48 Group chairman experiences AI-powered future in Xiong'an

For Jack Perry, chairman of the 48 Group in the U.K., China has never been a distant market or abstract idea. It is a legacy woven into his family history.

The Perry family's connection with China stretches back generations. Perry's grandfather, Jack Perry Sr., helped launch the first trade mission between Britain and China in 1952, while his father, Stephen Perry, promoted technological and manufacturing cooperation in the decades that followed.

For Jack Perry, who often calls himself "Icebreaker 3.0" — a nod to his grandfather and father's roles in breaking the ice between Britain and China — the mission now is to understand China's role in shaping the technologies of the future and to connect the two countries through the next wave of innovation.

Although Perry has visited China countless times, his most recent trip was his first to Xiong'an in north China's Hebei Province. Located just 105 kilometers from Beijing, Xiong'an is widely seen as a tech-driven city of tomorrow. Built with innovation, sustainability and smart infrastructure at its core, the city offers a glimpse into what the future of urban living could look like.

His journey began before he even reached his first destination. Using Apollo Go, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service, Perry experienced self-driving mobility firsthand. As the driverless vehicle navigated the streets, the ride itself offered a glimpse of how AI is moving from experimentation into ordinary urban life.

At Mech-Mind Robotics, a unicorn company focused on embodied intelligence, Perry observed robots capable of perceiving, analyzing and making independent decisions. More than the machines themselves, it was the intelligence powering them that left a strong impression.

For Perry, the most compelling aspect of the robotics sector in Xiong'an was the invisible architecture behind the machines: large language models, algorithms, computer vision and advanced scanning technologies shaping the future of AI.

Beyond laboratories, he saw automation entering everyday life, from a robot-run coffee shop to Geek+'s intelligent warehouse, where autonomous systems are transforming logistics.

At Stable AI, a Tsinghua University-incubated enterprise focused on structured data processing, Perry gained in-depth insights into how AI is transforming manufacturing and business operations. The company has developed a large data model called LimiX, featuring superior generalization and causal explainability for diverse structured data processing applications, demonstrating AI's growing capacity to drive industrial efficiency and bolster industrial competitiveness.

"Being here leaves me thinking about one thing: brilliance," Perry said. "China is moving ahead in many of these areas. The next step is connecting these achievements with the world through collaboration, technology sharing and action."