Google China Focuses on AI, Help Chinese Business to Expand Overseas

Google is on the move in China. In December 2017, Google established the AI China Center in Beijing, led by Fei-fei Li, chief scientist of Google Cloud, and Jia Li, the head of research and development in AI and ML. In mid-January, Google confirmed the news it would set up an office in Shenzhen. Google now has more expectations and plans to invest in the Chinese market.

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On February 6, Google held the 2018 Think With Google conference in Beijing, the annual summit at which Google introduces its service to its partners. For Google, the Chinese market remains special and challenging. At present, Google’s strategy in China is to push AI, scramble for opportunities and help Chinese companies expand to overseas by advertising.

AI is not only for large companies, Scott Beaumont, president of Google Greater China, said at the conference. He encouraged more developers to use Google TensorFlow, an AI development framework.

The Google AI platform, composed mainly of the machine learning computing framework TensorFlow and the AI invocation engine ML Engine, is Google’s competitive entry in the AI field. Google said TensorFlow is the most widely used AI development framework in the world, and it has been downloaded in China for more than a million times. The top users are Sun Yat-sen University, Tsinghua University, Xiaomi, JD.com and other institutions and enterprises.

ML Engine provides pre-trained translation, chat, image recognition, natural language processing and other capabilities for users through an application program interface (API). Through the AI platform, Google can offer guidance in medical care, education and other fields, such as case diagnosis, personalized tutoring and other applications.

Jia Li said the goal of Google Cloud AI. It aims to help companies clarify demands and enhance product functions by combining research strength with popular products.

Huang Jiezhong, Google’s chief marketing officer of Greater China, explained some of the marketing opportunities that Chinese enterprises will face in the era of AI. He said with the help of Google AI, companies will be favored by consumers for accurate marketing, deep interaction and brand experience.

Through cooperation with mobile games company, AI can analyze user preferences and ensure accurate advertising, Huang said. Compared to artificial advertising optimization’s, AI could double return on investment.

As Google’s consumer-oriented business can’t be fully developed on the Chinese mainland, its role in market is as an advertising platform targeted at overseas users. Chinese enterprises can enhance their popularity and attract consumers using Google’s search engine, YouTube and Google Play.

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At the conference, Google and WPP released a list of BrandZ’s Top 50 Chinese Global Brand Builders 2018. Lenovo, Huawei and Alibaba ranked as the Top 3. Consumer electronics, games and e-commerce providers are the most common brand types in the list. When Chinese brands go abroad, they will need strong advertising support. Some 84 percent of Google’s revenue comes from advertising, so Chinese enterprises are undoubtedly worth striving for.

In 2017, Google made frequent moves in China, and the rumor that Google planned to return to China came up from time to time. At this conference, Google mentioned that its translation can be used normally in China and will offer better experience with help of AI.

The news that Google set up an office in Shenzhen caused concern. Scott Beaumont said the Shenzhen office is mainly a background service office – not a technical institution. He mentioned there are many high-tech enterprises in Shenzhen. Google and these enterprises have a lot of joint projects in hardware development, so it is natural for Google to establish an office in Shenzhen.

Google recently released its earnings, creating a new record of growing more than 20 percent in revenue for 32 consecutive quarters.