Abstract: Welding production in shipyard heavily relies on manual labor. To address the pressures of international competition and labor shortages, it is essential to further promote welding automation and intelligence. This article elaborates on the relationship between automation and intelligence in ship welding, emphasizing that they are not complete replacements for manual welding but should be integrated with the specific production characteristics of shipyards to achieve "human-machine collaboration." The article also summarizes the development trends in shipyard welding and provides recommendations for future advancements.