[Global Times special correspondent in the United States and South Korea, Su Feiyu, Zhang Yue, Global Times reporter, Ni Hao, Zhao Juehui] "The era of artificial intelligence (AI) integration into everything has arrived. South Korea's "North Korea" 9** said that from the 9th to the 12th local time, the 2024 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held in Las Vegas, USA, and this year's CES will become a milestone exhibition to show the arrival of the era of IoT (AI of Things) combining smart devices and AI. Major technology companies are displaying their AI products as signboards, such as computers, mobile phones, robots, etc., and AI has linked almost all the devices around people. However, while merchants are enthusiastically showcasing cutting-edge technology, some consumers and experts are also concerned about the potential privacy and data security issues of AI.
AI is integrated into various scenarios.
From self-driving strollers to automobiles, AI is expected to be at the center of CES. The American "Barron's" 8** said that when exhibitors large and small promote their "products that can improve lives", AI is their repeated slogan.
AI has become an indispensable "must-have" in a wide range of products, including PCs and smartphones. Microsoft will show a Windows computer equipped with Copilot, an AI assistant, which will be replaced with a Copilot key, and the AI secretary Copilot can be called by pressing the Copilot key. Chinese company Lenovo Group will also bring more than 10 AI personal computers to the show.
Before people feel an itchy throat, the AI butler will actively adjust the humidity. "North Korea**" reported that LG Electronics will unveil the "smart home AI butler" robot for the first time at CES. The robot can move freely at home, recognize the sound and image of people and the environment, and independently judge the humidity and temperature of the environment, so as to switch on and off various household appliances in the home. It can also respond quickly to emergencies such as outsiders breaking in, pets breaking flower pots, etc.
According to the report, an Indian company's "AI smart helmet" can immediately sound an alarm when a person encounters a safety incident, an "AI navigation belt" of a Hong Kong company can guide the visually impaired through cameras and AI systems, and an AI grill "Perfecta" launched by a British company can grasp the type and weight of meat and roast it according to user needs.
Consumers are cautious.
On the 8th local time, Samsung held a press conference with the theme of "All for AI: Connectivity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence", and released a series of AI home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, and vacuum cleaners. With the blessing of AI, these appliances can do housework before users think about it.
A journalist from China said that a few years ago it was impossible to imagine adding AI to machines, but now all machines use AIoT (AI of Things), which is impressive. AIoT is the product of the convergence of the Internet of Things and AI technology. Forbes defines AIoT as follows: "If you take the body as a metaphor, the Internet of Things is the nervous system, and AI is the brain." According to North Korea, the wide application of AI at the CES exhibition shows that the AIoT era has begun.
Tech companies are keen on AI, but consumers at CES are wary. "Barron's" published an article on the 9th with this title, saying that many participants at this year's CES said that artificial intelligence is "innovative" and "futuristic", but it is also "frightening". The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the organizer of CES, asked consumers about their views on AI at a conference before the show, and came up with some results that worried AI vendors. While 42% of consumers' first reaction to AI is "innovation", 30% say AI is "unavoidable" and 19% find AI "intimidating". Of those who expressed concern about AI, 65% were "extremely concerned" or "very concerned" about privacy.
AI application risks are governed by AI".
The trend of Internet ubiquity is becoming more and more obvious, not only with higher performance, but also with wider coverage. Based on this, people continue to explore the use of the Internet and continue to increase the number of Internet nodes, on the basis of which it has gradually evolved into the Internet of Things. Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of the International Business School of Zhejiang University, told the Global Times on the 10th that the basic feature of the Internet of Things is that it comes with a large number of sensors, which generates a large amount of data. This data, combined with machine learning algorithms, extends intelligence to improve the Internet of Things.
Therefore, all kinds of live terminals, smart homes, automobiles, 5G base stations, etc., are now combined with AIoT. Pan and Lin said that this trend of combination is divided into several stages, first networking and layout of sensors, then generating data, and then adding intelligence based on data, the wide range of applications makes the expansion of AIoT unstoppable in the future.
However, Pan and Lin pointed out that the current development of AIoT is not as expected, and the reason is that the AIoT tariff. In his view, communication has a cost, and only by reducing costs can more end nodes be involved. Therefore, in the future, the in-depth development of AIoT also needs the support of communication operators, not only from the technical support, but also from the reduction of tariffs.
With the continuous expansion of AIoT, the number of Internet nodes in the future will not grow at the current rate, but will grow geometrically, but a large number of networked terminals with intelligence may lead to a series of problems such as privacy leakage, network security, and data security. Pan and Lin said: "The scale is too big to manage." A problem with one AI system could cause the entire device to go down. A single loss of intelligence may be easy to solve, but if it is a collective loss of control, it will be a big problem. ”
Regarding the possible risks of AI applications, Pan and Lin believe that preventive measures need to be prepared before AI applications, and the most important thing is to form a mechanism for AI governance of AI. For example, Pan and Lin said: "For example, there is a problem of fake images in large AI models, so how to distinguish fake images from real images?If it is not possible with the naked eye, it is feasible to use AI to detect it. You can even ask AI to implant a watermark in the ** when it generates **, ** can't be seen, but the algorithm can find the problem. ”