Artificial intelligence, as the most popular cutting-edge technology at the moment, will be combined with boosting consumption, the top priority of the strategy to expand domestic demand. What kind of blue ocean will open up?
Recently, eight departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued the “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of “Artificial Intelligence + Consumption” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), which proposed 17 specific measures focusing on five aspects: increasing the consumption of artificial intelligence + commodities and expanding the consumption of artificial intelligence + services, aiming to promote the introduction of artificial intelligence into thousands of households and thousands of stores, and better meet the people’s needs for a better life.
At present, artificial intelligence is extremely hot. From large language models, intelligent robots to autonomous driving technology, waves of technological innovation are coming one after another, constantly refreshing people’s imagination of the future.
However, technological breakthroughs do not equate to commercial success.
A new technology can only unleash its greatest value when it leaves the laboratory and enters thousands of households.
At present, a real problem plaguing the industry is that those dazzling artificial intelligence technologies are still far away from large-scale commercial applications. Enterprises often invest tens of billions or hundreds of billions in R&D, but they have yet to be converted into real market value.
Take humanoid robots as an example. On the Spring Festival Gala stage in the past two years, humanoid robots danced flexibly and even completed some difficult movements, which opened the eyes of netizens. Behind this are continuous breakthroughs in core algorithms, intelligent control, and bionic technology.
But the actual situation is that the vast majority of humanoid robot products still stay in B-end environments such as laboratories and factory production lines.
For ordinary consumers, such high-end artificial intelligence products are still visible but unused technological symbols, and technological innovation has not yet been transformed into civilian value.
From this perspective, the issuance of the “Opinions” comes at the right time.
The “Opinions” do not generally encourage innovation, but work from both supply and demand sides, while promoting the supply side to come up with more breakthrough products, while providing guidance on the demand side, providing real consumption scenarios, and giving artificial intelligence a clearer direction for commercialization.
From a macro perspective of industrial development, one of the important values of the “Opinions” is to make up for the limitations of enterprises’ spontaneous exploration. Through 17 specific and executable measures, it clearly delineates key scenarios and development directions for technology implementation, providing clearer guidance for enterprises’ subsequent innovation investment and business promotion.
The development of any industry is the result of the positive interaction between technological innovation and market demand, and the artificial intelligence industry is no exception.
The most noteworthy aspect of the “Opinions” is that it starts from both the supply side and the demand side and provides specific implementation paths.
On the supply side, the “Opinions” clearly stated that it is necessary to “promote the consumption of artificial intelligence robots” and accelerate the application demonstration of new artificial intelligence products such as elderly care robots, companion robots, and artificial intelligence life assistants.
This means that humanoid robots are no longer just samples in laboratories or “workers” on factory assembly lines, but have been clearly directed by policies to consumption scenarios such as homes and communities to provide services such as elderly care and companionship.
At the same time, this also requires enterprises to conduct research and development innovation based on real market needs and continuously optimize product functions.
On the demand side, the “Opinions” also further broadened the application scenarios of artificial intelligence.
It is not limited to traditional smart hardware consumption, but also goes deep into the field of service consumption, proposing five major scenarios: home, elderly care, cultural tourism, accommodation and catering, and education, including research on incorporating smart homes and service applications into the “Good House” construction guidelines and other specific measures.
These measures are conducive to guiding the commercialization of artificial intelligence companies, and they also meet the people’s livelihood needs of the current society.
For example, as the aging of the population continues to deepen, the traditional elderly care model is facing various pressures such as manpower shortage and rising costs. The application of artificial intelligence in health monitoring, companion care, and even personal service by humanoid robots will undoubtedly improve the quality of elderly care services and truly achieve inclusive technology.
In addition, there are artificial intelligence + wholesale and retail, e-commerce, logistics and distribution and other implementation scenarios that are close to people’s livelihood, which can activate the consumption potential of artificial intelligence, while injecting new growth momentum into the domestic consumer market, achieving the beneficial effect of boosting domestic demand.
It is worth mentioning that the “Opinions” also specifically mention the need to “increase financial and other financial support”, such as encouraging local governments to independently formulate and implement subsidy policies within the framework of the trade-in policy for consumer goods.
This means that the commercialization of artificial intelligence will not only be guided by top-level design, but also supported by financial incentives of real money.
On the basis of technological innovation and continuous expansion of application scenarios, the artificial intelligence industry will have greater room for imagination.
On the one hand, it can release technological dividends, allowing artificial intelligence to truly serve millions of consumers and stimulate consumption potential.
On the other hand, the true integration of artificial intelligence into daily necessities, food, housing, and transportation can accumulate a large amount of real data, which in turn can promote algorithm optimization and product iteration, making artificial intelligence more useful and covering more people, forming a virtuous cycle.
Of course, once any new technology leaves the laboratory and enters large-scale application in the consumer field, it is often accompanied by a series of risks and challenges.
For example, in terms of its impact on employment, compared with previous technological revolutions, artificial intelligence has shown greater substitutability. It can not only replace repetitive manual labor, but even some mental labor and service positions will also be affected.
Therefore, while policies are promoting the accelerated implementation of artificial intelligence, they must also simultaneously consider the transformation and re-employment of the labor force and reserve a cushion for employment impacts.
In addition, if artificial intelligence provides personalized services, such as entering home care and nursing care, a large amount of personal data will often be obtained.
Without strict regulations in the collection, storage, and use of data, consumer privacy and security will be out of the question. The application of artificial intelligence may open Pandora’s box.
In this regard, relevant departments must further improve data security and privacy protection mechanisms, and clarify the boundaries of corporate data collection, storage, and use, so as to relieve consumers of worries.
In general, under the wave of global AI fever, the issuance of the “Opinions” has opened up a broad space for the commercial application of artificial intelligence, which is conducive to activating consumption potential, promoting technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and accelerating the cultivation of new productivity.
Next, we need to promote the accelerated implementation of artificial intelligence, while maintaining the bottom line of safety, so that the dividends of technological innovation can truly benefit thousands of households.
