The State Council of China announced the most ambitious AI plan, aiming for 980 million citizens to regularly use AI technology within the next three years.
The State Council of China has announced a revolutionary directive on artificial intelligence, aiming to achieve a 70% penetration rate of AI technology by 2027. This plan promises to 'reshape the modes of production and daily life' for nearly one billion citizens, while creating a 'revolutionary leap in the productive forces' of the world's second-largest economy.
According to the outlined roadmap, the AI penetration rate is expected to increase to 90% by 2030 and complete the transition to a 'smart economy and smart society' by 2035. Achieving the 2027 target means that 980 million Chinese citizens will have regular access to new generation smart devices, intelligent agents, and other AI applications.
To put it in a comparative context, the smartphone penetration rate in China reached 70% in 2018, eight years after the iPhone was introduced to the market. Beijing expects the level of AI adoption to occur significantly faster, in just three years, reflecting the government's high urgency and determination.
The policy requires the integration of AI across many key areas, from technology and industry to consumption, governance, social welfare, and international cooperation. In agriculture, applications will include smart agricultural devices such as machinery, drones, and agricultural robots. The services sector is required to deploy unmanned services alongside human labor.
Far surpassing the roadmap of Western powers.
China's goals far exceed the timelines of the West in the AI sector. While the U.S. National AI Initiative Act does not set any specific universal benchmarks, and the EU AI Act focuses primarily on risk governance rather than deployment, Beijing has set clear and ambitious quantitative targets.
This bold roadmap is supported by existing momentum from domestic AI companies like DeepSeek, which has successfully implemented AI models for many practical applications. Longgang District in Shenzhen has cut administrative approval times by 90% after adopting DeepSeek's AI, while the company also provides urban monitoring systems, voice control in Geely vehicles, and diagnostic tools in nearly 100 hospitals.
The State Council's directive calls for the formation of AI-native enterprises with foundational architecture and operational logic entirely based on AI, while encouraging businesses to incorporate AI into core strategic planning. The policy also promotes 'smart connectivity of everything' across terminal devices and product ecosystems.
Beijing positions AI as a global public asset, committing to support countries in the Global South in building AI capabilities through technology and open-source computing resources. The policy acknowledges AI risks including model opacity, hallucination phenomena, and algorithmic discrimination, while establishing a governance framework for natural persons, digital individuals, and intelligent robots, implying preparations for the potential legal status of AI agents in the future.
