context: The Politburo held a collective study session on AI in October 2018. The 2025 Government Work Report reaffirmed the commitment to advancing the AI+ initiative, aiming to leverage breakthroughs in AI by combining the PRC’s digital capabilities, manufacturing strength and vast market scale.
The Politburo held a collective study session on strengthening the development and supervision of AI on 25 April, reports Xinhua.
While presiding over the study session, Xi Jinping 习近平 emphasised that in response to the rapidly evolving landscape of next-generation AI, the PRC must
- leverage the strengths of its new nationwide system
- maintain a path of self-reliance and continuous innovation
- prioritise real-world applications
- understand and anticipate the development trends and underlying dynamics of AI and guide AI development in a direction that is beneficial, safe and equitable
- accelerate the creation and refinement of laws, regulations, policies, standards for application and ethical guidelines
- establish robust systems for technical monitoring, risk assessment and emergency response to ensure that AI remains safe, reliable and controllable
- strengthen basic research
- focus national efforts on overcoming core technological bottlenecks, including high-end chips and foundational software
- build an autonomous, controllable and interoperable AI hardware and software ecosystem
- harness AI to drive a paradigm shift in scientific research and accelerate innovation across a wide range of fields
Zheng Nanning 郑南宁 Xi'an Jiaotong University professor notes
- AI, as a strategic technology driving a new wave of scientific and industrial transformation, is profoundly reshaping human production and lifestyles
- the Central Committee places great importance on the development of AI
- in recent years, the PRC has strengthened its top-level planning and strategic deployment, leading to an overall and systematic advancement in the country’s AI capabilities
- however, significant gaps remain in fundamental theories and key core technologies
To fully leverage the PRC's advantages (rich data resources, a comprehensive industrial system, broad application scenarios and a vast market space), Xi emphasised the need to
- promote the deep integration of AI-driven technological and industrial innovation
- establish an enterprise-led, collaborative innovation ecosystem linking industry, academia, research and application
- support the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries
- opening new pathways for the growth of strategic emerging and future industries
- coordinate the development of computing infrastructure
- advance the utilisation, development and open sharing of data resources
Xi emphasised that as a new technology and emerging field, AI requires strong policy support. He called for efforts to
- fully leverage policies related to IP rights, fiscal and tax incentives, government procurement and the opening of public facilities to strengthen the integration of scitech and finance
- promote AI education across all levels of the education system and enhance public AI literacy, continuously cultivating a pipeline of high-quality talent
- improve mechanisms for supporting scientific research, career development and talent evaluation in AI
- build platforms and create conditions that enable a wide range of talents to realise their potential
Xi emphasised that AI should serve as an international public good that benefits all of humanity. He called for efforts to
- expand international cooperation in AI, support technological capacity-building in the Global South and contribute to narrowing the global intelligence gap
- encourage all parties to align and coordinate their development strategies, governance frameworks and technical standards, working toward the establishment of a broadly accepted global governance system and standardised regulations as soon as possible