摘要 (Summary)

AI technology dominance is playing a larger role in China’s global ambitions. Now, Beijing and tech players alike are seeking to push the industry to the next level through AI Open Source Software — a framework that greatly influences innovation, shapes market norms, and cultivates healthy competition — making it a core component of China’s long-term AI strategy.

人工智能技术的主导地位在中国的全球野心中扮演着更大的角色。 现在，北京和科技公司都在寻求通过AI开源软件将行业推向一个新的高度。该框架极大地影响了创新，塑造了市场规范并促进了健康的竞争，使其成为中国长期AI的核心组成部分。战略。

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Once part-sci-fi, part-theory, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a new frontier for rapid fire innovation and collaboration. Breaking from traditional norms in technology innovation, AI companies are increasingly working to make their tech transparent through the AI Open Source Software (AOSS) framework, or the practice of granting the public access to one’s own AI software and code. While open sourcing has gained significantly more traction in Western markets, China has become a petri dish for AOSS culture over the latter half of the past decade, and the movement is quickly gaining pace.

一旦部分科幻，部分理论，人工智能(AI)便成为了快速进行火力创新和协作的新领域。 与传统的技术创新规范不同，人工智能公司正越来越多地通过AI开源软件(AOSS)框架或允许公众访问自己的AI软件和代码的做法来使其技术透明化。 尽管开源在西方市场上已获得越来越多的吸引力，但在过去十年的下半年，中国已成为AOSS文化的培养皿，并且这一运动正在Swift发展。

As the AOSS movement has received increasing attention, it has also drawn wider support. AI firms benefit from having a developed and widely-used open source platform because it serves as a free testing zone. Looking at the bigger picture, technology companies stand to benefit by leveraging this space to improve its own technology, gain market dominance and thus attract top talent. This cyclical slew of benefits has caught the eye of the Chinese government, earning support at the top-level. Much like with other industries or initiatives, once AOSS received government-backing, more and more AI firms are quickly following suit and driving China’s AI sector forward.

随着AOSS运动受到越来越多的关注，它也获得了更广泛的支持。 拥有开放和广泛使用的开源平台，使AI公司受益匪浅，因为它可以作为免费的测试区。 放眼大局，技术公司将从利用此空间来改进自身技术，获得市场主导地位并吸引顶级人才中受益。 这种周期性的好处吸引了中国政府的注意，在高层得到了支持。 就像其他行业或计划一样，一旦AOSS得到政府的支持，越来越多的AI公司将Swift效仿并推动中国AI领域的发展。

为什么要开源？ (Why Open Source?)

While it has been argued that open sourcing code can potentially decrease revenues in the short-term, many Chinese companies are playing the long game and have chosen to embrace it because it can bring significant benefits, including: raising publicity, gaining independence, and increasing innovation.

尽管有人认为开放源代码可能会在短期内减少收入，但许多中国公司都在玩长期游戏，并选择接受它是因为它可以带来巨大的好处，包括：提高知名度，获得独立性以及增加革新。

宣传 (Raising Publicity)

Open source software can attract a large base of developers in ways that paid or locked code cannot, which in turn can be used as a resource. For a company, having free access to a talent pool can be a huge incentive to become a leader in AOSS. An example of this is Google’s TensorFlow. TensorFlow’s industry dominance contributes to Google’s status as an AI powerhouse, which in turn attracts top talent to Mountain View. Chinese companies have inevitably taken note and also seek to recruit more AI experts onto their teams this way, increasing the incentive to adopt AOSS usage.

开源软件可以通过付费或锁定代码无法获得的方式吸引大量开发人员，而后者又可以用作资源。 对于一家公司而言，免费使用人才库可以成为成为AOSS领导者的巨大动力。 Google的TensorFlow就是一个例子。 TensorFlow的行业主导地位有助于Google成为AI强大的力量，这反过来又吸引了Mountain View的顶尖人才。 中国公司不可避免地注意到了这一点，并试图以此方式招募更多的AI专家加入他们的团队，从而增加了采用AOSS的动机。

Apart from publicity in terms of hiring, a high-profile leader can also set the tone for AI industrial standards. Standards in AI are particularly affected by AOSS, as it can establish de facto standards prior to the standard being officially set. Google benefited from this when open sourcing Blaze, Google’s internally used system for building software. As external developers learn how to use the system, they reinforce and spread these standards while also setting a precedent for other tech firms to conform and accept them across the industry. China has taken particular interest in this and has outlined it as a tool in “China Standards 2035,” a plan for China to lead industrial standard-setting that is expected to be released later this year.

除了在招聘方面进行宣传外，知名的领导者还可以为AI行业标准定下基调。 AI中的标准尤其受AOSS的影响，因为它可以在正式制定标准之前建立事实上的标准。 Google在开源Blaze时受益于此， Blaze是Google内部用于构建软件的系统。 当外部开发人员学习如何使用该系统时，他们会加强和推广这些标准，同时也为其他技术公司在整个行业中遵循并接受这些标准树立了先例。 中国对此特别感兴趣，并将其概述为“中国标准2035”的工具，该计划是中国领导工业标准制定的计划，预计将于今年晚些时候发布。

获得独立 (Gaining Independence)

Just like a country relying on a specific source for oil, being overly reliant on another nation’s AOSS is also risky. GitHub, the main platform for sharing open source code, is owned by Microsoft and subject to U.S. trade controls. As such, the threat of code sanctions within GitHub is a real possibility. In June of 2019, GitHub announced that developers in Syria, Iran, Crimea, Cuba and North Korea would have restricted access to certain services. China reacted to the potential strategic risk of over-reliance on GitHub through the forming of GitCafe, a Chinese platform with similar services to GitHub. While a good first step towards self-sufficiency, GitCafe still remains underdeveloped, and Chinese open source technology is not yet a sufficient replacement for GitHub.

就像一个国家依赖特定的石油来源一样，过度依赖另一个国家的AOSS也是有风险的。 GitHub是共享开放源代码的主要平台，归微软所有并受美国贸易管制。 因此，在GitHub内部进行代码制裁的威胁是一种现实的可能性。 GitHub在2019年6月宣布，叙利亚，伊朗，克里米亚，古巴和朝鲜的开发人员将限制访问某些服务。 中国通过组建GitCafe(一种提供与GitHub类似的服务的中国平台)，来应对过度依赖GitHub的潜在战略风险。 虽然迈出自给自足的良好第一步，但GitCafe仍未开发，而且中国的开源技术仍不足以替代GitHub。

不断创新 (Increasing Innovation)

Finally, there is a clear macroeconomic benefit for a country to use AOSS. When tech giants establish open source softwares, smaller players get easy and free access to powerful resources. Thus far, China has already reaped considerable benefits from existing AOSS. Chinese developers are the third largest group contributing to the Cloud Native Foundation projects, and the second largest group working on GitHub-hosted repositories. As a country that so heavily emphasizes advancements in AI, China is the perfect candidate for AOSS because it saves companies time, labor, and resources.

最后，一个国家使用AOSS有明显的宏观经济利益。 当科技巨头建立开放源代码软件时，较小的参与者可以轻松，免费地访问强大的资源。 迄今为止，中国已经从现有的AOSS中获得了可观的收益。 中国开发人员是为Cloud Native Foundation项目贡献的第三大团体 ，也是在GitHub托管的存储库上工作的第二大团体。 作为一个非常重视人工智能进步的国家，中国是AOSS的理想选择，因为它可以节省公司的时间，劳动力和资源。

行业一览 (Industry at a Glance)

China’s budding AI market took root in 2011, and has since launched to a 2019 valuation of CN¥71 billion (US$10.14 billion), with 45% average annual growth from 2015 through 2019. AI has been driven by researchers and private companies in China from the onset, and largely remains so today. However, in 2017, the State Council released the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence Development Plan. In this report, the State Council established AI as a strategic interest and outlined its development strategy. Additionally, Beijing identified AOSS as foundational for facilitating AI development in areas such as theoretical research, big data, and cloud computing. In a 2018 white paper, contributors from Peking University, Baidu, and Huawei stated: “AOSS is an important foundation for China’s AI development…it is an area that must be fought for in seizing global dominance in AI.”

中国新兴的AI市场于2011年扎根，自2019年起估值达到710亿元人民币 (101.4亿美元)，从2015年到2019年的年均增长率为45％。AI受中国研究人员和私营公司的推动从一开始，到今天仍然如此。 然而，2017年，国务院发布了《新一代人工智能发展计划》 。 在本报告中，国务院将人工智能作为战略利益，并概述了其发展战略。 此外，北京将AOSS确定为在理论研究，大数据和云计算等领域促进AI发展的基础。 北京大学，百度和华为的贡献者在2018年的白皮书中 表示 ：``AOSS是中国AI发展的重要基础...在抓住AI的全球主导地位方面，这是一个必须努力的领域。''

One of the private companies that became an early adopter was Baidu, which set precedent in 2016 by releasing PaddlePaddle, a powerful open source AI platform. Since then, many companies have followed suit. Some of the new major AOSS platforms include Angle from Tencent in 2017, Alibaba Cloud’s Machine Learning Platform in November of 2019, and Huawei’s Mindspore in March of 2020.

最早采用该技术的私营公司之一是百度，它在2016年通过发布强大的开源AI平台PaddlePaddle创下了先例。 从那以后，许多公司纷纷效仿。 一些新的主要AOSS平台包括2017年来自腾讯的Angle，2019年11月的阿里云机器学习平台以及2020年3月的华为Mindspore。

PaddlePaddle引起轰动 (PaddlePaddle Makes a Splash)

TensorFlow was the first ground-breaking platform of its kind in the US, and is now arguably the dominant AOSS. Likewise, PaddlePaddle has evolved from being the first major Chinese AOSS to becoming integrated with the technology of more than 84,000 enterprises. Fundamentally, PaddlePaddle is designed for industrial applications of image recognition and natural language processing. What distinguishes PaddlePaddle is its accurate and efficient image recognition tools, adaptability, and applicability to the particular needs of Chinese markets.

TensorFlow是美国首个此类突破性平台，现在可以说是占主导地位的AOSS。 同样，PaddlePaddle已从最早的中国主要AOSS演变为与84,000多家企业的技术集成。 从根本上讲，PaddlePaddle设计用于图像识别和自然语言处理的工业应用。 PaddlePaddle的与众不同之处在于其准确高效的图像识别工具，适应性强，适用于中国市场的特殊需求。

PaddlePaddle is now used globally by 1.9 million developers on over 230,000 models in a variety of sectors, including autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and forest management. Going forward, Baidu has announced PaddlePaddle’s collaboration with hardware companies such as Intel, Huawei, NVIDIA, Arm China, MediaTek, Cambricon, Inspur, and Sugon. The platform offers development frameworks for other cutting edge software, such as quantum-computer algorithms. Although the name of the major Chinese AOSS is still foreign to some Western data scientists, the development and application of PaddlePaddle puts Baidu at the forefront in the world of AOSS.

目前，全球有190万名开发人员将 PaddlePaddle应用于自动驾驶，医疗保健和森林管理等多个领域的23万多种车型上。 展望未来，百度宣布了PaddlePaddle与硬件公司的合作，例如英特尔，华为，NVIDIA，ARM China，联发科，Cambricon，浪潮和Sugon。 该平台为其他尖端软件(例如量子计算机算法)提供了开发框架。 尽管中国主要的AOSS的名称对于某些西方数据科学家来说还是陌生的，但PaddlePaddle的开发和应用使百度在AOSS领域处于世界前列。

紧随其后的金鹭科技 (Following in its footsteps, Jinlu Technology)

There is an abundance of companies that have piggybacked on the rise of PaddlePaddle’s code. For example, Jinlu Technology is a firm that innovated ways of sorting garbage with AI. The specific technology used is known as “computer vision,” which was originally trained on Western data but could not be used to perform similar tasks in China. This meant a new solution was needed.

有大量的公司piggy带PaddlePaddle代码的兴起。 例如，金鹭科技是一家利用AI进行垃圾分类方法创新的公司。 所使用的特定技术称为“计算机视觉”，最初是针对西方数据进行训练的，但在中国无法用于执行类似的任务。 这意味着需要一个新的解决方案。

Instead of forming a team of experts to build a new model from scratch, Jinlu Technology simply adapted code from PaddlePaddle. CEO of Jinlu Technology stated, “Using traditional computer-vision models in China would be useless,” and continued on how AI can reduce labor by 96%, improve accuracy, and optimize sorting. In this case, having readily available access to AOSS with strong computer vision that was developed by a Chinese firm proved to be extremely useful.

Jinlu Technology并未组建专家团队从头开始构建新模型，而只是改编了PaddlePaddle的代码。 金鹭科技的首席执行官表示：“在中国使用传统的计算机视觉模型将毫无用处。”并继续探讨了AI如何减少96％的人工，提高准确性并优化排序。 在这种情况下，事实证明，由一家中国公司开发的具有强大计算机视觉的AOSS易于访问非常有用。

专门的AOSS：Linkedmed (Specialized AOSS: Linkingmed)

Beyond direct application of the code, PaddlePaddle has spurred new developments in AOSS. Linkingmed is a Beijing-based firm specializing in medical data analysis. In March of 2020, Linkingmed created and released an open-source AI framework for CT scans using PaddlePaddle’s code as a base. Its framework aimed to improve the ease and accuracy of diagnosing pneumonia, one of the severe side effects of COVID-19. Linkingmed’s software can identify pneumonia in less than a minute, with 92% detection accuracy, while human analysis of CT scans have similar accuracy but take at least several minutes. The development of this AI was critical during the pandemic to provide China’s overwhelmed healthcare system with efficient and effective diagnostic tools. Baidu itself has open-sourced more AI platforms in light of the pandemic. Particularly, the company open-sourced software for an AI to detect whether an individual is wearing a mask. This development is the first of its kind in the industry and holds an accuracy rate of 97.27%. Business and government agencies were able to use this to supplement or automate mask checking entirely.

除了直接应用代码外，PaddlePaddle还激发了AOSS的新发展。 Linkingmed是一家总部位于北京的公司，专门从事医学数据分析。 2020年3月，Linkingmed使用PaddlePaddle的代码创建并发布了用于CT扫描的开源AI框架。 它的框架旨在提高诊断肺炎的简便性和准确性，这是COVID-19的严重副作用之一。 Linkingmed的软件可以在不到一分钟的时间内识别出肺炎，其检测准确率达到92％ ，而人体对CT扫描的分析具有相似的准确度，但至少需要几分钟。 在大流行期间，这种AI的发展至关重要，它可以为中国不堪重负的医疗保健系统提供有效的诊断工具。 鉴于大流行，百度本身已经开源了更多的AI平台。 特别是，该公司为AI提供开源软件，以检测个人是否戴着口罩。 该开发是业内首创，准确率达97.27％ 。 商业和政府机构能够使用它来完全补充或自动进行口罩检查。

中国AOSS增长的未来 (Future of AOSS Growth in China)

When discussing AI, the term “big data” is often thrown around. With a population of 1.4 billion, and about 800 million internet users, China’s data is by far the “biggest.” In 2018, the total volume of new data created was 7.6ZB and is projected to increase to 48.6ZB in 2025, compared to the US as 6.9ZB and 30.6ZB, respectively.

在讨论AI时，经常会提到“大数据”一词。 中国有14亿人口，约有8亿互联网用户，是迄今为止“最大”的数据。 2018年，创建的新数据总量为7.6ZB，预计到2025年将增加到48.6ZB，而美国分别为6.9ZB和30.6ZB。

AI is best when trained on real data, and the more of it the better. In this sense, there is a natural synergy between China’s massive amounts of data and the development of AI. Already this can be seen by how China boasts excellent AI in facial/image recognition and natural language processing, which are often used in both the public and private sector. One example of a company that is taking full advantage of the resources available is Megvii, a Beijing based AI founded in 2011.

当对真实数据进行训练时，人工智能是最好的，而且越多越好。 从这个意义上讲，中国海量数据与人工智能的发展之间有着天然的协同作用。 中国在面部/图像识别和自然语言处理方面拥有出色的AI的能力已经可以看出这一点，这在公共和私营部门中经常使用。 充分利用可用资源的公司之一就是Megvii，这是一家成立于2011年的北京AI。

梅吉维：从启动到黑名单 (Megvii: From Startup to Blacklist)

Megvii focuses on computational photography, facial recognition, and object recognition applications. The startup, backed by Alibaba, is one of the major players in the growth of Chinese AI. In March 2020, the company released parts of its platform, MegEngine, for developers at large. Of note is that the company’s image-recognition algorithms defeated Google, Microsoft, and Facebook in the 2017 COCO Image Recognition Competition, and the company received an the World’s Leading Scientific and Technological Achievements Award at the 2019 World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China. Megvii has released Face++, which is now the world’s largest open source image-recognition platform. Based on its achievements and world-wide recognition, Megvii is often considered one of the unicorns of Chinese tech startups. The story of Megvii can fit into the narrative of the rise of great Chinese tech, and it also aligns with the growing sentiment that China is increasing its capacity for state surveillance.

Megvii专注于计算摄影，面部识别和物体识别应用程序。 这家由阿里巴巴支持的初创公司是中国AI增长的主要参与者之一。 2020年3月，该公司为广大开发人员发布了部分平台MegEngine。 值得注意的是，该公司的图像识别算法在2017年COCO图像识别竞赛中击败了Google，Microsoft和Facebook，并且在2019年中国乌镇举行的世界互联网大会上，该公司获得了世界领先的科学技术成就奖。 Megvii已发布了Face ++，它现在是世界上最大的开源图像识别平台。 基于其成就和在世界范围内的认可度，梅格薇通常被认为是中国科技创业公司的独角兽之一。 梅格维伊(Megvii)的故事可以与中国伟大技术的崛起相吻合，也与人们日益增长的对中国提高国家监视能力的看法相吻合。

Megvii’s development has many success stories, but the company has faced its fair share of challenges in going public. In October 2019, the US Department of Commerce added Megvii to the Entity List, meaning American companies must receive special permission to export technology or software to Megvii. This was due to the belief that Megvii was using its technology as a tool for state-surveillance by storing data on individuals, and facilitating unethical usage of the obtained information. Megvii was one of 8 tech companies placed on the Entity List, and one of top 3 leading AI firms in China.

Megvii的发展取得了许多成功的故事，但该公司在上市过程中面临着相当多的挑战。 2019年10月，美国商务部将Megvii添加到了实体名单中，这意味着美国公司必须获得特殊许可才能向Megvii出口技术或软件。 这是因为人们相信Megvii将其技术用作状态监视工具，通过存储有关个人的数据并促进不道德地使用所获得的信息。 Megvii是被列入实体名单的8家科技公司之一，也是中国排名前三的领先AI公司之一。

未来计划 (A Plan Going Forward)

In 2020, AOSS culture is alive and well in the Chinese market, following the 3 principles established in the 2018 White Paper on the Development of China’s Artificial Intelligence Open Source Software ( Original, English).

遵循2020年《中国人工智能开源软件开发白皮书》中确立的三项原则，2020年，AOSS文化将在中国市场上保持生机勃勃的发展( 原文为 英文 )。

First is “construct an open ecology,” which translates to gathering necessary talent, promoting a culture of open sourcing, and focusing on basic AI technologies and segments where Chinese AI already excels. Second is to “build up an external environment,” which recommends establishing the necessary institutions to support AOSS growth. This includes items such as financing, putting IP protections and proper security measures in place, and a more substantial government role to guide AOSS development. Third is to “drive forward industry applications,” which emphasizes AOSS innovation, integration with existing technologies, and application in various industries. To learn more about the driving forces behind technological innovation, consider this article that examines the US-China decoupling.

首先是“构建开放式生态”，这意味着收集必要的人才，促进开放式采购文化，并专注于中国AI已有的基础AI技术和细分领域。 第二是“建立外部环境”，建议建立必要的机构以支持AOSS的增长。 这包括诸如融资，实施知识产权保护和适当的安全措施之类的项目，以及政府在指导AOSS开发方面扮演的更重要角色 。 第三是“推动行业应用”，强调AOSS创新，与现有技术的集成以及在各个行业中的应用。 要了解有关技术创新背后的驱动力的更多信息，请考虑这篇文章 ，探讨中美之间的脱钩。

Using these three pillars as the roadmap to AOSS, China is working towards fostering AOSS to play a bigger role in the years to come. Tech giants have set a precedent for the burgeoning AOSS market, and smaller developers are utilizing the new resources to create innovative products and further the environment of collaboration. However, if China wants to attain its position as an AOSS leader, the country will need to double its usage and participation in existing AOSS programs, increase its research in areas where China has an advantage, and continue to strengthen its domestic platforms. When these elements come together, China will be able to better serve its AI-using business communities, get closer to reaching its larger economic and military goals, and gain an edge when competing on the global stage.

中国将这三个Struts作为通往AOSS的路线图，正在努力促进AOSS在未来几年中发挥更大的作用。 科技巨头为新兴的AOSS市场树立了先例，而规模较小的开发商则在利用新资源来创造创新产品并进一步促进协作环境。 但是，如果中国想获得担任AOSS领导者的地位，则将需要使它的使用和参与程度增加一倍，并参与现有的AOSS计划，增加对中国有优势的领域的研究，并继续加强其国内平台。 当这些要素融合在一起时，中国将能够更好地为其使用AI的商业社区提供服务，更接近实现其更大的经济和军事目标，并在全球舞台上竞争时获得优势。

Originally published at https://thechinaguys.com on July 27, 2020.

最初于 2020年7月27日 在 https://thechinaguys.com 上 发布 。