[Netease Smart News November 12 news] Much like electricity revolutionized industries over the past century, artificial intelligence is set to reshape society in the coming decades. From home robots and self-driving taxis to mental health chatbots, AI is becoming an integral part of daily life. Startups are pushing the boundaries, using AI to develop smarter robots that increasingly mimic human cognition. Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa are powered by AI, helping users shop, search, and manage tasks more efficiently.
Dr. Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera and a professor at Stanford University, recently spoke at the AI Frontier Conference in Silicon Valley, stating, “AI is like a new kind of electricity. Just as electricity transformed industries a century ago, AI has reached a stage where it can transform every major sector in the near future.†He emphasized that although AI may seem new, it has been around for decades, and its recent breakthroughs are due to advancements in data and computing power.
Ng explained that most current AI value comes from supervised learning, but two major waves of progress have emerged. The first involved deep learning algorithms predicting user behavior, such as whether someone will click on an ad. The second wave came with the ability to process complex outputs like speech recognition or language understanding. For example, in autonomous vehicles, image inputs can be used to detect other cars on the road, showcasing the growing sophistication of AI systems.
Xuedong Huang, Microsoft’s chief scientist, highlighted how deep learning has significantly improved speech recognition, bringing it closer to human-level accuracy. In 2016, his team achieved a 5.9% error rate—matching human transcriptionists. Since then, the error rate has dropped further to 5.1%, proving that AI is rapidly closing the gap between machine and human performance.
The rise of digital assistants
Since 2010, speech recognition has seen remarkable improvements, leading to the creation of virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa. Wu Enda noted that these tools are now so common that people often take them for granted. Ruhi Sarikaya, director of Amazon Alexa, added that voice is expected to replace touch input in the future. But for this to work, assistants must understand context. For instance, if a user asks, “What dinner should I do?†the assistant needs to determine if they want to book a restaurant, order food, or find a recipe.
Dilek Hakkani-Tur, a Google research scientist, said that the next step for digital assistants is to move beyond literal word meaning. Understanding phrases like “later today†requires interpreting intent—whether it means a meeting between 7pm and 9pm or 3pm and 5pm. Future assistants must also handle complex dialogues and multi-tasking, such as reading and summarizing emails.
After speech recognition comes computer vision—the ability for machines to understand and classify images. With millions of videos and photos uploaded daily, manual metadata tagging is impractical. Facebook’s AI system Lumos helps automate this process, classifying content based on visual cues, like identifying a scene where people are preparing to go out. Similarly, Google’s video understanding team works to identify key semantic content in videos, enabling AI to learn from real-world footage.
Alibaba uses AI to enhance e-commerce experiences. On Taobao, users can upload images of products they want to buy, and the platform finds similar items. Alibaba also integrates AR/VR into shopping experiences, allowing customers to explore stores like Costco virtually. On Youku, the company is experimenting with inserting 3D objects into user-generated videos to boost engagement—a strategy many platforms are exploring to increase revenue.
Rosie and Home Robots
Despite AI's rapid progress, it still falls short of human cognitive abilities. Vicarious, a startup, aims to bridge this gap by developing robots with human-like intelligence. Co-founder Dileep George questioned why we can’t have robots like Rosie from “The Jetsons,†highlighting the availability of affordable components. He described current AI as having an “old brain†akin to mice, while the “new brain†mimics primate and whale cognition.
George pointed out that even small changes, like increased brightness, can confuse current AI systems. For example, a robot that plays games might fail when colors become brighter. However, Vicarious uses deep learning to create more resilient AI. In tests, their robots performed consistently even under changing conditions. Another challenge is recognizing objects that overlap, such as a coffee cup hiding a vase in a photo. Vicarious aims to solve such issues, with support from figures like Mark Zuckerberg.
Kuri, a home robot developed by Mayfield Robotics, offers a different approach. Its HD camera and depth sensor allow it to map homes and navigate effectively. Kuri can recognize people and pets, respond emotionally, and even remember locations regardless of lighting. It can also sort recorded videos, distinguishing between meaningful clips and background noise. As a family companion, Kuri brings entertainment, music, and remote monitoring capabilities, all while maintaining a friendly, personalized presence.
Business Response to AI
James Manyika, chairman of the McKinsey Global Institute, noted that the U.S. and China lead in AI investment. North America invested between $15 billion and $23 billion, while Asia, mainly China, invested $8 billion to $12 billion. Europe lagged behind with just $3 billion to $4 billion. Tech giants are major investors, funding AI development with billions in capital.
Investments have focused heavily on machine learning (56%) and computer vision (28%), with smaller shares going to natural language processing, driverless cars, and virtual assistants. Despite this, only 20% of companies have fully adopted AI, with many hesitant due to limited returns or lack of expertise. However, McKinsey believes AI can significantly boost productivity and decision-making across industries.
Early adopters include telecom, tech, finance, and automotive companies—often large, digitally mature firms that integrate AI into core operations. Meanwhile, sectors like healthcare, tourism, and education are slower to adopt. Experts believe, however, that widespread AI adoption is inevitable as the technology continues to evolve.
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