AI tech aids anti-epidemic fight

TIANJIN, June 28 (Xinhua) -- How can facial recognition work on individuals wearing a mask and goggles? A Chinese high-tech company is offering a solution.

At the fourth World Intelligence Congress that opened earlier this week in north China's Tianjin Municipality, IriStar Technology Co., Ltd. displayed a recognition machine integrating infrared heat and iris recognition technology.

The machine can accurately and efficiently perform body temperature detection and identity recognition even for fully protected people, according to the company.

IriStar is one of the companies that participated in this year's event, albeit in an online form, to share their high-tech products and insights on AI and other intelligent sci-tech industries, hoping to provide more solutions for economic and social development.

A series of AI products and technologies have played significant roles in the fight against COVID-19, said Wan Gang, chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, during the event.

"Data technology helps enterprises resume work and production, health QR codes facilitate people's travel, and the Internet of Everything makes urban management and community services more efficient," said Wan.

With the help of AI and 5G technology, the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, a city once hard hit by COVID-19, was capable of quickly transmitting and diagnosing a large number of CT medical images.

"The AI medical solution developed by Tencent provided doctors with a reference diagnosis for CT medical images within one minute, which made it possible for the hospital to diagnose more than 24,000 patients in more than two months," said Ren Yuxin, chief operating officer of Tencent.

With the widespread application of digital and AI technologies in China's battle against the epidemic, Liu Qingfeng, chairman of voice-recognition giant iFlytek, said AI development in China will face unprecedented opportunities in the post-epidemic era.

China has initiated two batches of key projects on new-generation AI technologies, with the investment amounting to 1 billion yuan (about 140.7 million U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The technological innovation of AI should go beyond national boundaries and China will play a more active role in the global R&D of AI technologies, Wan said.

"We will jointly safeguard the stability, safety, improvement and development of the global industrial and supply chain with the rest of the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic," said Wan.