On 12 August 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and another five departments released the Guidance on Accelerating Scene Innovation to Promote High-Level Application of Artificial Intelligence for High-Quality Economic Development (the “Guidance"), which clearly sets scene innovation as the development goal of both AI technology upgrades and new paths for industrial growth. The Guidance also puts forward specific measures including creating major scenes for AI, improving innovation capabilities for AI scenes, accelerating the opening of AI scenes, and strengthening the supply of innovation elements for AI scenes.
Following the Guidance, on 15 August 2022, the MOST issued the Notice on Supporting the Construction of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Application Scenarios, releasing the first batch of application scenarios with good foundations. The first batch of application scenarios involve 10 specific fields including smart farms, smart ports, smart mines, smart factories, smart homes, smart education, autonomous driving, smart diagnosis and treatment, smart courts, and smart supply chains.
On 18 October 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a statement proposing a Global AI Governance Initiative. The initiative systematically outlines China’s proposals on AI governance from three aspects, namely, the development, security and governance of AI.
The Guidance proposes that one of the development goals of AI scenario innovation is to accelerate the emergence of major application scenarios in the fields of economic and social development, scientific research discoveries, and major activity guarantees. The Guidance divides major AI scenarios into 4 categories and encourages exploration of the application scenarios for AI technology in these scenarios:
In order to promote the development of AI scene innovation, the Guidance puts forward policy encouragement opinions from various aspects of elements supply:
For enterprises that develop and apply AI technology, the Guidance points out major application scenarios for AI, emphasises the importance of scenario innovation for the high-quality development of the national economy, and provides policy incentives for enterprises to carry out AI scenario innovation. In addition, it is recommended that enterprises keep a close eye on the legislative and enforcement developments of AI technology.
In recent years, the Chinese government has continuously increased its support for the innovative development and application of AI at the policy level, and the centre of AI-related policies has gradually shifted from strategic deployment to technological application, implementation and innovation.
Additionally, on 30 August 2022, the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Development of Artificial Intelligence Industry (Draft) was released for public comments. The draft intends to promote the development of Shanghai’s AI industry by improving the management mechanism, and optimising the allocation of computing power, algorithms, data and other elements of resources. On September 6, the first special local legislation for the AI industry - the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Artificial Intelligence Industry Promotion Regulations (the “Shenzhen AI Regulations) was officially announced and will come into effect on 1 November 2022. The Shenzhen AI Regulations create an innovative product access system. Low-risk AI products and services that do not have national or local standards but meet international advanced product standards or specifications are allowed to be tested and piloted. It is expected that other local governments in China will follow the example of Shanghai and Shenzhen to issue local policy or legislation to introduce more specific measures to promote the development of the AI industry.
*Information is accurate up to 27 November 2023