On September 1, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) Frontiers of Science Plenary was successfully held at Shanghai EXPO Center. The forum was hosted by National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Cyberspace Administration of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China Association for Science and Technology, and Shanghai Municipal People's Government, with Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Global Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance (GAIAA) as its co-organizers.

John Lee Ka-chiu, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, delivered a video speech. He said that it is a great honor for Hong Kong to keep on hosting the Hong Kong Branch of WAIC this year. AI technology plays a role in promoting social development and improving people's daily lives. He hopes the fruits of this conference can help to open a new chapter in building a better life for humanity.

Liu Duo, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, noted in her speech that to undertake the major national strategic tasks, Shanghai is to strengthen the basic theory and technology research of artificial intelligence, improve the innovative ability, and create a more active innovation cluster, thus leading the development of artificial intelligence.

The forum was hosted by Gong Ke, the Executive Director of Chinese Institute for New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies. Focusing on AI’s future development, ecological system construction, talents training, and explorations of frontier technology, the forum consists of various parts, aiming to explore the “scientific future of artificial intelligence” from a global perspective.

Keynote Speeches

In this part, academicians and experts at home and abroad delivered speeches, discussing the future development of artificial intelligence.

Prof. Pan Yunhe, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor at Zhejiang University: The Future Direction of AI — Moving Towards A Two-Wheel Drive of Data and Knowledge

Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Dean of Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute and winner of Turing Award: AI Fundamental Research: To Be A Pioneer of Science

Jiang Changjun, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Tongji University: Digital Financial Stimulator

Zhang Yaqin, foreign member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dean of the Tsinghua institute for AI Industry Research: AI Sciences Empowering Industry

Jeannette M.Wing, Vice President of Columbia University and Professor of the School of Computer Science: Trustworthy AI

Philip Torr, Professor at Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford and Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering: Towards Robust Deep Learning

New Releases

Open source is an essential driver of AI development and an important indicator of a country's AI development level and development potential. On this forum, Shanghai AI Lab released the new open-source AI system "OpenXLab" and the "OpenGVLab 2.0" model. Dandelion, an open lab for AI governance, which is created by Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Tsinghua University and Fudan University was also released for the first time.

Release of “OpenXLab”

"OpenXLab", an open-source system of artificial intelligence, was released on the forum by Professor Lin Dahua from Shanghai AI Laboratory. The system consists of nine platforms, covering all aspects from perception to decision making, from a flat surface to three-dimensional one, from data to computing, and from technology to education.

The official website of "OpenXLab" platform (openxlab.org.cn) was officially launched on the same day. The newly upgraded "OpenXLab " AI open-source system includes: OpenMMLab 2.0, OpenGVLab, OpenDILab 1.0, OpenXDLab, OpenXRLab, OpenDataLab, OpenComputeLab, OpenEGLab, and OpenInnoLab.

Release of "OpenGVLab 2.0"

Professor Qiao Yu, Assistant to Director of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, released a new generation of general intelligence technology system "OpenGVLab 2.0". The model “OpenGVLab” was first introduced at the end of 2021. After nearly a year of hard work, the newly upgraded "OpenGVLab 2.0" can not only "recognize images more accurately", but also learn to "understand videos" and "translate". It has achieved significant performance improvement in image benchmarking tasks. Moreover, it has achieved pioneering performance in more than 30 kinds of video tasks and can also realize the translation of 100 languages with Chinese as the core.

Release of Dandelion

Shanghai AI Lab launched Dandelion, an open lab for AI governance together with Tsinghua University and Fudan University. This open lab was released by Chen Jiachang, Director General of the Department of High and New Technology of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Xing Huaibin, Deputy Director General of the Department of Strategy and Planning of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Xu Feng, Secretary of Party Committee of The Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, and Professor Xue Lan, Director of The National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Governance Specialist Committee.

Talent Cultivation

Talent is the foundation for the long-term development of AI. Looking to the future, education should focus on the cultivation of AI talents and prepare more people for the arrival of the AI era.

Release of Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence 

Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has released "Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence" series to popularize the knowledge of artificial intelligence among teenagers and enhance their ability of science and technology innovation. Based on the application field, the book focuses on four aspects of AI, including its core models, basic technology, application and social impacts. The series are aimed to lead young people into the exciting and realistic world of artificial intelligence. Professor Tang Xiaoou, the chief editor of the series, launched the release ceremony together with Pan Yunhe, Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Gong Ke and Qian Xuhong, President of East China Normal University.

Ceremony of GAIAA Academic Elite Award and WAIC Yunfan Award-Rising Star

Talent is the key to promoting the progress of science and technology. With top-notch talents, we can innovate from the "source", thus the first-class original AI can be achieved. At the conference, the first GAIAA Academic Elite Award was announced, which is awarded to the winners of the 2022 World Artificial Intelligence Conference Youth Outstanding Paper Award (WAIC YOP). Dedicated by the Global Artificial Intelligence Academic Alliance, the award aims to provide academic exchange and cooperation opportunities for young AI scholars and build an ecology for the development of young AI talents. Prof. Jiang Changjun, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Prof. Wu Fei of Zhejiang University and Prof. Jiang Yugang of Fudan University jointly presented the awards to the first GAIAA Academic Elite.

A total of 14 authors of 10 papers were awarded, namely, Cheng Dawei from Tongji University, Dai Guohao from Tsinghua University, Hu Qingyong from Oxford University, Tang Yichao from Tongji University, Tong Lei rom Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wang He from Peking University, Wang Dongdong from DPTechnology Co., Wang Ruixing and Zhang Qing from SmartMore Corporation, Wen Yandong and Zhang Kaipeng from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology，Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as Wu Jiamin, Lu Zhi and Jiang Dong from Tsinghua University.

At the same time, Shi Boming, Assistant to Director of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Zhu Mingjie, initiator of AI Young Scientists Alliance, presented awards to the winners of the 4th WAIC Yunfan Award-Rising Star. These winners are all outstanding young AI talents under 30 years old with great development potential. This award aims to create an incubation platform for future leaders in AI academia and industry.

There were 15 winners in total, namely Bai Lei, research scientist at Shanghai AI Laboratory, Chen Chong, senior researcher at Huawei Inc., Dai Guohao, postdoctoral researcher at Tsinghua University, Ding Mingyu, PhD student at Hongkong University, Hui Binyuan, research engineer at Alibaba DAMO Academy, Liu Shu, co-founder & technical head at SmartMore Corporation Limited, Liu Xihui, assistant professor at Hongkong University, Liu Zhuang, research scientist at FAIR, Ma Zhiheng, assistant professor at Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-founder and CTO of Shenzhen Heils Union Technology Co. Ltd., Miao Xupeng, post-doctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, Shou Zheng, assistant professor at NUS, Wu Di, founder and CEO of Deemos Technologies Inc., Xu Jingjing, research scientist at Shanghai AI Laboratory, Yang Jiancheng, postdoc at EPFL and co-founder of Diannei Technology, and Zhang Wentao, postdoc research fellow at Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (Mila).

Roundtable: AI Mentor Talk

In the roundtable meeting, university presidents, including Lin Zhongqin, President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Jin Li, President of Fudan University, Chen Jie, President of Tongji University, Duan Chongzhi, President of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shi Wei, President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Teng Jinguang, President of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shen Zuojun, Vice President of Hong Kong University, and Wang Yang, Vice President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology sent video messages to this forum.

The forum gathered the most popular mentors in the field of AI in China for the first time, including Zhao Xing, class tutor of Yao Class at Tsinghua University, Dong Hao, class tutor of Turing Class at Peking University, Lu Cewu, class tutor of Wu Class at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Wu Fei, class tutor of Turing Class at Zhejiang University, and Wang Jie, vice president of the School of the Gifted Young, University of Science and Technology of China. They discussed topics such as "AI talent training" and "innovative talents leading the international frontier". Professor Wang Yanfeng, Assistant to Director of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory served as the moderator.

Frontiers of Science

Pioneering professors in the field of artificial intelligence discussed the future direction of AI and the hot topics in the field.

Roundtable: AI Future Talk

Several experts gave keynote speeches and made discussions on the frontiers of science, including Ouyang Wanli, professor of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Qiu Xipeng, professor of School of Computer Science, Fudan University, Shen Chunhua, chair professor of College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Wang Mengdi, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, and Zhang Ya, professor of School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The four-hour plenary session came to a successful conclusion. With hope and passion, we set a new milestone in the road of scientific research and will continue to explore the future of artificial intelligence.