AI needs to be governed wisely to ensure that it is beneficial for future of humanity: China Daily editorial

Time magazine's decision to name the "Architects of AI" as its 2025 Person of the Year is both symbolic and revealing. By honoring a collective rather than a single individual for the advance of artificial intelligence, the magazine has underscored that the technology is no longer driven by a handful of pioneers, but a systemic force transforming the world.

Significantly, among those recognized are not only the CEOs of large Chinese enterprises such as Baidu's Robin Li, but also those from start-ups such as AgiBot co-founder Peng Zhihui and MiniMax CEO Yan Junjie, whose inclusion reflects the country's increasingly prominent role in global AI development. While the cover features many familiar Western faces from companies such as Nvidia and AMD, the presence of the Chinese entrepreneurs behind major AI players such as DeepSeek and other AI companies, such as StepFun, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, 01.AI and Baichuan AI, illustrates the globalized nature of AI innovation. The AI era is not being built by one country alone, but through parallel advances across different markets, cultures and regulatory environments.

This recognition comes at a moment when AI has become a functional general purpose technology like the internet. Its influence today extends well beyond faster computing or smarter software; it is redefining how societies operate in many fields. While AI lowers entry barriers in some sectors, it has also created new divides — in computing power, data access, algorithms and institutional capacity. The ability to build a reliable AI ecosystem is becoming a new watershed in national development capability.

Against this backdrop, China's AI development is closely tied to the country's strengths in application-oriented innovation. Autonomous driving, widely seen as a major AI application scenario currently, is a case in point. China approved two Chinese cars with Level-3 Autonomous Driving capabilities on Monday, marking the first time such vehicles have been cleared by the national regulator as legitimate products ready for mass adoption. It is fair to say that AI-related innovation is unfolding along multiple tracks in China rather than following a single center-periphery model.

Yet despite its openness to cooperation, China's AI development is often distorted by some in the West as a geopolitical tool aimed at countering Western influence. This narrative reflects a Cold War mentality that frames technology as zero-sum competition. In fact, China has consistently emphasized collaboration and good global governance in AI and other high-tech fields. It has made clear that AI should not be weaponized or politicized, and that technological progress should serve shared human development rather than strategic confrontation.

The real challenge of AI lies not only in how it is created, but in how it is governed. AI poses profound challenges to traditional governance systems: when algorithms participate in decision-making, how are accountability and transparency ensured? How can the concentration of data and computing power in large technology companies be balanced with the public interest? And as countries adopt different ethical and regulatory frameworks, how can global rules be coordinated rather than fragmented? How these governance challenges are resolved will determine whether AI becomes a force of inclusion or division.

China has been active in addressing these challenges. It has advocated improving global AI governance, strengthening international coordination and establishing mechanisms for cooperation that reflect fairness and inclusiveness.

At international forums, China has called for AI to become a global public good, accessible and beneficial to all, particularly developing countries. Such positions recognize that no nation can manage AI's opportunities and risks alone.

For China, the AI era brings both pressure and strategic opportunity. On the one hand, AI has become a core arena of global competition, requiring coordinated advances in technology, industry and institutions. On the other hand, China's vast application scenarios in public services, digital governance and large-scale social operations provide a realistic foundation for exploring responsible AI governance models. As the technology's development enters this new stage, policymakers need to strike a balance between efficiency and fairness, and innovation and security.

Time magazine's recognition ultimately serves as a reminder: the future of humanity will not be decided solely by who builds better AI, but by who governs it more wisely. In this sense, cooperation, mutual learning and shared governance remain the most reliable path forward in an increasingly intelligent but uncertain world.