AI+, Shaping a New Form of the Intelligent Economy (High-Quality Development Story Series · Issue 24)

At the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "All countries should uphold the concept of people-centered and tech-for-good development, make AI an important driving force for promoting common prosperity and safeguarding common security, and work together to build a just and reasonable global AI governance system."

As a strategic technology leading a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, AI is penetrating all areas of the economy and society at unprecedented speed, breadth and depth. In 2025, the scale of China's core AI industry exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, the number of enterprises exceeded 6,200, and the comprehensive strength of the industry remained firmly in the global first tier. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan clearly proposes the full implementation of the "AI+" initiative. This important deployment will drive technological innovation to achieve leapfrog development, advance integrated applications in depth, and drive profound changes in production methods and a revolutionary leap in productivity.

Facing this historic transformation, we should draw wisdom from China's fine traditional culture, explore a Chinese technological path, focus on Chinese application scenarios, carry forward Chinese cultural values, stay firm on China's development path, and shape a new form of intelligent economy and intelligent society featuring human-machine collaboration, cross-sector integration and co-creation and sharing.

Consolidating the talent foundation and shoring up the root of development through a transformation of the education paradigm

Talent is the key support for AI innovation and development. As AI accelerates its iteration, new demands have been placed on the quantity, quality and structure of talent. As AI continues to improve its capabilities in knowledge acquisition and skill application, the focus of education must shift from knowledge assessment to quality cultivation, and from specialist training to generalist cultivation. Striving for the 15th Five-Year Plan, the integrated reform of the systems and mechanisms for education, science and technology, and talent must be further deepened, a training system that integrates the liberal arts and sciences and spans ancient and modern learning must be built, and generalists capable of shouldering historic responsibilities and leading the development of an intelligent society must be cultivated.

In terms of the training system, the training concepts of laying a foundation through general education, empowering through general intelligence, and practical application through general-purpose training should be carried through the AI education system at all stages of schooling and across society, comprehensively raising the AI literacy of the whole population. In terms of organizational models, an industry-education integration innovation consortium linking the "discipline chain—innovation chain—industrial chain—talent chain" should be built. In terms of regional layout, the inclusive coverage of high-quality AI education resources in the central and western regions should be promoted, new school-running models based on "relying on existing resources, creating incremental resources, and stimulating variables" should be explored, and the education gap should be bridged. In terms of educational philosophy, the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education should be upheld, value judgment should be cultivated, and students should be guided to achieve a higher dimension of value and cognition and form a sound personality through deep connection with society.

Upholding self-reliance and strength, and following a Chinese AI technological path of independent thinking and original leadership

General artificial intelligence is an important frontier direction for AI development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and also a commanding height in global technological competition. China should give full play to the advantages of the new system of mobilizing resources nationwide, focus on disruptive innovation in general artificial intelligence architecture, and blaze a Chinese AI technological path of independent thinking and original leadership.

The key to achieving general artificial intelligence lies in "establishing a heart" for machines, that is, building a complete cognitive architecture and value system for general intelligent agents so that they can autonomously generate goals, dynamically plan tasks, and have their behavior guided and constrained by value norms. The profound philosophical thinking accumulated over thousands of years of Chinese civilization, such as "the heart is principle," provides guidance for building value-driven general artificial intelligence: only by unifying the "heart" (cognitive architecture and value system) with "principle" (physical laws and social norms) can intelligent agents truly understand the world, make value judgments, and achieve mutual trust and symbiotic coexistence with humanity.

AI is moving from the digital world to the physical world and into human society. Whether intelligent agents can understand the basic categories of social relations such as responsibilities, rights and interests, and whether they can reach contracts, build trust and consensus in complex social networks, determines whether they can truly integrate into human society. This requires us to seek the social common denominator in a computable way and provide theoretical and technological support for building a beneficial, safe and fair intelligent society.

Highlighting application traction and creating a better life for the people through inclusive applications

The development of AI should always take serving humanity and enhancing well-being as its core. To deeply advance the "AI+" initiative, efforts should be coordinated at the three levels of government use, commercial use and civilian use, giving play to China's advantages such as the deep coverage of digital social governance, the world's leading manufacturing scale, and vast market-oriented application scenarios, and exploring an innovative development paradigm driven by application traction and scenarios.

At the government use level, AI should support the modernization of national governance. AI should be used to accurately perceive social needs, efficiently allocate public resources, and promptly respond to public concerns. AI should be integrated into the entire emergency management chain of "monitoring and early warning—consultation and judgment—emergency response—review and optimization," promoting the comprehensive upgrade of "human defense + technical defense + intelligent defense" and effectively enhancing social resilience and public safety.

At the commercial use level, AI should empower industrial transformation and upgrading. The deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation should be promoted, the intelligent upgrading of all factors in traditional industries should be accelerated, new intelligent-native products and business forms should be developed, and innovative products close to consumer terminals such as smart cockpits, smart homes and smart terminals should be prioritized. An intelligent agent evolution mechanism of "using AI to produce AI" should be built, so that general R&D intelligent agents can autonomously and efficiently evolve industry business intelligent agents that empower all sectors. Common technology platforms for industry applications should be built, low-cost intelligent industrial application solutions should be created, and small and medium-sized enterprises should be enabled to board the fast train of development in the intelligent era.

At the civilian level, AI should be used to promote employment and improve people's livelihoods. Public service platforms for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship should be built, AI creation tools should be provided, and labor-income channels from idea to monetization should be opened up, so that ordinary workers can participate in the AI economy and the employment-creation effect of AI is strengthened. In livelihood fields such as education, healthcare and elderly care, the threshold for AI application should be lowered on a priority basis, and digital-intelligent technologies should be promoted in an orderly manner for inclusive application in scenarios such as assisted diagnosis and treatment, precision medicine, health management, and elderly care and disability assistance.

Coordinate development and security, and build an intrinsically secure, well-regulated and orderly intelligent governance system

AI security is not a patch applied after the fact. Both intrinsic security and external governance should be emphasized, defenses should be consolidated at the architectural level, development should be regulated through institutional systems, and the initiative in development and governance should be firmly grasped, so as to ensure that AI is secure, reliable and controllable.

The key to AI security lies in intrinsic security and built-in values. At the cognitive architecture level, two lines of defense should be established for intelligent agents: first, actively intercept non-compliant intents and goals through the value system; second, ensure that intelligent agents can proactively identify samples that do not conform to basic human value norms and legal boundaries.

On the basis of architectural security, the construction of governance systems, institutional norms and evaluation systems should be strengthened. Tiered and classified governance should be implemented according to application scenarios and risk levels, governance tools such as "sandbox regulation", pilot demonstrations and dynamic assessment should be used in combination, and a full-lifecycle risk prevention and control system covering security monitoring, risk early warning and emergency response should be improved. An independent, application-oriented AI evaluation system should be built; based on the actual conditions of China's application scenarios, quantifiable and verifiable evaluation benchmarks and tools should be provided for the capabilities, values, security and ethics of intelligent agents, so as to achieve the organic unity of encouraging innovation and regulating development.

Adhere to openness and win-win cooperation, and lead a new form of global intelligent civilization with cultural confidence

Advanced culture and values should be used to guide the evolution of human-machine society in the intelligent era. The cultural genes of Chinese civilization—"shared beauty among all" and "do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire"—have laid the foundation of China's AI. China's development of AI is not for a small number of companies to pursue excessive profits, nor is it to replace high-value jobs with AI; rather, it adheres to benefiting the people inclusively and turns intelligent technology into development dividends that all people can perceive, use and access.

In the face of global AI development, competition, cooperation and governance, China insists on turning AI into an international public good that benefits humanity through technology open source, knowledge sharing and capacity building, helping developing countries improve their AI development levels, bridging the digital divide and the intelligence divide, and promoting the formation of a globally recognized governance framework and standards.

In the face of the risks and challenges that technological development may bring, China's answer is a constructive human-machine symbiosis solution. AI is not a cold tool, nor should it be regarded as a competitor to humanity; it should be a partner with emotion, conscience and trustworthiness that helps people improve work efficiency. As productivity leaps forward and frees people from repetitive labor, support and guidance should be provided at the educational, cultural and institutional levels to help people redefine work, rebuild the meaning of life and achieve free and comprehensive development. The future intelligent society should be one in which humans and machines trust each other, each gives play to its strengths, and they create together.

The "AI+" initiative is a profound transformation involving technological routes, social forms and civilizational values. In this transformation, we must uphold integrity and innovation, maintain the courage of scientific and technological innovation while staying true to the original aspiration of putting people first and making intelligence good; we must promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind while taking steady steps in independent development, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to the progress of human civilization.

Case One

Narrator: Li Weijun, Party Secretary of Fuli Haiyang Community, Guanyinqiao Subdistrict, Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing

Matters concerning the people, no matter how small, are important. Our community is a typical mixed commercial and residential community. It is close to a plaza, and commercial spaces sit right beneath the residential buildings. The lively atmosphere is strong, but the noise is real too. For one matter, going to the site, arranging talks, coordinating and following up—ten days to half a month is the norm. Just as I hang up here, the phone rings again there.

There are also some needs that no one proactively mentions. For example, an elderly person cannot reach to change a light bulb, and their legs tremble while standing on a stool; a fall would be a serious matter. These needs, which are difficult to report proactively through traditional channels, are what we community workers need to discover proactively and handle in advance.

I always think that with more than 10,000 people in the community and only a few of us staff to serve them, it would be great to have a helper.

Now, this idea has really come true. The "Peace of Mind Project · People's Heart Intelligent Agent" has created an exclusive "AI avatar" for our community workers. It can not only understand residents' direct demands, but also analyze the potential needs of the people by combining data, and identify in advance which problems need priority handling and which conflicts may escalate.

With this 24-hour online intelligent helper, everyone's demands can be seen earlier and responded to more promptly, and we can free up more time to go to the residents' side and make our services more detailed and solid. As long as everyone has needs, "I" am always there!

Chongqing is a megacity that combines large cities, large rural areas, large mountainous areas and large reservoir areas. In recent years, Chongqing has actively explored new paths for modern governance of megacities, systematically promoted the "1361" construction of Digital Chongqing, and accelerated two-way empowerment between AI and Digital Chongqing.

The People's Heart Intelligent Agent relies on the AI intelligent agent creation, training and evolution capabilities of the "Mingjing" platform, and based on the multi-dimensional data accumulated by "Yukuaiban", it reflects citizens' demands, further gains insight into group needs, and empowers the government to achieve more precise services and more refined governance.

Work safety is the "lifeline" of chemical enterprises, and every area must maintain real-time monitoring; a single parameter drifting off course may be a sign of a major accident.

In the past, our nerves were stretched tight every day, and what we feared most was hearing the device alarm. On site, everything relied on the veteran workers' "listen, touch, look, and smell," but by the time an abnormality was detected, the best window for handling it had often already passed.

Now, the factory has a "new master"—the time-series large model TPT—which has lightened our burden considerably.

"Technical work" is more precise. The raw material changeover step is the biggest headache, like cooking: the rice and flour given each time are different, yet the same texture has to be produced. In the past, I had to formulate a "Production Guidance Document" every time, simulate and calculate the material changeover process, and rely entirely on experience-based judgment to modify and adjust the data.

The large model is like a more precise and reliable "brain." It automatically adjusts production parameters to their optimal values and can also predict changes in indicators; when an abnormality occurs, the system handles it automatically.

"Physical work" is more efficient. The large model is like our "eyes" and "hands," reducing manual operations in the central control room by 80% and cutting workload on the production line by more than one-third.

This "new master" has set the factory on a new path of safe production, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement. Production device alarms have dropped from more than 3 times per hour in the past to once every ten-plus hours. Saving fuel gas alone saves millions of yuan a year; the proportion of high-value products has also increased, and is expected to drive more than 4 million yuan in additional revenue each year.

In the past, "people revolved around the equipment"; now, "AI leads the equipment." The intelligent upgrade frees up our energy to do more valuable things. Recently, I have been conducting research on a cost-reduction and efficiency-improvement topic and have also participated in a scientific and technological research task. The experience and capabilities of the "veteran masters" now have greater scope for use.

Narrator: Zhang Tianhang, senior engineer at the World Meteorological Center (Beijing) of the China Meteorological Administration

I am a member of China's intelligent meteorological early warning solution "MAZU" team. We have built the "Feng" series family of AI forecast models—"Fenglei" keeps watch on short-term severe convection, "Fengqing" covers short- and medium-term global forecasts, and "Fengshun" predicts medium- and long-term climate trends. Take "Fengqing" as an example: it generates a global forecast for 0 to 15 days within 3 minutes. This is not simply faster speed; it is a shift from "chasing the weather" to "waiting for it in advance."

The benefits brought by artificial intelligence are not within everyone's reach. Especially in some smaller developing countries, they face weak infrastructure, insufficient funding, a lack of talent, and many other problems.

MAZU—the four letters stand for Multi-hazard, Alert, Zero-gap, and Universal. Its goal is very clear: to bring early warning to the places that need it most but do not yet have it.

Since 2024, we have trained nearly 1,000 meteorological backbone personnel for more than 100 developing countries. "MAZU" is already in cloud use in more than 50 countries and has been customized and deployed in 8 countries.

Sri Lanka adopted the customized "MAZU" solution in April this year. Its acting deputy director-general of the meteorological department said during training that the platform is very easy to use and expressed the hope that more accurate forecasts can reduce losses from disasters such as landslides and floods during the rainy season.

A trainee from Trinidad and Tobago said that the "MAZU" solution can achieve more precise and more localized meteorological early warnings, which is exactly what they need.

In the next five years, the customized "MAZU" solution will be deployed and applied in 30 countries. At a time when global technological competition is becoming increasingly fierce, we have chosen a different path—not keeping the technology in our own hands, but helping others build it together and teaching everyone to use it together.

(Compiled by People's Daily Online reporter Yang Xi)