This Qiushi essay, “Let Technology Forever Remain a Tool of Humans,” is the most interesting AI piece from Chinese state media in a while.

Most official media writing on AI does the typical yada-yada about “AI for good” and “human-centered AI,” but doesn’t actually engage with any of the deeper philosophical questions about where AI development is taking us. This piece really digs in on those, going from Marx to Zhuangzi to other philosphers and poets most of us have never heard of.

I’m usually quite skeptical of arguments that ideology is genuinely driving policy, and China is absolutely not going to suddenly pump the brakes on AI because of something that Confucius allegedly said. But some of the themes in there around what it means for humanity to maintain meaningful agency over AI do strike at concerns that are closer to the CCP’s heart.

Caveat: I’m a bit of a sucker for these intersections of AI with philosophical humanism, and there’s always a tendency to imbue greater depth to ideas that you read in a foreign language. (Because you had to work extra hard to understand it!) So take it for what you will.

Thanks to Bill Bishop for highlighting and creating this bilingual version.

PS: Does anyone know who/what the pen name 文平 usually represents?