The application of artificial intelligence should be expanded into more core industrial scenarios in order to step up China's smart economy development and spur its modernization drive, said scholars and business executives.

The comments came after a proposal in this year's Government Work Report urged more effort to "create new forms of smart economy".

Jiang Qiping, deputy director of the academic committee of the China Management Science Society (CMSS), said that to achieve the goal, promoting the deep use of AI and "truly integrating it into core industrial scenarios" would be key.

Relying solely on a single AI system will not enable any company to fix all business woes overnight — a truth that Chinese enterprises have now grasped, Jiang said.

Muhammad Hamayun, a Pakistani scholar at Multimedia University in Malaysia, said China's digital transformation has entered a new phase driven by AI, and that a growing industry consensus believes that AI's true value lies not merely as a "substitute tool", but in the deep restructuring of enterprises' foundational processes.

Hamayun said he was impressed by the Chinese premier's remarks on developing new forms of smart economy and efforts to further advance and expand the "AI Plus" initiative during the delivery of the Government Work Report at the just concluded two sessions.

"China's push to bolster the smart economy will undoubtedly boost its economy and modernization drive," said Hamayun.

As of the end of 2025, China's core AI industry had surpassed 1.2 trillion yuan ($174.5 billion) in scale, with "AI Plus" evolving from blueprint to deep industrial applications.

In addition, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, China's AI-related industries will be valued at more than 10 trillion yuan by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

Guo Wei, chairman of digital transformation services provider Digital China, highlighted AI's role in driving corporate operations and boosting efficiency.

The chairman said the company, which floats on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, has introduced an "AI for Process" mechanism, which advocates the systematic integration of AI capabilities across full business operations.

By reorganizing data assets, the mechanism enables efficient collaboration between intelligent agents and human employees, ultimately driving substantive leaps in corporate competitiveness, he said.

"The transformation is not simply about adding functions to existing systems, but is a systematic innovation in technology architecture, organizational models and work methods around business flow, data flow and knowledge flow," Guo added.

"In the integration progress, AI will upgrade from an auxiliary tool to a core driver of process operation, driving enterprises to transition from traditional information architecture to a new development paradigm centering on intelligence," said Li Gang, vice-president and chief technology officer of Digital China.

Citing Digital China's case, Jiang from the CMSS said such a deep integration of AI into company operations is key to boosting process restructuring and productivity transformation.

"Only by carrying out systematic innovation with 'process reengineering' being a key focus of efforts can companies effectively transform technological potential into industrial momentum, which will fuel the creation of new forms of smart economy in China," Jiang added.

Digital China's process-driven AI transformation has brought notable efficiency improvements for Voyah — a high-end smart new energy brand under Dongfeng Motor Corp.

Xu Yuance, head of digital large model applications at Voyah, said Digital China's core philosophy of "AI for Process" aligns perfectly with the company's digital transformation strategy.

"Integrating large model capabilities into cross-dimensional processes across production, sales and service, while combining enterprise knowledge governance and automated operational systems, will create far greater value than mere efficiency gains," said Xu. "Ultimately, this approach can help achieve high-quality end-to-end delivery and enable efficient collaboration across teams and processes."

hanjingyan@chinadaily.com.cn