Guardrails needed for AI growth

Lawmakers, political advisers call for more high-tech protections to be enshrined in law

While embracing the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, deputies to the 14th National People's Congress and members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference last week warned of the need for greater regulation to ensure that the technology is not abused.

With AI such as ChatGPT and China's own DeepSeek rapidly spreading across the globe, its application and regulation were a hot topic at China's largest annual political gathering, with many national lawmakers and political advisers expressing their keen interest in the integration of AI into various industries.

Zhang Yi, a CPPCC National Committee member from Shanghai, said the integration of AI with industries will greatly boost the development of new quality productive forces, and may change the underlying business logic in various traditional areas.