Russia, China Aim to Take Majority of Global AI Development Opportunities
Russia and China are planning to work together to develop the majority of future global AI research and applications, according to Konstantin Gorbach, AI business director of Russian industrial digitalization technology firm Zyfra.
“When artificial intelligence (AI) proceeds to actual application, China and Russia will benefit from their engineers, entrepreneurs as well as the foreign and vast domestic market. China could therefore leapfrog the US as the world’s AI leader,” commented Gorbach.
“China has a huge industrial and consumer market, where new technologies and solutions are in high demand. Russia has developed one of the world’s strongest mathematics schools. That is why AI is one of the obvious areas for Sino-Russian cooperation.”
The comments come amid rising calls by officials and experts from the two countries to develop high-tech cooperation, with AI as a major focus, to generate new mutual benefits.
Chinese Ambassador to Russia, Li Hui, said at an investment forum in October that the two countries should increase the quality of bilateral cooperation and treat the digital economy as a new growth engine. AI was identified by Li as an opportunity, along with big data, the internet and smart cities.
“Russia’s share of the AI market is obviously small, but the market is constantly growing. Such technological collaboration can be a point for growth in collaboration between the two countries in the future,” Gorbach told the Global Times last week.
Zyfra is hoping to connect China’s extensive metallurgy plants with sensors and form an industrial internet of things that gives plant managers much better control of machines.
Global GDP was forecast to increase by 14 percent because of AI in 2030, according to a report by PwC. The technology’s deployment in the decade ahead will add US$15.7 trillion to global GDP, with China predicted to take US$7 trillion and North America US$3.7 trillion.
“The US has shared almost all of its top AI research with Canada and the UK, but China has the advantages that can enable it to eventually leapfrog them,” Gorbach said, noting that China-Russia AI cooperation has a great potential Gorbach explained that Zyfra’s recent research showed that China is occupying the second place after the US in terms of AI development, while taking the top step of the podium for sourcing capital and monetization. Some 48 percent of all global AI venture funding went to China.
Global AI development is intersecting, some technology, like the computer vision developed by Zyfra, is even of high demand even in the US, according to Gorbach. He explained that Zyfra’s recent research showed that China is occupying the second place after the US in terms of AI development, while taking the top step of the podium for sourcing capital and monetization. Some 48 percent of all global AI venture funding went to China.
Global AI development is intersecting, some technology, like the computer vision developed by Zyfra, is even of high demand even in the US, according to Gorbach.
“Russian AI technology and applications sometimes strike people with their ingenuity,” Lu Yanxia, an analyst from IDC China, stated. “If Russia works toward cooperation with China, it will be a great boost for innovation, industrial applications and promotion for both countries,” Lu said.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis of Dezan Shira & Associates comments: “Both Russia and China are taking longer term views concerning global development and are both increasingly coming together as a force to counterbalance the United States as well as develop demand in their domestic and international markets. The Russia-China trade and development space is extremely productive right now and businesses wishing to be involved with this should contact us for opportunity discussions.”
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Russia Briefing is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm advises international businesses on investing, setting up businesses and administering them throughout the Eurasian region, including Russia, China, India & ASEAN, and maintains offices and partners in each of these countries and regions. For assistance with investing in Russia, or for Russian businesses wishing to invest in Asia, please contact Maria Kotova at maria.kotova@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com.
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