Introduction

Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) is a strategic force leading a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, profoundly reshaping the global innovation landscape, development paradigms, and human lifestyles. However, its widespread application also brings a series of risks and challenges. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasizes the importance of AI governance, stating that we must grasp the trends and laws of AI development, expedite the formulation of relevant laws, regulations, policies, application norms, and ethical guidelines, and establish a technical monitoring, risk warning, and emergency response system. This provides fundamental guidance to ensure that China’s AI develops in a beneficial, safe, and equitable direction.

Importance of Strengthening AI Governance

In the face of new challenges posed by the rapid iteration of AI technology, deep penetration of applications, and complex risks, accurately grasping AI development trends and strengthening governance is essential for promoting the healthy and orderly development of AI in China.

Strategic Advantage in Technological Revolution

Xi Jinping points out that AI is a significant driving force in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Currently, AI technology innovation is in a period of intense activity, accelerating the industrialization process and creating favorable conditions for future development. Major countries are accelerating their AI development, giving rise to new fields such as intelligent agents, autonomous driving, embodied intelligence, and smart wearables, which are changing the business landscape and reshaping the global economy. Strengthening AI governance will create a stable, transparent, and predictable governance environment, providing clear rules for enterprises and research institutions, encouraging investment and innovation, and maximizing innovation potential.

Promoting High-Quality Economic and Social Development

Xi Jinping emphasizes that we must deeply understand the characteristics of the new generation of AI development and strengthen the integration of AI and industrial development to provide new momentum for high-quality development. AI is a key driving force for upgrading industrial intelligence and cultivating new economic growth points. By the end of 2025, China is expected to have over 6,000 AI companies, forming a complete industrial system from foundational infrastructure to model frameworks and industry applications. Domestic large models are leading the global ecosystem through open-source strategies, transforming AI from cutting-edge technology used by a few companies into a widely accessible tool across various industries. Exploring effective AI governance paths can better prevent risks and create a stable policy environment, ensuring AI serves as a powerful engine for economic quality improvement and comprehensive social progress.

Safeguarding National Security and Social Stability

Xi Jinping states that we must improve the AI regulatory system to firmly grasp the initiative in AI development and governance. Currently, the security risks associated with AI are increasingly prominent, characterized by complexity, systemic issues, and pervasiveness. The development of AI technology brings inherent security risks, and the unique characteristics of large AI models complicate security and control. Moreover, the widespread application of AI models introduces new safety challenges, such as the misuse of open-source ecosystems and vulnerabilities in software supply chains, leading to secondary risks at individual, group, and societal levels. Therefore, strengthening AI governance is an inherent requirement for implementing a comprehensive national security concept, necessitating the establishment of a risk prevention system covering the entire chain from technology research and development to product application and social impact.

Building a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity

Xi Jinping asserts that AI should be an international public good that benefits all humanity. We must promote coordination in development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards among all parties to form a widely accepted global governance framework. Currently, AI development is at a critical window of technological leap, application explosion, and governance exploration. Geopolitical turmoil and anti-globalization sentiments severely affect global cooperation and sustainable development. Accelerating the theoretical, institutional, and practical innovation of AI governance in China, while proposing governance solutions that embody Chinese wisdom and align with the common interests of all countries, will help build a fairer, more reasonable, inclusive, and shared global AI governance system.

Basic Principles for Strengthening AI Governance

Effective governance must be guided by scientific concepts and clear principles. Strengthening AI governance should be based on Xi Jinping’s important discourse on AI governance, accurately grasping the following basic principles.

Establishing a Value Orientation Towards Beneficence

AI governance should ensure that the ultimate goal of technological development is to enhance human welfare and promote comprehensive human development. Enhancing human welfare means measuring success by the sense of gain, happiness, and security of the people, ensuring accessibility of intelligent services for all social groups, and accelerating the bridging of the digital divide. Promoting comprehensive human development means guaranteeing that human subjectivity is always present, allowing AI to serve as an “amplifier” for expanding human cognitive boundaries and capabilities.

Implementing Systematic Thinking

AI development and safety are highly interrelated. From a development perspective, AI is a strategic technology related to national competitiveness and security, as well as a key general technology for driving productivity leaps. From a safety perspective, the risks associated with AI development in China are numerous and fast-transmitting, requiring a strong commitment to safety to navigate the waves of technological change.

Strengthening the Institutional Foundation of Good Governance

Strengthening AI governance through legal means is a requirement for building a modern socialist country on the rule of law. It can better provide institutional guarantees for AI development. This involves adapting to new demands arising from productivity progress and responding to new issues accompanying technological and industrial development.

Innovating Agile and Dynamic Governance Models

Governance should be inclusive and beneficial, promoting the open sharing of core resources such as computing power, algorithms, and data, and lowering barriers to technology application. Supporting open-source community development and public data set sharing will facilitate knowledge and technology diffusion.

Multi-Dimensional Collaboration to Accelerate AI Governance

The scientific nature of theory must ultimately manifest as practical guidance. To implement Xi Jinping’s important discourse on AI governance, we should use systematic thinking to construct a governance system covering the entire chain of AI research, deployment, application, and impact.

Strengthening Data Governance

Data is a core element and strategic resource for AI development, and its quality, scale, and governance level directly determine the depth and breadth of AI development. Strengthening data governance aims to overcome key bottlenecks in the process of data elementization.

Enhancing Model Governance Efficiency

AI large models have become the core carrier and capability hub of intelligent systems. The reliability, safety, and values of models directly determine the quality and safety of all applications based on them. Therefore, model governance is a key link in the AI governance system.

Optimizing Application Governance Ecology

As the “AI+” initiative deepens, AI is accelerating its transition from “thinking” to “doing,” with application scenarios continuously expanding. This leads to the cross-domain fusion of technology applications and systemic externalities, extending risks from virtual digital spaces to physical entities and ethical values.

Refining Ethical Governance Requirements

AI ethical governance involves not only the establishment of technical rules but also the construction of value orders. Discussions around algorithm fairness, data privacy, and machine responsibility are deeply rooted in the historical and cultural traditions of various countries.

Strengthening Global Governance Collaboration

AI governance concerns the fate of all humanity and is a common challenge faced by countries worldwide. In recent years, geopolitical factors, cultural traditions, and systemic differences have led to profound divergences in global AI governance directions.