By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Jun 12 -- China should play a key role in shaping the artificial intelligence guardrails needed to ensure the safety of transformative new systems, OpenAI’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said at the BAAI (Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence) Conference held in Beijing on June 10.

“With the emergence of the increasingly powerful AI systems, the stakes for global cooperation have never been higher,” Altman told the Beijing conference via video link on June 10, said a Bloomberg report.

In both China and Silicon Valley, talent and investments are flowing into AI, a strategic area that will help define the deepening tech rivalry between the world’s two largest economies. Advances in the emerging technology have also highlighted tensions in how governments are seeking to regulate the sector.

“China has some of the best AI talents in the world, and fundamentally, given the difficulties in solving alignment for advanced AI systems, this requires the best minds from around the world,” said Altman.

Altman’s speech at the Beijing conference drew wide attention to China’s ICT industries.

This non-profit Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence has received support from the country’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Beijing’s municipal government. Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith name-checked it as one of the three front-runners on AI innovation, said the Bloomberg report.

The annual BAAI conference began in 2019 and has become a top professional exchange platform connecting AI scholars at home and abroad to discuss and exchange their cutting-edge thoughts.