The Internet has influenced our daily life, and some world's leading tech companies are planning to build smarter online communities. They discussed this at the World Internet Conference, which was held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang.
The development of artificial intelligence (AI) was a hot topic at the meeting. If a machine can learn and solve problems as humans do, it can be called AI.
The company Alibaba uses Al technology in its unmanned supermarket in Wuzhen. There is no salesperson in the supermarkets, just a pad on a desk that says" "please smile". If you smile, it gives you a special discount(折扣) off your food. The bigger you smile, the more discounts for your food. Payment is done itself through your Alipay number. When you first enter the supermarket, the supermarket's Al recognizes(识别) your face and your account(账号).
There is also Al that can read lips(唇). Sougou brought its lip-reading system to the conference. It recognizes your mouth's movements and turns them into voice or text messages. This could be very useful when you are trying to talk to someone on your phone in a noisy place. Police could also use the technology to help them catch criminal suspects by lip-reading recordings from video camera.
Another type of Al focus on understanding human emotions(表情). Microsoft Chat box XiaoIce can talk with people like a real friend. Xiaolce has WeChat account. After following the account, users can start talking with her. She knows when to comfort you or tell jokes. She keeps improving herself by talking with users.
These technologies are being put into wider use. We may see a smarter world and better life in the near future.
