New topics and speakers are confirmed for WAIC in Shanghai

New topics and speakers are confirmed for the coming World Artificial Intelligence Conference or WAIC to open in Shanghai next month, covering credible AI, averting digital gap and AI with carbon neutrality, government officials said on Monday.

Totally 1,000 speakers, including Turing Award winners, academicians, business leaders from Huawei and Qualcomm and startup officials will share opinions in WAIC. They will talk or display latest AI developments in sectors like medical, manufacturing, autonomous driving and urban management.

The WAIC exhibition halls will cover over 40,000 square meters in the Pudong New Area and Xuhui District, double the space in 2019. Turing Award winners Joseph Sifakis and Yao Qizhi, "father of Linux" Linus Torvalds, Siemens CEO Roland Busch, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Huawei's rotating chairman Ken Hu, as well as leaders from Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and JD, all confirmed to attend the event.

Besides talking about innovations and business, several topics will be mentioned on reliable AI and sustainable development, like AI's relationship with environment, privacy and how to avert digital gap worldwide. Officials with the WHO, UNESCO, ITU and other international organizations will attend discussion.

AI and city digital upgrade, as Shanghai's blueprint, are closely linked. Technology and city development can gain growth engines from both sides, said Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization.

The WAIC conference is to be held between July 8 and 10 while its exhibition will open on July 7. More than 300 exhibitors, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, ABB and SenseTime, will display their latest AI applications.

A 20-meter AI Brain will feature in the show with screens displaying latest AI development and updated WAIC information. During the WAIC, over 10 AI results and innovations will be revealed, the first time in China or even worldwide.

Shanghai has unique advantages in developing AI industry with resources on data talent and AI application scenes, Zhu Xiumei, a senior official at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in Shanghai.