Editor's note: The recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan have been released, which outline priorities for national economic and social development. CGTN invites industry insiders and experts to interpret the policy implications in science and technology, ecological civilization and ecosystem conservation – key engines of China's high-quality development. Tian Feng, the founding dean of Thinking Fast and Slow Research Institute, an independent AI think tank, elaborates on China's AI push, major trends and talent cultivation. Tian's article is originally in Chinese and has been translated here. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The development of steam engine technology in Britain launched the First Industrial Revolution, while the United States pioneered the Second Industrial Revolution through breakthroughs in generators, computers and the internet, powering the rise of the digital economy. If China can achieve breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent robotics in the 21st century, it will lead the next wave of industrial revolution and cultural revival, securing the future dividends of the intelligent economy. AI is poised to be the "golden key" to these profound changes.

As is emphasized in the recommendations for formulating China's 15th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development, Chinese modernization must be underpinned by modernization in science and technology. The recommendations call for seizing the opportunities presented by the new round of technological revolution industrial transformation.

In response to rapidly evolving AI technologies, China has proposed leveraging its national system to mobilize resources, focus on self-reliance and development, prioritize application-oriented innovation, and guide AI toward a safe, equitable and beneficial path.

Three major trends 

Three significant trends – domestic computing power, mobilizing data resources nationwide and open-source ecosystem – are expected to reshape China's AI landscape during the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

AI chip production and design capabilities are set to improve, with higher yield rates boosting capacity and sales. AI chips with advanced processes, low power consumption and high bandwidth will form clusters for scientific research computing power and supercomputing centers for industries. Domestic AI computational centers with hundreds of thousands of AI nodes and international computing power platforms for the Belt and Road Initiative are expected to be built. The mass production of 7-nanometer AI chips and the export of domestic AI acceleration chips are also within reach.

With initiatives like the "Data Elements X" Three-Year Action Plan (2024-2026) and the guideline to accelerate the development of application scenarios for new technologies and products, China will accelerate the use of real-world scenarios to generate data, which will be used to train AI models. This will support the rapid development of AI-powered industries.

Leveraging extensive, diverse data from all 41 industrial sectors – along with agriculture and urban services – China will boost AI training capabilities, driving advancements in AI across key sectors like manufacturing, transportation, energy security and biotechnology.

AI for science and science for AI

AI is reshaping scientific research. In fields like new materials, energy and medicine, AI is shifting research from the traditional "hypothesis-verification" model to a new "data-association-emergence-verification" paradigm, where AI-driven hypothesis generation and data correlations significantly accelerate scientific progress. This transformation is already seen in the past few years' Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, awarded to AI scientists who span multiple disciplines.

At the same time, scientific progress is helping advance AI. Breakthroughs in neural networks grounded in neuroscience and behavioral science, are driving advancements in fundamental physics and brain science, supporting the development of general AI and super-robot intelligence. AI's contributions to basic human science could deliver over a century of technological, industrial and cultural dividends.

AI governing AI

There is a global consensus on the need for "people-centered" AI governance. However, governance systems are struggling to keep up the pace with rapidly evolving AI technologies. New challenges – such as AI-generated fake news, the trustworthiness of large model generative engine optimization (GEO) ads, employment impacts of autonomous driving and ethical issues with robots – are emerging.

Unlike the elite-driven value-alignment models common in the West, China's open-source AI companies like DeepSeek propose a "multi-value alignment decoupling" approach, which allows the "silent majority" in different regions to set model alignment standards based on cultural and ethical differences. The approach ensures human oversight and improvement in each AI task loop, creating a "human in the loop" decision-making mechanism to advance inclusive, people-centered AI. Open-source models like DeepSeek and Tongyi Qianwen are gaining global recognition as reliable new business operating systems.

Cultivating AI talent

AI is a central focus of China's upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan, but equally important is cultivating research talent.

Britain in the 17th century, Germany and France in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the United Stated in the 20th century, all seized the core resource of scientific talent. In the 21st century, China has some 20 million engineers and research talents, supported by more than millions of graduates annually. This provides a strong foundation for basic research and original innovation.

China's vast domestic market provides fertile ground for AI-driven industries. Industrial development and safety are critical. The original theories, innovative architectures and disruptive technologies of AI are steadily emerging – like a red sun rising in the East.