On 9 October 2026, Xinhua released the 'Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Developing New Quality Productive Forces', carried by China's National Data Administration. The document sets out 19 major reform tasks, and AI is not a footnote. Task (10) is a standalone instruction to 'fully implement the AI+ initiative': push AI through the upgrading of traditional industries; accelerate real-world scenarios for next-generation smart terminals including intelligent connected vehicles, AI phones and computers and humanoid robots; strengthen the supply of computing power, algorithms and data; and set up national AI industry-application pilot bases and high-value use cases on a region-by-region, sector-by-sector basis. A monitoring, risk-warning and emergency-response system is meant to keep AI safe, reliable and controllable. Elsewhere, task (8) lists embodied intelligence, brain-computer interfaces and 6G among future industries; task (9) calls for a nationwide integrated computing-power network; task (5) says AI should lead a change in the paradigm of scientific research; and task (15) pledges stronger governance of AI and biology.
Our takeChina's AI push has moved from a specialist topic to the spine of industrial policy. The tell is structural: in a document about all of productivity, AI gets a standalone task while compute, data and a safety cage sit right next to it. Watch the new 'national AI industry-application pilot bases' — that line is where provincial money and procurement will land next.