Artificial intelligence will usher in the "first year of application" in 2024. The 2024 government work report first proposed the "Artificial Intelligence+" action, under policy guidance, various industries are accelerating the exploration of new models of "Artificial Intelligence+Industrial Development", and various innovative elements are accelerating their aggregation in the field of artificial intelligence. From "Internet plus+" to "AI+", innovation is opening up more space for economic growth. From "connectivity" to "empowerment", "Since 2024, the proportion of high-level PCB (printed circuit board) orders has been increasing." The person in charge of Jialichuang Group told reporters that PCB is known as the "barometer" of electronic hardware innovation, and most of the customized circuit boards required for sample making and small-scale trial production by electronic engineers worldwide are purchased in China. Different from the demand for single-layer boards in the Internet era, the demand for high-end boards is increasingly strong. In the opinion of industry insiders, the "Internet plus" initiative launched since 2015 aims to promote the deep integration of Internet innovation achievements with various economic and social fields, focusing on solving the "information island" problem. In 2024, the "AI+" initiative was first proposed, emphasizing the "productivity empowerment" of AI technology. As Yu Haibin, an academician of the CAE Member and a researcher of the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at the 2024 China Automation Conference, the Internet is the "base", and adding "means" to the base is artificial intelligence. From "Internet plus" to "Artificial Intelligence+", it not only conforms to the development trend of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, but also marks that China has taken new steps in the field of scientific and technological innovation. Artificial intelligence, as an important engine of new quality productivity, not only represents the forefront trend of technology, but also a key driving force for future economic development Professor Li Shaoyuan, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society of Automation and Vice President of Qingdao University of Science and Technology, stated that various industries are exploring a new model of "artificial intelligence+industrial development" to accelerate the formation and development of new quality productivity. Unlike the theoretical performance of the "Hundred Model Battle" competition in 2023, artificial intelligence will shift towards more practical application exploration in 2024. The latest report on the development of artificial intelligence (2024) released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology believes that the current application of artificial intelligence continues to deepen and become more practical. Industry models have been preliminarily applied in multiple industries such as finance, healthcare, education, retail, and energy, and have produced significant economic and social benefits. Moreover, artificial intelligence applications are also penetrating into more segmented production processes. Li Chao, general manager of Baidu AI Cloud Smart Industry, said for example that a sewage plant with a daily treatment capacity of 50000 tons would cost about 34 million yuan a year. Now, the application of AI technology for precise dosing can save 15% of the cost. According to him, Baidu has established AI enabled bases across the country and provided AI technology to local small and medium-sized enterprises, such as factories that produce toys, electronic components, and parts. The efficiency of sorting and product quality testing has significantly improved. While technology applications are rapidly sinking, artificial intelligence is constantly breaking through in cutting-edge fields. Recently, Professor Li Yan's team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology developed the world's first prophylactic inhibitor for leishmaniasis using the Huawei Cloud Disk Ancient Drug Molecular Large Model. The drug development cycle has been shortened to several months, and research and development costs have been reduced by more than 60%, breaking the "Double Ten Law" of new drug development of 10 years and 1 billion US dollars. Huawei, iFlytek and other technology companies are exploring the field of AI for Science, combining artificial intelligence technology with scientific research, and now covering scientific fields such as biomedicine, computational chemistry, earth science, electromagnetics, and fluids. Artificial intelligence is a strategic technology that leads this round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, with strong spillover and driving effects. In 2017, the State Council issued the "Development Plan for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence", proposing to enhance the technological innovation capability of the new generation of artificial intelligence as the main direction. Subsequently, a series of top-level designs such as the "Three Year Action Plan for Promoting the Development of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry (2018-2020)" and the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating Scene Innovation and Promoting High quality Economic Development through High level Application of Artificial Intelligence" were successively introduced. In 2024, the "Artificial Intelligence+" initiative was first included in the government work report. The recently held Central Economic Work Conference has identified nine key tasks to be achieved by 2025, one of which is to lead the development of new quality productive forces with technological innovation, build a modern industrial system, and carry out the "Artificial Intelligence+" action. In Li Shaoyuan's view, China's AI technology development has three significant advantages: the policy environment continues to optimize, and the government's support for AI technology continues to increase; The application scenarios are rich and diverse, with huge market demand potential, providing fertile soil for the practical application of artificial intelligence technology; With the increasing strength of scientific research, China has made many breakthroughs in the research and development of artificial intelligence technology, and the competitiveness of scientific research teams and enterprises has significantly improved. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China has built more than 1200 advanced level intelligent factories and over 230 excellent level intelligent factories, accelerating the development of new models and formats such as personalized customization, flexible production, virtual manufacturing, and smart services. At the same time, China has issued a total of 469 national standards for intelligent manufacturing and 50 international standards, with over 6500 intelligent manufacturing system solution providers providing services covering all manufacturing industries. More innovative elements are still gathering at an accelerated pace. Data shows that by June 2024, the number of AI enterprises in China has exceeded 4500, and the scale of core industries is close to 600 billion yuan. A relatively comprehensive AI industry system has been initially established. In the field of technology, a report from the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that from 2014 to 2023, the number of patent applications for generative artificial intelligence in China exceeded 38000, ranking first in the world. In terms of talent, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed at the 2024 Open Atom Developer Conference that the number of software developers in China has exceeded 9.4 million. China has become the country with the second highest number of open source participants and the fastest growth rate in the world. In terms of funding, data shows that as of December 17th, there were a total of 644 investment and financing events in the AI field in China this year, exceeding the total of 633 in 2023; The amount involved is 82.129 billion yuan, compared to 63.676 billion yuan in 2023. Innovation Space Shengwei "Artificial intelligence technology is changing the world at an amazing speed, and every field of human society is revitalized by it." Zheng Nanning, academician of the CAE Member and chairman of the Chinese Society of Automation, believes. Zhu Minghao, Executive Director of the China High end Manufacturing Research Center at Beijing Jiaotong University, told reporters that from the perspective of the development trend of artificial intelligence technology, it is highly likely to become a fundamental discipline technology like physics and mathematics, which will reshape the physical and virtual spaces of social development. Among the three major science awards in 2024, physics and chemistry are both related to artificial intelligence research. Artificial intelligence is becoming a battleground for global technological innovation. The "Report on the Development of Artificial Intelligence (2024)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that the field of big models is driving up global investment and financing in artificial intelligence. In the first half of 2024, the global investment and financing amount of artificial intelligence reached 31.6 billion US dollars, an increase of 84% year-on-year. Against the backdrop of global financing tightening, benefiting from the development of large-scale models and enterprise financing, the proportion of financing in the field of artificial intelligence has continued to rise, from 4.5% in 2022 to 12.1% in the first half of 2024. At present, the number, investment amount and scientific research strength of China's AI enterprises are still in the stage of "catching up". Industry insiders such as Zhu Minghao suggest strengthening talent cultivation, especially the cultivation of high-level talents in low-level disciplines such as mathematics, physics, and computer science; From research to investment, the field of artificial intelligence requires patient support; Give full play to the rich advantages of application scenarios in China's manufacturing industry, encourage cross industry and cross domain collaboration, build an artificial intelligence research system with manufacturing as the main body, and seize the opportunity in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. (New Society)