China launches national AI pilot base for steel industry

China launched a national AI application pilot base for the metallurgical sector in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Monday, local newspaper Nanjing Daily reported, part of the country’s broader efforts to promote the technology.

The base will bridge the gap between pilot testing and full industrialization in the steel industry, the newspaper said.

Moving forward, it will focus on building datasets, industry-specific AI models, toolchains, and pilot-scale testing platforms to bring AI technology from early-stage research to practical, widespread applications.

China has laid out ​ambitions to aggressively adopt AI in its new five-year policy plan.

The country has already established a batch of national AI application pilot-testing bases across key sectors, such as electricity, finance and healthcare.

(By Shi Bu and Liz Lee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)