The World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020 (WAIC-2020) will be hosted by the Shanghai municipal government between 9-11 July in China. The conference has started registrations for the public. 

Still reeling in from the COVID-19 pandemic, the theme of  WAIC-2020 will be "Intelligent Connectivity, Indivisible Community," and will host a combination of physical and virtual exhibitions by leveraging state-of-art-technologies such as 5G, virtual and augmented reality. 

The conference is all set to showcase the applied, unprecedented implementation of artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive technology and intelligent automation. The moment is very opportune for Shanghai, who is committed to becoming a global AI tech hub, as the world over, AI and cloud-based technologies have played a pivotal role in state administration and healthcare and has opened new avenues of business and economic revival in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The possibilities have made countries introduce newer projects, policies and investments to promote AI integration into the mainstream.

The virtual version of WAIC 2020 will feature a cloud platform showcasing a 3D virtual AI community alongside the cutting-edge AI solutions for future smart cities. An industrial ecosystem, across seven major sectors such as education, medicine, transportation, finance, infrastructure, urban management and business which is enabled with AI, will be laid out within a virtual community. This will allow the audience to learn the strategic and tactical benefits of AI.  The audience will be able to have close-up experiences with these technologies. 

At the centre of these exhibitions are going to be humanoids - advanced robots - for business and homes such as the first-ever human-friendly dual-arm robot with novel functionality such as self-balance, collision prevention, object identification and the ability to cope with complex terrains. 

The conference is divided into four sections - an opening ceremony, two plenary session and several forums with industry stalwarts sharing their viewpoints on various industries. Tech experts from Germany, Korea and Singapore will be joining broadcast local technologies and share industry insight. 

Over 500 heavy players from the AI industry, including Nobel laureates Thomas Sargent and Turing Award winners Manuel Blum, Judea Pearl, and David Patterson, will attend the conference and discuss the future alongside top executives from Microsoft, Apple, IBM and Amazon. On the sidelines of the conference, several competitions and award functions will be held for young innovators and trailblazers, as well as an Investor’s Lounge to encourage commercial possibilities of the AI innovations.