, Columnist
China’s AI Push Has Scale. But Substance?
It’s making popcorn, but is it useful?
Photographer: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
When it comes to the sheer number of generative artificial intelligence users in China, the question shouldn’t be how many there are, but how they’re using it.
A new report from the China Internet Network Information Center indicates the nation had some 515 million users as of June, up by 266 million since December, according to a readout from Xinhua. At a first glance, the figure suggests that Beijing’s push to spread the technology throughout industries to boost productivity — the so-called AI Plus initiative — is bearing fruit.