The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2024 will open in Shanghai on Thursday to showcase over 1,500 innovative products.
This year's event is expected to set new records in terms of participating exhibitors and new product launches since its debut in 2018. The four-day event will attract more than 500 confirmed exhibitors, half of which are from outside Shanghai, including global giants like Tesla, Microsoft and Schneider Electric.
With an exhibition area of 52,000 square meters, the event will cover areas of humanoids, autonomous vehicles, AI large models, offering visitors a firsthand experience of an AI-powered future.
One of the WAIC highlights will be the integration of AI across various industries, such as the restoration of ancient books.
Additionally, a newly upgraded intelligent equipment aimed at alleviating computing stress and reduce costs, and addressing major challenges in large-scale model applications, will be on display.
"We have standardized various models by decoupling modules and increased computing capacity, reducing the marginal utility of computing. This enhancement allows broader access to computing capacity through more equipment cabinets and servers," said Wu Yicun, deputy head of the department of domestic marketing strategies at Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Company.
Similar to previous events, WAIC 2024 will also witness significant investments, AI algorithm debuts, smart hardware launches, global collaborations, announcement of AI awards, and participation of AI-specific organizations.
World AI Conference 2024 to open in Shanghai on Thursday
China and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), pledged to enhance sustainable development cooperation at a Thursday conference in Tianjin, ahead of this year's SCO summit.
As the rotating chair for this year, China is to host the SCO summit in Tianjin this autumn. The China-SCO Conference on Industrial Cooperation for Sustainable Development is one of the activities organized during a promotion event from Wednesday to Friday. It aims to promote cooperation in fields like infrastructure, energy, mining and petrifaction.
Nearly 400 guests, including government officials and enterprises from SCO member states attended the opening session.
"In 2024, China's trade volume with SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record high of 890 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, fully demonstrating the tremendous vitality and broad prospects of trade development within the region," said Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative, at the conference.
As China has extensive experience in promoting sustainable development, attendees from SCO member states expressed hope to strengthen cooperation with China across various sectors, said SCO Deputy Secretary General Sohail Khan.
"China plays a very, very important, significant role in sustainable development, as I said, so we are expecting that in the sustainable development context, all member states have lot to gain and learn from China on its achievements in various areas, like agricultural industries, energy, high tech, information technology, and robot AI," he said.
By the end of 2024, China's investment stocks in SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners have exceeded 140 billion U.S. dollars, with the total value of contracts signed by Chinese enterprises in these countries exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars and the completed turnover surpassing 680 billion U.S. dollars.
In 2024, about 19,000 China-Europe freight train ran through the SCO region, marking a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent and significantly promoting regional connectivity and economic development.
China, SCO member states pledge deeper sustainable development cooperation
