Baidu seeks future Indian partnerships to drive innovation: Robin Li

Chinese internet search giant Baidu Inc is looking to work with Indian institutions in the future to make a better world through innovation, said Robin Li, co-founder, CEO and chairman of the company, who underscores the infrastructure for artificial intelligence will significantly propel the speed of innovation.

"India is one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world, and also a very large developing country right next to China. We've seen fast growth for both countries over the past few decades. And I think for next decade, there will be more opportunities for us," Li said.

Li made the remarks at a tech fest Shaastra 2020 event held at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in Chennai. Baidu already has a presence in a number of markets, like Japan, Thailand, and Egypt, but its main product search engine is pretty much domestic, he said.

"We think in the age of AI, searches will be very different from what we see today. Once we can transform a search into a very different product, we will be ready to launch that internationally," Li noted.

In addition, Li said the first change in the mobile internet era is that apps are becoming isolated islands, as their content and services are not so easily accessible by search engines or third-party programs.

"We see as a trend that more and more apps are doing things independently instead of relying on a search engine," he said.

In the age of mobile, content is closely linked to authors, especially on social media.

"When you find the relevant content you can ask questions and most likely that author will directly respond to your questions. This is increasingly the case for mobile internet," he said.

Moreover, video has become the most important form of content on the internet, and people's mindsets are changing toward video content, Li said, adding video provides a lower barrier to entry for knowledge and content.

Li underlined the "intelligent economy" will become a new label of the world economy in the coming decade, along with a new mode of human-machine interaction. AI also is transforming a lot of industries, in the sense of higher efficiency and lower risk.

"I would say over the next 10 years we will be less dependent on the mobile phone, less and less, because wherever you go, there are surrounding sensors and infrastructure that can answer your question, and serve you. So you don't have to pull out your mobile phone every time. This is the power of AI."

Li added that looking forward, the infrastructure for AI will significantly propel the speed of innovation. That includes the app development platform, deep learning framework, general AI technology and chips designed specifically for AI.