Shanghai officially launched on Saturday efforts to build China's second pilot zone for new-generation innovation and development of artificial intelligence (AI).

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Shanghai municipal government jointly made the announcement.

The pilot zone in Shanghai, which follows the one launched in Beijing in February, will focus on AI in medical care and health, smart transportation and smart communities, said Gan Pin, deputy director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.

"As we apply AI in the three fields, the result will be tremendous changes to people's lives, which will help us contribute to the nationwide development of AI," Gan said.

Shanghai hopes to raise the level of originality, develop industrial use, build an environment for innovation, and establish legal, regulatory and ethical standards for AI, he said.

Shanghai has vigorously promoted the development of the AI industry with its AI@SH action in recent years, attracting companies like Microsoft and IBM.

The east China metropolis is eyeing a global AI hub with plans to expand the scale of its industry to more than 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020.

The pilot zone aims to become a leader in the theory, technology, application, talent and governance of AI by 2023, according to the target plan.

(Cover via VCG)