(Yicai) Aug. 13 -- One of the key issues for artificial intelligence is finding ways to combine it effectively with existing industries and markets, Yan Weixin, chief scientist at the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, recently told Yicai.

According to Yan, who is also a doctoral supervisor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the application of AI in professional fields has become a new trend, since the boom in popularity of large language models at the beginning of last year.

For example, there has been increasing use of it in medical imaging, which has improved the efficiency of data processing and shown great potential in disease staging, typing, diagnosis and treatment, Yan said.

Yan pointed out that AI enterprises should follow the existing laws and behavior patterns of their target industries, while also seeking new application scenarios and business models.

There are two ways to integrate AI with industry, Yan pointed out. One is for pure AI companies to enter a particular market, and the other is for existing firms to upgrade their AI capabilities.

For example, Chinese display manufacturer BOE Technology Group has launched an LLM for the display industry, allowing it to screen for existing data samples. BOE’s well-established understanding of the industry makes it easier for it to do this than for a pure AI company, Yan noted.

Yan believes that AI companies must be driven by demand to find the real application scenarios, and they need to understand and master the industries they operate in, and then use AI to interpret and empower industries in a new way.

Regarding the LLM price war, Yan said that the introduction of competition and standard business behavior is beneficial to the development of AI, because it can promote technological innovation and improve services.

The Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute was set up in 2018 as a research and development center jointly funded by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the government of Shanghai’s Minhang district, Lingang Group, and SenseTime.

Editor: Tom Litting