China’s State Council has unveiled a comprehensive ten-year plan to transform the country into a fully AI-powered economy by 2035, declaring artificial intelligence will become a “key growth engine” for national development. The ambitious roadmap aims to integrate AI across six major societal pillars by 2027 and achieve a 90% AI usage rate by 2030, positioning China to compete directly with Western nations despite current technological gaps.
What you should know: China’s plan targets comprehensive AI integration across society within the next decade.
- By 2027, AI will be deeply embedded in science and technology, citizen wellbeing, industrial development, consumer goods, governance, and international relations.
- The government expects AI to improve everything from humanities research to environmental monitoring.
- By 2030, AI should achieve a 90% usage rate, essentially becoming new national infrastructure.
The timeline: China has set specific milestones for its AI transformation over the next 11 years.
- 2027: Deep AI integration across six main societal pillars.
- 2030: AI becomes a “major growth driver” with 90% usage rate across the economy.
- 2035: Complete societal transformation implementing “a new stage of development in the intelligent economy and intelligent society.”
Closing the gap: Despite lagging behind U.S. AI capabilities, China is rapidly narrowing the performance difference.
- At the end of 2023, U.S. AI models outperformed Chinese models 13% of the time in general reasoning tests.
- By the same time in 2024, that gap had shrunk to just 8.1%.
- China’s constraints largely stem from Western-imposed limitations on technology access.
Global positioning: The State Council frames AI development as benefiting international cooperation rather than competition.
- China insists AI should be treated as an “international public good that benefits humanity.”
- The plan emphasizes open-source AI development and supporting Global South countries in building their tech sectors.
- China positions the UN as the leader in AI regulation while strengthening its own capabilities.
Strategic focus areas: The plan targets key technological foundations to accelerate AI advancement.
- Priorities include basic model performance, security measures, data supply, and power management.
- Some of these areas already surpass U.S. capabilities, according to the document.
- The approach mirrors China’s successful “internet plus” strategy that transformed the internet into a major economic component.
Why this matters: China’s state-led AI initiative represents the most comprehensive national AI strategy announced to date, with implications extending far beyond its borders as the country seeks to reshape global technology leadership through coordinated government investment and policy.
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