Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday said China should secure a competitive edge in AI as it emerged as a strategic technology leading the new round of technological revolution profoundly changing the way humans produce and live.

China shall give full play to the advantages of the new system for mobilising resources, uphold self-reliance and self-strengthening, prioritise application-oriented development, and promote orderly advancement of the AI sector toward a beneficial, safe and equitable direction, Xi told a meeting of the ruling Communist Party on new technologies.

Xi said Artificial Intelligence (AI), as a strategic technology leading the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, has profoundly changed the way humans produce and live, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Noting that there are still gaps and deficiencies in areas such as fundamental theories and key core technologies, Xi urged to acknowledge these shortcomings and asked for strengthening efforts to comprehensively advance sci-tech innovation, industrial development and applications of AI.

These efforts will be necessary to improve AI regulatory systems and mechanisms, and to firmly grasp the initiative in both AI development and governance, he said.

China has stepped investment in AI and other emerging technologies in recent years emerging as a major producer of E-Vehicles.

The Chinese military too has begun applying AI technologies to non-combative sectors.

A Chinese tech firm High-Flyer has produced a new AI tool called DeepSeek early this year which grabbed the global attention for its low-cost model.

On April 17, a US congressional committee branded the DeepSeek as a “profound threat” to America’s national security amid the intensifying trade war between the two countries.

DeepSeek was described as being closely associated with the Communist Party and “designed to unlawfully undermine US technological leadership and critical American policies to protect national security”, the report by the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party said.

A number of countries including India clamped restrictions on officials accessing DeepSeek over suspicions of data leaks.

China criticised the restrictions saying that they amounted to politicisation of trade and tech issues.

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