The roadmap includes three stages of AI integration across six key sectors — from science to industry and public services.
China is pressing ahead with a plan to embed artificial intelligence in nearly every corner of its economy and society, underscoring Beijing’s determination to harness the technology as a driver of growth.
China's State Council on Tuesday released opinions on advancing its "AI Plus" initiative, outlining a three-step roadmap by 2035 with sector-specific guidance across six key areas. Unveiled in 2024, the initiative seeks to spread AI across various sectors of China’s economy and society, from consumer gadgets to factory floors.
Industry experts say the initiative carries more weight than the 2015 “Internet Plus” strategy — which focused on linking people with products and services online — because of its broader potential to drive growth.
The opinions, which serve as directives, lay out a three-step roadmap to systematically roll out the plan.
Step I: By 2027, China aims to achieve broad AI integration across six key sectors, with smart devices and agents in use by more than 70 percent of the population, faster growth of core industries and wider adoption in public governance.
Step II: By 2030, Beijing targets more than 90 percent adoption, positioning the intelligent economy as “a key growth engine” and broadening its benefits. This bet on AI marks a sharp shift from the country’s past reliance on real estate and the Internet to power growth.
Step III: By 2035, it aims to fully establish an intelligent economy and society to underpin its modernization push.
The opinions provide guidance for six specific areas of AI use: science and technology, industry, consumer applications, public services, governance and international cooperation. They complement previous government efforts, such as those of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to bring AI into manufacturing. President Xi Jinping has also urged cities such as Shanghai to accelerate the development of AI-powered consumer devices.
Addressing Job Losses and Workforce Transformation
The opinions acknowledge public concerns about job losses from AI while promoting its potential to improve well-being. They call for using AI to create new roles, upgrade existing ones, and promote human-machine collaboration. Emphasis is placed on deploying AI in labor-short and high-risk jobs, expanding training, and guiding innovation toward sectors with high employment potential to ease worker impact. The rollout of Baidu’s robotaxis in Wuhan has already sparked debate over AI's effect on jobs.
Security Governance and Global Cooperation
In terms of security, the opinions advocate for using AI to enhance risk assessment, incident response, and safety in areas such as disaster prevention, law enforcement, and environmental monitoring. They stress responsible deployment and safeguarding national security. Internationally, the focus is on expanding access to AI through open-source tools and global cooperation, especially for developing nations, while supporting a UN-led governance framework and unified technical standards.
Supporting Infrastructure and Risk Mitigation
To support these goals, the opinions propose a broad set of measures: improving core models, boosting data and computing capacity, enhancing legal frameworks, and expanding talent. They seek stronger copyright laws for AI-related content and solutions to chip shortages through AI semiconductor innovation. Security-wise, the focus is on curbing risks like bias and black-box behavior by improving monitoring, transparency, and emergency response mechanisms.
Source: MLex
