Gong Yongdan: Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of Artificial Intelligence
At present, the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology is profoundly altering human modes of production and lifestyle while reshaping the global industrial landscape. The "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," deliberated and adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [1], proposed to "further advance the construction of a Digital China." It requested to "accelerate innovation in digital-intelligent technologies such as AI, achieve breakthroughs in basic theories and core technologies, and strengthen the efficient supply of computing power, algorithms, and data." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has attached great importance to the development of AI, integrating it with major theoretical and practical issues such as the development of new quality productive forces and the promotion of Chinese-path modernization. Important expositions have been made, such as: "We must give full play to the advantages of the new-type whole-nation system [2], persist in self-reliance and self-improvement, highlight application orientation, and promote the healthy and orderly development of AI in China toward beneficial, safe, and equitable directions"; "Comprehensively advance AI scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, and empowering applications, improve AI regulatory systems and mechanisms, and firmly maintain the initiative in AI development and governance"; and "We must strengthen international AI governance and cooperation to ensure AI is for good and benefits all humanity, avoiding its transformation into a 'game for wealthy nations and the rich.'" These important expositions profoundly clarify the great significance, situation, tasks, and strategic policies for developing AI. They possess major guiding significance for us to accurately grasp the deep-seated issues of AI development and promote its healthy and orderly progress in China.
Clarifying Development Positioning. Currently, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is developing in depth. Global scientific and technological innovation has entered a period of unprecedented intensity and activity, with high-tech fields becoming the foremost frontier and main battlefield of international competition. Emerging technologies, represented by information technology and AI, are accelerating their development, prompting humanity to "enter an era of 'human-machine-object' ternary integration and intelligent interconnectivity of all things." Only by scientifically grasping the development positioning of AI can we promote its healthy and orderly development. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that AI is a "strategic technology leading the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation." This important exposition clarifies the development positioning of AI and highlights it as a vital driving force for the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. This requires us—under the circumstances of accelerating evolution in global strategic maneuvering—to proceed from the global innovation landscape and the strategic competition for the "commanding heights" [3] of technology. Guided by the service of national strategy, we must emphasize the cosmopolitan, forward-looking, and strategic value of AI development, treat the development of new-generation AI as a strategic issue to be pursued with unremitting effort, and accelerate the construction of a technological innovation highland with global influence.
Highlighting Technological Empowerment. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that AI "possesses a strong 'bellwether' effect [4] of spillover and driving force." He noted, "We must seek productive forces from scientific and technological innovation, give full play to the empowering role of emerging technologies such as AI, and inject strong momentum into the world economy through the new round of scientific and technological revolution." In an era of rapid development in digitalization, networking, and intelligence, AI holds transformative and disruptive significance for the "no-man's land" [5] of the technological frontier and serves an empowering function for breakthroughs in key core technologies. This "empowerment" effect is manifested, on one hand, in its ability to integrate with industrial development, pushing forward industrial technological reform and optimization through intelligent manufacturing as the primary direction. This, in turn, helps cultivate and strengthen intelligent industries, forming a group of "specialized, refined, differential, and innovative" [6] enterprises to provide new kinetic energy for high-quality development. On the other hand, it is manifested in its "engine effect" on breakthroughs in core technologies such as integrated circuit equipment, high-end chips, and foundational software. To this end, we should take key core technologies as the primary direction for attack, achieve breakthroughs in basic theories, methods, and tools, and construct autonomous, controllable, and synergistically operating AI foundational hardware and software systems. This ensures that key core AI technologies are held firmly in our own hands, giving full play to the advantageous kinetic energy and strategic engine role of AI development.
Aiming at Future Prospects. Strategic emerging industries are the new pillars and new tracks [7] leading future development, and they are also important components in cultivating and developing new quality productive forces. AI plays a foundational role in promoting the integrated and clustered development of strategic emerging industries. New-generation AI is flourishing worldwide, injecting new kinetic energy into economic and social development. To this end, we should aim at the commanding heights of future technology and industrial development, accelerating technological innovation in fields such as new-generation information technology, AI, quantum technology, biotechnology, new energy, and new materials, while cultivating and developing emerging industries and future-oriented industries. Focus on the key areas and weak links in the construction of a modernized industrial system, aiming at "bottleneck" [8] constraints such as industrial mother machines [9], foundational software, integrated circuits, and advanced materials. We should build a collaborative innovation system of industry, academia, research, and application led by enterprises, assisting in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and constructing new forms of an intelligent economy and intelligent society characterized by human-machine collaboration, cross-boundary integration, and joint creation and sharing. Simultaneously, it should be noted that in cultivating and developing emerging industries and future-oriented industries, we cannot "rush headlong into action only to disperse just as quickly" [10]. Instead, we must "borrow strength" from AI to promote the digital, intelligent, and green transformation and upgrading of industries, accelerating the formation of new quality productive forces.
Assessing Risks and Challenges. AI technology is a "double-edged sword." While it brings unprecedented development opportunities that benefit society and the public, it also presents unparalleled risks and challenges. It may trigger an "intelligence gap" [11] and could even lead to technological hegemony, algorithmic "black boxes," and "intelligence fetishism." Therefore, we must grasp the trends and laws of AI development, conduct scientific assessments of its potential risks and challenges, and establish institutional constraints, legal norms, and early warning mechanisms. On one hand, we must persist in dialectical thinking. Regarding potential risks and challenges, we must "repair the house before it rains" [12]—scientifically identifying and accurately assessing them. We must step up the formulation and improvement of relevant laws, regulations, policy systems, application norms, and ethical standards, building a system for technological monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency response to improve institutional supervision and clarify the application boundaries and moral bottom lines of AI. On the other hand, we should extensively carry out international cooperation in the field of AI to bridge the global intelligence gap and promote the alignment and coordination of development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards among all parties. This aims to form a global governance framework and standard norms based on broad consensus as soon as possible, making AI an international public good that benefits all humanity.
Advocating "AI for Good." The "Global AI Governance Initiative" released by China proposes that the development of AI should adhere to the "people-centered" concept and the tenet of "AI for Good." The fundamental starting point of "AI for Good" is to develop AI based on the needs of the people, using it to improve the level of public services and social governance and to enhance the well-being of the people. To this end, we should adhere to the people-centered concept, uphold the pursuit of inclusive values, and carry out the "AI Plus" action in an orderly manner. This involves promoting the deep application of AI in people's daily work, study, and life, creating more intelligent ways of working and living, and ensuring that all people share the fruits of AI development. We must accelerate the extension of AI products and services to rural areas to promote intelligent inclusivity between urban and rural areas. We must deepen high-level opening-up in the field of AI to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace. By accelerating the innovative, secure, and inclusive development of cyberspace, we can advance toward a better "digital future" together, ensuring that AI better serves the people and benefits the world.