Digital News

　　On August 26, it was reported that the State Council recently issued the Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of the “AI Plus” Initiative (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). The document sets out plans to accelerate six key actions, namely integrating AI into six key areas: science and technology, industrial development, consumption upgrading, people’s livelihood and well-being, governance capacity, and global cooperation. It also stresses the need to strengthen eight foundational support capabilities to promote the broad and deep integration of AI across all industries and sectors of the economy and society.

　　An official from the National Development and Reform Commission noted that AI technologies are evolving at an accelerated pace, shifting from experimental exploration to value creation and driving profound transformation across industries and sectors of the economy and society. Yet challenges remain, including divergent views on the role of AI, mismatches between supply and demand, and persistent “last-mile” obstacles to real-world application. Stronger strategic guidance and coordination are urgently needed to comprehensively advance AI-driven scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, and application empowerment.

　　The Opinions sets a goal that by 2027, China will take the lead in achieving broad and deep integration of AI across six key areas. The adoption rate of next-generation intelligent devices and agents is expected to exceed 70%, the core industries of the intelligent economy will see rapid growth, AI’s role in public governance will be significantly enhanced, and the framework for open and cooperative AI development will be further refined. By 2030, AI will fully empower China’s high-quality development. Adoption of next-generation intelligent devices and agents is expected to surpass 90%, the intelligent economy will emerge as a key growth engine for the national economy, and the benefits and outcomes of technological progress will be more widely shared. By 2035, China will have fully entered a new stage of development in both the intelligent economy and intelligent society, providing strong support for basically realizing socialist modernization. The Opinions puts forward a series of policy measures that advance the needs of industry applications in tandem with the development of foundational capabilities. The Opinions, guided by industry application needs and taking into account both domestic and international development, proposes advancing six major actions of the “AI Plus” initiatives.

　　Specifically, the six major actions involve the following six areas. First, science and technology. Accelerate the process of scientific discovery, drive innovation in models of technological R&D and efficiency improvement, and innovate research methods in philosophy and the social sciences. Second, industrial development. Foster new intelligent native models and new business forms, promote intelligent development across all industrial factors, accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of agriculture, and create new development models for the service sector. Third, consumption upgrading. Expand new scenarios of service consumption, and cultivate new forms of product consumption. Fourth, people’s livelihood and well-being. Create more intelligent ways of working, implement more effective ways of learning, and build a better life of higher quality. Fifth, governance capacity. Shape a new vision of human-computer symbiosis in social governance, establish a new framework of multi-faceted security governance, and jointly paint a new picture of ecological governance for a beautiful China. Sixth, global cooperation. Promote inclusive and shared AI development and jointly build a global AI governance framework.

　　“The six key areas highlighted in the Opinions are the primary focus for AI applications. Among them, household consumption and industry are expected to achieve large-scale application first. In terms of product forms, the former will mainly involve AI information services, while the latter will primarily rely on industrial intelligent robots,” said Pu Songtao, director of the Future Industry Research Center at the China Center for Information Industry Development.

　　While outlining the six major actions, the Opinions also call for strengthening eight foundational support capabilities, including enhancing foundational model capabilities, strengthening innovation in data supply, reinforcing overall coordination of intelligent computing power, optimizing the environment for application development, fostering a thriving open-source ecosystem, building a strong talent pipeline, reinforcing policy and regulatory frameworks, and improving security capabilities. These measures include “adopting an application-oriented approach to continuously strengthen high-quality AI dataset development;” “supporting breakthroughs in AI chip innovation and nurturing enabling software ecosystems, while accelerating the deployment of ultra-large-scale intelligent computing clusters;” “establishing a series of national AI application pilot bases and building common platforms for industry applications;” and “promoting the intelligent transformation of software and information service enterprises, alongside the restructuring of their products and service models.”

　　Industry experts believe that the further advancement of the “AI Plus” initiative is expected to generate benefits across multiple segments in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

　　Pu Songtao noted that the “AI Plus” initiative is expected to primarily benefit three segments of the industrial chain closely tied to AI applications: first, computing power-related segments, such as AI chips, servers, and computing service centers; second, data-related segments, including data annotation, data cleaning and processing, and data warehouses; and third, algorithm-related segments, covering AI software and AI algorithm optimization services.

　　“Many related industry segments are also set to benefit. For instance, in AI information services, gains are expected in AI content creation, AI educational services, and AI entertainment services; in intelligent robotics, benefits will extend to robot-related sensors, core components, and contract manufacturing,” said Pu Songtao.

　　Currently, China has achieved a series of landmark breakthroughs in large AI models, with its AI industry steadily growing and companies showing ever-greater vitality. According to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), there are over 300 AI-related listed companies in China, whose AI-related revenue constitutes about 70 percent of the country’s total AI industry scale. The innovation areas of AI unicorns are widely distributed, with the top five currently being large models, autonomous driving, intelligent robots, business intelligence applications, and intelligent computing chips.

　　According to the information, moving forward, China will continue to improve relevant laws and regulations, institutional policies, application standards, and ethical guidelines to foster a favorable environment for AI applications. Efforts will also include expanding financial and fiscal support for the AI sector, improving trial-and-error and risk-tolerance management systems, and promoting greater openness in key application scenarios. In addition, China will encourage government departments and state-owned enterprises to play a leading, demonstrative role, supporting the practical implementation of AI technologies through open application scenarios. To foster the development of the industrial ecosystem, efforts will focus on advancing all-factor intelligent development, nurturing AI application service providers, building AI application service chains, and vigorously developing intelligent-native technologies, products, and service systems, while cultivating intelligent-native enterprises. At the same time, measures will be taken to prevent and address the security risks and challenges posed by AI.