Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent advance China’s AI development goals, says Microsoft research head

The mainland may be closing in on the US in developing artificial intelligence, led by its three main internet firms, says Microsoft’s Shum

Harry Shum Heung-yeung, executive vice-president of Microsoft's artificial intelligence and research group, says AI is the ‘greatest business opportunity of our time’. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Mainland China, led by its three largest internet companies, may be narrowing the gap with the United States in undertaking advanced research and development in the growing field of artificial intelligence, according to the head of software giant Microsoft’s AI organisation.

“This is probably the greatest business opportunity of our time, so all of the world’s major technology companies are now in the AI race,” Harry Shum Heung-yeung, the executive vice-president for the artificial intelligence and research group at Microsoft, told the South China Morning Post.

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