BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Ministry of Industry will set up an artificial intelligence technical standardization committee to focus on developing industry standards in areas such as broad language models and AI risk assessment, the ministry said on Friday ( 13).
The 41-member committee includes representatives from technology giant Baidu and the country’s top academic institutions such as Peking University, the ministry said.
Beijing is trying to strike a balance between regulating the fast-growing AI sector and promoting its development, amid global concerns about security and ethical implications.
China has adopted a more proactive regulatory stance toward AI compared to its initial hands-off approach in the mobile internet and e-commerce sectors, which were largely regulated only after reaching maturity.
Last year, authorities took several months to approve public-facing chatbots, even as domestic companies developed products comparable to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
A recent report by the Finnish Institute of International Affairs suggests that China intends to position itself as a standard-setter rather than a standard-taker in the field of AI.
