His remarks came during a Politburo study session on Friday, amid an intensifying global contest for leadership in emerging technologies.
According to state media outlet Xinhua, Xi urged the country to leverage its “new whole national system” to accelerate AI development.
He emphasised the need to strengthen fundamental research, boost innovation capacity, and expand the application of AI across industries.
He also reaffirmed the importance of fostering domestic expertise and controlling core technologies.
“We must recognise the gaps and redouble our efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and AI-empowered applications,” Xi said.
Xi pledged increased policy support in areas such as government procurement, intellectual property protection, and talent development.
He also called for faster legislation and regulatory frameworks to manage the risks of AI systems, stressing the need to ensure they are “safe, reliable, and controllable.”
Xi’s comments follow recent signs that China is making progress in narrowing its AI gap with the US, despite ongoing restrictions.
In January, Chinese startup DeepSeek released a large language model that it said matched Western performance benchmarks while using less advanced chips, suggesting the country may be overcoming some of the constraints posed by US export controls.
