Zhu Shenshen / SHINE
The World AI Conference and High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC) 2024 closed in Shanghai on Saturday, having posted impressive statistics and promising announcements, covering investment plans, cooperation projects, and city-level organizations and development plans for AI.
The event drew a record-breaking crowd, with more than 300,000 visits to its conferences and exhibitions onsite by 2pm on Saturday, despite the hot weather. Online traffic soared to a staggering 2 billion views, marking another WAIC record since 2018.
More than 1,300 officials, industry leaders and scientists from 50 countries and regions shared their expertise, with more than 500 companies showcasing over 1,500 cutting-edge products across the vast 52,000-square-meter exhibition halls. Notably, 50 of these products were unveiled for the first time at WAIC 2024.
The closing ceremony also witnessed the signing of more than 24 city-level AI projects, representing a combined investment of 40 billion yuan (US$5.48 billion). These projects focus on advancements in AI models and intelligent computing ecosystems.
Shanghai also unveiled several initiatives during WAIC 2024. The city opened the Shanghai AI Security Governance Lab and the Shanghai AI Computing Power Public Platform on Saturday, both serving as valuable resources for future AI development.
Additionally, the Shanghai government and China Mobile signed a collaboration agreement to establish and upgrade 5G-A networks within three years.
Ti Gong
The combination of 5G-A and AI, with high-speed network and powerful positioning capabilities, holds immense potential for sectors like the low-altitude economy, smart transportation, digital factories, and smart energy, said Shanghai Mobile.
Recognizing the critical role of corpus data in powering AI development, Shanghai released more upgrades on corpus, in an industry forum of WAIC on Saturday.
The new releases cover corpus operation and data products, a city-level corpus industry development initiative and several white papers in various industrious. High-quality, large-scale, secure and trustworthy corpus data resources are an important cornerstone of the AI era, experts told the forum.
With the WAIC 2024 exhibition to conclude on Sunday, the city’s commitment to AI innovation continues. Organizers confirmed that Shanghai will proudly host WAIC 2025. As city deputy mayor Chen Jie said: Let’s meet in 2025.
Zhu Shenshen / SHINE