SHANGHAI, July 20 (Reuters) – An artificial intelligence-focused subsidiary of Chinese medical technology giant Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare is taking a cautious approach to deploying AI tools, its top executive said, even as China pushes for broader adoption of the technology across key sectors.
Some Chinese companies have begun measuring employee usage of AI, viewing adoption as a benchmark of workplace transformation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Zhou Xiang, co-CEO of United Imaging Intelligence, said his company was resisting pressure to aggressively roll out AI tools.
Chinese President Xi Jinping used the annual conference to cast the country as the champion of a new global AI order and promote open-source technology.
“Some companies said … if you don’t use this much token, you must not be transforming into the new age. We are not that extreme,” Zhou said, adding software engineers and architects had warned him about potential side effects because the technology remained insufficiently mature.
“In healthcare, in medicine, the first mover advantage is not as drastic as other fields,” he added.
The United Imaging group competes with GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers and Philips in medical imaging and scanning equipment.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)