An online reading club of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a symposium on next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) on Dec 24. 

Wan Gang, vice-chairman of the CPPCC National Committee and chairman of the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party, delivered a speech at the symposium. 

Noting that AI is an important driving force of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, Wan said that accelerating the development of the next-generation AI technology is of strategic importance to getting ahead in global technological competition. 

Next-generation AI technology shows such features as deep learning, cross-boundary integration, human-machine collaboration and autonomous control, which have effectively lifted the quality and efficiency of economic development and improved social services and governance capacity, according to Wan. 

Wan added that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, AI technology has facilitated gene sequencing, vaccine development, pandemic prevention and control, and medical treatment, and contributed to work and production resumption and the digital economy. 

He called for more efforts to strengthen basic research and innovation, promote science and technology literacy, and optimize the application ecology so as to accelerate the development of the next-generation AI technology. 

Also at the symposium, Li Deyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, outlined the history of AI before pointing out the problems and challenges facing its development. The hardcore of next-generation AI technology is interaction, deep learning and memory storage, according to Li. 

CPPCC National Committee members also held in-depth discussions on AI-related legislation and the differences between traditional and next-generation AI technologies at the symposium.