New | What are the next big things in the world of high technology? Let China’s internet giants tell you
Tencent, Baidu and Xiaomi have their eye on online hospitals, intelligent everyday tools and virtual reality
It may not mean much for people outside the tech sector, but for insiders, it’s a glimpse of the big picture envisaged by China’s internet giants. And they’re seeing vast potential in online health care, artificial intelligence, and even the possibility of brainwave communication.
Tencent is building an “internet hospital”, its CEO Pony Ma Huateng told the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, on Thursday.
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“There are more and more opportunities for the internet to connect with health care,” Ma said in a speech at China’s biggest internet event. The hospital, set up in Wuzhen, would provide long-distance diagnoses and medicine delivery.
What used to be impossible will become possible. AI will replace ... simple work
Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong said big data could help make people healthier by examining which medical practices worked as well as which human genes were causing diseases. Health tips could be tested out online by linking the community of people practising them, he said.
The next big thing, according to Li, was artificial intelligence, as people’s daily devices became smarter thanks to an increased computing ability.
“What used to be impossible will become possible,” he said. “AI will replace most of people’s simple intelligent work ... AI will have a greater impact than the industrial revolution on humanity.”
Baidu is developing its driverless-car system, which Li demonstrated to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the conference.
