Can you imagine? Down in the coal mines, there are more cameras than workers.

At Shandong Energy Group Co., Ltd., there is a strict safety rule: "no video, no work." There are over 800 cameras on average in each mine.

"In the past, most of our video footage could only be used to for retrospective analysis," said Zhou Jianpeng, the deputy general manager of Shandong Energy Group's Yunding Technology. "Now with the wide use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the coal mines, cameras are playing a 'big role.'"

In the underground operation area, visual recognition technology is replacing the traditional mode of "people watching people." AI has become a "safety officer" 24 hours on duty. Once someone enters the operation area, it will automatically issue a warning. In a multi-rope friction hoisting system, the integration of an AI reasoning server enables real-time analysis to swiftly identify potential issues such as rope misalignment and wear.

Intelligent applications are also enhancing efficiency.

In mine shafts which are nearly 1,000 meters deep and face the risk of rock bursts, pressure relief drilling is essential to prevent collapses. Based on intelligent analysis and assisted verification of a visual recognition large language model, the construction supervision process for drilling has been shortened to 10 minutes from a previous length of three days, achieving a 100 percent acceptance rate.

"These applications are inseparable from two key elements: data and intelligence," explained Jiang Wangcheng, vice president of Huawei's Oil, Gas and Mining BU.

In the past, people often likened coal to "black gold." In Jiang's view, data is now becoming the "gold" of the intelligent era. Mines not only produce coal, but also a huge amount of data. This provides application scenarios and rich data elements for new technologies such as AI represented by large language models. "Nowadays, our large language models for mines have included more than 80 operational scenarios of mining enterprises," Jiang said.

Just as oil is essential to industry, the rich data resources generated in various industries serve as "digital blood" driving the new round of industrial transformation. Driven by intelligent technology, data's potential value is being unleashed at an accelerated pace.