, are also attending. Hyde Chen, an analyst with UBS' chief investment office, told the Post the biggest issue facing the image of the AI sector is balancing the numbers of those being put out of work by the technology, with the jobs being created in its development. "Jobs with three characteristics are at high risk of being replaced: low-skilled roles, those doing repetitive tasks, and jobs that are predictable. AI [applications] will be doing these jobs in a more effective way in future," Chen said.

Some of the world's leading technology professionals have gathered for the third World Internet Conference, being held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, and top of everyone's agenda is the booming growth of artificial intelligence (AI), as it continues to penetrate every aspect of business and daily life. From customer services to wealth management, to reshaping the jobs market by replacing low-skilled workers, the sector is growing at an unprecedented pace, said analysts gathered for the event. Big names speaking during the three-day forum include Facebook's vice president Vaughan Smith and smartphone maker Huawei's chief executive Richard Yu. Senior officials from Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, are also attending. Hyde Chen, an analyst with UBS' chief investment office, told the Post the biggest issue facing the image of the AI sector is balancing the numbers of those being put out of work by the technology, with the jobs being created in its development. "Jobs with three characteristics are at high risk of being replaced: low-skilled roles, those doing repetitive tasks, and jobs that are predictable. AI [applications] will be doing these jobs in a more effective way in future," Chen said.