Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who spoke via a live-streaming feed, said at the forum on Friday that the theme of open cooperation “could not be timelier”, echoing Xi’s message.
Gates said global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, along with other challenges from food security to child welfare, do not stay within national boundaries. “So we need to commit to working across boundaries to address them,” Gates said.
Gates also told the forum that China, with its mix of expertise and experience and investment in innovation, would be able to make its contribution to the world by sharing its technology and lessons.
“We need to mount a comprehensive, broad response [to issues like Covid-19] based on innovation and cooperation,” he said, noting that China’s expertise and manufacturing capacities would help with the world’s pressing needs for food and pharmaceuticals. “China is already playing an important role in addressing complex global challenges, including future pandemics and food insecurity,” he told the forum.
Baidu founder and CEO Robin Li Yanhong also delivered a keynote speech on Friday addressing the seismic change that artificial intelligence (AI) will bring via large language models (LLMs), and vowed to integrate such technologies into the real economy.
This is something Xi called for in his speech to last year’s 20th Party Congress, saying that China must promote the integrated development of “strategic emerging industries”, including the information technology and AI sectors among others.
Baidu’s answer to ChatGPT, Ernie Bot, is playing catch-up with the chat bot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Li said that LLMs have access to condensed human knowledge and showcase the path to achieving artificial general intelligence. “At this point we are at the start of a new era for AI technology centred on LLMs,” Li told an audience at the event.
Other speakers at the forum on Friday included Saifur Rahman, president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, as well as Denis Simon, president of the Alliance of Global Talent Organisations, according to Xinhua.
