AI MATTERS, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 SUMMER 2017

ACM SIGAI CHINA:A New Incubator for AI in ChinaLe Dong (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China; ledong@uestc.edu.cn)Man Yuan (University of Edinburgh; s1717356@sms.ed.ac.uk)Ming-Liang Xu (Zhengzhou University; iexumingliang@zzu.edu.cn)Ji Wan (Zhengzhou University; wanji@gs.zzu.edu.cn)DOI: 10.1145/3137574.3137582

ACM SIGAI CHINA

The China Chapter of ACM SIGAI commit-tees have been preparing ACM SIGAI Chinafor a year. In March 2016, Le Dong and theACM China council decided to establish a newchapter–ACM SIGAI China.

In May 2016, the issue was further discussedin ACM China Council Meeting in Beijing.The Chair of ACM, Vicki L. Hanson, CEO,Robert B. Schnabel, and COO, Pat Ryan gavetheir approval to the foundation of ACM SIGAIChina. The Chair of ACM China Council,Yunhao Liu from Tsinghua University and theChair of ACM SIGAI, Sven Koening from Uni-versity of California also gave their specialsupport to the foundation of this new chap-ter in China. The issue was also reported toACM and ACM China for permission. In Octo-ber 2016, the organization structure of ACMSIGAI China was discussed in ACM ChinaCouncil Meeting which was held in Taiyuan,China.

In March 2017, an official email from ACM in-formed that ACM SIGAI China chapter wassuccessfully registered and ACM SIGAIChina was officially founded. In this newchapter, the Executive Chair & GeneralSecretary is Le Dong from University of Elec-tronic Science and Technology of China.

In this year, ACM SIGAI China symposiumaims to provide a world′s premier forum ofrenowned researchers to share their insightfulopinions and discuss cutting-edge researchon the artificial intelligence. The symposiumfeatures in types of sessions including dis-tinguished talks and panel discussion. Thissummit forum expects to promote the devel-opment of artificial intelligence from the aca-demic, technical to industry and applica-tions.

Copyright c© 2017 by the author(s).

ACM TURC 2017 - SIGAI CHINASYMPOSIUM

The ACM Turing 50th Celebration Conference- China (ACM TURC 2017), was held fromMay 12-14, 2017 in Shanghai, China with itskey theme on “Trustworthy Network Big Data”.The conference served as a highly selectiveand premier international forum on computerscience research.

Figure 1: ACM TURC 2017

Alan Mathison Turing is the father of computerscience, artificial intelligence, the founder ofcomputer logic. He put forward the importantconcept of “Turing machine” and the “Turingtest”. In honor of this distinguished scientist,A.M. Turing Award is established according tohis name in 1966 by the Association for Com-puting Machinery (ACM). It devotes to rewardindividuals who have made outstanding con-tributions to the computer industry. The TuringAward is recognized as the highest distinctionin computer science and the Nobel Prize ofcomputing.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversaryof the establishment of A.M. Turing Award,ACM TURC 2017 was hosted by Shang-hai Jiao Tong University, the Third ResearchInstitute of the Ministry of Public Security,and Shanghai Municipal People’s Govern-ment, co-organized by China Computer Fed-eration, Tsinghua University, Peking Univer-sity, Huazhong University of Science andTechnology, and Tongji University.

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In addition to the main sessions, the confer-ence included workshops, panels, demon-strations, and exhibits. Twelve distin-guished speakers including A.M. TuringAward Recipient were invited to discuss thefrontier issues in today’s society as well as theinterdisciplinary development trends together.

ACM SIGAI is the Association for ComputingMachinery’s Special Interest Group on Artifi-cial Intelligence. The Chair of ACM SIGAIis Sven Koening from University of Californiawho is also AAAI Fellow and distinguishedspeaker of ACM.

This time, ACM SIGAI China invited manydistinguished speakers to share their ideaswith our members in the symposium. Theywere Yangsheng Xu (Chinese University ofHong Kong), Sven Koenig (University ofSouthern California), Shipeng Li (CTO of Co-gobuy Group and IngDan), Shiyi Chen (Fu-dan University), Bill Huang (CloudMinds Inc.),Gansha Wu (Uisee Technology Inc.), GangPan (Zhejiang University), Shuicheng YAN(Chief Scientist of Qihoo/360, Director of 360AI Institute), Heng Tao SHEN (University ofElectronic Science and Technology of China),Chunyuan Liao (Hiscene), Kai Yu (HorizonRobotics), Liang Lin (SenseTime Group Lim-ited and Sun Yat-Sen University), EnhongChen (University of Science and Technologyof China), Junping Du(Beijing University ofPosts and Telecommunications), Zenglin Xu(University of Electronic Science and Tech-nology of China), Fei Wu (Zhejiang Univer-sity), Rui Hou (Chinese Academy of Sci-ences), Zhongxing XUE (KingPoint), JingleiZHAO (ReadSense), Xuyao Hao, and Pi-anpian He(TF Securities). Yidan XU (Founder& CEO of Topplus), Linsen BAI (Founder ofAlpha Brick), Wenzhi LIU (Engineering Direc-tor of SenseTime),and Yao Chen (MarketingManager of Horizon Robotics) also deliveredtheir speech in the Technical Review part. Oursponsors and enterprises also joined in thesymposium panel discussion: From AI to Ap-plications, what it takes to REALLY getthere?

In conference panel, Vinton Cerf, AlexanderWolf, Wen Gao, Kai-Fu Lee, Xiangyan Li andAndrew discussed Big Data or Brain Pow-ered Artificial Intelligence: Turing or Quan-tum? John Hopcroft, Recipient of the ACM

Figure 2: Le Dong & Kai-Fu Lee @ TURC 2017

Turing Award talked about Exciting ideas incomputer science. The ACM/IEEE Fellow,Gao Wen also brought up his ideas aboutEvolution of the Artificial Visual System.

In the banquet, Haifeng Wang, Vice Presidentof Baidu discussed AI Makes the InternetSmarter. The Chairman and CEO of Sino-vation Ventures, President of Sinovation Ven-tures Artificial Intelligence Institute and Sci-ence, Kai-Fu Lee also shared his ideas. Leereviewed the history of computer and empha-sized the application of quantum computer.He pointed out that today, people learn frommass data. In the future, people are able tolearn from experience and have the abilityof transfer learning.

From the discussion, we can know that withthe progress of science, AI will be usedin cross-disciplinary programs and naturallanguage understanding which will eventuallybe platformed and become the most effectivetool which can be applied in deep learning,transfer learning, reinforcement learning, sta-tistical learning, and so on. AI will eventu-ally step into and have a huge impact on thephysical world and also make remarkable ac-complishments. But we have to be aware ofthe limitations of artificial intelligence. It lacksself-awareness, aesthetic, feelings or love. Atthe same time, it demands mass data, sin-gle domain and top scientists. People mustbe aware of these obstacles and realize thata new opportunity beckons in China. Humanselect AI as nature selects the fittest.Thereare several approaches for scientists: starttheir own business, empower technology, finda partner and publish papers.

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Figure 3: Alexander Wolf Left His Words in the Au-tograph Book @ TURC 2017

In the banquet, scientists, entrepreneurs andstudents exchanged their thoughts and ideasfreely and left their precious signatures andsome words in our autograph book.

The feature of Turing Conference is AI. InACM SIGAI China Committee, ExecutiveChair & General Secretary is Le Dong fromUniversity of Electronic Science and Technol-ogy of China. Vice General Secretary areMingliang Xu from Zhengzhou University andYanli Ji from University of Electronic Scienceand Technology of China. Vice chair are KunZhou from Zhejiang University, Kai Yu fromHorizon Robotics, Gansha Wu from UiseeTechnology Inc., and Liang Lin from Sense-time Tech. Man Yuan and Ji Wan are alsoACM SIGAI China secretary. In ACM TURC2017, other organizers, XueLong Li, HanliWang, and Xiang Bai also made their contri-butions to this event. In particular, 2017 Out-standing Contribution Award and ExcellentACM China Lecturer was presented to LeDong by ACM Turing 50TH Celebration Con-ference - China for her extraordinary contribu-tions to ACM TURC 2017 by Vicki Hanson,the Chair of ACM.

Figure 4: Le Dong, The Executive Chair&GeneralSecretary of ACM SIGAI CHINA Was Awarded byVicki L.Hanson in The ACM Turing 50th Celebra-tion Conference - China

The Future of AI

In May 4th, 2014, President Xi Jinping oncepointed out that China is going to initiateworld-class universities.

In 2016, Report on the Work of the Gov-ernment highlighted a new higher educa-tion policy, aiming to promote the construc-tion of “Double First-Rate”(developing First-class Universities and Academic Programs) inChina. The development of cutting-edge tech-nology relies heavily on higher learning insti-tutions.

In 2017, President Xi attended the OpeningCeremony of Belt and Road Forum for Inter-national Cooperation(BRF) and he pointed outthat in order to pursue innovation-driven de-velopment, China should strengthen the coop-eration on the digital economy, artificial intel-ligence, nanotechnology, and quantum com-puting, and advance the development of bigdata, cloud computing and smart cities so asto turn them into a digital silk road of the 21stcentury. He also said that we should spur thefull integration of science and technology intoindustries and finance, improve the environ-ment for innovation and pool resources for in-novation. Artificial Intelligence orients the de-velopment of future technology.

In July, 2017, the State Council notified theplan of the development for artificial intel-ligence in the following decades in China.

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In such context, ACM SIGAI China is foundedwith three major missions:

First, ACM SIGAI China provides an incuba-tor for this emerging industry. It connects AIand education, also with other fields. Aca-demic faculty, student, enterprises are verywelcomed to join ACM SIGAI China to pro-mote the interaction and impact of disciplinar-ies in AI.

Second, we encourage original AI innova-tion and international cooperation withincommunities via various activities and events,through different branches in ACM and SIGAI,especially in China.

Third, we strongly advocate the variability ofSIGAI CHINA and especially welcome stu-dents and females to become members ofACM SIGAI China.

We shall strengthen the context from seniorresearchers to junior students, as well as linkpartners among different regional areas. Thenew era of artificial intelligence needs everyone of you! Learn and exchange the sparks ofthoughts here!

More information about conference, recentevents, registration, business cooperation andfurther details can be found on our websiteand WeChat Official Account. Your participa-tion is warmly welcomed!

Figure 5: AI Helps Innovation

Find your opportunities at

Our website:

http://china.acm.org/TURC/2017/SIGAI.html

WeChat Official Account QR Code:

Le Dong received herPhD degree in Elec-tronic Engineering andComputer Science fromQueen Mary, University ofLondon in 2009. She is afull professor in Universityof Electronic Scienceand Technology of China.She is the coordinator ofseveral National Natural

Science Foundation Projects such as NSFCSurface Project, NSFC Youth Project, NSFCImportant Research Project and so on. Shehas now published more than 40 papersin international journals and conferencesincluding several top journals and high levelInternational Conference, such as TIP, ACMMM, TMM, PR, TCSVT, ICPR. She hasserved as a reviewer for several top journalsand conferences. Now she is the ExecutiveChair & General Secretary of ACM SIGAIChina , General Secretary of Vision AndLearning Seminar (VALSE), General Chair ofACM TURC 2017 SIGAI CHINA Symposium,General Secretary of National Program ofGlobal Experts, Youth Talents Committee, andthe Executive Secretary of next-generation ofSichuan Provincial Engineering Laboratory.She got the Best Talk Award in the 10thACM International Workshop on IOT andCloud Computing, Excellent ACM CHINALecturer and ACM 2017 Outstanding Contri-bution Award in ACM Turing 50th CelebrationConference - China.

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Man Yuan is currentlya postgraduate studentstudying Teaching En-glish to Speakers of OtherLanguages in MorayHouse School of Edu-cation in the College ofHumanities and SocialScience at the Universityof Edinburgh, Scotland,United Kingdom. Shereceived her Bachelor

of Arts degree in English from ShanghaiInternational Studies University, and Bachelorof Science in Management Accounting as herminor specialty from Shanghai University ofInternational Business and Economics, Chinain 2017. She has served as secretary of ACMSIGAI China, and translator in Huaqiao Foun-dation. Her research interests include Englishfor specific purposes, teaching English toengineering and science students, languagetesting, and second language acquisition.

Ming-Liang Xu is a fullprofessor in the Schoolof Information Engineer-ing of Zhengzhou Uni-versity, China, and cur-rently is the director of CI-ISR (Center for Interdis-ciplinary Information Sci-ence Research) and theVice General Secretary ofACM SIGAI China. Hisresearch interests includecomputer graphics and

artificial intelligence. He has now publishedmore than 40 papers in international journalsand conferences including ACM TOG, IEEETPAMI, IEEE TIP, IEEE TCSVT. Xu got hisPh.D. degree in computer science and tech-nology from the State Key Lab of CAD&CG atZhejiang University.

Ji Wan is currently apostgraduate studentmajoring in Computerscience and technologyin Zhengzhou University.He received his Bachelorof Engineering degreein Computer scienceand technology fromZhengzhou University,China in 2015. He is thesecretary of ACM SIGAI

China. His research interests include mobileand spatial data management, location-basedservices , and smart city computing.

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