Weekly News

August 25-31, 2023

→ Call for messages to 10th year of WIC Wuzhen Summit 

→ WIC establishes working group on AI

→ Chinese internet users total 1.079 bln 

→ UK agency to fund breakthrough technologies 

→ EU Digital Services Act comes into force 

→ AI ability to pilot drones beats champion-level humans 

→ Eight Chinese LLMs open to public

→ Google Cloud and NVIDIA to expand cooperation partnership

→ OpenAI to launch ChatGPT Enterprise

→ Subsidiary of GM to deploy autonomous driving taxis in Seattle 

Industry Updates

Call for messages to 10th year of WIC Wuzhen Summit 

The year 2023 marks the 10th year of the World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit. The WIC recently launched a call for messages to the 10th year of the WIC Wuzhen Summit. The event is hosted by the WIC and organized by Guangming Online, China Daily website, and CRI Online. 

(Click to learn more) 

WIC establishes working group on AI

A kick-off meeting of the World Internet Conference Working Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) was held in Beijing on Aug 30. Nearly 40 group members, all scholars and experts in the field of AI, attended the meeting and held in-depth discussions on the group’s objective and the framework of industry report on generative AI. 

Chinese internet users total 1.079 bln

The China Internet Network Information Center released a report for the 52nd time on the development of internet in China on Aug 28. The report showed that as of June, 2023, the number of Chinese internet users has reached 1.079 billion, seeing the internet penetration rate at 76.4 percent. The construction of China’s digital infrastructure has been further accelerated, and the foundation of internet of everything has been enhanced. 

[Photo/pixabay]

UK agency to fund breakthrough technologies 

A new UK government agency now has a funding budget of 800 million pounds (approximately $1 billion), and is seeking to invest in breakthrough technologies in such fields as AI, computing, neuroscience and materials science, according to Financial Times. 

EU Digital Services Act comes into force 

The EU Digital Services Act came into force on Aug 25. The act covers multiple areas such as review of social media, push of e-commerce advertising, and crackdown on counterfeit products. 

AI ability to pilot drones beats champion-level humans 

An article published on Nature talked about a new AI system called Swift, whose ability to pilot drones is able to beat humans in a one-on-one champion race in the real world. This study marks a milestone for mobile robotics and machine intelligence. 

Enterprise News

Eight Chinese LLMs open to public

Eight large language models of Chinese companies and institutions, namely Baidu Inc, TikTok, Zhipu AI, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Baichuan Intelligent Technology, SenseTime, MiniMax and Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, received regulatory approval on Aug 31, and are open to the public.

Google Cloud and NVIDIA to expand cooperation partnership

Google Cloud and NVIDIA have announced expanding their cooperation partnership to promote the development of AI computing, software and service. 

[Photo/pixabay]

OpenAI to launch ChatGPT Enterprise 

OpenAI announced on its official website on Aug 28 local time that it is launching ChatGPT Enterprise, which will provide enterprise-grade security and privacy, unlimited higher-speed GPT-4 access, longer context windows for processing longer inputs, advanced data analysis capabilities, and customization options, etc. 

[Photo/Lianhe Zaobao]

Subsidiary of GM to deploy autonomous driving taxis in Seattle 

Cruise, an autonomous driving subsidiary of General Motors, plans to deploy a small batch of autonomous driving taxis in Seattle, Washington State. The first-deployed taxis will be equipped with human safety drivers. 

Google’s mixed reality project in trouble 

After Google gave up its Project Iris augmented reality glasses project in June, the company’s mixed reality headset project developed with Samsung is also facing setbacks now.