The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2023 kicked off on Thursday at the Shanghai Expo Center.

The three-day event is being attended by top scientists, entrepreneurs, government officials, and industry experts.

Themed "Intelligent Connectivity, Generating Future", the conference comprises various forums and discussions about core technologies, intelligent terminals, application empowerment, and cutting-edge technology.

Over 400 exhibitors are showcasing a wide variety of products related to scientific intelligence, robotics, meta-universe, smart chips and autonomous driving at the WAIC, which is in its sixth edition this year.

Considered the most high-profile artificial intelligence event in Shanghai, the WAIC attracted over 600,000 offline visitors and witnessed the signing of 200 major industrial projects with a combined investment of 70 billion yuan over the last five editions.

"In the process of promoting high-quality development, creating high-quality life, and achieving efficient governance, we need to leverage the power of AI to empower all industries more than ever before. Shanghai will make greater efforts to promote the healthy development of AI in the future," said Chen Jining, Shanghai's Party chief, during the opening ceremony on Thursday morning.

Among the high-profile participants of the conference is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who delivered a speech via video during the opening ceremony.

Musk said artificial intelligence will play a profound role in the future of human evolution and civilization and predicted that fully autonomous driving could be achieved later this year.

He also said that AI could present risks to society and hence regulation will be key to its future development.

"It could be that there is a very positive future (with AI), but there's some chance of a negative future, and we should do everything possible to ensure that the negative future does not come to pass," he said.

Musk then pointed out that he expects China to have very strong AI capabilities in the future.

"I think there's a tremendous number of very smart, very talented people in China. I've always been an admirer of the sheer amount of talent and drive that exists in China. I think really China is going to be great at anything it puts its mind to. That includes many different sectors of the economy, and also artificial intelligence."