iFlytek (Chinese: 科大讯飞; pinyin: Kēdà Xùnfēi), styled as iFLYTEK, is a partially state-owned Chinese information technology company established in 1999.[1] It creates voice recognition software and 10+ voice-based internet/mobile products covering education, communication, music, intelligent toys industries.[2] State-owned enterprise China Mobile is the company's largest shareholder.[3] The company is listed in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and it is backed by several state-owned investment funds.[4][5]
Liu Qingfeng, who was then a Ph.D. student in the University of Science and Technology of China, started a voice computing company, iFlytek in 1999. Liu and his colleagues were operating the company at the USTC campus until they decided to moved it in Heifei. He also presented his business concept to then head of Microsoft Research Asia, Kai-Fu Lee, who warned Liu of competing to American advancements in speech recognition.[9]
iFlytek would later work under the telecommunications company Huawei. In 2008, the company went public. In 2010, they launch their major consumer product, the iFlytek Input.[9]
In 2017, Human Rights Watch reported the Chinese government had collected tens of thousands of voice samples, for use with iFlytek technology that identifies individuals by voice on phone calls or in public places.[10]
China's government designated iFlytek as one of its "AI champions" in 2018.[13]: 281
In October 2023, the stock value of iFlytek fell after its AI-powered devices were reported to have criticized Mao Zedong.[14]
In 2019, the company won the Applicative Award for its iFlytek translation system with the Super AI Leader award at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai.[15]
In 2024, iFLYTEK introduced the AI platform SparkGen, an automated video creation tool.[16]
One of the company's major product was the iFlytek Input released in 2010. It was one of the early counterparts of Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google Assistant in China. Later versions of Input allowed translations for face-to-face conversations and closed-captioning for phone calls in 23 Chinese dialects.[9]
In terms of research and development in speech recognition, iFlytek showcased during a 2017 visit of U.S. President Donald TrumptoBeijing, that their technology can identify and record an individual's voice in a crowded environment.[17]
iFlytek Spark, also known as iFLYTEK Spark Desk,[18] is a large language model developed by iFlytek. iFlytek Spark was first unveiled in May 2023 and was released in September 2023 after Chinese government's approval.[19][20]
On May 6, 2023, iFlytek CEO Liu Qingfeng unveiled their AI model SparkDesk. The large language model was developed based on Huawei's AI chip, Ascend.[21] It was then updated to SparkDesk 2.0 in August 2023 and SparkDesk 3.0 in October 2023.[14][22]
AI devices powered by Spark AI received backlash in October 2023 after photos were shared in Baidu's Baijiahao of the generative AI criticizing Chairman Mao Zedong. As a result, the company's shares plunged by 10 percent.[14]
In January 2024, iFlytek upgraded their model to iFlytek SparkDesk 3.5.[23]
iFlytek has partnerships with Japanese company Odelic, Malaysian company Simon, and U.S. company A.O. Smith. iFlytek also managed to build servers in Singapore, Dubai, and Frankfurt, Germany.[24]
In October 2019, iFlytek was sanctioned by the United States for allegedly using its technology for mass surveillance and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.[26][27][2]
^Luong, Ngor; Fedasiuk, Ryan (2022-06-22), "State plans, research, and funding", Chinese Power and Artificial Intelligence (1 ed.), London: Routledge, pp. 3–18, doi:10.4324/9781003212980-2, ISBN978-1-003-21298-0, Similarly, iFlyTek received $2.9 million (18.5 million RMB) investment from Hefei Venture Capital Guidance Fund. This state-sponsored funding accounts for nearly 8 percent of the company's equity shares.
