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Shanghai unveils AI development master plan as power crisis, new Covid-19 curbs threaten to derail city’s economic recovery
- The city’s draft AI plan outlines various measures, including financial support, to help drive the industry’s development
- Pudong New District, located east of the Huangpu River, is expected to be the pilot area where AI projects backed by the plan will be initiated
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Shanghai, the financial and commercial hub of China, has drawn up a new programme to advance the development of its artificial intelligence (AI) industry, as a power crisis and Covid-19-related disruptions threaten to hamper economic recovery efforts in the metropolis.
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The city’s draft AI plan was released on Tuesday by the General Office of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, which will solicit public opinion until September 13. It outlines various measures to help drive the industry’s development, including providing financial support, fostering entrepreneurs and start-ups, sharpening focus on certain market segments and building up the sector’s supply chain.
“After years of development, the city’s artificial intelligence industry has maintained a growth trend as a whole,” the local legislature said in a statement before the draft plan’s release. It indicated, however, that the industry must overcome certain issues, “such as insufficient independent innovation capability, difficult implementation of [AI application] scenarios and insufficient governance systems”.
The initiative, which was unveiled ahead of the opening of this year’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on September 1, reflects the concerted effort by local authorities to build up the regulatory infrastructure behind the city’s nascent AI industry, which is competing against those in Beijing and tech hub Shenzhen.
Under the draft plan, AI companies can test small-scale innovative applications under relaxed regulatory conditions. This “sandbox regulation” was previously adopted in the country’s financial technology sector until Beijing tightened its scrutiny against disorderly expansion and anticompetitive behaviour.
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“Market entities are encouraged to innovate actively, and it is clarified that relevant departments should formulate regulatory rules and standards that adapt to the characteristics of artificial intelligence, and establish a list of minor violations that will not be punished,” the draft said.
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