HANGZHOU - In one Chinese province, artificial intelligence appears to be creating abundant jobs for humans, instead of stealing them - but only for those in the know. A senior official in Zhejiang province, home to Alibaba, said on Monday that the province aims to hire more than 110,000 AI professionals in the next five years.

Among them will be 50 world-leading experts, 500 scientific entrepreneurs, and 1,000 development and research personnel, said Yao Zhiwen, deputy head of the organization department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

He said the government would provide financial support for entrepreneurs in AI and encourage universities to enroll more graduate students in related subjects.

Zhejiang will set up a 1 billion yuan ($147 million) development fund and a 50 million yuan investment fund to support AI professionals and startups, he said.

China is in the midst of an AI boom, with governments, research institutes, tech firms and entrepreneurs racing to be involved, as they bet on the new discipline taking the lead in economic growth and social development.

Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu - the top three Chinese tech companies - are all investing heavily in AI research.

AI professionals are sought after across the country, but no other local government has set such ambitious goals or offered such lucrative incentives.

The official was speaking at a global AI forum themed "The Future is Now", in Hangzhou on Monday.

Xinhua