Over the past decade or so, we have witnessed a global race to make advances in artificial intelligence (AI). China has become a key player in this race and has made it a national priority since 2017. Since then, it has been moving forward and making every effort to take the lead in AI.
While 2023 has been a year of AI hype — particularly for generative AI, thanks to the popularity of ChatGPT — the discipline has been of interest to most countries for years and will only grow in importance. According to the 2023 AI Index Report by the HAI (Stanford Institute for Human-centered Artificial Intelligence), global investment in AI has increased significantly over the last decade.
By 2022, private investment in AI was 18 times higher than in 2013. In 2017, China made AI a national priority, with the aim of becoming the world’s “major AI innovation centre” by 2030.
According to the State Council’s 2017 guidelines, AI should be used to promote China’s technology, economy and social welfare, maintain national security and contribute to the world. The guidelines also state that AI should be applied in public service and social management to “construct a safe and convenient intelligent society”.
So, what does China’s AI industry look like?
According to a recent Nikkei[1] study, “China is the undisputed champion in artificial intelligence research papers […] far...
