China's State Council announced on August 26, 2025, its Opinion on Thoroughly Implementing the "AI Plus" Action, clarifying its policy to actively promote AI utilization.
Three-Stage Goals
By 2027 (Foundation Stage)
- Realize integration of AI with 6 fields: science/technology, industry, consumption, people's livelihood, governance, international cooperation
- Smart device and AI agent penetration rate: Over 70%
- Expand core smart economy industry scale
- Strengthen AI's role in public governance
By 2030 (Advancement Stage)
- Comprehensive support for China's development through AI
- Smart device and AI agent penetration rate: Over 90%
- Make smart economy an important pillar of economic growth
By 2035 (Full Transition Stage)
- Full transition to new stage of smart economy and smart society development
- Strong support for realizing socialist modernization
Six Key Actions
- "AI Plus" Science and Technology - AI utilization in scientific research
- "AI Plus" Industrial Development - Cultivating AI-native new models and formats, promoting industrial smartization
- "AI Plus" Consumption Quality - Developing new service consumption scenarios, cultivating new consumption formats
- "AI Plus" People's Livelihood - AI utilization for quality of life improvement
- "AI Plus" Governance Capability - Administrative efficiency and service improvement
- "AI Plus" International Cooperation - Promoting AI inclusiveness and sharing, building global governance system
Eight Support Areas
Strengthening initiatives for goal achievement:
- Model development
- Data infrastructure
- Computing capacity
- Application development
- Open source promotion
- Talent cultivation
- Policy and regulation
- Security assurance
Policy Background and Significance
The National Development and Reform Commission explained that while AI has entered a critical application phase, policy support needs strengthening due to issues like differing perceptions of AI's role and supply-demand gaps. The "AI Plus" action was first introduced in the March 2024 government work report, with continued promotion announced for 2025.
This opinion is positioned as an important policy document for China's transformation from an AI major power to an AI strong power.