diff --git a/.github/workflows/ai-service-ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ai-service-ci.yaml
index 8858556d7..370f232fb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ai-service-ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ai-service-ci.yaml
@@ -5,19 +5,26 @@ name: AI Service CI
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: [ "main" ]
+    branches: [ main ]
   pull_request:
-    branches: [ "main" ]
+    types: [ labeled ]
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
+concurrency:
+  # avoid mis-canceling the ci runs while other labels are added to the PR, so we add the label name as the condition
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.label.name == 'ci/ai-service' && github.event.number || github.sha }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+
 defaults:
-    run:
-        working-directory: wren-ai-service
+  run:
+    working-directory: wren-ai-service
 
 jobs:
   ci:
+    if: ${{ github.event.label.name == 'ci/ai-service' || github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix: