China Taps Gas to Build a Smart Economy, AI Now Enters the Real World
BEIJING - China is accelerating the development of an artificial intelligence-based (AI) smart economy to open up new sources of growth. China Daily quoted Monday, March 30, reported that the impetus is no longer stopping in the digital space, but has begun to enter everyday life and the real economy sector.
The picture was seen at the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing. At one of the food stalls, visitors were served a series of robots that worked without human intervention. There are robots that string haw fruit sweets, there are those who brew coffee, there are those who take orders, and there are those who arrange food packages before handing them over to customers.
The entire process is controlled by a centralized system. Customers simply scan a QR code to order a coffee and dessert package, and then two minutes later the order is ready to be picked up.
According to the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, on the first day of the event, the robot counter served more than 100 orders. As China Daily wrote, robots from various companies are driven by a single integrated technology platform that handles the process from ordering to delivery. This model is considered to encourage a change from "single machine intelligence" to "herd intelligence".
The scene gives an idea of China's new economic direction. This year, the Chinese government for the first time emphasized the importance of building "new forms of intelligent economy" and expanding the "AI Plus" initiative.
Member of the Chinese government working group, Chen Changsheng, as quoted by China Daily, said AI is changing business models, production systems, and daily life. The goal is to seize the opportunities of AI development, expand its application in various sectors, and open up new growth space.
Official data shows that by 2025, China's core AI industry has surpassed 1.2 trillion yuan or about 174 billion US dollars, with more than 6,200 companies. Peking University Professor Zhou Li'an assessed that AI is now an important foundation of the Chinese economy because it is supported by big data, a complete industrial system, and a wide range of application spaces.
China is also accelerating the use of AI in the manufacturing, agriculture, education, and health sectors. In addition, the government is encouraging the development of open source, intelligent agent industries, and large-scale computing clusters. Quoted from the same source, Director of the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence Zhu Songchun said that China's manufacturing strength gave China an advantage in the field of robotics. Meanwhile, Tsinghua University professor Shen Yang assessed that this strategy not only boosted China's productivity, but also opened up new opportunities for global investors.