中国政府意识到，想要在2030年前领导世界 AI 产业，就需要培养和留住更多的 AI 专业人才。去年7月，《国务院关于印发新一代人工智能发展规划的通知》发布，《通知》中呼吁加强对中小学学生的 AI 教育。在线人工智能培训课程越来越受欢迎。北京师范大学系统科学学院教授、集智AI学园创始人张江表示，国内学习人工智能的热情很高。但中国能否在未来十年实现开创性突破，仍有很大的不确定性。由于缺乏基础创新，要成为真正的全球 AI 领导者，中国还相差甚远。中国擅长学习但不擅长创新。

12月3日，在世界互联网领先科技成果发布会上，阿里巴巴集团 CEO 张勇介绍阿里巴巴研发部门的 ET 城市大脑。新华社记者李鑫摄

北京西郊的门头沟区以寺庙和蘑菇闻名，但也许将来会是中国人工智能产业中心。本月早些时候，中国政府宣布将在这里为人工智能产业园投资138亿元人民币（约合21亿美元），这是中国为2030年领导全球人工智能产业的战略所作出的第一笔重大投资。

当地科学家却对这个距离市中心30公里、占地55公顷的人工智能产业园能否吸引足够多的研究人员，尚存疑虑。政府希望它能吸引400家公司，提供云计算、大数据、生物识别和深度学习的产品与服务，每年创造500亿元的产值。一位在北京某家 AI 创业公司工作的科学家表示，顶尖人才并不愿意到那里工作和生活。

世界各地的 AI 公司和研究机构都面临着寻找资深 AI 研究人员的难题。微软亚洲研究院主管研究员戴维·维普夫表示，人工智能的未来将是数据和人才的争夺战。

人才争夺愈演愈烈

中国 AI 公司的发展速度令人惊叹。至少有5家公司在研发人脸识别技术，其中包括商汤科技和旷视科技，它们的总部都在北京，也都拿到超过10亿美元的投资。但是许多 AI 公司却找不到理想的研究员。2016年工信部估计中国将需要500万的 AI 从业者才能填补行业需求。

全世界的资深 AI 人才总量本身就不大。中国企业还不得不面临谷歌等跨国企业用高薪吸引 A I 研究员。乌镇智库理事长张朝阳表示，这是一场人才大战，谁出价高谁就赢。腾讯和百度的 AI 研究中心愿意为 AI 专家提供百万美元甚至更高的年薪，这在5年前是不可能的。

中国没有许多经验丰富的 AI 专家，但聪明、勤奋、有计算机背景的年轻学子却很多，他们了解机器学习等领域的专业知识。北京大学于2004年开设了第一门面向本科生的人工智能课程，到目前为止，中国已经有30所高校开设了类似课程。

但现在大学培养的人才还是不能满足行业需求，尤其是在大量优秀毕业生选择出国的背景下。年轻的中国研究员会选择到美国、以色列等国家的 AI 实验室发展。2017年12月，上海纽约大学举办了人工智能海外博士研讨会，几乎所有参会者都是在美国知名大学的留学生或工业界实验室工作的华人研究员。会议组织者张铮表示，他常常为去美国深造的中国学生写推荐信，但也希望他们学有所成后能回国发展。

国内，AI 研究人员竞争非常激烈。张铮说，国内大多数资深 AI 研究员会去工业界而非学术界。维普夫表示微软之所以成立微软亚洲研究院，部分原因是希望能吸收来自北大清华的优秀毕业生。

2017年12月，谷歌在中国成立 AI 中心，也是为了吸引这些优秀人才。张铮表示，对中国而言，跨国企业在国内成立研究中心对中国业界是好事，因为谷歌和Facebook 这样的美国公司比国内公司更注重基础研究。他认为国内缺乏 AI 顶尖人才，而在国内设立外国 AI 研究所，是培养国内人才的一种方式。

AI 教育方兴未艾

中国政府意识到，想要在2030年前领导世界 AI 产业，就需要培养和留住更多的 AI 专业人才。去年7月，《国务院关于印发新一代人工智能发展规划的通知》发布，《通知》中呼吁加强对中小学学生的 AI 教育。

在线人工智能培训课程也越来越受欢迎。北京师范大学系统科学学院教授、集智AI学园创始人张江表示，国内学习人工智能的热情很高。

乌镇智库数据显示，中国在大多数 AI 指标上都落后于美国，比如私人投资和专利数量。但张晓东说现在差距正在缩小，尤其是像计算机视觉等应用领域。

中国能否在未来十年实现开创性突破，仍有很大的不确定性。张江表示，由于缺乏基础创新，要成为真正的全球 AI 领导者，中国还相差甚远。中国擅长学习但不擅长创新。

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-00604-6

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附上原文：

China enters the battle for talent

The country’s ambition to become the global leader in artificial intelligence will require a large, highly skilled workforce.

David Cyranoski

Zhang Yong, head of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, introduces the company’s artificial intelligence ET Brain at a conference in December 2017.Credit: Li Xin/Xinhua via ZUMA

A mountainous district in western Beijing known for its temples and mushroom production is tipped to become China’s hub for industries based on artificial intelligence (AI). Earlier this month, the Chinese government announced that it will spend 13.8 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion) on an AI industrial park — the first major investment in its plan to become a world leader in the field by 2030.

But scientists there wonder whether the proposed 55-hectare AI park, in the Mentougou district 30 kilometres away from the city centre, will be able to attract enough researchers. The government wants it to house 400 companies that will make an estimated 50 billion yuan a year developing products and services in cloud computing, big data, biorecognition and deep learning. “I don’t see any top talent willing to go to work and live there,” says a scientist working at an AI start-up in Beijing, who asked to remain anonymous because the government is sensitive to criticism.

Sourcing accomplished AI researchers is a problem that’s confronting AI-related companies and research centres around the world. “The future [of AI] is going to be a battle for data and for talent,” says David Wipf, lead researcher at Microsoft Research in Beijing.

Talent grab

Chinese AI companies are progressing at a dizzying pace. At least five companies developing facial recognition technologies — including SenseTime and Face++, both based in Beijing — pulled in more than $1 billion from investors in 2017. But many AI companies there are struggling to hire researchers. In 2016, the information-technology ministry estimated the country needed an additional 5 million AI workers to meet the industry’s needs.

The global pool of experienced AI talent is small. Chinese businesses also have to compete with the aggressive hiring techniques of multinational players such as Google, which some fear are draining universities of researchers by tempting them with high salaries. “It’s a talent war — whoever makes the best offer wins,” says Nick Zhang, president of the Wuzhen Institute, an AI think tank in Wuzhen. He knows of experienced people getting salary offers of $1 million or more to work at the AI research centres of Chinese social-media giant Tencent or the web-services firm Baidu. “This was unimaginable five years ago,” he says.

Accomplished industry veterans might be scarce in China, but it is rich in bright, hard-working computer-science graduates who have expertise in machine learning and other AI-related fields. Peking University established the country’s first undergraduate course in AI in 2004, and since then 30 universities have introduced similar courses.

But universities are struggling to meet industry’s demands, especially because many of the best graduates leave the country. Young Chinese researchers populate AI laboratories from the United States to Israel. At a December 2017 workshop held at New York University (NYU) Shanghai, called Future Leaders of AI Retreat, almost all of the attendees were Chinese researchers working at US universities or industrial laboratories. Zhang Zheng, an AI researcher at NYU Shanghai who organized the retreat, says that he often writes letters of recommendation for Chinese students to study in the United States. “The hope is for them to return later on in their career trajectories,” he says.

There’s also stiff competition for AI researchers within China. Most of the country’s leading AI scientists go to work in industry rather than in academia, says Zhang Zheng. Wipf says that Microsoft set up in Beijing partly to hire the best graduates coming out of nearby Peking and Tsinghua universities, the nation’s premier higher-education institutions.

Last month, Google also established its own AI research centre in Beijing to attract these prodigies. Zhang Zheng says it’s good for the Chinese AI community that international companies are setting up there, because US companies such as Google and Facebook do more fundamental research compared with local tech giants, he says. “China is lacking top talent, and [working at China-based foreign research hubs] is a way to train them.”

AI training

The Chinese government realizes that it needs to train and retain more AI graduates if it is to become the world leader in the field by 2030. Its AI roadmap, released by the Communist Party’s powerful State Council last July, calls for increased education in AI at primary and middle schools.

Online AI training courses are also becoming popular. “The enthusiasm for learning AI is very high,” says Zhang Jiang, who teaches AI at Beijing Normal University’s School of Systems Science.

The country still trails behind the United States in most AI indicators, such as private investment and number of patents, according to figures from the Wuzhen Institute. Nick Zhang says that gap is closing fast, especially in applications such as computer vision.

There’s greater uncertainty about whether China will be able to achieve pioneering breakthroughs in the next decade. “There is still a very big gap before China can lead the competition, because China lacks fundamental innovations,” says Zhang Jiang. “China is still a good learner, but not a good innovator.”