The University of Macau (UM) today (17 November) held a talk titled ‘Constructing Artificial Collective Intelligence’ as part of the University Lecture Series. Mei Hong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was the guest speaker. During the talk, he discussed the latest progress in the research of collective intelligence and its application. Combining both virtual and in-person elements, the talk attracted many UM faculty members, students, and members of the general public.

In his speech, UM Rector Yonghua Song said that Mei is the chair of the Academic Committee of UM’s State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City. Together with 12 other experts and scholars, he has provided strong academic support to the laboratory. Under the guidance of experts with solid academic and research backgrounds such as Mei, the laboratory is positioned to solve key scientific and technical problems in the Internet of Things for smart city development, develop applications for smart cities, and contribute to economic diversification of Macao.

During the talk, Mei discussed the definition of collective intelligence and artificial collective intelligence and how the internet has made it possible for human groups to collaborate on a large scale across time and space. He also reviewed the history and the latest progress in the research of collective intelligence and discussed how to construct a collective intelligence model based on the ‘exploration-integration-feedback’ mechanism, as well as the application of collective intelligence.