China’s Zhizhen eyes global expansion with its artificial intelligence bot

Shanghai-based software company Zhizhen Network Technology, which sued Apple four years ago over a voice recognition patent for the iPhone Siri “personal assistant”, plans to expand into the US in 2017 with ambitions of becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence.

It will set up offices in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley to develop software to cater to local clients, a fresh sign that Chinese technology firms are speeding up their “go-global” drive to take on big-names such as Microsoft and Amazon for world markets.

“Taking a global view, it’s time to set sail for the largely untapped territory of artificial intelligence,” said Yuan Hui, founder and chairman of Zhizhen. “Internationalisation is a necessary step we will take to develop our businesses.”

In a report on the top 10 technology trends for 2017, IT research firm Gartner listed Zhizhen’s Xiaoi Robot, Siri, Cortana of Microsoft and Echo of Amazon as world leaders in intelligent conversational systems.

The technologies, known as bots, run automated tasks over the internet at speeds several times faster than humans.

The Xiaoi AI technology is now used by dozens of mainland Chinese clients including telecom, financial and retail firms.

“There are few artificial technologies that have already been commercialised,” said Yuan. “Xiaoi has proved to be a leader in the niche area.”