Artificial Intelligence Regulation and China's Future

摘要

China has announced to the world that it intends to become the

global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), both in terms of developing

and deploying the technology as well as governing it with appropriate

laws and regulations. In light of this declaration, it is tempting to take

the Chinese government at its word and brace for an AI-powered China

of the future.

Plans, however ambitious, do not always reflect reality.

Therefore, when it comes to understanding China's bold AI-related

declarations and actions, it is important to put them into institutional

context and look beyond the appearance of China's stated ambitions

and into the more nuanced reality of how China's existing political and

legal institutions describe and use the term "AI."

On that note, China's AI ambitions have currently served more

immediate rhetorical and political goals rather than substantive ones.

Furthermore, focusing on rhetoric over substance is having significant

and potentially negative impacts on China's political and legal

institutions, leading to institutional decay, the process by which

growing complexity, ambiguity, and transaction costs inhibit

institutions' capacity to rapidly, clearly, and effectively gather and

share information and delineate tasks.

https://doi.org/10.7916/cjal.v33i1.5454
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