The Chinese government has ambitious plans for the development of technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI). Around a year ago, China stated that by 2030, it wanted to be leading the global AI market and anticipated the sector in China to have grown to a value of $150 billion. Vice Premier Lui He has now adopted a more conciliatory tone: A report in German innovation magazine ‘Technology Review’ quotes the politician as saying that AI represents a new era and that multinational and multidisciplinary cooperation is imperative.

That China is actually endorsing international collaboration in AI is reflected on search engine giant Baidu , which offers machine learning algorithms online that developers can train using their own image and sound files and then integrate in their own applications. While machine learning in particular plays a role in industry in the field of robotics and predictive maintenance, it is also increasingly penetrating other areas of the value chain, including logistics.