SHANGHAI : China State Shipbuilding Corp(CSSC), the world’s largest shipbuilder, has begun exploring artificial intelligence to automate and optimize ship design, according to a senior technologist.
Speaking exclusively to China Daily at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday, Gu Yiqing, Deputy Chief engineer of CSSC’s Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute, revealed that China’s massive shipbuilding footprint gives it an unmatched data advantage for AI training.
“The core challenge we are dealing with lies in consolidating these data resources, preparing them for AI, and training AI systems on them,” Gu said, adding that the process is “fraught with difficulties”.
“Once breakthroughs are achieved in this process, the adoption of AI-assisted ship design will become a popular trend in this industry. Looking ahead, AI can help organize design drawings and documentation, construct semantic corpora for ship design, improve design efficiency and optimize design outcomes,” she said.
Engineers from the Shanghai institute, a CSSC subsidiary, have already launched preliminary explorations in this field, Gu added.
Currently, they are training small-scale models to master design codes, interpret specifications and extract key information from existing blueprints. “These foundational small models must be fully refined first before they can be integrated into a large-scale model,” Gu said.
While AI tools are currently being used to compare design standards and verify parameters, Gu stressed that human expertise remains central. All AI-generated results still require validation by expert teams. “Full reliance on AI for design work is not feasible at this stage,” she said, noting that global shipbuilding powers are all in similar early exploratory phases.
Gu is a leading figure in the field, having spearheaded the design of the Dazhi, the world’s first smart ship, and serving as chief system architect for the Ningyuan Diankun, the world’s largest pure-electric, autonomous container ship.
She made the remarks before attending a forum on the applications of AI in maritime and shipbuilding industries.
The forum was hosted by CSSC, attracting more than 200 researchers and enterprise representatives from home and abroad.
The event consisted of several presentations about AI’s role and potential in maritime and shipbuilding businesses, a panel discussion, and announcements of progress made by CSSC engineers in applying AI to their work.
With AI already deeply integrated into numerous industries and delivering remarkable benefits, engineers from China’s shipbuilding industry are exploring how to unlock AI’s full potential within their respective fields.
If AI technologies can be deployed rationally and efficiently, experts said China can not only consolidate its advantages in output and new ship orders, but also further elevate its technological edge as the world’s top shipbuilding nation.
According to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s shipbuilding industry has ranked first worldwide for the past 16 years in three core indicators: shipbuilding output, newly received orders and outstanding orders.
Statistics from Clarksons Research show that China’s shipbuilding sector maintained its global lead across the three major indicators in the first half of this year, accounting for 63.3 percent, 80.9 percent and 73.3 percent of the respective global totals.
