Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Nikkei Asia published an article on Sunday stating that Chinese courts have been handing down judgments related to generative artificial intelligence (AI). Some Westerners may tend to view the rule-making process of AI from the perspective of a global race. That is unnecessary. Verdicts by Chinese courts will make a positive contribution to improving global AI governance.

In April, a Beijing court handed down a ruling on a person's right to his or her voice, Nikkei Asia said. This means China is already ahead of some developed countries in terms of AI-replicated voice infringement. In Japan, the government has begun to create rules, but the debate over the rights to AI-generated voices has only just started, according to the report.

It is not surprising that China is at the forefront of the process of rule-making for the use of AI. That's because of the continuous development of China's AI industry.

China has made remarkable progress in AI development. The country now hosts more than 4,500 AI companies. Its core AI industry reached a scale of more than 578 billion yuan ($81 billion) in 2023, up 13.9 percent year-on-year, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

For an emerging industry with such a large size and rapid growth rate, it's important to establish rules and standards to regulate its sound development. With standards in place, AI is expected to enable the further development of various industries in China, and become part of more and more aspects of our lives.

By the end of 2026, China is expected to formulate more than 50 national and industrial standards for AI development. It is part of efforts to develop a standard system to guide the high-quality development of the industry.

AI is a new area of human development, and it offers opportunities for progress in critical areas, along with unique challenges for the world's economy. This is a common issue that concerns the fate of all mankind, and thus, AI governance requires the participation of the international community.

As a member of the international community, China has played an important role in the development and deployment of AI. We believe that China's vibrant wisdom and Chinese solutions will bring prosperity and development to the world.

However, against the backdrop of repeated US crackdowns on Chinese technology companies and Washington's high-tech "decoupling" push, a global tech race is heating up and much of that race centers on strategic emerging industries, including AI.

The US is still largely in the mode of zero-sum games and treats China with a lot of suspicion. Obviously, some Westerners don't want to see China writing global standards for the next generation of technology. Holding a sour-grapes mentality, some Western media outlets have hyped zero-sum competition.

However, their zero-sum competition narrative won't hinder the development of China's AI industry, but will only create more obstacles and disrupt global AI cooperation.

Chinese officials have said that the country is willing to enhance communication and exchanges with the international community on AI security governance, promote the establishment of an international mechanism with universal participation, and form a governance framework and standards that share a broad consensus. 

Chinese people prefer cooperation to contests. There's already a huge gap between developed and developing countries in terms of AI technology, and we should make sure the gap won't be further widened in terms of AI governance.

Efforts should be made to increase the representation and voice of developing countries in global AI governance, and ensure equal rights and equal opportunities in AI development. In this sense, court verdicts related to AI cases in China are contribution to world AI governance.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]