The traditional tunneling technology is dominantly based on experience analogy and small amount of numerical analysis, which severely restricts the development of the tunneling technology. Therefore, it seems particularly necessary to introduce the artificial intelligence to the tunnel engineering. In the paper, the artificial intelligence is briefly presented and the application of the artificial intelligence in the tunnel engineering is described in respect of design, construction, operation and maintenance of tunnels. Due to the application of the artificial intelligence in tunnel engineering, the relevant tunnel engineering technologies will be optimized so as to improve the level of safety, efficiency, comfort and energy saving of tunnel engineering.