Nation's artificial intelligence boom to open new vistas

TIANJIN - Machines that can impeccably synthesize the human voice, assist judges in sentencing, and tell customers whether a dress is a good fit, were displayed at the second World Intelligence Congress in Tianjin last week.

Riding the global wave of artificial intelligence, China aims to improve productivity and inject new momentum into its economy by encouraging more businesses to tap into the fledging industry.

By June 2017, about one-fourth of the world's 2,542 AI companies were present in China, where around 15,700 AI-related patents were filed, ranking it No 2 after the United States, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.