AI policy in action: the Chinese experience in global perspective

Abstract

This study aims to trace the development of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) policies using text analysis, focusing on analyzing the similarities and differences in AI policies being implemented by China’s central and local governments. To achieve this, we utilized data from the “China Legal Retrieval System (北大法宝)” to conduct text mining and topic modeling analysis on AI policy documents from both the central and local governments. The analysis revealed that the central government’s AI policy documents primarily focus on AI technology-based disaster response, product production, and talent development. In contrast, local governments’ policy discourse and objectives showed a trend of decreasing diversity from the eastern to the central to the western regions. The east region targets core technologies across the board, the central region focuses on healthcare and heavy industry, and the region of the west aims at economic development and social stability.