Smaller family businesses in mainland China are adopting advanced artificial intelligence (AI) more easily than large companies, while market agility and steady supply of power will determine the winners of the global AI race, industry leaders said at a forum in Indonesia.
Panel speakers at the inaugural Nusa Dua Forum in Bali, hosted on Friday by the South China Morning Post and Indonesian sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia, discussed their views on the economics of AI and the digital transformation of factories.
Zhou Yuxiang, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based industrial software company Black Lake Technologies, said during a panel discussion that his company had shifted its focus from serving large enterprises to small and medium-sized businesses and independent or family businesses in response to demand.
“It’s an interesting trend that I think mom-and-pop stores are more open to agent technology,” he said.
Black Lake Technologies, founded in 2016, develops cloud-based solutions to help factories digitize their manufacturing operations. It also provides tools to help small businesses measure the results and returns of using an AI agent instead of a human worker, so owners can make immediate, practical decisions.
“Actually, smaller companies are already benefiting from it, but bigger ones are still talking about it,” Zhou said. “When we talk to large companies about AI, their chief risk officers step in. Everyone will have a voice.”