美國時間2月19日，華爾街日報社刊登了一篇名為《中國品牌殺入AI混戰》的專題文章，其中提到了目前全世界范圍內的人工智能資本與創業熱潮，并專訪了中國人工智能創業公司iPIN。從這篇文章中，我們可以看出中國未來人工智能的發展走向，更加清晰地讀懂中國創業。

　　華爾街日報截圖

　　以下內容為原文翻譯：

　　“As the world is changing faster than it ever has before, new technologies are disrupting lives. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the core of this change – every year machines are becoming more sophisticated and ‘smart’. This was exhibited at the AAAI-17, the premier AI conference in San Francisco, where amongst the western tech giants, key Chinese players such as Baidu, Huawei and Tencent had an increased presence.

　　如今的世界發展日新月異，新技術不斷地在改變著我們的生活。人工智能(AI)正處在這一革新的核心地帶，因為有了人工智能，機器每一年都變得越來越復雜、越來越聰明。這是我們在今年舊金山的人工智能大會AAAI-17上看到的景象，今年的AAAI匯集了西方國家的科技行業巨頭，另外來自中國的百度、騰訊、華為等公司也在大會上嶄露頭角。

　　“2016 was a breakthrough year for AI with over 1485 startups receiving investment globally according to Venture Scanner 2016 data. A lot of this momentum was supplied by China and India, who are investing in entrepreneurship within the digital world. However, compared to their western rivals such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana or Amazon’s Alexa, Chinese companies may still be a long way away from mass-market practical usage.

　　根據調查公司Venture Scanner 的數據顯示，2016年對于人工智能來講是突破性的一年，全世界范圍內有1485家創業公司拿到了投資。其中許多行業里的里程碑是由中國和印度創造的，這兩個國家在互聯網創業領域投入了大量的政策和支持。然而，相比于西方巨頭們的人工智能產品，比如蘋果公司的Siri、微軟的Cortana以及亞馬遜的Alexa，中國公司的人工智能產品距離推向大眾市場、具備實用價值，還有很長的一段路要走。

　　“Many AI startups are still trying to find a niche where machine intelligence can be deployed at a more cost effective and easier way than humans could have ever achieved. Even more well-known concepts by western brands are still in a phase of trial-and-error. Tesla and its self-driving cars is one example, highlighted by the tragic death of a driver because of gaps in the car’s autopilot.

　　許多創業公司仍舊在尋找細分市場，希望可以在細分市場上讓機器更加智能化，讓工作效率更高、成本更低、更簡單，能做出比人類更好的工作。但是，即便是上面提到的西方巨頭們，依舊處于人工智能試錯階段。Tesla以及其自駕駛汽車就是其中的一個典型例子，最近他們的人工智能自動駕駛系統因為預報了可能發生的車禍、拯救了司機生命而登上各大媒體頭條。

　　“Incident’s such as Tesla’s made AAAI-17, in its 31st edition, an important platform for tech entrepreneurs around the world to discuss ideas for the industry and help develop it together. The event saw Chinese AI startup iPIN introduce itself to the world stage, having two papers accepted. The brand demonstrated that not all AI is used for commercial purposes as iPIN aims to help high school students chose tertiary education facilities based on their career goals. The company’s CEO, Dr. Yang Yang spoke at the conference, noting that some of the more agile startups are positioned to perform better than big-name established enterprises.

　　作為一個讓全世界的科技創業者們討論行業觀點、實現互幫互助的重要平臺，今年的AAAI-17大會(該協會的第31次人工智能大會)就像Tesla登上頭條一樣，火了一把。在本次大會上，我們看到了來自中國的人工智能創業公司iPIN開始步入國際舞臺，一口氣在AAAI上發表了2篇學術論文。這家公司向我們展示了不是所有的人工智能都可以商用，而iPIN的人工智能產品早已在幫助中國的高三學生根據生涯目標選擇合適的大學和專業。iPIN公司的CEO 楊洋博士在大會上做了演講，提到了一些快速發展、市場敏感的創業公司已經比大牌的科技公司做得好了。

　　“iPIN uses a GPS –like system in career development based on its database, aiming to help the leaders of tomorrow follow the best career path in line with their skill sets. During the university application period in 2015, the startup helped over 2 million freshmen-to-be get coveted enrollment offers.

　　根據其已有的數據庫，iPIN為這些未來領袖們提供如GPS一樣的職業發展規劃，幫助他們根據自己的技能組合選擇最合適的生涯路徑。在2015年的高考志愿填報階段，iPIN幫助了超過200萬的準大學生們拿到了他們心儀大學的錄取通知書。

　　“Dr. Yang Yang, a serial entrepreneur who had worked at the National Laboratory for Tourism and e-Commerce and Temple University Fox Business School, draws on his wealth of experience of collective intelligence and data analysis for enterprises. Such knowledge has allowed Dr. Yang Yang to be a pioneer in AI technology within China.

　　楊洋博士履歷豐富，作為一位連續創業者，他曾在美國國家旅游業與電子商務實驗室、天普大學商學院工作過，在集體智能(Collective Intelligence)和企業數據分析領域有豐富的專業經驗。這些工作經歷讓楊洋博士成為中國人工智能技術領域的先行者。

　　“The startup follows in the footsteps of what many analysts view as the most mature and widespread AI products in the market – IBM Watson – a business cognitive analysis platform which can complete the job of information analysis, natural language process and machine learning. According to TechCrunch, IBM worked with H&R Block to help people reduce the time they consume on tax deduction and all its often monotonous calculations. Watson also helps researchers conduct medical studies and provides artificial program interfaces (APIs) for developers to build virtual assistants.

　　iPIN的這一做法并非首創，它其實是對成熟產品的“取其精華”。許多評論家把IBM公司的Watson人工智能看作是目前市場上最成熟、市場傳播最廣的人工智能產品，這個語義分析平臺能夠完成信息分析、自然語言處理以及機器學習等多項任務，而iPIN學到了Watson的精髓。根據美國科技媒體TechCrunch的報道，IBM在本月早些時間與美國H&R Block公司合作，開發出了能夠幫助人們算稅的軟件，減少了人們浪費在算稅上的寶貴時間，避免了報稅前的枯燥計算。同時Watson也在幫助研究人員進行醫療研究，為軟件開發者開發虛擬助手提供人工智能的API接口。

　　“Though they are both powerful artificial intelligence platforms, iPIN is currently focusing on education and human resources – more specifically splitting it services into three categories – human resources, career development and legal services. However, it is education that makes Mr. Yang Yang most proud and passionate:

　　盡管iPIN和Watson都是性能強勁的人工智能平臺，iPIN目前重點關注教育和人力資源領域，與Watson有所不同。確切地來講可以分成三個服務領域：人力資源、職業發展和法律服務。不過，最讓楊洋博士驕傲和充滿激情的其實是教育領域：

　　““My co-founder Pan Rong and I are both associate professors, we have been concentrating on talent training and education. Freshmen-to-be don't know their major career path and work type before they choose universities, which led to 71.2% of undergraduates failing to find a major-related work after their graduation. We want iPIN to help students make plans to their careers through early AI career development intervention, so to cut down mismatches between career and major.”

　　“我和我的聯合創始人潘嶸都是大學副教授，一直以來都專注于人才培訓和人才教育。在選專業的時候，準大學生們都不知道他們所選專業的生涯路徑和工作種類，這就導致了等到他們大學畢業時有71.2%的大學生找不到和專業相關的工作崗位。我們希望iPIN能夠通過人工智能職業規劃的早期介入，幫助他們做好生涯規劃，以此減少大學專業和職業生涯不匹配的情況。”

　　“Since 2015, iPIN provided AI career development services and professional suggestions to over 5 million students.

　　從2015年開始，iPIN就開始為準大學生們提供人工智能生涯發展服務和職業建議，已經服務了超過500萬準大學生。

　　“Adopting artificial intelligence, business intelligence, and collective intelligence to analyze personal connections and forge a career development plan, as Dr. Yang Yang said in his speech to AAAI-17, is the methodology of iPIN:

　　在AAAI-17的發言中，楊洋博士提到了iPIN的方法論：利用人工智能(AI)、商業智能(BI)、集體智能(CI)來實現最深度的人脈關系解讀，為學生找到合適的生涯發展規劃。

　　““We believe AI+BI+CI will be the market trend this year. Our annual goal is to let more Chinese customer and business partners enjoy the Knowledge Work Automation technology, especially in education, human resources, and legal service industries.”

　　“我們認為AI+BI+CI將成為今年人工智能市場的趨勢。今年iPIN的目標就是讓更多的中國用戶和商業合作伙伴享受Knowledge Work Automation(知識工作自動化)技術，尤其重點發展教育、人力資源、法律服務市場。”

　　“Dr. Yang Yang added that their university application product (Wan Mei Zhi Yuan) will be used by millions of students this summer. The tech brand is also gearing up for its career development product, to be released next month, whilst their profession planning product is also slated to be rolled out later this year. Based on value, opportunity and business, AI startups are only just starting to find out the products that consumers want, helping them empower their lives and building a strong foundation for the future.

　　楊洋博士還表示，他們的大學志愿填報產品(完美志愿)今年夏天還將為數百萬學生提供服務。iPIN還將在下個月發布他們的生涯規劃產品，同時也將計劃在2017年推出職業規劃產品。因為有了價值、機會和市場，人工智能創業公司終于開始明白消費者需要什么樣的產品，然后用人工智能來讓人們的生活更美好，為未來打下堅實的基礎。

　　為什么在眾多人工智能公司中，中國創業公司iPIN能獲得《華爾街日報》的強烈關注?iPIN是人工智能風口上的幸運兒還是低調的實力派?無論如何，西方媒體對中國人工智能公司的強烈關注，代表至少在這個垂直領域，中國已經對美國構成了極大的威脅。