China's new guidelines call for AI safety systems and a curb on tech investment bubbles

SentiSense · Published Oct 10, 2026, 1:19 AM ET · Updated Oct 10, 2026, 12:44 PM ET

China's Communist Party Central Committee and State Council issued guidelines on Oct 9, 2026 on accelerating the development of "new quality productive forces," which Xinhua said outline 19 key measures in five areas. The guidelines call for monitoring, early-warning and emergency-response systems so AI is "safe, reliable and controllable," and, according to Reuters, tell officials to avoid bubbles and blind investment in high-tech sectors.

China's Communist Party Central Committee and State Council have issued guidelines on "accelerating the development of new quality productive forces," Xinhua reported, with 19 key measures in five areas. The document is a policy directive, not a new five-year plan: the 15th Five-Year Plan was approved on March 12, 2026. Its headline themes are keeping AI risks in check and curbing tech bubbles.

On AI, the guidelines call for systems for technology monitoring, early risk warning and emergency response "to ensure that AI is safe, reliable and controllable". Safety sits next to an equally prominent push to expand AI: the text includes full implementation of the "AI Plus" initiative, and according to Reuters it also plans breakthroughs in AI theory and core technologies, more computing power and national pilot bases for industrial AI. AFP linked the safety language to Xi Jinping's remark this summer that AI should be "always under human control," and contrasted it with US President Donald Trump's push for limited AI regulation.

The bubble language is aimed at local officials. According to Reuters, the guidelines urge officials to prioritize the real economy and avoid bubbles, blind investment and rushes into high-tech sectors, and say officials responsible for major losses from blind investment would be held accountable. The document also prohibits illegal or improper abuse of policies carried out in the name of developing new productive forces, and calls for a "healthy, orderly and safe" low-altitude economy covering drones and air taxis. Xi introduced the "new productive forces" concept in 2023.

No figures, budgets or deadlines were reported alongside the guidelines. What to watch is how ministries and provinces translate them into implementing rules, whether the accountability language slows local government funding of duplicate high-tech projects, and how the safety requirements interact with China's AI rules that took effect in July.