Hongkou District officials have called for accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence to support high-quality regional development, improve public services and strengthen urban governance during a study session focused on the latest advances in AI technology.
The expanded study session of the Hongkou District Party Committee's central leadership group recently invited Xiong Yun, a professor at the School of Computer Science at Fudan University and deputy director of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Data Science, to deliver a special lecture on the evolution of artificial intelligence and intelligent industrial transformation. Hongkou District Director Jiang Rui presided over the meeting and addressed participants.
Xiong provided a systematic overview of the evolution of artificial intelligence technologies, their capabilities and limitations, pathways for industry-wide intelligent transformation and future development trends.
According to the presentation, artificial intelligence is reshaping relationships between people and machines, data and knowledge, as well as enterprises and industrial supply chains. It is also changing approaches to governance and fostering new industrial ecosystems.
For local governments seeking to develop AI industries, computing power, data, models, application scenarios and governance mechanisms should be integrated into a sustainable industrial ecosystem.
Jiang said officials should further enhance their understanding of the strategic importance of developing artificial intelligence and improve their ability to apply AI technologies in their daily work, problem-solving and economic development efforts.
She urged the district to seize strategic opportunities by advancing the "Artificial Intelligence Plus" initiative, with a focus on opening more application scenarios and expanding practical technology deployment.
AI should be applied more extensively to improve the quality and capacity of the service sector, enhance public services and strengthen urban governance, she said.
Jiang also called for strengthening the foundations needed to support AI innovation and industrial development.
She said Hongkou should improve its computing power and data resources, establish a district-level computing resource coordination mechanism tailored to local needs and make full use of its distinctive resources to develop specialized datasets for different industries.
The district should also intensify efforts to attract and cultivate AI professionals and build a multi-level talent pipeline to support the industry's long-term development, Jiang said.
She added that officials at all levels should strengthen their knowledge of artificial intelligence, improve their digital literacy and enhance their ability to perform their duties so they can better leverage AI to support Hongkou's high-quality development.