Tech narratives equally vital in AI progress

AI technology is now widely used in China across sectors such as education, medical care and agriculture. Beyond the technical dimension, the narratives we attach to AI matter just as much for its societal impact.

Two layers of AI progress

AI is often presented as a purely technical affair: better models, faster chips, larger datasets. But every technology lives inside a story, and the story shapes adoption — by individuals, by professions and by governments. In China, the AI story has been remarkably constructive: an enabler of public goods rather than a job-destroyer to be feared.

Local government as protagonist

What is striking is how many local governments are the protagonists of this story. Provincial and city innovation funds, sandbox programmes and education-AI pilots are not waiting for top-down direction. They are the engine of practical adoption.

What's missing — and what scholars can do

What is still missing is a sufficiently rigorous public conversation about responsible AI: about labour, education and inequality. Interdisciplinary scholars are uniquely placed to translate the technical into the human and the human into the technical. ICOIS members are actively contributing to this work.

Author

Tariq H. Malik, Professor at Liaoning University and Founding Director of ICOIS. First published in China Daily, 9 June 2025.