(Yicai Global) Sept. 18 -- Xiaomi will fully exploit its advantagestoget aheadin artificial intelligence technology through AI+IOT, Lei Jun, China's leading internet entrepreneur and founder ofBeijing-basedXiaomi,said yesterdayin a speech tothe World Artificial Intelligence Conferencethat opened in Shanghaiyesterday.

Xiaomi's advantages include a huge user base, masses ofdevices and users, and most importantly,andunderstanding of the AI era, Leitold attendees of the three-day event.

Xiaomi hadconnected to 115 million consumer IOT devices by the end of the second quarter.

Xiaomi'sIOTplatform was then connected toover85 million devicesof more than800 types, over 10 million of which were active dailyunits, andXiaomi hasbecome the world's largest intelligent hardware IOT platform, Leitoldthe Xiaomi IOT Developer Conference last year.

5G technology is the communication method for the IOT era and the IOT sector will take off with 5G as its wings, Leisaid.

With the number of IOT devices rapidlyincreasing, an AI assistant is needed to help human-machine intelligent communication andsmart information processing, Lei said, adding that Xiao AI, the firm's smart voice assistant developed in recent years, had gained 30 million-plusactive users in the last month.

This AI smart communication system will be installed in tens of billions of IOT devices infuture,Leibelieves,making AI assistant the core technology IOT devices.

Humanityhasalready embarkedonthe AI era with international and Chinese tech giants taking the lead, Leinoted, adding that Xiaomi had no choice but to set AI as its mostvitalstrategy since over 1,000 start-ups werealreadycompeting fiercely in the sector.

Editor: Ben Armour