Recently, the State Council officially issued the “Opinions on In-depth Implementation of the ‘Artificial Intelligence +’ Action” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), marking a critical leap in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) development from technological breakthroughs to full-factor empowerment. Following the “Internet +” initiative, this is another strategic deployment by the country to promote technological revolution and industrial integration. Based on China’s three core advantages—complete industrial system, huge market scale, and rich application scenarios—the “Opinions” build a spiral development paradigm of “innovation driving application and application promoting innovation,” accelerating the full-chain reconstruction and in-depth integration of AI with the real economy, comprehensively stimulating new momentum for industrial transformation, fostering new paradigms of intelligent economy, forging key fulcrums to seize the global high ground in intelligent competition, and building a new pattern of high-quality development driven by new productive forces.
Deeply Understanding the Rich Connotations of “Artificial Intelligence +”
Currently, China’s AI development has entered a new stage of in-depth integration with the economy and society. The in-depth implementation of the “Artificial Intelligence +” action is not only an inheritance and deepening of the decade-long accumulation of “Internet +” but also a proactive breakthrough facing the new pattern of global intelligent competition. It aims to upgrade AI from a technical tool to a core engine that reconstructs production factors, reshapes industrial paradigms, and reorganizes value chains, accelerating the formation of new production relations compatible with new productive forces and laying a solid intelligent foundation for Chinese-style modernization.
(1) From the perspective of development history, China is undergoing a strategic leap from “Internet +” to “Artificial Intelligence +.” Since the implementation of the “Guiding Opinions on Actively Promoting the ‘Internet +’ Action” in 2015, China has laid a solid foundation for “Artificial Intelligence +” through ten years of dedicated efforts in the “Internet +” initiative. Currently, China’s Internet penetration rate has reached 79.7%, with 1.123 billion netizens. It has built the world’s largest 5G network, with over 17,000 “5G + industrial Internet” projects covering 41 major industrial categories, more than 4.57 million core digital economy enterprises, and the world’s richest library of application scenarios. If the essence of “Internet +” is “connection”—breaking information silos, improving speed and efficiency, and bringing about “quantitative changes”—then the essence of “Artificial Intelligence +” is “empowerment”—enabling machines to have independent analysis and decision-making capabilities through application penetration, triggering paradigm revolutions in various industries, and bringing about “qualitative changes.” The shift from “Internet +” to “Artificial Intelligence +” is not only a historical choice to seize development opportunities but also an inevitable path for the transformation of old and new driving forces.
(2) From the perspective of mechanism, advancing “Artificial Intelligence +” is a dialectical unity process of productivity revolution and production relation adjustment. Promoting “Artificial Intelligence +” at the national strategic level is not only a systematic layout for the commanding heights of AI technology but also an all-round plan to build new production relations and develop new productive forces against the backdrop of rapid technological development. From the dimension of productivity, “Artificial Intelligence +” can reconstruct the path of total factor productivity improvement through algorithm optimization and the release of data factor value, effectively reducing the marginal cost constraints of traditional production factors, and injecting new momentum into high-quality industrial development. From the dimension of production relations, in the process of in-depth empowerment by AI technology, it is necessary to simultaneously build an institutional system and governance framework adapted to intelligent transformation, prevent technological applications from exacerbating the risk of unbalanced development, and ensure that innovation dividends benefit all people. Therefore, promoting “Artificial Intelligence +” at the national strategic level is an inevitable choice to respond to the iteration of technological and economic paradigms, and also an important strategy to optimize resource allocation efficiency through the popularization of intelligent technologies.
(3) From the perspective of empowerment effects, the “+” in “Artificial Intelligence +” embodies three aspects: in-depth integration, paradigm transformation, and transformation and reshaping. The in-depth integration of AI technology with the existing industrial system, with unprecedented application scale and breadth, leverages the hidden value of traditional industries and activates greater incremental space in the stock market. Furthermore, as AI applications continue to deepen and their ability to handle complex problems continues to improve, traditional models relying on empirical decision-making will be broken, driving fundamental changes in paradigms such as bio-manufacturing and material research and development. At a deeper level, through the deconstruction and reconstruction of traditional development paths, AI will promote the evolution of industrial forms and social governance models to new intelligent forms. At the same time, the substantial improvement in productivity will bring significant adjustments to production relations, and more new types of work and occupations will be created. This transformation and reshaping will not only be reflected in the economic field but also profoundly affect all aspects of social life, leading human society toward a more intelligent, efficient, and sustainable future.
The “Opinions” Innovatively Proposes a Chinese Solution for High-Quality AI Development
The issuance of the “Opinions” marks the official entry of the national strategy into a new stage centered on in-depth empowerment of AI. Its greatest innovation lies in exploring a development path that both leads the forefront of the times and is fully based on China’s national conditions, striving to break through implementation bottlenecks, reshape development momentum, and contribute a new paradigm with Chinese characteristics and contemporary value to global AI development.
(1) Highlighting the leadership of independent innovation, building a new engine for efficient scientific and technological innovation with “Artificial Intelligence +.” Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, it is necessary to firmly grasp the “bull’s eye” of scientific and technological modernization, and drive high-quality industrial development with breakthroughs in AI innovation groups. The “Opinions” propose to accelerate the process of major scientific discoveries “from 0 to 1” and technological implementation and iterative breakthroughs “from 1 to N,” and establish new forms of philosophical and social science research organizations adapted to the AI era. Next, it is necessary to accelerate the transformation of scientific research paradigms, deepen the empowerment of scientific research scenarios through AI technologies represented by large models, and promote the integrated application of general and specialized models in key fields such as biomedicine and new materials. Build a collaborative innovation system integrating industry, academia, research, and application, support the co-construction of laboratories, improve the technology transfer mechanism, and open up the transformation channel from “laboratory to market.”
(2) Highlighting the advantages of the nationwide system, enhancing new momentum for high-quality industrial development with “Artificial Intelligence +.” The “Opinions” put forward a series of important measures for AI-driven high-quality industrial development from four aspects: cultivating new intelligent native models and formats, promoting the intelligent development of all industrial factors, accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of agriculture, and innovating new models for the development of the service industry. Compared with developed countries in Europe and America, China pays more attention to giving play to the advantages of the new nationwide system, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of governments, state-owned enterprises and institutions, platform companies, and other entities, continuously expanding application scenarios through public data authorized operation and intelligent demonstration parks, and effectively solving the “last mile” problem of technology implementation. Among them, the 4 – Axis Robotic Small Product Assembly System is a typical application result of “Artificial Intelligence + Industry.” Through AI visual guidance and adaptive grasping algorithms, it realizes high-speed and precise assembly of small parts in 3C electronics, precision instruments, and other fields. The production efficiency is more than 3 times higher than traditional manual work, and the defect rate is reduced to below 0.1%, becoming a benchmark for “small but sophisticated” scenarios in China’s manufacturing intelligent transformation. In the future, supported by new infrastructure such as the world’s largest 5G network, the national integrated computing power network, and industrial Internet platforms, China will continue to consolidate the foundation of “intelligent transformation, digital transformation, and network connection,” forming a Chinese-characteristic path of “infrastructure empowerment—scenario opening—full-chain upgrading.”
(3) Highlighting the orientation of people’s livelihood and inclusiveness, creating new scenarios for people’s high-quality life with “Artificial Intelligence +.” The “Opinions” systematically elaborate on promoting the quality upgrading of service consumption and product consumption through “Artificial Intelligence +,” comprehensively improving the quality of human work, life, and learning, and effectively enhancing the capabilities of social governance, security governance, and ecological governance. In recent years, various departments and localities have actively deepened the application of AI in scenarios such as smart city “unified management through one network,” grassroots government affairs “burden reduction at fingertips,” and intelligent decision-making in emergency management. By opening data in key people’s livelihood fields such as medical care, transportation, and social security, they have comprehensively promoted AI in inclusive education, elderly care, and other fields. In the future, AI will reconstruct the entire chain of consumer product design, production, sales, and services, cultivate new forms and scenarios of intelligent consumption, optimize consumption experience, and accelerate the release of multi-level and diversified domestic demand potential, helping to promote the expansion and quality improvement of consumption.
(4) Highlighting open and inclusive governance, building a new pattern of high-level global opening with “Artificial Intelligence +.” The “Opinions” propose to take AI as an international public good for the benefit of mankind, build an open ecosystem for AI capacity building featuring equality, mutual trust, diversity, and win-win results, deepen high-level opening in the field of AI, and explore the formation of a governance framework with extensive participation of various countries. Currently, the performance of domestic large models continues to break through. China fully relies on mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the “Belt and Road Initiative,” and BRICS countries to promote the governance concept of “dynamic agility and multi-stakeholder collaboration,” vigorously promote open-source development, effectively reduce the threshold of technology application for developing countries, and provide new options for global technological equality. By enhancing the right to formulate rules, technological discourse power, and moral leadership in global AI governance, it will inject Chinese wisdom into the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Deepening and Implementing the “Artificial Intelligence +” Action to Promote the Accurate Implementation of the “Opinions”
Based on the present and looking to the future, we should take “Artificial Intelligence +” as a strategic fulcrum, refine and implement various tasks of the “Opinions,” strengthen policy coordination, optimize resource allocation, ensure the accurate implementation of various measures, promote global cooperation in addressing the challenges and opportunities brought by AI, and help build a community with a shared future for mankind.
First, strengthen policy guidance and support, and continuously optimize the development environment of the AI industry. Under the overall framework of the “Opinions,” accelerate the formulation of special policies in various fields. Increase financial support, encourage social capital investment, and form a diversified investment and financing system. Improve the intellectual property protection mechanism to stimulate innovation vitality. Establish and improve the market supervision system to ensure fair market competition and create a healthy and orderly industrial ecology. Refine regional development strategies and promote the construction of regional characteristic AI industry clusters. Deepen the collaborative innovation of industry, academia, research, and application, promote breakthroughs in key technologies and. Through the dual drive of policy guidance and market mechanisms, accelerate the in-depth integration of AI technology in various fields, and promote industrial upgrading and high-quality economic development.
Second, encourage pilot projects in key fields, and promote the application of AI from “point-like scenario breakthroughs” to “comprehensive industry penetration.” Increase the opening of application scenarios, strengthen the connection between supply and demand, joint research, and two-way cooperation between AI enterprises and industry users. Continuously summarize the experience of typical scenario construction and replicate and promote excellent experiences. In key industries such as manufacturing, medical care, and education, support leading industry units to join hands with AI enterprises and research institutes to build national AI application pilot bases, gather high-quality industry datasets, solve common industry problems, continuously reduce the cost of technology application pilots, and gradually realize large-scale promotion.
Third, build a new infrastructure system, and accelerate the improvement of factor markets such as data and models. Build a new infrastructure network adapted to AI development, promote the construction of high-speed direct connection networks between national computing power hub nodes, and realize elastic allocation and inclusive supply of cross-regional computing power resources. Continue to promote the reform of market-oriented allocation of data factors, and constantly improve systems for data factor property rights registration, circulation and transaction, price formation, and income distribution adapted to AI development. Accelerate the building of a domestic AI open-source community, promote the sharing of large model training datasets, activate the open-source motivation of multi-level subjects, and drive the prosperity of the industrial ecosystem through the cultivation of an open-source ecosystem.
Fourth, build a multi-level talent training system, and comprehensively improve the “intelligent literacy” of the whole people. Layout “Artificial Intelligence + X” interdisciplinary innovation centers in key universities and build AI industry-education integration platforms. Promote AI general education in primary and secondary schools, and optimize the training models for talented, eccentric, and top innovative talents. Accelerate the construction of national vocational standards such as AI engineers, establish a connection mechanism between skill certification and professional title evaluation, and break the bottleneck of talent shortage at the application level. Strengthen the introduction of high-level AI talents from overseas, and continuously improve the service guarantee system for AI talents.
Fifth, consolidate the security foundation of the intelligent era, and forge a highly reliable security barrier for the AI industry. Establish a safety compliance defense system adapted to large models, and hold the bottom line of data, infrastructure, and model system security in AI applications. Especially in key fields such as education, medical care, and transportation, strict testing and verification should be carried out to effectively prevent and resolve AI security risks. Under the guidance of the overall national security concept, effectively build a three-in-one AI development security guarantee system of “pre-event prevention—post-event accountability—independent controllability.” By emphasizing both source control and supply chain resilience, it will provide a guarantee for technology for good.
