Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province will be among the 11 cities in the country to establish national pilot zones for AI development, along with the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Xi'an.

The Jinan National Pilot Area for the Innovative Development of New-Generation AI received the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) on March 9.

According to the document released by the MOST, Jinan is expected to make use of its strength in AI application, computing foundations, and data resources to improve its AI infrastructure, promote AI application in the fields of manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation and foster new growth drivers.

AI technologies, enterprises, and platforms have played a unique role in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

During the epidemic, the city's AI enterprises cooperated to promote the R&D of AI technology and its application in public areas, which ended up paying off.

Artificial intelligence products such as AI voice assistants, online fever clinics, and AI clinic treatment systems for COVID-19 have also emerged.

From ward management and epidemiological investigation to drug screening and CT diagnosis, a large number of AI technologies are currently being used.

Jinan is leading the way in global server research and development. Inspur Group is the top AI server producer and seller in the world, and has become the largest AI infrastructure solutions provider in China.

The city has made a number of technological innovations in the fields of intelligent automobiles, intelligent robots, intelligent manufacturing, intelligent healthcare, and intelligent transportation.

It has also made breakthroughs in a number of core technologies related to computing power platforms, chips, recognition, and sensing.

A complete AI industrial chain has now been formed, from basic supports and core technologies to industrial applications.