US martial arts master harnesses AI to teach kung fu

RTHK：Video News

From a small town in America to China's Wudang Mountains, Tai Chi master Jake Pinnick says he finds artificial intelligence increasingly useful for teaching kung fu and translating traditional Chinese texts. The martial arts practitioner from Illinois, who has lived in China since 2010, is the 16th-generation disciple of the Wudang San Feng lineage. Speaking to RTHK during the ongoing World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Pinnick said he wanted to share his experience of using the internet to connect with students worldwide. "I have classes with people in different countries, different time zones, and so really I just came here to share my experience with that hoping that there's more opportunity for connection," he said. This year's Wuzhen summit is themed around the use of AI and building a digital future for good. The kung fu coach said technological breakthroughs were a great help when it came to teaching martial arts on the mountains. "For me, training martial arts, there's only so much that it can really help with as far as the martial arts side, like maybe with organising videos or adding subtitles," he said. Pinnick added that AI-powered tools can identify language, such as traditional Chinese text which can be difficult to translate, helping him to organise ideas faster and broadcast them to more people. On the tech rivalry between China and the US, Pinnick said he believed it was a healthy competition that would lead to better communication tools and more connections between countries.