Digital News

　　The Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development state: “The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Plus Initiative should be advanced across the board. We should steer the transformation of scientific research paradigms with AI, apply AI tools in industrial development, cultural advancement, public well-being initiatives, and social governance, and strive to gain the edge in AI industrial application. All these efforts will facilitate AI empowerment in all sectors on all fronts.” This represents a major strategic deployment aimed at promoting the broad and deep integration of AI into all sectors and fields of economic and social development, reshaping production and living patterns, and driving a revolutionary leap in productive forces as well as a profound transformation in production relations.

　　First, AI is a strategic technology that drives the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation in the digital economy era. At present, global AI technologies are evolving at an accelerating pace, and advancing next-generation AI has become a strategic imperative for China to seize the opportunities arising from this new wave of technological and industrial change. Although China is among the global leaders in AI development, weaknesses remain in fundamental theories and key core technologies. To secure an early foothold and competitive advantage in the AI field, China must achieve breakthroughs in basic theories, methodologies, and tools. Fully implementing the “AI Plus” initiative will help leverage China’s advantages—its complete industrial system, massive market scale, and rich application scenarios—to drive the continued advancement of AI technologies through practical application. This will, in turn, foster a virtuous cycle in which innovation drives application and application, in turn, fuels further innovation.

　　Second, as the cost of training large models continues to fall, multimodal fusion technologies improve, and intelligent agents and embodied intelligence advance rapidly, AI is moving from the laboratory into real-world production and everyday life, creating a wealth of new development opportunities. Many countries have introduced AI development strategies and strengthened their industrial deployment in this field, giving rise to new areas and emerging tracks such as autonomous driving, humanoid robots, autonomous drones, brain–computer interfaces, smart phones, smart TVs, smart computers, and smart wearable devices. These sectors may well grow into future “arenas” that reshape global commerce and redefine the world economy. In the face of intense international competition, those who take the lead in commercializing and industrializing AI technologies will gain an early advantage in expanding their markets. Fully implementing the “AI Plus” initiative aims to further strengthen the application-oriented approach to AI technology development, actively cultivate innovative AI products and services, promote large-scale and commercialized applications of AI, and build an intelligent economy characterized by data-driven processes, human–machine collaboration, cross-sector integration, and collaborative value creation.

　　Third, the number of generative AI products has surged, and application scenarios continue to expand, driving the development of Digital China from the stage of digitalization to that of Digital Intelligence. Over the past decade, the development of Digital China has created favorable conditions and laid a solid foundation for the comprehensive implementation of the “AI Plus” initiative. In 2024, the added value of China’s core digital economy industries accounted for approximately 10% of GDP, maintaining China’s position as the world’s second-largest digital economy. The national data market exceeded 160 billion yuan in transaction volume, an increase of over 30% compared with 2023. Intelligent manufacturing has achieved remarkable results, with more than 35,000 basic-level and over 230 world-class smart factories established. Digital living has gradually become an indispensable part of Chinese society, with initiatives such as “handling one matter efficiently,” “at most one visit,” the Smart Education of China, Internet hospitals, and telemedicine service networks bringing significant convenience to the public. Fully implementing the “AI Plus” initiative not only ensures the continued and consistent advancement of Digital China in line with its long-term blueprint but also promotes the timely and accelerated adoption and deep integration of AI across all sectors of economic and social development, striving to open a new stage of Digital Intelligence.

　　Fourth, promoting the large-scale and commercialized application of AI is a long-term and complex systemic endeavor that requires mobilizing broad support from all sectors through the comprehensive implementation of the “AI Plus” initiative. In terms of technological breakthroughs, efforts must be strengthened in fundamental theoretical research, with support for multi-path technological exploration and innovation in foundational infrastructure; key core technologies must be mastered, and an open-source ecosystem cultivated to establish an autonomous, controllable, and collaboratively functioning AI software–hardware infrastructure. In terms of factor support, it is essential to coordinate the development of computing infrastructure, deepen the development, utilization, and open sharing of data resources, ensure high-quality AI education across all levels, promote AI literacy throughout society, strengthen talent cultivation and recruitment, and increase financial and fiscal policy support, all to provide sustained momentum for AI development. In terms of large-scale application, efforts should drive paradigm shifts in scientific research powered by AI, promote deep integration of AI across the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, and lower barriers for the prioritized application of AI in livelihood-related fields such as employment, healthcare, elderly care, education, and culture; the orderly application of AI in social governance should also be advanced to build an innovative and dynamic intelligent economy and a more human-centered intelligent society. In terms of security and safeguards, it is imperative to accelerate the development and refinement of relevant laws, regulations, policy systems, application standards, and ethical guidelines, and to establish systems for technological monitoring, risk warning, and emergency response to ensure that AI remains safe, reliable, and controllable.