AI Unveiled: moving beyond the hype in East and West
In the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the discourse tends to fluctuate between extremes: hype versus doomism and West versus East (China in particular). This joint keynote - featuring innovation strategy and tech expert Peter Hinssen and China keynote speaker Pascal Coppens - seeks to navigate beyond these binaries, offering a nuanced but profound exploration of AI's transformative potential as well as its challenges.
Peter Hinssen sets the scene, taking his audience on a journey from AI's early days to the cutting-edge era of generative AI. He presents realistic expectations for AI's capabilities and limitations, while highlighting its transformative impact across sectors and the need for responsible implementation. He also offers a strategic roadmap for businesses to integrate AI, emphasizing the importance of organizational readiness, ethical use amidst growing concerns of interpretability, bias and privacy, and fostering an AI-centric culture. Through practical case stories from Walmart, JPMorgan, McKinsey and more Peter illustrates how AI can drive innovation, enhance operations, and secure a competitive advantage. His message is clear: AI is not just a technological advancement but a catalyst for radical change, empowering Phoenix businesses to rise in this Never Normal era of constant change, with newfound strength and innovation. His vision encourages leaders to view AI as an opportunity for growth, leveraging its capabilities to navigate the future confidently.
Pascal Coppens will present China as a compelling case study of how a nation's strategic investment in AI can redefine global standards of innovation and technology, while zooming in on what business leaders can learn from that. In 2015, China set its sights on becoming the global AI leader by 2030—a vision rapidly becoming reality as evidenced by the pioneering AI technologies of TikTok, Baidu's autonomous vehicles, and Ant Financial's payment systems. The US response, restricting China's access to AI resources in 2020, only underscored China's leading position in the AI race. With the rise of Generative AI, China surged ahead, supported by proactive government policies and achieving over 250 large language models (mostly B2B) by 2023, including Baidu's 'Ernie bot'. Pascal dives into China's transformation into a global AI innovation hub within just eight years. Through compelling stories from giants like Baidu, Huawei, and Ant Group, he'll explore how China is reshaping the landscapes of work, service, creation, and more—offering profound insights and scalable models for the global stage. China's journey illustrates not just technological advancement but a strategic playbook for leveraging AI to redefine industries and innovate at unprecedented scales.