The top official of China’s intelligence services has issued one of Beijing’s most detailed warnings to date about artificial intelligence, pointing out that the rapid advances in this technology could threaten political stability and critical infrastructure.
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The abusive use of AI by adversaries could “directly threaten the political, institutional, and ideological security of China,” wrote State Security Minister Chen Yixin in an article published Sunday in the official magazine China Cyberspace. He also alluded to AI’s growing ability to detect vulnerabilities in systems and create malicious programs or software designed to exploit those weaknesses.
The article constitutes one of the clearest expositions to date on how China assesses the dangers posed by AI. Its publication coincided with calls from leaders of some of the major U.S. tech companies to adopt a more cautious development pace, although there is no indication that the two initiatives were coordinated. The text did not mention the requests from Anthropic PBC and OpenAI to slow down the race to develop cutting-edge models.
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Dario Amodei, co-founder of Anthropic, argued on Saturday in a blog post that AI capabilities are advancing faster than protective measures and proposed coordination among companies, the United States, and other democracies. The Chinese minister, despite emphasizing security, addresses the risks mainly from the perspective of political control, technological sovereignty, foreign threats, and strategic rivalry.
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One of Beijing’s main concerns is the possibility that what Chen described as “hostile forces” might undertake “public opinion wars” and “cognitive warfare.” Deepfakes, AI-generated texts and images, and social media bots could be used to fabricate political rumors, spread harmful information, and foster social divisions, he wrote in the magazine, managed by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
China warns that more developed countries could invoke national security to impose technological controls
According to the article, web trackers, data mining systems, and AI-based profiling tools could enhance the ability of foreign intelligence services to collect sensitive information, including state data, trade secrets, and personal information.
Chen also warned that countries with an advantage in AI could invoke national security to impose technological controls, “monopolize” industry standards, and create closed-code ecosystems, in a line similar to the opposition expressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to expanding the concept of national security in a speech delivered in July.
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