The Chinese Ministory of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has made a bold step in creating ethical governance for AI research, development and deployment.
Their intent is to embed mandatory ethical governance into AI activities conducted in China, where it may pose risks to Human Dignity, Public Order, Life and Heath, Privacy and Data Security, Social Fairness or Sustainable Development.
It is intended as a binding ethical compliance regime, not just guidance.
It requires organisations to establish an AI Ethics Committee, or use an acreddited Ethics Review Service Centre (if they lack capacity). No review = no lawful activity.
They have identified three procedural tracks:
1. General, for medium to high risk AI activities, decision in 30 days
2. Simplified, for low risk activities and minor modifications, review by 2 members
3. Emergency, for public emergencies or urgent situations, reivew within 72 hours.
All approved projects should be reviewed annually, or every 6 months for higher risk activities.
There are seven ethical principles which run through the document:
1. Promotion of human wellbeing
2. Respect for life, dignity and rights
3. Fairness and non discrimination
4. Risk proportionality and prevention
5. Transparency and explainability
6. Privacy and data protection
7. Control, accountability and traceability
Compared to the EU AI Act it is clear that China is taking an ethics first, state supervised approach to protect governance and social stability, whereas the EU treats AI as a regulated economic activity.
How that shows up:
→ China will enforce through administrative control, the EU enforces through economic penalties
→ China regulates AI's societal power and impact, the EU regulates the potential to harm individuals.
→ China uses centralised admin oversight, the EU uses decentralised regulatory enforcement
→ China controls AI before and during development, the EU mainly controls AI before deployment
SOURCE
https://www.miit.gov.cn/zwgk/zcwj/wjfb/tz/art/2026/art_c5039010f5d24e1593152a9355f9c51c.html
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