China pushes A.I. firms to race ahead while enforcing complex new rules

In late January, China’s leader Xi Jinping told officials the country was on the cusp of an “epoch-making major technological revolution” and warned that artificial intelligence must not “spiral out of control,” according to state media, signaling Beijing’s push to both accelerate A.I.

development and tighten oversight. The tension is evident in filings from companies such as Zhipu AI, which in a Hong Kong listing prospectus valued the start-up at over $6 billion and warned investors about the substantial burden of complying with “half a dozen or more” A.I.-related regulations.

Zhipu said the rules force it to act as a gatekeeper against information the government deems illegal and that it could not be assured regulators would always find it in compliance. Chinese leaders want A.I. to drive economic growth while preventing technology from disrupting society or the Communist Party’s control, the article says.

Industry experts note that, beyond limits on access to advanced chips, regulatory guardrails — focused on information control and data protection — add a separate constraint that differs from some foreign laws, according to Scott Singer of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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