This photo taken on July 28, 2025 shows a view of China Changan Automobile Group's digital and intelligent factory for the new energy vehicle AVATR in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Xinhua)
Chongqing - Facing the AI boom, how can an effective development path be found?
Chongqing's logic is clear: AI frontier exploration should not only pursue computing power, algorithms, and technological iteration, but also focus on integrating frontier technologies such as digital twins and large models into production, daily life, and urban operations, creating an AI "testing ground."
Frontier applications blossom in factory workshops
Currently, the global automotive industry has fully entered the era of "large models on board." Many automakers rely on third-party general-purpose models, but Changan insists on full-stack self-development, with the core aim of securing dominance over underlying technologies in the intelligent vehicle era.
In June, Changan Automobile’s self-developed Tianshu large AI model received filing approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China for generative AI services, marking a new stage in the commercial application of AI technology developed by domestic automakers for in-vehicle use.
Tianshu has conquered core technologies in AI computing power, algorithms, and data, adapting to automakers' electronic architectures and intelligent driving systems. It can achieve closed-loop management of core data such as road driving and user interaction, creating exclusive technical barriers and preventing automakers from becoming mere hardware manufacturers.
This breakthrough also fills a key gap in Chongqing's automotive industry chain as it extends toward high-value-added "soft services" such as software R&D and algorithm training, injecting hardcore technological momentum into the city's industrial transformation and upgrading.
In fact, frontier AI applications are blossoming in factories and workshops across Chongqing. For example, the Shanghai-Chongqing AI Research Institute developed the "Zhaoyan" large language model, ranking third globally on the Chinese large model intelligent agent evaluation benchmark. CISDI Information developed the "Jinjing" visual large model, which has been deployed in 51 large and medium-sized steel enterprises.
Frontier exploration of AI application scenarios has also spawned a growing AI economy. In the low-altitude economy sector, Chongqing developed China's first AI "low-altitude economy scientific research large model," with drone products forming significant AI competitive advantages in special logistics, aerial inspection, and other fields.
In the embodied intelligent robotics sector, Chongqing built China's first open-source community, providing computing power, project hosting, simulation training, and other services, reducing innovation and entrepreneurship costs.
In the new-generation AI terminal sector, vivo applied its "Blue Large Model" to AI phones, while ASUS launched high-end AIPC models with a "localized computing power + AI tool matrix" strategy.
Deeply integrated into citizens' lives
AI frontier technologies are also bringing benefits to people's lives.
Primary hospitals face shortages of doctors, and patients wait long for test results. With the launch of Chongqing Jinfeng Laboratory's "AI-assisted pathological diagnosis," this dilemma is being resolved.
The laboratory can receive pathology data from primary hospitals in real time. Using AI analysis, it provides timely assessments of molecular characteristics, prognosis and treatment options, supporting pathologists at primary hospitals in making diagnoses.
This April, Jinfeng Laboratory released China's first standardized brain tumor pathology dataset certified by the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, which can be used for blind testing and verification for brain tumor AI-assisted diagnostic equipment nationwide.
Li Sen, project director of the Smart Pathology Center at Jinfeng Laboratory, said that the laboratory has partnered with 49 medical institutions in 21 provinces across the country to achieve cross-provincial, multi-center, multi-level pathological data collection.
Beyond "AI + healthcare," frontier AI exploration is also continuously integrating into citizens' lives.
Chongqing released "Xiangyouyou," China's first full-scenario service AI platform for rural leisure tourism, which can precisely recommend themed travel routes for citizens.
The "Lingji Zhicheng" large model has been applied to high-rise fire rescue, intelligently recommending optimal escape and rescue routes, giving fire escape and rescue an "AI navigation" and providing a new path for mega-city governance.
The "Internet + transparent kitchen + AI recognition" system has been introduced into hot pot restaurants, intelligently identifying 13 common violations in restaurant kitchens to safeguard consumers' "food safety on the tip of the tongue."
Intelligent agents assist urban governance
While deploying vertical large models and developing industry intelligent agents, Chongqing is also targeting general artificial intelligence technology.
"The biggest feature of general artificial intelligence is its strong autonomy," said Feng Ning, assistant dean of the Chongqing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence.
Feng added that, relying on core technologies such as embodied perception and transfer learning, it can break boundaries between different industries and tasks, determine goals, and adjust execution plans at any time. This will allow AI to evolve from "highly dependent on massive data training" to "evolving around actual value."
Based on this technological path, the institute has built the "Mingjing" intelligent agent full-lifecycle platform, establishing a general intelligent agent production line and constructing the underlying foundation for autonomous agent evolution. The platform's core capabilities are expected to be officially launched by the end of this year.
Using the Mingjing platform, Chongqing aims to integrate data on the natural environment, physical infrastructure and social activities, while exploring applications in key sectors such as intelligent connected new energy vehicles, aerospace information and the low-altitude economy.
Drawing on real-world urban scenarios and tens of millions of anonymized population data records, the platform will simulate urban operations, public behavior and emergency scenarios to support data-driven decisions on public resource allocation, public services and industrial development.
Chongqing has established a three-tier innovation system spanning research institutes, AI-focused future laboratories and enterprise-developed large models. The city now hosts 53 high-level science and technology innovation platforms, 47 new research and development institutions and four AI industrial innovation complexes, driving continued advances in AI.