"The positive economic ripples could be pretty substantial," said Kevin Lau, a senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. "The simple fact that China is embracing AI and having explicit targets for its development over the next decade is certainly positive for the continued upgrading of the manufacturing sector and overall economic transformation."

Chinese AI-related stocks went up sharply in price following the State Council's announcement. CSG Smart Science & Technology climbed as much as 9.3 per cent in Shenzhen before closing 3.1 per cent higher, while intelligent management software developer Mesnac surged 9.8 per cent after hitting the 10 per cent daily limit in earlier trading.

AI will have a significant influence on society and the international community, according to an opinion piece by East China University of Political Science and Law professor Gao Qiqi published last week in the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party.

PwC found that the world's second-biggest economy stands to gain more than any other from AI because of the high proportion of output derived from manufacturing.

Another report from Accenture and Frontier Economics last month estimated that AI could increase China's annual growth rate by 1.6 percentage points to 7.9 per cent by 2035 in terms of gross value added, a close proxy for GDP, adding more than $7 trillion.

China's State Council has called for promoting interdisciplinary research to connect AI with other subjects such as cognitive science, psychology, mathematics and economics. QILAI SHEN

Military, civilian initiatives

The State Council directive also called for China's businesses, universities and armed forces to work more closely in developing the technology.


"We will further implement the strategy of integrating military and civilian developments," it said. "Scientific research institutes, universities, enterprises and military units should communicate and coordinate."

More AI professionals and scientists should be trained, the State Council said. It also called for promoting interdisciplinary research to connect AI with other subjects such as cognitive science, psychology, mathematics and economics.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg