Table Of ContentCHINESE POWER AND
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
This book provides a comprehensive account of Chinese AI in its various facets,
based on primary Chinese-language sources.
China’s rise as an AI power is an event of importance to the world and a poten-
tial challenge to liberal democracies. Filling a gap in the literature, this volume
is fully documented, data-driven, and presented in a scholarly format suitable for
citation and for supporting downstream research, while also remaining accessible
to laypersons. It brings together 15 recognized international experts to present a
full treatment of Chinese artificial intelligence. The volume contains chapters on
state, commercial, and foreign sources of China’s AI power; China’s AI talent,
scholarship, and global standing; the impact of AI on China’s development of
cutting-edge disciplines; China’s use of AI in military, cyber, and surveillance
applications; AI safety, threat mitigation, and the technology’s likely trajectory.
The book ends with recommendations drawn from the authors’ interactions with
policymakers and specialists worldwide, aimed at encouraging AI’s healthy devel-
opment in China and preparing the rest of the world to engage with it.
This book will be of much interest to students of Chinese politics, science and
technology studies, security studies, and international relations.
William C. Hannas is a Georgetown professor and CSET’s lead analyst. Prior to
this, he was a member of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Senior Intelligence Ser-
vice and a three-time recipient of its McCone Award. He is the lead author of Chinese
Industrial Espionage (2013) and co-editor of China’s Quest for Foreign Technology (2020).
Huey-Meei Chang is a Research Analyst at Georgetown University and is
CSET’s senior China S&T Specialist. She began her career as a data analyst at
Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and taught document
analysis for more than a decade to researchers at U.S. Government agencies.
Asian Security Studies
Series Editors: Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University, USA, Andrew
Scobell, United States Institute of Peace, USA, and Alice Ba,
University of Delaware, USA.
Few regions of the world are fraught with as many security questions as Asia.
Within this region it is possible to study great power rivalries, irredentist con-
flicts, nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation, secessionist movements, ethnore-
ligious conflicts and inter-state wars. This book series publishes the best possible
scholarship on the security issues affecting the region, and includes detailed
empirical studies, theoretically oriented case studies and policy-relevant analyses
as well as more general works.
India’s Nuclear Proliferation Policy
The Impact of Secrecy on Decision Making, 1980–2010
Gaurav Kampani
China’s Quest for Foreign Technology
Beyond Espionage
Edited by William C. Hannas and Didi Kirsten Tatlow
US-China Foreign Relations
Power Transition and its Implications for Europe and Asia
Edited by Robert S. Ross, Øystein Tunsjø and Wang Dong
Explaining Contemporary Asian Military Modernization
The Myth of Asia’s Arms Race
Sheryn Lee
The Covid-19 Crisis in South Asia
Coping with the Pandemic
Edited by Sumit Ganguly and Dinsha Mistree
Chinese Power and Artificial Intelligence
Perspectives and Challenges
Edited by William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Asian-
Security-Studies/book-series/ASS
CHINESE POWER
AND ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Perspectives and Challenges
William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang
Cover image: © Igor Kutyaev
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, William C. Hannas and Huey-
Meei Chang; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang, to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hannas, Wm. C., 1946- editor.
Title: Chinese power and artificial intelligence : perspectives and
challenges / William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang.
Description: First edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY :
Routledge, 2022. | Series: Asian security studies | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022003783 (print) | LCCN 2022003784 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032081106 (hbk) | ISBN 9781032081090 (pbk) | ISBN
9781003212980 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Artificial intelligence. | Artificial
intelligence--Engineering applications--China.
Classification: LCC Q335 .C4854 2022 (print) | LCC Q335 (ebook) |
DDC 006.3--dc23 /eng20220525
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022003783
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022003784
ISBN: 978-1-032-08110-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-08109-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-21298-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003212980
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Preface xiii
PART I
Foundations of Chinese AI power
1 State plans, research, and funding 3
Ngor Luong and Ryan Fedasiuk
2 China’s AI companies: Hybrid players 19
Karen M. Sutter and Zachary Arnold
3 Foreign support, alliances, and technology transfer 36
Huey-Meei Chang and William C. Hannas
PART II
China and the world
4 China’s quest for AI talent 57
Emily Weinstein and Jeffrey Stoff
5 Academic literature: Quantitative and qualitative analyses 73
Daniel H. Chou and Ashwin Acharya
6 The balance sheet: China’s AI advantages and challenges 96
Zachary Arnold and Anna B. Puglisi
vi Contents
PART III
Impact on cutting-edge disciplines
7 Chinese AI and neuroscience 115
William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang
8 Chinese AI and biology 134
Anna B. Puglisi and Daniel H. Chou
9 China at the nexus of AI and quantum computing 155
Jonathan Ray
PART IV
AI in the shadows
10 AI in the Chinese military 175
Ryan Fedasiuk and Emily Weinstein
11 Cyber and influence operations 189
John Chen
12 AI and the surveillance state 205
Dahlia Peterson
PART V
AI hazards and safety
13 Future paths and challenges 225
Huey-Meei Chang and William C. Hannas
14 AI safeguards: Views inside and outside China 244
Helen Toner
15 Measuring risk and monitoring development 260
William C. Hannas and Huey-Meei Chang
Conclusion 278
Appendix: Glossary of terms 284
List of contributors 288
Index 291
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Growth of guidance funds, 2006–2020 13
5.1 Chinese and U.S. shares of AI publications 77
5.2 Third-party citations of Chinese and U.S. AI publications in
their first year after publication 78
5.3 MPS AI output trend 83
5.4a Countries with the most AI scholarly publications in 2020 84
5.4b Share of AI scholarly publications 85
5.5 Global AI research hubs in 2020 86
5.6 China AI research hubs 86
5.7 PRC international collaboration in 2020 87
5.8 Share of organization AI research collaborations - merged 87
5.9 Share of organization AI research collaborations - CNKI 88
7.1 Brain-inspired AI papers in China’s CNKI database 123
8.1 AI and bio industrial clusters in selected PRC cities 140
8.2 Research hubs—synthetic biology—2020 (CNKI) 141
8.3 China AI research hubs - annotated 142
8.4a CRISPR—China vs. ROW 143
8.4b CRISPR + learning (AI)—China vs. ROW 143
8.5 Academic journal articles containing both bio- and AI-related
keywords 144
10.1 AI-related contracts awarded by PLA service branches,
April–November 2020 180
13.1 AGI-related Chinese language academic papers
2010–2019 230
13.2 BCI-related Chinese language academic papers 2010–2019 233
viii Illustrations
14.1 Papers published in research clusters related to areas of
technical AI safety 250
15.1 Papers by Xiamen University researchers on AGI topics 271
15.2 Xiamen University collaboration with BATH + CASIA 272
Tables
1.1 Chinese AI-related national planning documents 5
1.2 Select state key laboratories involved in AI research 10
2.1 Collaborations among Chinese AI companies, universities, and
state institutes 24
2.2 China’s AI “National Team” 25
2.3 Examples of Chinese AI firms’ foreign research activities 27
4.1 Some talent program selectees at PRC research institutions 64
5.1 AI applications according to subjects in CNKI journals 80
5.2 Organizations with top AI research output in CNKI journals 81
5.3 Funder-supported AI scholarly publications 82
8.1 Synthetic biology papers—Average Y2Y Growth—2015–2020 141
9.1 Leading companies in quantum services worldwide 163
11.1 Overview of application areas for AI in cyber and influence
operations 194
11.2 Categorization of AI-enabled cyber intrusion techniques
described in Fang et al. and Liu et al. 195
11.3 Most prolific publishing institutions for AI-powered cyber
algorithms 197
11.4 Most prolific publishing institutions for commonly cited
deepfake algorithms 197
15.1 2019 AMS/MSIRC military-civilian recruitment form 266
15.2 Papers co-authored by Xiamen University and major Chinese
organizations with known AGI programs 271
ABBREVIATIONS
Acronym Term
973 Plan National Basic Research Program
AGI artificial general intelligence
AI artificial intelligence
AIDP Artificial Intelligence Development Plan
AIIA AI Industry and Technology Innovation Alliance of China
ANN artificial neural network
ASI artificial superintelligence
ATR automated target recognition
AUV autonomous underwater vehicles
AVIC Aviation Industry Corporation of China
BAAI Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence
BAIIA Beijing AI Industrial Alliance
BAT Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent
BATH Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei
BCI Brain-computer interfaces
BI-AI brain-inspired artificial intelligence
BIS Bureau of Industry and Security
BQP Baidu Quantum Plan
C4ISR Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance
CAAI Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence
CAE Chinese Academy of Engineering
CAICT China Academy of Information and Communications
Technology
CAJ Chinese Academic Journal(s)
CANZUK Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
