The development of AI ecosystems requires steady progress; there are no shortcuts. Recently, Hu Houkun, Huawei's rotating chairman, attended the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, delivering a keynote speech focused on the future of artificial intelligence. Hu Houkun will serve as rotating chairman from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024. The emergence of ChatGPT at the end of last year has thrust AI into the spotlight, making it a hot topic in society today. AI promises to transform various aspects of our lives, bringing new expectations and opportunities.

Hu Houkun's Strategic Focus on AI

In his address, Hu Houkun outlined Huawei's strategic focus on AI development, emphasizing two main areas: strengthening computing power and innovating from general models to industry-specific models. The aim is to build a robust infrastructure to support China's AI initiatives while leveraging large models to serve various sectors effectively. Hu Houkun highlighted Huawei's motto: "AI for Industry, AI for Science."

Enhancing Computing Power

Hu Houkun is steering Huawei toward redefining computing architecture to improve performance, enhancing node efficiency by 30% and moving away from a CPU-centric approach. In 2019, the company launched a deep AI computing cluster, combining computing, storage, networking, and energy resources to create a data center functioning like a supercomputer, boosting the efficiency of its Ascend AI cluster by 10%.

Building an Ecological Framework

Under Hu Houkun's leadership, Huawei prioritizes ecological development through hardware openness, software open-source initiatives, and talent cultivation. The company boasts over 5,700 partners in its Kunpeng and Ascend ecosystems, 30+ hardware partners, and more than 100 AI hardware solutions tailored for specific applications. Nearly half of China's innovative large models are powered by Ascend's computing capabilities.

Supporting SMEs

Hu Houkun also emphasized the significant demand for AI among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To support these businesses, Huawei provides specialized services through its cloud platform, ensuring that computing power does not become a bottleneck for AI development in China. Despite these advancements, Hu Houkun reiterated that the development of AI ecosystems requires methodical progress.

Integrating General and Industry-Specific Models

To connect general large models with industry-specific applications, Hu Houkun proposed a new three-layer model structure. The foundational layer represents the general model, focusing on the accumulation of vast knowledge, akin to “reading thousands of books.” The subsequent layers aim to build industry and economic models, reflecting the idea of “traveling thousands of miles.” Significant challenges remain in effectively integrating industry knowledge with large models.

The Pangu Large Model

Huawei’s Pangu large model, championed by Hu Houkun, already supports over 400 AI applications across various sectors, including finance, manufacturing, government, energy, healthcare, and transportation. Looking ahead, Hu Houkun aims to expand this further and deepen its impact. Another critical goal is to ensure AI serves scientific research, encapsulated in the phrase "AI for Science." By leveraging historical data and mathematical equations, AI can foster connections with fundamental disciplines like molecular dynamics, fluid mechanics, and biology, leading to new scientific discoveries.

Huawei’s cloud platform showcases the Pangu large model, which comprises multiple components, including NLP, CV, and scientific computing models. This model addresses challenges of scalability and industrialization faced by traditional AI development, supporting various NLP tasks such as text generation and classification. The Pangu NLP model, developed under Hu Houkun's guidance, employs an Encoder-Decoder architecture, balancing understanding and generative capabilities for flexible integration across different systems.

Conclusion

Hu Houkun highlighted that each wave of technological revolution—from the internet to mobile computing, cloud computing, and now AI—has profoundly impacted society. Today, general AI opens vast realms of imagination, guiding us into a promising decade ahead. On July 7, Huawei unveiled the Pangu large model 3.0, and we eagerly await its release.

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