Russian Expert Warns, Without AI Cooperation, the World Gap Can Widening

Illustration of AI. Photo: Unplash.

JAKARTA - The development of artificial intelligence or AI cannot go it alone. Russian AI expert, Evgeny Burnaev, reminded that this technology requires international cooperation because it depends on big data, giant computing power, and the same technical standards.

China Daily, quoted on Sunday, August 2, reported that Burnaev expressed this view after the World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in Shanghai. He is a recipient of the Russian government award in the field of science and technology and has led an AI center at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia.

According to Burnaev, AI has changed a lot. This technology is no longer standing as a separate research field, but has become an important infrastructure for health services, production, logistics, and climate monitoring.

He said that a mature AI infrastructure is difficult to build without cross-country cooperation. This is because the development of AI requires large amounts of data and not a small computing capability.

Computing power is the ability of a computer to process data and run AI models on a large scale.

Burnaev also highlighted another risk. Current AI technology could widen the global development gap if it is not managed inclusively.

To prevent one culture or one value system from dominating, Burnaev proposed two steps. Countries need to work together in basic education and scientific research. The world also needs to have a global benchmark and the same technical standards in AI engineering.

The standard is needed so that important systems do not fail when used across countries and sectors.

Burnaev's call is in line with China's position of promoting global AI governance. Deputy Head of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Zhou Haibing, said his country would coordinate development and security in the development of AI.

"China will adhere to the coordination of development and security, actively implement multilateralism, uphold the concept of human-centered and AI for good, and encourage AI to always develop in a beneficial, safe, and just direction," Zhou said.

China Daily said the commitment received international attention. The British journal Nature previously published an article saying China was leading global AI governance and asking other countries to join in addressing the common challenges of AI development.

China's push in the field of AI is supported by a large industrial ecosystem. Official data cited by China Daily shows that the country has more than 6,000 AI companies.

China's core AI industry scale is expected to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan or about 177.48 billion US dollars this year. The figure is up nearly 30 percent from the previous year.

The data also mentions that China is the world's largest AI patent holder. The large open source models made in the country have recorded more than 10 billion cumulative downloads globally.

The consumer market is also moving quickly. By 2025, the annual shipment of smart devices such as AI mobile phones and AI computers in China will exceed 100 million units.

With growth expected to continue this year, sales of AI phones and AI computers are projected to surpass non-AI products for the first time.

An AI computer is a computer designed to run artificial intelligence features faster on the device. AI phones usually have built-in AI capabilities to help with image, voice, text processing, and other daily tasks.

At the conference, Burnaev also highlighted the many smart robots on display. He called embodied AI the main path for the next development of AI.

Embodied AI is AI that is applied to a physical machine or robot so that it can read the environment, make decisions, and act in the real world.

According to Burnaev, the emergence of robot models based on vision, language, action, and motion control can increase the efficiency of industrial automation. The technology can also be used to handle jobs in high-risk locations.

"This conference showcases various types of robots and supporting models. The technology trend in this field is very worth paying attention to, and I see many technological achievements that attract attention," said Burnaev.