Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

WHILE most of our organs, like skin, renew every few years, our brains and hearts rarely change, which makes human beings far more intelligent than robots, but robots with artificial intelligence (AI) and the skills to learn can gradually liberate humanity from mental labor, said Professor Xu Yangsheng, president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen at a public lecture yesterday.

During his speech, Xu shed light on how the robot industry had developed over the past few decades. After going through the different phases in which various technologies for robot-making were developed, Xu said that scientists will work on how to make robots more intelligent over the next 50 years.

“The robots produced recently and to be produced in the future will help humans think, solve problems and give solutions,” Xu said. From his point of view, the robots that have already been invented were for helping humans achieve things that our actions could not reach, but robots in the era of AI will assist humans in thinking.

“With the emergence of more cutting-edge computer techniques and especially big data, robots can achieve much more because they can learn like AlphaGo, which triumphed over Lee Se-dol in the widely watched game last year.”

The president said that one of the luckiest things in his life is that he had the chance to witness the whole process, from how the robot industry began to develop to its current stage. The AI age is coming to humanity at a fast speed, added the president.

However, Xu thinks that humanity should not panic about the era of AI, during which many jobs might be taken over by robots. “Humans have unique advantages that robots lack, such as creativity, emotions, culture and development, so robots are only liberating humans from repetitive labor, allowing us to continue to create,” said Xu.

He also predicts that more than half of humanity will be engaged in art in about 50 years, thus the ability for humans to innovate is more crucial now than ever. However, students in China should also take further steps to innovate to catch up with their counterparts in other countries, Xu told the Shenzhen Daily.

Professor Xu obtained his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. From 1989 to 1997, he worked at Carnegie Mellon University (USA) before joining the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was appointed the first president of CUHK-Shenzhen after a global search and selection.

The president is dedicated to research in robotics, intelligent systems and control, and design and manufacturing, and especially service and space robotics, wearable interfaces and intelligent vehicles.

He is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the International Academy of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Science.

The president’s speech was part of a campaign organized by the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference to invite political advisers, from all walks of life, to give lectures and share their perspectives on many fields. Over 50 political advisers and municipal and district officials attended the president’s lecture yesterday at the CUHK-Shenzhen campus in Longgang District.

Dozens of students, including current students at the university and high school students, attended the lecture to hear Xu’s elaboration on robots and AI. Many of the students are studying for science degrees, while others have a great passion for robots and AI.