Approaching China’s “Artificial Intelligence Development Highland”

Shanghai has set ambitious targets for AI in the public sector, stating that it will increasingly leverage AI applications to improve public service provision and ensure high-quality life for its citizens in urban management, education, medicine, and other areas. This determination to accelerate AI uptake in the public sector is consistent with China’s well-established approach that leverages technology to pursue government policy priorities. This approach is characterized by three intertwined features: a techno-utilitarian vision that considers technology a valuable tool to promote national development; the use of quantitative techniques and technological tools to improve the management and control of society; and the digitalization of government activities to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public governance. At the same time, Shanghai’s determination to accelerate AI uptake in the public sector can be understood in light of the potential of this technology to improve the operations of public organizations. This potential is very appealing to the leadership of one of the most populated and busiest cities in the world, which not only has to meet the rising demands for public services coming from the local population, but is also striving to make Shanghai a globally competitive and well-administered metropolis.