SHANGHAI -- China's Lenovo Group is trumpeting a big artificial-intelligence push, including new research centers and business partnerships, as it aims to reduce its dependence on a shrinking personal computer market.

"Lenovo will be a leader in AI technology," Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing declared at the company's third annual Tech World event here Thursday. Lenovo used the event as a platform to lay out its AI ambitions, including an array of product concepts and tie-ups.

"The AI we've developed is more significant than AlphaGo," Yang said, referring to the AI from Google that beat the world's top player of the board game Go this year.

Lenovo's prototypes focus on health care and education -- areas of particular interest to consumers. The SmartVest uses 10 built-in sensors to track the wearer's heart activity in real time. Lenovo envisions using the smart clothing in partnerships with medical institutions.

A demonstration of the SmartCast+ smart speaker showed off its educational functions. The device can hold simple conversations with children and project images. Lenovo also unveiled its Cava virtual assistant.

Collaborations with outside talent to fine-tune the technology will be vital to get these devices from the concept stage to the market. Lenovo plans to open an AI innovation center in Beijing this year and two more in Germany and the U.S. The company aims to invest at least $1.2 billion in AI and other cutting-edge fields such as the "internet of things."

The shift in focus comes alongside internal changes at the company. Under what Yang dubs the "third wave" strategy, Lenovo is rethinking its corporate culture based on four key ideas: innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit, global teamwork and following user trends. The company has also set up a new group for AI development.

Lenovo has already found partners in the field. The company announced Thursday a strategic partnership with Chinese e-retailer JD.com on big data as well as joint development of a smart-car platform with electric-vehicle startup Nio. JD.com CEO Richard Liu Qiangdong and William Li, founder and chairman of Nio, attended the event.

The electronics maker also said a "Star Wars" game developed with Walt Disney that features an augmented-reality headset will go on sale in September.

Lenovo offers a glimpse of a "Star Wars" augmented-reality game it has developed with Walt Disney.

Lenovo became a major player in personal computers when it acquired IBM's PC business in 2004 and is now duking it out with HP for the global top spot. With that market unlikely to see much more growth, the Chinese company has tried pivoting to other products such as smartphones and tablets. But it remains well behind the big players in these areas.

Lenovo's net profit moved into the black in the fiscal year ended in March. Yet the company's failure to extricate itself from its dependence on PCs has fueled talk that Yang will step down as CEO to focus on the chairman post.

"AI is the future of information technology," Yang told reporters after the event, adding that Lenovo will "stake its life" on the field. His leadership skills will be sorely tested.