Editor's note:?China recently launched a pilot program for the review of artificial intelligence ethics and services. Southern Finance spoke to Zeng Tieyong, director of the Center for Mathematical Artificial Intelligence at the Institute for Advanced Study at Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, about the future of AI governance. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

The pilot program will initially be launched in provincial-level regions that have national pilot zones for AI industrial innovation and application. The goal is to explore practical approaches for implementing AI ethics review and service mechanisms.

The main purpose of AI ethics governance is to establish clear boundaries for the development of the industry, defining which types of technological research and commercial applications are encouraged and which practices are strictly prohibited.

On the one hand, this approach will help mitigate the risks associated with AI, including privacy breaches, financial security concerns and unclear algorithmic accountability. On the other hand, by clearly defining baseline rules, the industry can be given sufficient room for innovation, preventing excessive regulation from stifling technological progress.

The move indicates that China's AI governance framework is moving beyond broad principle-based guidance toward a more institutionalized, scenario-specific and operational stage. The pilot program suggests that regulation is now penetrating deeper into industrial settings, with the aim of developing governance models that can be replicated and expanded nationwide.

The core of promoting AI lies in real-world application scenarios, and vertical application sectors are precisely where AI can be deployed most quickly and effectively. By establishing governance red lines in sectors closely tied to daily life, China can both accelerate the delivery of AI-driven public benefits and gain regulatory experience through practical social applications.

The program allows governance models to evolve from specific sectors to the broader industry ecosystem, maximizing the practical value of the AI industry while safeguarding ethical boundaries.

The main challenge in the AI industry remains high-end hardware manufacturing. Due to external technological restrictions and supply chain constraints, critical technologies such as lithography machines and high-performance computing chips remain major bottlenecks.

At the same time, China has several notable advantages, including its enormous talent pool. Chinese universities produce a large number of doctoral and master's graduates every year, providing abundant technical manpower that can be rapidly transformed into industrial productivity.

Another advantage is the country's diversified application scenarios. China's policy environment is generally more supportive of AI commercialization and deployment. Drawing on the development experiences of industries such as photovoltaics and new energy vehicles, AI technologies in China are able to scale and quickly enter the market.

While supporting governance mechanisms for AI is crucial, the two decisive factors for catching up remain talent reserves and breakthroughs in core hardware technologies.

China already has a strong foundation of practical engineering and technical personnel at the grassroots level, along with a large concentration of high-end specialists trained by top universities. If these resources can be effectively mobilized, they will be sufficient to sustain large-scale industry-wide research and development. What China currently lacks most is a smaller group of world-class pioneers capable of leading frontier innovation.

China's rapid rise in the NEV sector offers an important reference point. By bypassing traditional technological barriers, leveraging domestic supply chains and talent advantages, and eventually achieving breakthroughs in hardware self-sufficiency, China's AI industry is widely expected to become globally competitive and potentially take the lead.