On Jan. 8, “Baidu brain,” representing the most advanced artificial intelligence technology in China, won the first round of a Chinese game show called "The Brain." The AI competitor beat Wang Feng, a star contestant, with a final score of 3:2.

During the competition, both contestants were asked to identify an adult woman using a photo taken during the woman's childhood. Unlike past competitions in memory, logic and mathematics, "The Brain" focuses on voice and image recognition.

Lin Yuanqing, director of the Institute of Deep Learning at Baidu, said the development of AI has gone through several phases, and researchers at Baidu are currently feeding general characters into their AI system. Lin said the future focus of the project will be on special-character learning, which will allow AI technology to progress.