China's new development plan includes AI safety goals

A new broad set of economic development guidelines adopted by Chinese leadership includes demands for establishing artificial intelligence safeguards while expanding the use of AI across industries, state news agency Xinhua reported Friday.

Xinhua said that the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee and the State Council had issued a set of guidelines "aimed at accelerating the development of new quality productive forces."

The guidelines "outline 19 key measures in five areas", Xinhua said, including "advancing scientific and technological innovation" and "deepening the integration of sci-tech and industrial innovation."


Among the guidelines is the full implementation of China's "AI Plus" initiative to transform industries with the new technology through a broad expansion of its use across the economy.

They also note that "efforts are also needed to establish systems for technology monitoring, early risk warning and emergency response to ensure that AI is safe, reliable and controllable," Xinhua said.

The new development guidelines come after President Xi Jinping said this summer that AI should be "always under human control", calling for more "laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning, and emergency response systems".

US President Donald Trump, viewing the technology as a key area of competition of China, has instead urged more limited government regulation of AI.

Top US tech leaders signed an agreement on self-regulation during a meeting with Trump late last month, which the president said was "morally binding."

China already has a complex, evolving set of rules on how AI is used, including by children.

Regulations on AI companion bots took effect in July, aiming to curb emotional dependency and banning the creation of digital clones of real people without their consent.