May 6 is a crucial day for iFLYTEK. On this day, iFLYTEK officially released the artificial intelligence cognitive large model "Spark", which means that the "100-model war" has added another strong player. Previously, including Baidu, Ali, Tencent, Huawei and other large manufacturers, have announced their own large models and related products. At the press conference, a sentence by Liu Qingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK Co., Ltd., attracted attention: iFLYTEK took the lead in designing a general cognitive large model evaluation system through the National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Intelligence, and discussed with the Chinese Academy of Sciences Artificial Intelligence Industry-University-Research Innovation Alliance and the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance to form 481 subdivided task types covering 7 categories, promoting the development of large models in the scientific evaluation system. In this important release event, why did Liu Qingfeng mention the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance?
Strong chain
To answer this question, we must first go back to 2020. On June 5, 2020, the Yangtze River Delta Entrepreneurs Alliance was established, with Liu Qingfeng as the co-chairman. This alliance is composed of leading enterprises in key industries and pillar industries in the Yangtze River Delta region and the main responsible persons of relevant industry chambers of commerce and associations, and is a non-profit organization across regions and ownership systems. At the inaugural meeting, the term industry chain alliance was repeatedly mentioned. Using the industrial chain as a starting point to make the alliance solid has become a consensus of the participants. Three months later, four industrial chain alliances, including the Yangtze River Delta Superconducting Industry Chain Alliance, the Yangtze River Delta Software and Information Service Industry Chain Alliance, the Yangtze River Delta Digital Health Industry Chain Alliance, and the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance, were established. During the 3rd Yangtze River Delta Integrated Development High-level Forum in 2021, four industry chain alliances, including the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance, were officially unveiled, and iFLYTEK became the first chairman unit of the alliance. Behind the establishment of the industrial chain alliance is the urgent need of various market entities in the Yangtze River Delta for the free flow of factors and the optimal allocation of resources. At the unveiling ceremony, the reporter met Liu Qingfeng, who was interviewed while walking. "Leading enterprises are coming, scientific research institutes are coming, supporting enterprises are coming, typical user units are also coming, and everyone is coming." Liu Qingfeng said. He introduced that the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance currently includes more than 70 units, not only leading enterprises such as iFLYTEK, SenseTime, and YITU, but also universities such as China University of Science and Technology, Fudan, Jiaotong University, and Zhejiang University. He hoped that the industrial chain alliance could give full play to the strength of industry, academia, research and government to build a high-quality integrated development system for the artificial intelligence industry in the Yangtze River Delta, realize the complementary advantages of various regions, divide labor and cooperation, and promote the development of the artificial intelligence industry in the Yangtze River Delta into a globally influential industrial highland. Complementary chains, solid chains, and strong chains were the hot words discussed at that forum. At the 2021 Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation and Development Joint Conference held the day before, the economic and information technology departments of the three provinces and one city signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Joint Implementation of Industrial Chain Supplementation and Chain Consolidation and Strong Chain Action" to jointly implement the action of industrial chain supplementation and chain strengthening and explore the path of the Yangtze River Delta with a new development pattern. Participants had a consensus that the industrial chain alliance will be conducive to strengthening the exchange and docking, joint research and application promotion of information, technology and talents in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Tang Liang, chairman of Aosheng Group Co., Ltd., who is also the co-chairman, has a metaphor: if the Yangtze River Delta Entrepreneur Alliance is a "pioneer", then the industrial chain alliance is a sharp knife in the hands of a "pioneer". The industrial chain alliance is not a group of "advanced help and backward" with one gang and one belt, but a crack commando team that charges forward and dares to fight a tough battle. All franchise members must be elite soldiers who "have unique skills in their hands and can fight in battle". At present, the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance has brought together 75 triangular enterprises and academic units, covering cutting-edge fields such as chips, core algorithms, and intelligent scenarios. The Alliance has already played a role in strengthening efficient communication between government and enterprises, providing suggestions for the development of artificial intelligence in the Yangtze River Delta region, creating artificial intelligence demonstration and innovative applications, and jointly carrying out research on core technologies of artificial intelligence.
The top ten innovative applications of artificial intelligence in the Yangtze River Delta were selected at the 5th World Sound Expo. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Evaluation
Since its establishment, Liu Qingfeng has often mentioned the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance on important occasions. During the National Two Sessions in 2022, Liu Qingfeng told the media that the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance has formed the entire industrial ecology of source technological innovation, product application, and scenario penetration, and the next step is to better coordinate the division of labor in the development of the industrial chain, especially in the field of "stuck neck", avoid low-level duplication, and avoid excessive "involution" in some key research and development, so as to form collaborative innovation in the entire region. At the iFLYTEK Xinghuo cognitive big model results conference on May 6, Liu Qingfeng directly talked about the relationship between the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance and the iFLYTEK Xinghuo cognitive big model. In an interview with reporters, Xu Jiajia, Vice President of iFLYTEK, Vice President and Secretary-General of the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance, introduced in detail the relationship between the two: At the beginning of the launch of the cognitive big model project, the National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Intelligence jointly built by iFLYTEK and the University of Science and Technology of China took the lead in designing a set of detailed test methods for the seven important directions of general artificial intelligence. Many experts and partners from the Artificial Intelligence Industry-University-Research Industry Alliance of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance discussed and reached a broad consensus, forming 481 subdivided task types covering 7 categories. In the scientific evaluation system, promote the development of large models. Among them, the cooperation with the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance focuses on the application of the industrial chain. In response to the hotly discussed question of "which domestic model is stronger" on the Internet, Xu Jiajia believes that it is meaningless. "Today's cognitive big model is just starting to start, and it is still in the process of rapid growth and iteration, even ChatGPT and GPT-4 have many questions that are not well answered, and if we just find some single examples to prove which system is strong and weak, I think it is meaningless." What kind of comparison is meaningful? At the press conference on May 6, Liu Qingfeng said that he would pay tribute to and learn from OpenAI, and at the same time, he should quickly catch up and strive to surpass. "When we pay tribute to and learn from OpenAI, while catching up quickly and striving to surpass, we believe that we first need a scientific and systematic evaluation system." Xu Jiajia said. "What we especially want to say is that if we want to make this intelligent emergence of cognitive intelligence really solve the rigid needs of society, rather than simply making a publicity, we must establish a real, down-to-earth, scientific and systematic evaluation system." Xu Jiajia explained, "We must use this scientific and systematic evaluation system to tell us how far our technology has come, where the next development should go, how far away the technology is from practicality, and what work needs to be done." ”
The inaugural meeting of the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance. Photo courtesy of interviewee
future
The evaluation system is already being established. At the Yangtze River Delta Entrepreneur Alliance Industrial Digitalization Summit held on June 3, the National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Intelligence, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Artificial Intelligence Industry-University-Research Innovation Alliance and the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance jointly released the general cognitive intelligence large model evaluation system. On the same day, Liu Qingfeng became the new rotating chairman. As of April 2023, the Yangtze River Delta Entrepreneurs Alliance has grown from less than 100 members to 216 council members. Looking forward to the development of the Yangtze River Delta Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain Alliance, Xu Jiajia bluntly said that in the past year, the upstream and downstream coordination mechanism of the Yangtze River Delta artificial intelligence industry chain has been improved to a certain extent, but there are still some problems. It is specifically manifested in the lack of unified planning and coordination, uneven distribution of infrastructure and resources, insufficient technological innovation and transformation of achievements, and insufficient talent flow and exchange. In response to these problems, Xu Jiajia put forward four suggestions: first, establish a unified planning and coordination mechanism, clarify the strategic goals and division of responsibilities of all parties, and strengthen communication and collaboration; The second is to strengthen the coordination and management of infrastructure and resource allocation to ensure that cities and regions have access to adequate support and resources; The third is to promote technological innovation and transformation of achievements, establish innovation alliances and technology transfer mechanisms, and promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements; The fourth is to strengthen the flow and exchange of talents, establish a talent sharing platform and exchange mechanism, encourage the flow and exchange of talents, and improve the talent reserve and competitiveness of the entire region. Up to now, the Yangtze River Delta has established 10 industrial chain alliances in two batches, including artificial intelligence, digital health, superconducting industry, high-end medical care, green transportation, cable and optical cable, smart retail, software information, smart city, and digital creativity. At the Yangtze River Delta Entrepreneur Alliance Industrial Digitalization Summit held on June 3, the third batch of industrial chain alliances was unveiled.
Column editor-in-chief: Kong Lingjun Text editor: Kong Lingjun Title picture source: Shangguan title picture Photo editor: Di Xi
Source: Author: Chen Shuyi