Giant companies in first batch of WAIC 2024 partners
A Tesla robot on show at WAIC 2023 in Shanghai.
Giant companies Alibaba, Huawei and Tesla are among the first batch of partners of the WAIC or World Artificial Intelligence Conference, China's top-level AI event held in Shanghai each year. This year's event will take place from July 4 to 6, organizers said on Thursday.
The three-day event, like the previous events since 2018, will feature milestone investment, booming procurement values, the debut of AI algorithms and smart hardware, and a huge volume of visitors and online traffic, said the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization, a major WAIC organizer.
Alibaba, Baidu, China Mobile, Huawei, JD and Tesla were the first companies to become WAIC partners on Thursday, which also marked a start of warm-up events for WAIC 2024.
Organizers also thanked companies, organizations and media for their contributions to WAIC, including Shanghai United Media Group, Shanghai Daily's parent firm.
The WAIC conferences have a positive "spill-out" effect to boost the AI industry and ecosystem in Shanghai, covering industry output, innovation, talent and empowering other industries. Shanghai has labeled AI as one of three "pioneering industries" in its long-term development blueprint.
Alibaba regards Shanghai as its "artificial intelligence research hub" globally for latest innovations such as generative AI tool development, the company said on Thursday.
