Recently, Assistant Professor Shaobo Cui from the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shanghai Jiao Tong University was invited to appear on China Global Television Network’s (CGTN) China 24 program. Through two live interview segments, he shared his professional insights on hot topics including AI-driven industrial transformation, AI exports, and China’s technology tourism. Dr. Cui is a doctoral supervisor at the School of Artificial Intelligence, a recipient of the National High-Level Young Talent program, and holds a PhD from EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne). His main research interests include causal intelligence, causal world models, and applications of causal intelligence in the healthcare field.
Regarding AI-driven industrial transformation and export opportunities, Dr. Cui noted that AI creates value differently in manufacturing and service sectors. In manufacturing, AI is primarily used to enhance physical production processes—deployment is more complex but yields lasting value; in services, it focuses on automating knowledge work and improving service delivery, with greater flexibility and lower marginal costs. Looking ahead, the major growth areas of the AI industry can be broadly grouped into three categories: AI infrastructure (chips, computing power, cloud platforms), AI-enabled products (smartphones, robots, intelligent devices), and AI applications such as smart factories and AI for Science. On AI exports, Dr. Cui believes that China will not only export large foundation models (such as DeepSeek, Qwen, and Kimi), but will also increasingly export AI-enabled products, industrial solutions, and digital infrastructure.
On the topic of China’s technology tourism, Dr. Cui observed that what impresses foreign visitors most is how deeply technology is integrated into everyday life—mobile payments, high-speed rail, online food ordering, bike-sharing, and various online public services. Each may seem simple, but together they make daily life remarkably convenient. Technology is not confined to laboratories or exhibitions; it is rapidly deployed at scale and becomes part of ordinary people’s lives, something foreign visitors can directly experience. In the future, technology tourism is expected to grow alongside cultural and culinary tourism as a new driver for attracting international visitors. He envisioned a travel scenario: visiting a smart factory in the morning, exploring an ancient town for traditional culture in the afternoon, and enjoying local cuisine in the evening—such an itinerary would showcase both modern China and its 5,000‑year‑old cultural heritage, making the travel experience richer and more memorable.
