Discussions about the upward trend of applying artificial intelligence (AI) into smart city building in many countries worldwide, and possible applications in Da Nang were on the spotlight at a recent seminar held in the city.

The event facilitated the connection between information technology (IT) solution researchers, providers, and local State management agencies.

According to Mr Le Son Phong, the Deputy Director of municipal Department of Information and Communications, since 2014, Da Nang has implemented the roadmap for turning it into a smart city on the basis of promoting IT applications in such various aspects as bus management, traffic control, surveillance camera, automatic water quality monitoring, environmental monitoring, and food safety management.

The AI applications have started in the tourism services in the city through the operation of the Danang FantastiCity Chatbot, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, which has jointly been opened by the municipal Department of Tourism, and the city-based Hekate Technology Co.

The Danang FantasiCity chatbot, in both Vietnames and English, is attached to the Danang FantasiCity fanpage. Accessing it simply involves typing ‘Danang FantasiCity’ on Facebook or visiting https://visitdanang.com.vn/vi/.

The application allows visitors to search key information on attractions, things to do, events, accommodation, cuisine, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), public rest-stops, necessary hotlines, weather forecasts, and other Good-to-know information.

Also at the seminar, it was suggested that chatbot be applied to enhance the quality of public services offered by the municipal Public Service Information Centre.

The city is striving to realise its target of building basic database system by 2020 which is considered to be the largest infrastructure for smart city building and is also the core for promoting AI applications.