An AI-powered customer service counter in Gangxia North Metro Station. Photos by Liu Minxia

In Shenzhen, China's artificial intelligence (AI) hub, the technology is increasingly integrated into residents' daily lives. From bustling Metro stations to serene libraries, from leisurely parks to solemn hospitals and courts, AI technologies are ubiquitous, rendering this city more efficient, convenient and intelligent.

The city government last year introduced 41 AI application scenarios covering public services, intelligent medical care and low-altitude economy, with an additional 10 to be included this year.

"The Shenzhen government is encouraging companies to deploy AI into public scenarios, twice publishing detailed guidelines since May last year," said Fan Congming, the executive president of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association. The guidelines have helped AI firms find new avenues for applying their technologies.

Focus on applications

AI technology can be perceived as a three-level hierarchy: mathematics, models, and applications, according to Fan. Among Chinese cities leading in AI development, Shenzhen is particularly strong in applications, with the majority of local AI firms focusing on applications, Fan said.

"Roughly 8% and 16.9% of Shenzhen's AI companies are engaged in the first and second layers of AI development, respectively, while the rest 75.1% work with applications," he said.

"The development of AI go hand in hand with other sectors, and Shenzhen's strengths in information technology, new energy, medical treatment, and machinery make a fertile land for rapid growth of AI applications in these areas."

In May last year, Shenzhen introduced the first batch of 26 AI application scenarios across five areas: public services, intelligent medical care, urban governance, intelligent manufacturing, and low-altitude economy. The subsequent batch of 15 application scenarios, revealed five months later, included digital media, integrated collaborative office, intelligent parking, intelligent weather forecasting, and automatic driving.

A robot street-sweeper is working in Futian District.

An easy-to-spot application scenario is public sanitation, Fan said. "Robot cleaners became an instant hit when they were put into use earlier this year," he said.

AI technologies have been applied to 12 urban management scenarios including public sanitation, park management, and lighting management, according to the city's urban management and law enforcement authority. Robot cleaners are found in almost every subdistrict after it was first introduced in March, with over 100 AI-powered cleaning devices operational citywide.

Equipped with sensors on their front, back, and both sides, such AI-powered road-sweepers can detect pedestrians and adjust their path accordingly.

Along the sidewalk of Shihua Road in Futian District, smart streetlight poles can advise people against illegal parking, unsafe pedestrian gatherings, or littering, in addition to keeping a tab on traffic flow, air quality and noise levels.

Fan also mentioned applications of Tencent's foundation model, Hunyuan, and Huawei's Pangu-Weather, the first AI prediction model that can forecast weather faster and more accurate than traditional means.

During the 2023 typhoon season, the Pangu model accurately forecasted the trajectories of major typhoons affecting China, including Mawar, Talim, Doksuri, and Hato.

A versatile technology

The 41 application scenarios not only enhance public services but also transform leisure activities, health care, and judicial processes in Shenzhen, Fan said.

An AI-powered customer service counter in Gangxia North Metro Station.

At Metro stations, AI-powered counters with touch screens offer services such as navigation and ticketing. Using technologies like automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and biometric identification, these multilingual digital "staffers" can handle tasks traditionally managed by human personnel.

While waiting on the platform, passengers can check the displays for occupancy rates during peak hours. Metro trains on some of the lines are fully autonomous, although autonomous driving is not restricted to underground.

From L4 self-driving taxis in Futian District, self-piloted public minibuses in Nanshan District, to unpiloted container trucks at the Mawan port, Shenzhen has been developing intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) by opening test roads batch after batch. The city will soon expand autonomous driving to such highways as Nanping Expressway and Shuiguan Expressway. 

AI is also enriching leisure activities. The best-known AI feature of Shenzhen Library's north division is its unmanned underground book depository, which is the country's largest and equipped with an advanced smart book sorting system.

Through the automatic sorting system, readers can locate and borrow a book within 8 minutes of submitting the request. The books will be retrieved by an automated carriage, which travels from the underground to the top floors for readers to pick up.

Smart fitness facilities at Bijia Mountain Sports Park in Futian District. 

Some parks have also installed smart facilities. In Bijia Mountain Sports Park, for example, facial recognition enables users to access their personal fitness data and even participate in fitness leaderboard rankings. 

AI is also becoming a crucial support system for people seeking medical consultations and treatments. AI technologies like computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning are being applied across various medical scenarios, ranging from medical imaging and drug development to diagnostic assistance, precision medicine, health management and medical robotics.

Shenzhen People's Hospital last month launched an AI pre-diagnosis system developed by Tencent Health, which was fed nearly 100 gigabytes of textual data including all existing medical textbooks, over a million sets of clinical physician tests, 120,000 medical articles and papers, encyclopedias, and drug instructions. It has handled 137,300 consultations with an accuracy rate of 87% during its six-month trial use.

On June 28, Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court launched its self-developed AI-powered judicial adjudication system.

The nation's first of its kind, this system covers common civil and commercial cases and 85 judicial processes from filing cases and reviewing documents to court trials and documentation.

Since its trial run in January, the system has assisted in filing 291,000 cases and produced 11,600 initial drafts, significantly enhancing efficiency.

Huge potential

AI applications have driven some companies' rapid growth, including UBTech Robotics.

Out of UBTech's 1.06-billion-yuan (US$146.49-million) revenue last year, nearly 400 million yuan came from AI-powered smart logistics. The largest manufacturer of educational and humanoid robots in China also earned 253 million yuan in revenue from consumer robots.

"In the future, everyone will need to learn to harness AI as a tool, just like computer skills and foreign language skills," Fan said.

"Government support, of course, has been a major factor behind Shenzhen's AI development," he said.

The local government has played a crucial role in establishing the city as an AI powerhouse, according to a report released last month by Shanghai-based consulting firm FDI China.

"Through strategic policies and initiatives, the government has actively supported AI development, provided funding, infrastructure, and resources to facilitate growth," the report said.