China’s Drive for Technological Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. Key Policies and Government-Industry Integration

Abstract

The world has shifted to the digital economy and data has become one of the most valuable commodities. As internet applications have made data collection seamless, artificial intelligence systems bring significant productivity gains by revolutionising the way data is processed and transformed into added-value. Artificial intelligence has a deep impact over our industrial and production means, supply chains and consumer patterns, as well as over education, mass-media, governance, and national security. Therefore, artificial intelligence development has become a priority of strategic importance to most nations. China, within the last decades, has advanced from a labour-intensive and low-cost manufacturing base to an increasingly sophisticated economy that is able to deliver high added-value goods and services to the world markets. In this transition, China is now openly aiming to become an innovation powerhouse that holds the global edge in crucial technologies. Given the fertile grounds laid by China’s market scale, high digital penetration rates and massive pool of consumers, but also the government’s interest in deploying social governance systems and increasing military capabilities, artificial intelligence became a top policy priority that is reflected at all levels. Within the evolutionary framework of Learning Models and drawing upon a data collected from public policy documents, specialised commercial databases and qualitative interviews conducted on the ground, this paper will examine the main characteristics of China’s AI development policy, highlighting the role played by the central and local governments within the AI ecosystem and the complex interactions with tech companies, universities and talent. At the same time, it aims to address several pertaining misconceptions in existing literature about China’s AI landscape and finally, on this basis, propose a set of key recommendations to the European Union regarding AI development.