These five AI developments will shape 2021 and beyond

News Highlights: These five AI developments will shape 2021 and beyond

The year 2020 was a huge challenge for citizens, businesses and governments around the world. As Covid-19 spread and required far-reaching health and safety restrictions, artificial intelligence (AI) applications played a critical role in saving lives and fostering economic resilience. Research and development (R&D) to improve the core capabilities of AI, from autonomous driving and natural language processing to quantum computing, continued unabated.

Baidu was at the forefront of many major AI breakthroughs in 2020. This article outlines five major advancements with implications for fighting covid-19 and transforming the future of our economies and societies.

1. AI and vaccine development

The trend – and why it matters. It usually takes years, if not decades, to develop a new vaccine. But by March 2020, vaccine candidates to fight covid-19 were already undergoing human testing, just three months after the first reported cases. The record rate of vaccine development …