Understanding artificial intelligence: insights on China
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-10-2020-0391 |
| Published date | 08 February 2021 |
| Date | 08 February 2021 |
| Pages | 324-339 |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
| Author | Eleonora Veglianti,Yaya Li,Elisabetta Magnaghi,Marco De Marco |
Understanding artificial intelligence:
insights on China
Eleonora Veglianti, Yaya Li, Elisabetta Magnaghi and Marco De Marco
Abstract
Purpose –The high frequencyof disruption and dislocation of many industries, the migrationto low-cost
countries of differentassets and activities, the increase in systemicrisk, the birth of social and ecological
constraints, as well as the new worldwide competitors require businesses and the overall society to
change. In a so-called Industry 4.0. era, understanding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in
developed as well as in underdeveloped economies has become increasingly crucial. The purpose of
this studyis to shed the light on the peculiarities of Chinese AI assessingthe state of art of AI in this unique
and valuablecontext.
Design/methodology/approach –Through a researchbased on a qualitative data analysis,the present
paper suggests a new way to analyse AI and to support a better understanding of the local Chinese
aspectsinfluencing its development and implementation.
Findings –The development and implementation of AI in China required tailorsolutions which account
for the following three main dimensions: the location (i.e. territorial extension, the administrative
boundaries);the government approach; and the humancapital.
Originality/value –The analysis presents a broad level activity. In addition, the paper focused on
Chinese scientificliterature and different types of data (i.e. institutionaldocuments, professional reports,
websites and speechesin Chinese). The paper used a multi-faceted approach, including also the tacit
knowledgeof the authors about the context under investigation.
Keywords Cutting-edge technologies, Artificial intelligence, China, Society’s change, Industry 4.0
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Today, several technologies are changing the worldwide society, especially the Asian
regions, promoting socioeconomic developments (Fosso Wamba et al.,2015). Among
these cutting-edge technologies,artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an important role in the
current context. Moreover, it finds various applications in many branches of different
national economies. AI isconsidered a priority and the size of cyber space becomesvital.
Financially, the worldwide AI market is currently worth US$664m, which should rise to US
$38.8bn by 2025 (Tractica Report, 2018). This highlights an interesting picture with an
inevitable impact on the industrial realities. In the so-called Industry 4.0 era, it is interesting
to better understand the role of AI which becomes one of the main topics of governments’
agendas. For example, by 2030, China is expected to question the current US AI record
(New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, 2017). Although, in 2017, the
United Arab Emirates establisheda ministry focused on AI.
AI provides also greater flexibility and realism in production systems, especially in the
interaction between human and machine identities. This creates an important area of
discussion among scholars as well as among politicians. In other words, AI is a global
phenomenon that requires supranational institutions to define common principles and
guidelines.
Eleonora Veglianti is based
at the Department of
Economics, Universita
`
Telematica Internazionale
Uninettuno, Rome, Italy.
Yaya Li is based at School
of Finance and Economics,
Jiangsu University School
of Finance and Economics,
Zhenjiang, China.
Elisabetta Magnaghi is
based at FGES, Universite
´
Catholique de Lille, Lille,
France. Marco De Marco is
based at the Department of
Economics, Universita
`
Telematica Internazionale
Uninettuno, Rome, Italy.
Received 5 October 2020
Revised 12 December 2020
Accepted 14 December 2020
This study was supported by
the National Nature Science
Foundation of China Project
(No. 71704069).
PAGE 324 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jVOL. 16 NO. 2 2022, pp. 324-339, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 DOI 10.1108/JABS-10-2020-0391
In this scenario, the overall society has developed new economic and social features that
need further scientific investigations. Moreover, the industrial field has to take decisions with
different prospective compared to the past. The speed of change, in fact, imposes large
investments in technological innovation. In addition, innovations are at the base of the
economic development of many nations. The ability to develop such a system requires
improvements, for instance, in human skillsand in existing models, thus, an overall ability to
keep up with change. At the same time, the political world faces the strong impact of the
technological developmenton the societal structure, developing plans as well as enhancing
human capital through education and social innovation. In line with this, academics and
politicians revisit their choicesdue to increase of this new technological setting.
Starting from this new context, this paper seeks to underline the need to broaden the
knowledge on AI in a very important country, such as China, especially dealing with the
analysis of its specific aspects influencing its implementation. We offer a theoretical
contribution into this field together with an empirical insight, thanks to a depth exploration of
the phenomenon under investigation.
The aim of this work is to better understand AI in China by studying specific aspects which
influence its development and implementation. Consequently, our research questions are
the following:
RQ1. Which are the specific country related features that have more impact on the
implementationof AI in China?
RQ2. Does the Chinese Government influence AI implementation? To answer these
research questions, we conduct a qualitative research. Our theoretical framework
identifies theprincipal aspects influencing AI in China.
The choice of analysing China was drivenby two main reasons. On one side, this country is
becoming increasingly importantin the field of AI. In numbers, a total of 4,925 AI enterprises
have been monitored worldwide, of which 2,028 are USA AI enterprises, ranking first in the
world. China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) has 1,011 AI enterprises, ranking
second in the world followed by the UK, Canada and India (China Artificial Intelligence
Development Report, 2018).
On the other hand, the nationality of the author, who has a deep knowledge of the local
relevant literature, avoids translation and aids in accessing original documents in Chinese.
The latter is a critical element, especially to study the political documents, which are issued
only in the national language. Moreover, as technologies also have a social impact in the
quality of life of people (De-Arteaga et al.,2018), the tacit knowledge of the specific
characteristics of a given country is fundamental to understand the local implications
regarding AI.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review on AI
in China; Section 3 describes the research methodology and approaches adopted; Section
4 defines the process of the research, providing theoretical insights and empirical
evidences to highlight the emerging features of the Chinese AI. Finally, Section 5
concludes, evidencing the findings, analysing the limits of the paperand suggesting further
works.
2. Literature review
Nowadays, there is a worldwide growing interest in AI in academia as well as in the
government sphere. In the recent period called Industry 4.0., the scientific and the political
world argue that firms are increasingly dealing with AI. In other words, we are in the fourth
industrial revolution that represents a new economic-technological paradigm driven by the
digitalisation of the productionsystem (Lo Re et al.,2016; Cassetta et al., 2016).
VOL. 16 NO. 2 2022 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 325
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