Symbiosis and Prosperity: Li Zhengmao on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse (with PPT)

The three major features of artificial intelligence development are large-scale connection, big data, and large models.

The big connection is the foundation of the development of artificial intelligence; big data is the key to the development of artificial intelligence; big models lead the development of artificial intelligence 2.0, which is the essence of the development of artificial intelligence. This is the three "big" features of the development of artificial intelligence pointed out by Li Zhengmao, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Global Cloud Network Broadband Industry Association, at the main forum of the "2024·Artificial Intelligence + Future Industry Development Conference".

"2024·Artificial Intelligence + Future Industry Development Conference" was held in Guangzhou on December 12th, and Li Zhengmao attended and delivered a keynote speech titled "Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse Development".

Li Zhengmao pointed out that in recent years, artificial intelligence technology has been accelerating breakthroughs, leading the current world's technological revolution and industrial transformation; at the same time, as the most widely used key general technology, it is profoundly affecting all aspects of China's economic and social development. Large models represented by ChatGPT are accelerating evolution, reshaping the industrial and market competitive landscape.

So, what is the relationship between artificial intelligence technology and the development of the metaverse? Are they mutually reinforcing or coexisting and mutually beneficial? Li Zhengmao discusses the understanding of the development of artificial intelligence and the metaverse from three 'major' characteristics of artificial intelligence development, the likelihood of the metaverse becoming the next wave of the digital economy, and the significant promotion of the development of the metaverse by the rise of artificial intelligence.

Three 'Big' Characteristics of Artificial Intelligence Development

In Li Zhengmao's view, there are three 'major' characteristics of artificial intelligence development.

The concept of artificial intelligence was born in the 1950s and is a new technology science that researches, develops, simulates, extends, expands, and learns human intelligence. Since the 1970s, many countries have carried out research on artificial intelligence, and the development of global artificial intelligence has experienced several ups and downs. Li Zhengmao said that in the process of development, the field of artificial intelligence has mainly formed three schools of thought: symbolism, connectionism, and actionism.

Tracing the history of artificial intelligence development, we can see that from connectionism to machine learning, and then to deep learning, the connection mechanism and learning algorithms between neural networks continue to evolve, leading the development of artificial intelligence technology. In essence, it is a large connection, a multi-layer processing built on complex network connections. Therefore, Li Zhengmao believes that "large connection is the foundation of artificial intelligence development" and the first characteristic of artificial intelligence development.

As we all know, there are three key elements supporting the development of artificial intelligence: computing power, algorithms, and data. Among them, big data has played a significant role and is crucial for the development of AI technology and applications. According to statistics, the global data volume reached 1.8ZB in 2011 (1ZB equals 10 trillion GB), and it reached 60ZB in 2020, an increase of more than 32 times in a decade. In just two years, from 2021 to 2022, the global data volume increased by 35.5%, reaching 81.3ZB in 2022.

The rapid growth of data volume lays the foundation for breakthroughs in new technologies such as artificial intelligence. Li Zhengmao pointed out that artificial intelligence technology and big data technology promote each other and develop together. On the one hand, it will further enhance the "5V" characteristics of big data, that is, enhance the Volume (massive data scale) characteristics, Velocity (high-speed data processing) characteristics, expand the Variety (diverse data types) characteristics of big data exponentially, thoroughly mine the Value (application value) characteristics of big data, and continuously improve data quality and enhance Veracity (authenticity). On the other hand, big data's "5V" continuously empowers artificial intelligence technology, promotes its practical application scenarios to mature, promotes the large-scale and universal development and application of artificial intelligence, more intelligently mines the value contained in data, transforms diversified data resources into valuable data assets, fully supports the development of the digital economy and society, and brings a new intelligent production mode and lifestyle to human society. Therefore, Li Zhengmao summarized that "big data is the key to the development of artificial intelligence" and is the second characteristic of the development of artificial intelligence.

The large model is a sudden mutation based on the integration of multiple technical disciplines including mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics, engineering, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. Li Zhengmao believes that the development of large models has brought three revolutionary changes to human society: firstly, the promotion of weak artificial intelligence to artificial general intelligence (AGI); secondly, the promotion of productivity from computing power to machine intelligence; and thirdly, the promotion of the digital society to an intelligent society.

Currently, large models have established a relatively complete ecosystem in the basic layer, technical layer, application layer, etc.; it can be foreseen that the layout of global large models in the future will be dozens of general large models, complemented by hundreds or thousands of industry-specific large models. Therefore, Li Zhengmao summarized the third feature of the development of artificial intelligence: 'Large models lead the development of artificial intelligence 2.0, which is the essence of the development of artificial intelligence.'

Metaverse is likely to become the next wave of the digital economy

In recent years, the global digital economy has grown rapidly, becoming a powerful engine for economic growth in various countries. The proportion of China's digital economy to GDP has approached 50%, and it is expected to exceed 50% next year. Li Zhengmao said that once the proportion of the digital economy to GDP exceeds 50%, it means that the entire society has entered the digital age, and digital technology has become the most important driving force for the development of the whole society.

The development direction of the digital economy is the integration of digital and real, that is, the digital economy needs to integrate and combine with the real economy. Li Zhengmao believes that by around 2035, the integration of digital and real may reach a peak. After reaching the peak, the next wave of the digital economy may be the metaverse.

First, from the perspective of historical evolution, the metaverse represents the beautiful yearning of human beings for the virtual world. The metaverse is a combination of the physical world and the virtual world, which concretizes the virtual world and satisfies human exploration of the virtual world. Physical space and physical space are limited, while virtual world and virtual space are infinite, and it may be more imaginative and innovative than physical space. Li Zhengmao believes that when a limited physical space and an infinite virtual space are combined, the development space formed is unimaginable at present, which is just like Mr. Qian Xuesen's prototype "spiritual realm" proposed by Mr. Qian Xuesen more than 30 years ago, and only today can we vaguely see its shadow. So, how beautiful this virtual world is, it is well worth exploring.

Secondly, from the perspective of technological development, the metaverse is an inevitable result of the evolution of human information technology and interaction methods, and it is the elevation of information interaction methods. Li Zhengmao stated that the metaverse is a new fusion form of 'virtual + reality,' which is a more mature form of cyberspace. It extends the subject of information creation and interaction from humans to intelligent entities and will create a new stage of information interaction.

From the perspective of cultural innovation, the metaverse will promote the breakthrough of the art and cultural system, opening up new territories in the cultural and artistic fields. Li Zhengmao pointed out that new sciences, new technologies, and new concepts represented by the metaverse are reconstructing social civilization, promoting the integration of cultural and artistic with digital assets, greatly expanding the channels for the dissemination of cultural and artistic works, bringing more abundant means of artistic expression, and giving rise to a new paradigm for cultural and artistic creation.

From the perspective of application promotion, the Metaverse has shown its enormous potential in many application areas and is promoting the construction of a multi-scenario application platform. Li Zhengmao emphasized that in the symbiotic world intertwined with real life, the Metaverse can "complement reality with virtuality," and is expected to drive industrial upgrading and leapfrogging in a completely new way.

Therefore, Li Zhengmao believes that the metaverse is very likely to become the next wave of the digital economy, and this could happen around 2035. This wave will be even more fierce and beyond imagination.

The rise of artificial intelligence will greatly promote the development of the metaverse

Artificial intelligence is an important technological element that constitutes the metaverse. Only when AI develops can the metaverse develop. Therefore, Li Zhengmao believes that the rise of AI will greatly promote the development of the metaverse, especially the deep integration of generative artificial intelligence (AIGC) technology into the metaverse.

One is the technical system of integrating AI into the metaverse. The technical system of the metaverse is commonly referred to as BASIC. Among them, 'B' refers to blockchain, 'A' refers to artificial intelligence, 'S' refers to spatial computing, 'I' refers to interactivity, and 'C' refers to computing power and communication. Li Zhengmao stated that by explaining the 'BASIC' technical system of the metaverse, the rise of artificial intelligence will undoubtedly greatly promote the development of the metaverse.

The second is "AI + Metaverse" to create a new digital society. AI is the new engine of the digital economy, and the metaverse is a new form of the digital economy. Li Zhengmao believes that with the blessing of AI, the metaverse will reshape social rules and change the operation mode and business form of the real industry. Reconstructing the allocation of social resources and building a new form of digital society where virtual and real life coexist will have an unprecedented transformative impact on social development.

Thirdly, 'AIGC+Metaverse' serves as the core driving force, pioneering the era of intelligent Web3.0. Generative AI provides powerful support for content creation in the Metaverse. With the continuous development of generative AI technology, the Metaverse will achieve more innovations in fields such as tourism, education, entertainment, and shopping, further expanding the application market and promoting the development of a decentralized Web3.0 network ecosystem. It will intelligently realize bidirectional interaction of information and value, providing users with higher network utility value.

"The development of artificial intelligence and the metaverse living and developing together will profoundly change the economic and social forms and bring a better life to people," Li Zhengmao finally pointed out.

Full text of the accompanying speech PPT

Source: Sina

Author: Communication Industry Network