Beijing starts soliciting subsidised research projects in generative AI

The Beijing government has started soliciting subsidised research projects that include generative artificial intelligence (AI) and digital content creation, as the city advances the country’s push for technological self-reliance amid an escalating US-China rivalry.

Beijing has called upon entities registered in the city with scientific research capacity to submit proposals under three fields it has classified as Internet 3.0 technologies: 3D digital content creation, generative AI and research and development of industrial application systems and equipment, which includes augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), according to a notice published on the website of the municipal technology promotion agency on Friday.

Beijing has earmarked 60 million yuan (US$8.6 million) to support up to 12 projects over two years, the notice said.

The move is also part of the Chinese capital’s three-year plan to bolster research and development of the so-called Internet 3.0 industry through 2025.

The plan, announced in March, aims to make Beijing a “highland for Internet 3.0 technology” with international cachet. It also pushes for breakthroughs in six core technologies to “accelerate technological localisation”, replacing foreign tech with home-grown alternatives.

AI, blockchain, high-end computing chips, telecoms, extended reality terminals, and digital content creation are named as the technologies central to Internet 3.0.

Beijing expects to apply these technologies to a range of scenarios that include powering smart cities and industrial manufacturing.

In both the research proposal and working plan, generative AI was the top priority, highlighting Beijing’s growing interest in the field that has become a hot topic since the launch last November of ChatGPT, the popular AI-powered bot from US start-up OpenAI.

Beijing is already home to the largest concentration of AI enterprises and talent in China, according to a February white paper published by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology.

However, the capabilities of ChatGPT – whose response to complex queries can include writing code and works of fiction – has caught Chinese firms off guard. Tech giants including Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, have scrambled to put out similar products based on their own AI models.

Beijing has also been boosting its support of local AI research this year. At the Beijing Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation and Development Conference in February, local officials pledged to help companies develop large-language models like those powering ChatGPT.
The government also committed to helping build an ecosystem of open-source frameworks and applications for these models. South China Morning Post