Increasing use of intelligent agents accelerates digital transformation, create new professions across industries

The increasing application of intelligent agents is playing an essential role in accelerating digital transformation in traditional industries, such as oil and gas, in China, while simultaneously creating new professions to propel intelligent development across sectors.

At the China Petroleum and Petrochemical Enterprise Information Technology Exchange Conference, held in Beijing from May 15 to 16, enterprises showcased numerous cases of application of intelligent agents integrated into various industries.

One such case was from Changqing Oilfield, China's largest oil and gas field, which has achieved automated control of over 50,000 oil wells through intelligent agent coordination.

"Coordination of the intelligent agent has enabled the intelligent analysis of videos from over 40,000 cameras. It can instantly detect oil leaks or fires, with the rate of accuracy improved to over 90 percent," said Shan Jiquan, executive director of the digital and intelligent business department of the Changqing Oilfield, a branch of PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer.

This intelligent agent is designed to assist experts in the oil and gas industry. It possesses professional expertise and comprehension on a par with industry specialists through the accumulation of vast cross-disciplinary knowledge in the field.

"Through this intelligent agent, we can help our employees in the oil and gas industry quickly search for information, generate documents, and conduct document reviews. Moreover, it is self-learning and self-evolving, continuously acquiring more real-time knowledge," said Qi Chen, chief planning engineer of the industrial digitalization solutions department at Chinese tech company ZTE.

In the new model of human-machine collaboration, artificial intelligent agents will handle standardized, repetitive, and even complex tasks, while humans will focus on innovation and decision-making. This complementary partnership boosts both work efficiency and quality.

From digital avatars to industry-specific assistants, artificial intelligent agents not only introduce a new model of human-machine collaboration but also create new career opportunities.

"This transformation will create at least three entirely new professions: intelligent agent systems operation maintenance specialists, intelligent agent resource distribution coordinators, and intelligent agent collaboration designers. Driven by this trend, artificial intelligent agents will become the core force driving productive force leaps, profoundly reshaping our industrial ecosystem, organizational structures, and the role of humans," said Huang Jizhou, chief architect of intelligent agent business at Chinese tech giant Baidu.

Increasing use of intelligent agents accelerates digital transformation, create new professions across industries

Heihe, a small Chinese city across a river from Russia, tells a big story of closer people-to-people exchanges as China and Russia launched mutual visa-free entry in 2025, leading to cross-border bustle.

In this border city, Russian tourists are enjoying local snacks at outdoor morning markets, while Chinese customers are filling up their carts with chocolate, vodka, and signature Russian violet candies at a Russian goods supermarket. The scene has become a fixture of daily life.

Most of the stalls in the city have bilingual signs in Chinese and Russian, and the owners can communicate using basic Russian words and phrases.

"(Russian travelers prefer to buy) fruits. Because Chinese fruits are much cheaper than those in Russia. They also buy steamed buns, and egg burgers," said a stall owner.

"There are noticeably more Russians now. They come with the whole family. They really like buying Chinese products, especially food. They love to eat, and they love to have fun," said another vendor.

Heihe and Blagoveshchensk, the capital of Amur Oblast in Russia's Far East, face each other across the Heilongjiang River, also known in Russia as the Amur River, with the closest distance between the two cities being approximately 700 meters. By boat on the river, it takes only five minutes to reach the opposite bank.

Starting September 15, 2025, China has allowed Russian citizens to enter the country without a visa for up to 30 days under a one-year trial policy, boosting Russian tourists' willingness to travel to China.

China has decided to extend visa-free entry for Russian citizens until Dec 31, 2027, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

Border authorities in Heihe say passenger traffic through the port has reached 360,000 trips so far this year, marking an 80 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

Chinese-Russian border city witnesses closer people-to-people exchanges