ChinAI #180: Around the Horn (edition 7)

Greetings from a world where…

“a whisper is relevant for only as long as it is spoken, but a paper represents more. Its physical form grants permanence” — Bridgerton Season 2, Episode 6

…As always, the searchable archive of all past issues is here. Please please subscribe here to support ChinAI under a Guardian/Wikipedia-style tipping model (everyone gets the same content but those who can pay support access for all AND compensation for awesome ChinAI contributors).

Around the Horn (7th edition)

For those new to this, here’s how these Around the Horn issues work:

• I briefly preview ten articles related to ChinAI (all published within the past week). See ChinAI #168 for a previous edition.

• Readers vote on next week’s feature translation by replying to the email and/or commenting on the post with the number of the article you’re most intrigued by. *Votes by subscribers who financially support ChinAI have added weight.

• If you’re interested in pitching articles and/or helping out with translations, let me know (I pay contributors)!

1) Xpeng Motors responds to malfunction with assisted driving, excessive user dependence or a safety hazard?

Summary: While using the assisted driving system of a Xpeng P7, a driver in Hunan slammed into a car that had rolled onto the road after an accident. The piece tackles the legal implications of higher levels of driving assistance as well as previous issues with Xpeng vehicles and identifying stationary objects.

Source: 南方都市报 (NDDaily) — Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper published in Guangzhou that’s known for its investigative journalism.

2) It’s revealed that Microsoft Research Asia has stopped recruiting students from “Seven Sons of National Defense” universities and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

Summary: Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), an important lab for AI research based in Beijing, has reportedly stopped accepting interns from Chinese universities known as “The Seven Sons of National Defense” as well as Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT). These reports first surfaced on the BBS forum of BUPT and have sparked intense discussions, which are covered in this article.

Source: 量子位 (QbitAI) — news portal that regularly covers AI issues, similar to Leiphone

3) T-head’s (Alibaba subsidiary) Xuantie chip takes first four places in an AI ranking, RISC-V moves toward a prosperous ecosystem

Summary: MLPerf encompasses a set of industry-standard AI benchmarks, which initially started as a way to test hardware for training AI models but has now expanded to include tests for hardware used to run AI models on end-devices (inference). This piece analyzes the impressive performance of Alibaba’s Xuantie processor on the MLPerf Tiny benchmark, which focuses on low-power and cost-effective Internet of Things applications.

Source: 雷锋网 (Leiphone) — frequent source of ChinAI translations, which I sometimes liken to China’s MIT Tech Review. For more, see ChinAI #60.

4) China Academy of Information and Communications Technology releases its "White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (2022)"

Summary: The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) recently released a white paper that reviews the latest trends in AI over the past year. Two points of emphasis seem to be AI engineering (standardization and model management) and AI governance (with many references to trustworthy AI).

Source: CAICT (中国信通院) — a think tank under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

5) “Bronze March, Iron April” wave of layoffs, are young workers at big AI companies also facing problems?

Summary: There’s a saying that March and April are the best months for job seekers (“Gold March, Silver April”), but now that trend has turned. This article looks at looming layoffs in China’s AI industry, with a focus on the AI labs of large tech companies. H/t to Wendy Liu, previous contributor to ChinAI, for flagging this.

Source: AI科技评论 (aitechtalk) — a good source for in-depth reports on developments in the AI industry and academia.

6) A paper authored by one hundred Chinese AI experts was severely plagiarized, why does academic fraud continue?

Summary: Recently, it came out that an overview paper about large-scale AI models, published by a large group of researchers at the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence and many other institutions, had plagiarized other work. This piece gives a window into Chinese reactions to this case and broader context regarding academic misconduct in China.

Source: 钛媒体 (TMTPost) — influential digital media outlet focused on technology, media, and lifestyle.

7) Why does the next spokesperson for major brands have to be a real person?

Summary: As livestreaming grows more popular, major Internet companies have started exploring the use of virtual influencers as a marketing strategy. This article explores the efforts of Yowant (遥望网络) to develop such a virtual influencer named Kong Xiang (孔襄).

Source: 机器之心 (Synced) — news portal that regularly covers AI issues, similar to QbitAI and Leiphone.

8) One month after the implementation of new regulations on algorithms, how many personalized recommendation services still intrude on personal information?

Summary: On March 1, China passed ambitious regulations on recommendation algorithms. Now that over a month has passed, it’s time to take stock of what companies have done in response. The article also looks back at what events precipitated the March 1 regulations and looks ahead at future policy directions.

Source: Compute think tank (算力智库) — First time coming across this platform, seem to do good original articles on algorithmic regulation.

9) The industrialization of Baidu’s large model Wenxin (ERNIE 3.0)

Summary: An informative examination of China’s most impressive large language model (my opinion). Baidu recently held an “AI creativity competition” where competitors used ERNIE 3.0 to develop applications (e.g., a dialogue bot that helps users identify fraud). The piece uses this competition as a launching pad to unpack Baidu’s approach to industrializing its ERNIE models.

Source: Naojiti (脑极体) — a tech media platform based in Tianjin.

10) Who is doing the “blood transfusion” work for Shanghai

Summary: Many of you have probably read articles about the current lockdown in Shanghai. This piece looks at it from the perspective of the people who circulate essential materials, such as the warehouse packers that provide diapers for infants and cabbage delivery drivers driving the six hours from Linyi, Shandong to Shanghai.

Source: Caijing ELaw (财经E法) —a relatively new and independent content platform focused on internet governance under the umbrella of Caijing Magazine, a respected business platform.

Thank you for reading and engaging.

*Mostly read Chinese-language news this week, will catch up on Four to Forward next week.

These are Jeff Ding's (sometimes) weekly translations of Chinese-language musings on AI and related topics. Jeff is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, sponsored by Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

Check out the archive of all past issues here & please subscribe here to support ChinAI under a Guardian/Wikipedia-style tipping model (everyone gets the same content but those who can pay for a subscription will support access for all).

Any suggestions or feedback? Let me know at chinainewsletter@gmail.com or on Twitter at @jjding99