Xi Jinping’s readout after an AI “study session” [ChinaTalk Linkpost]

[Sodium]

Substack link here

TL, DR:; Xi Jinping listens to a lecture about AI and publishes his “study notes/​takeaways.” From the start of the post (emphasis mine)

On April 25, observers of China’s AI scene got an important new statement of Xi Jinping’s views on AI in the form of remarks concluding a Politburo “study session” on AI led by Xi’an Jiaotong University professor Zheng Nanning. Couched in the turgid language of Partyspeak, the readout nevertheless merits close attention as one of precious few utterances direct from the General Secretary himself on AI. To read this new tea leaf, we need to understand some background on study sessions in general, and this one in particular.

I thought this was a phenomenal post. It actually tries to breakdown CCP’s partyspeak for the layperson. For example, see this chart below comparing the readout from the 2025 study session (column 2) and the 2018 study session (column 3).

I would recommend people interested in China & AI to read this post.

[Jonas Hallgren]

I would love to see the pro US Vs China propagators engage with the following rhetoric more:

As analysts have pointed out, Xi’s discussion of safety issues here is more forward-leaning than in 2018, or possibly any statement coming directly from the leader’s mouth. He describes risks from AI as “unprecedented,” and suggests implementing systems for “technology monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency response.” This is much more specific than previous policy statements calling to establish an “AI safety supervision and regulation system” or to strengthen “forward-looking (risk) prevention.” The study session readout’s language almost more closely echoes that of documents passed around at the recent Paris AI Action Summit by China’s new AISI-equivalent body, the China AI Safety and Development Association. Among a litany of priorities for the new organization, one of the more ambitious referred to setting “early warning thresholds for AI systems that may pose catastrophic or existential risks to humans.”

If you actually look at the history of China and its recent developments as well as all of the different reports that have come out of it recently, I’m honestly quite flabbergasted that a bunch of smart people don’t update away from the US Vs China frame.

The political climate in the US and the way that media is being used is a lot more alike to fascism than we’ve seen in the past. I can directly quite Benito Mussolini for a direct coupling for many of the things that are being said within US Politics at the moment?

I agree that the Chinese goverment has done horrible things in the past, multiple genocides among other things. If you look at this from the lens of confucian philosophy and imperial mandate style imperialistic tendencies then it is them going for a more homogeneous population. This is horrible and consistent with past teachings in the country!

This means that they’re more predictable from this lens. If I then apply this lens to the AI situation I do not see a China that is racing towards AGI, I see an imperialistic tendency to control and to have the right systems for control. A Seeing Like A State-style power seeking that leads to more control rather than less. It is therefore perfectly reasonable for them to be against existential risk as why would they want to doom their glorious country?

The history aligns, the motivations align, the rhetoric aligns, we shall see if the actions align but from a prior perspective why would you believe regurgitating the US vs China race dynamic to be good?

(I’m probably preaching to the choir posting this under a china update post but I might use it elsewhere in the future.)