The Promise and Perils of China's Regulation of Artificial Intelligence

Angela Huyue Zhang*

In recent years, China has emerged as a pioneer in formulating some of the world’s earliest and most comprehensive regulations concerning artificial intelligence (A.I.) services. Thus far, much attention has focused on the restrictive nature of these rules, raising concerns that they might constrain Chinese A.I. development. This Article is the first to draw attention to the expressive powers of Chinese A.I. legislation, particularly its information and coordination functions, to enable the A.I. industry. Recent legislative measures, such as the interim measures to regulate generative A.I. and various local A.I. legislation, offer little protective value to the Chinese public. Instead, these laws have sent a strong pro-growth signal to the industry while attempting to coordinate various stakeholders to accelerate technological progress. China’s strategically lenient approach to regulation may therefore offer its A.I. firms a short-term competitive advantage over their European and U.S. counterparts. However, such leniency risks creating potential regulatory lags that could escalate into A.I.- induced accidents and even disasters. The dynamic complexity of China’s regulatory tactics thus underscores the urgent need for increased international dialogue and collaboration with the country to tackle to safety challenges in A.I. governance.

*Professor of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law. Angela thanks Anu Bradford, Aziz Huq, Curtis Milhaupt, S. Alex Yang, Jamie Horsley, Elizabeth Donkervoort and the seminar participants at Columbia, New York University, Stanford, George Washington, Cornell, Oxford, University of Leuven, King’s College London, University of Hong Kong, Singapore Management University, Australian National University, and Kyoto University for insightful comments on an earlier draft. Angela also thanks Jingxian Zeng for her excellent research assistance.