China’s AI Safety Ecosystem and Implications for International AI Governance
摘要
Development of increasingly advanced AI systems presents unprecedented opportunities and risks, with many of the most severe and transnational risks creating incentives for international coordination. However, there is limited international understanding of Chinese actions and perspectives on frontier AI safety, often based on simplified narratives. This chapter examines China’s AI safety ecosystem by drawing on numerous primary sources across five dimensions: domestic governance, international engagement, technical research, expert discourse, and industry initiatives. China has established robust domestic regulatory frameworks initially focused on content control and social stability, but developments since 2024 reveal growing attention to frontier risks including loss of control and malicious use for cyberattacks and biological weapons. China has elevated its prioritization of international AI diplomacy, advocating for UN-centric frameworks, capacity-building for developing countries, and ensuring human control. The Chinese technical AI safety community has grown substantially, with research output and dedicated research groups more than doubling from 2023 to 2024. Simultaneously, expert attitudes have evolved from skepticism to more mainstream engagement with catastrophic AI risks. While Chinese companies discuss frontier risks less prominently than Western counterparts, leading developers have demonstrated concern about AI risks by joining domestic and international safety commitments. These findings challenge existing portrayals of a zero-sum AI race and demonstrate meaningful common ground between China and other nations on managing advanced AI risks. The chapter closes by examining several proposals for global cooperation on advanced AI, and while there is no guarantee any specific plan will succeed, failure to coordinate would pose unacceptable risks to humanity.