{"id":837,"date":"2025-06-05T03:03:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T03:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/?post_type=usersubpost&p=837"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:51:22","slug":"generative-ai-with-chinese-characteristics","status":"publish","type":"usersubpost","link":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/?usersubpost=generative-ai-with-chinese-characteristics","title":{"rendered":"Generative AI with Chinese Characteristics"},"content":{"rendered":"

As evidenced by recent events, the global race to control the proliferation and development of artificial intelligence (AI) is in full swing and seems an integral part of the broader competition between the United States and China. Despite various US attempts to curtail China\u2019s progress, its industry and policy in the sector continues to advance positioning it as a key player. Xi Jinping\u2019s prioritization of AI development since 2017, is fuelling China\u2019s race to become the world\u2019s dominant AI power and ultimately \u201cscience and technology superpower.\u201d (1) At its core, the Chinese Communist Party seeks to harness AI as both a tool of ideological governance and a lever for reshaping global norms. This dual strategy is emblematic of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) broader efforts to challenge and redefine existing frameworks to align with its authoritarian values. The potential Chinese domination of the sector, particularly through open-source AI, brings with it the risk of a techno-authoritarian AI ecosystem mirroring China\u2019s broader revisionist goals (2, 3).<\/p>\n

Revisionism in Chinese politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2008, after a prolonged period of oscillating between more and less aggressive foreign policy, Chinese posturing became once again more muscular, likely prompted by the international balance of power starting to shift in China\u2019s favour (4). At the same time, a modern concept of \u201cTianxia\u201d took hold amongst China\u2019s intellectuals. A new global order that reproduced \u201cChina\u2019s hierarchical empire for the twenty-first century\u201d (5, p.\u00a0750), which was meant to be an alternative to the liberal system. A system under China\u2019s authority and leadership to \u201cunite all others towards peace, harmony, and prosperity.\u201d (6, p.\u00a018) A system that valued \u201corder over freedom, ethics over law, and elite governance over democracy and human rights\u201d (5, p.\u00a0753). Ideas that Xi Jinping took on board, as evident in his proposal for \u201ca community for a shared destiny\u201d (6, p.\u00a028). A plan that is not radical or aggressive but rather seeks to mould the international system to its benefit (7).<\/p>\n

This Chinese revisionism fits the broad criteria of a multilayered challenging of existing norms at the domestic, regional, and international level, which is enabled (among other things) by technology (8). In fact, China\u2019s international rise is the answer to internal challenges and domestic growth is a precondition of its global status. \u201cChina cannot have one without the other.\u201d (7, p.\u00a0966) Furthermore, the Chinese government works to shape international standards for digital technologies, and AI in particular, enabling it to spread its authoritarian norms within global governance frameworks. Technology itself also enables the CCP to censor and manipulate information internally repressing dissent and freedom of expression (3). Through the combination of these actions, the CCP is effectively using technology to reshape norms at multiple levels, in a truly revisionist fashion, with its techno-authoritarian model serving as counter-normative framework to liberal democratic ideas, domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s generative AI industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the past year in particular, China has seen great growth in its generative AI industry. Chinese models are among the most downloaded on Hugging Face (9) and appear to have similar performance to US counterparts (10), as well as rivalling them on Chatbot Arena (11). In particular due to DeepSeek\u2019s models entering at number 7 in the style-controlled ranking. The company, which is establishing itself as a global leader (12), has also recently developed a model with \u201creasoning\u201d capabilities likely comparable to GPT-o1 (13). This rapid growth was just as much the result of investment by Chinese tech companies as much as it was part of a plan by the government to dominate the industry by 2030 (14). The government has acted as a \u201cpolicy maker, incubator, investor in AI startups, supplier of research, customer of AI applications, and more.\u201d Making it the force \u201cbehind every successful Chinese AI firm\u201d (15), in the hope that AI dominance could help shift global balance of power and boost a slowing economy (16).<\/p>\n

However, the CCP also sees \u201cgenerative AI opening up vast new ways for information to spread outside its control.\u201d (14) to which it has responded by enacting regulation that is strict on freedom of speech and content control (15). The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has set out broad rules for the sector to ensure that content generated does not \u201csubvert state power, incite secession, harm national unity or disturb the economic or social order.\u201d As well as being in line with the CCP\u2019s \u201csocialist values\u201d (14). A more recent draft for AI regulation has also presented \u201ca \u201cnegative list\u201d of areas and existing products that AI companies should stay clear of unless they have explicit government approval.\u201d (17) It is important to note that similar rules applied to the internet have previously enabled the Party to effectively repress speech on sensitive topics. Indeed, the \u201carbitrary nature of the CAC\u2019s proposed rules means that it can tighten or loosen them as it sees fit.\u201d And it is well known that \u201cthe Chinese government has a habit of rewriting and selectively enforcing rules based on the whims of President Xi Jinping.\u201d (14)<\/p>\n

What does this all mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Domestically, the CCP views generative AI as a double-edged sword: a catalyst for innovation and economic growth, but also a potential threat to its ideological dominance. As it tries to balance regulation and innovation, Beijing imposes stringent regulations ensuring AI outputs conform to “socialist values” and avoid topics that might undermine state narratives or stability. By tightly controlling AI systems, the government is effectively managing \u201cto both tame and harness those AI algorithms that have the power to shape public opinion online.\u201d (18) AI tools are not only censored but are used \u201cto refute rumours and promote \u2018positive energy.\u2019\u201d (18), demonstrating how deeply intertwined technological progress and authoritarian governance have become. As part of this censorship approach the CCP appears to have enacted a blanket firewall against the domains of western AI providers (19). Yet, interestingly, western models are not entirely absent from the Chinese market. Meta\u2019s Llama model, for example, is reportedly being adapted for military use by the Chinese armed forces (20), leaving space to wonder how the domestic regulatory regime is actually impacting AI development.<\/p>\n

On the global stage, the CCP\u2019s AI ambitions mirror its broader revisionist vision of reshaping international systems to its advantage. By 2030, Beijing aims to establish itself as the world leader in AI, not just in technological capacity but in defining the ethical and regulatory frameworks that govern its use (14). This push to set global AI standards is a clear attempt to embed authoritarian values that prioritise state control and stability into international governance. Indeed, if left unchecked, the Chinese government might be \u201ccapable of \u2018spreading certain cultural aspects\u2019 that are likely to undermine the liberal democratic order\u201d (21). The US government seems to have understood this, as evidenced by recent actions such as stricter export restrictions on advanced chips (22, 23). US companies also seem on board (24), perhaps by virtue of the revolving door that connects their boards to the Government and Defence apparatuses (25).<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, China\u2019s trajectory in generative AI suggests a future where technological leadership tied to ideological influence. If current trends continue, Beijing could emerge not only as a dominant AI innovator but also as a key architect of global digital norms, promoting a model that prioritizes control, censorship, and state-led governance. As generative AI becomes more embedded in global infrastructure, the question of which framework for norms and regulation will emerge remains open, and the CCP seems set on finding the answer.<\/p>\n

Reference list<\/strong>
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\n26. Wes Cockx & Google DeepMind \/ \u00a0Better Images of AI<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0CCBY-4.0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":840,"parent":0,"template":"","usp-category":[],"class_list":["post-837","usersubpost","type-usersubpost","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/usersubpost\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/usersubpost"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/usersubpost"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/usersubpost\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":897,"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/usersubpost\/837\/revisions\/897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"usp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjai.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fusp-category&post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}