Directory

Industry alliance launched in 2017 under the guidance of NDRC, MOST, MIIT, and CAC, led operationally by CAICT, with 250+ members across companies and universities. Conducts AI safety/trustworthiness evaluation and standards work and issued a joint self-discipline pledge for the AI industry.

Technology conglomerate and developer of the Qwen open-weight model family via Alibaba Cloud. A central actor in China's AI ecosystem whose model releases, safety practices, and governance participation (standards, industry alliances) carry system-wide weight.

Fintech and technology company (Alipay) that applies AI across finance and has published AI ethics principles to guide its use of intelligent technologies; participates in national AI governance initiatives and international AI safety dialogues.

Leading AI company with full-stack capabilities from AI chips to the ERNIE model family and applications. Long-standing participant in AI governance, ethics, and standards initiatives, with in-house safety and security functions.

Non-profit AI research institution established in 2018 and a hub of China's AI research community. Active in AI safety and governance convening, including safety commitments and international dialogues, and a founding member of CnAISDA.

Non-profit research institute supported by the Beijing municipal government and MOST, in partnership with Peking and Tsinghua Universities, pursuing a unified theory of general intelligent agents; engages with AI safety and governance questions around AGI development.

New-type R&D institution dedicated to AI safety and governance, supervised by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology. Builds systematic safety and governance frameworks, released an AI Application Risk Assessment Tool, and works on AI ethics/safety evaluation systems and a Safe AI foundational model.

Key laboratory led by the CAS Institute of Automation, in collaboration with Peking University and Beijing Normal University, focused on safety risks of frontier AI and research breakthroughs in AI safety and superalignment.

Global technology company (Douyin/TikTok, Toutiao) and developer of the Doubao model family; operates large-scale recommendation systems and AI research teams, making its safety, alignment, and content governance practices highly consequential.

Research center associated with the CAS Institute of Automation focused on long-term AI safety and the trajectory toward advanced AI; co-initiated the AGILE AI Governance International Evaluation Index assessing AI governance across countries.

MIIT-affiliated national think tank and industry platform founded in 1957. A central node for AI policy support, standards, and testing/certification, including AI safety evaluation work such as the Fangsheng AI risk-testing platform, and the operational backbone of the AI Industry Alliance (AIIA).

Consortium of leading Chinese AI institutions (incl. BAAI, CAICT, CCID, CAS Institute of Automation, Peking University, Shanghai AI Lab, Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, Tsinghua University) launched around the 2025 Paris AI Action Summit. Functions as China's counterpart in international AI safety institute dialogues, spanning AI safety research from theory to testing, audits, and governance.

Public institution directly under MIIT functioning as a national high-end think tank for the information technology sector, with work spanning policy research, consulting, and evaluation and certification for emerging technologies including AI. A member institution of CnAISDA.

A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology-affiliated institute that conducts electronics and information-technology standardization, testing, and certification. It serves standardization bodies working on AI and has published AI standardization research and guidance.

China's largest mobile network operator and state-owned digital infrastructure provider; develops and deploys AI at scale (including the Jiutian model series) and has published analysis on AI security risks and coping strategies.

Think tank within China's cyberspace governance system providing research and policy support on cybersecurity, data governance, and cyberspace governance; produces the annual China Internet Development and World Internet Development reports supporting the World Internet Conference.

National-level legal research institution and government think tank; a leading academic home for AI legislation research in China, including scholar-drafted model AI law proposals and work on the rule of law for AI and data governance.

Beijing- and Singapore-based social enterprise dedicated to AI safety and governance. Advises on AI safety and governance, supports China's AI safety community, promotes international cooperation, and publishes the State of AI Safety in China reports that make the Chinese ecosystem legible internationally.

National non-profit association established in 2016 under CAC supervision, spanning cybersecurity companies, research institutions, and experts. Serves as a bridge between industry and regulators on cybersecurity and data security governance, increasingly extending to AI security issues.

Central regulator for internet-related matters, covering online content, cybersecurity, data security, and personal information protection. Lead drafter and enforcer of China's core AI regulations, including the algorithm recommendation, deep synthesis, and generative AI rules, and operator of the algorithm and generative AI service filing regimes.

AI company founded in 2023 and backed by hedge fund High-Flyer, developing frontier open-weight large language models (DeepSeek-V and R series) in pursuit of AGI. Its Nature-published R1 work includes detailed frontier-safety and risk-evaluation disclosures, among the most substantive published by a Chinese lab.

Policy research institution under the direct leadership of the State Council, providing research and consulting on economic and social development. Contributes to national AI policy thinking on development, industrial transformation, and governance implications of AI.

Center inaugurated at WAIC 2025 building a collaborative platform connecting Shanghai, China, and the world on AI governance, talent development, and AI for social good, with the aim of contributing to global AI governance frameworks.

Chinese-language podcast at the intersection of AI and public issues — covering AI governance, safety narratives, technology law, and STS — that brings governance and safety discourse to domestic Chinese audiences. Hosted by Zhuoran Zhou, an AI governance researcher with a background in financial media and the cloud/AI industry.

A major Chinese AI infrastructure and model developer. It has published an AI Security White Paper and lifecycle-oriented guidance on security and privacy for AI systems.

Cross-cultural research center at the CAS Institute of Automation. Released the Beijing AI Principles (2019), endorsed by Tsinghua, Peking University, and AITISA, and co-initiated the AGILE international AI governance evaluation index.

AI company founded in 2022 developing proprietary multimodal foundation models (text, audio, image, video, music) that power consumer products and an open API platform; one of China's frontier model developers with in-house safety functions.

Primary agency for China's education system; increasingly involved in AI governance through rules and guidance on AI use in education, AI literacy, and ethics education, and as a co-issuer of the generative AI measures.

China's central diplomatic agency and a principal international voice on AI governance. Its AI issues page publishes the Global AI Governance Initiative, the Shanghai Declaration, the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan, and the Global AI Governance Action Plan.

State agency responsible for industry and information technology, overseeing the telecom, software, and AI industries. Co-issuer of key AI regulations, supervisor of CAICT and industry standards work, and a driving force behind AI industry development and safety/testing infrastructure.

Principal police and security authority. Co-issuer and enforcer of AI-related regulations touching public security and law enforcement, including security assessment and filing requirements for algorithmic and generative AI services.

Executive agency for national science and technology strategy. It coordinates implementation of the State Council's New Generation AI Development Plan, supports the New Generation AI Governance Professional Committee, and leads science and technology ethics governance, including ethics-review measures.

LLM startup founded in 2023 pursuing AGI, best known for its Kimi models and assistant. One of China's frontier 'AI Tiger' labs whose model releases and safety practices are closely watched in the ecosystem.

Body established in 2018 under SAC and MIIT guidance, with CESI as group leader, to coordinate the development of China's national AI standards system, including standards relevant to AI safety, risk management, and governance.

Coordinates national data infrastructure, data standards, and development of data as a production factor. Its work includes high-quality datasets for AI and data-governance arrangements that shape the safety and reliability of AI development.

China's primary macroeconomic management agency under the State Council. Shapes AI-relevant industrial policy, compute and data infrastructure planning (e.g., national computing networks), and co-issued the generative AI measures.

Expert advisory body under MOST's New Generation AI Development Plan Promotion Office focused on AI governance and ethics; issued the Governance Principles for New Generation AI – Developing Responsible AI (2019) and the Ethical Norms for New Generation AI (2021).

China's national legislature and highest organ of state power. Enacted the foundational laws underpinning AI governance (Cybersecurity Law, Data Security Law, Personal Information Protection Law), and a comprehensive AI Law has been placed on its legislative agenda.

National regulator for broadcasting and audiovisual content; a signatory regulator of the 2023 Interim Measures for Generative AI Services and active in rules on AI-generated audiovisual content.

National expert committee under the Central Science and Technology Commission that guides and coordinates China's science and technology ethics governance system, including AI ethics; associated with the Ethical Norms for New Generation AI and ethics review requirements covering AI research.

National standards body under SAC responsible for cybersecurity, data security, personal information protection, and AI security standards. Author of the AI Safety Governance Framework and the technical standards operationalizing China's generative AI regulations (e.g., GB/T security requirements for generative AI services).

The largest open AI safety community on the Chinese-language internet, centered on WeChat groups with presence on Bilibili, Zhihu, LinkedIn, and GitHub. An IASEAI (International Association for Safe and Ethical AI) affiliate. Focuses on AI risks, AI safety techniques, and AI safety governance, bridging international AI safety discourse into Chinese through curriculum translation (notably bringing BlueDot Impact's AI safety course into Chinese) and regular seminars. Partners include Fungimind, Tsinghua University Press, and According.Work.

Interdisciplinary center spanning computer science, law, and ethics with a core mission of preventing and managing risks from frontier AI; research spans AI ethics, value alignment, and safety governance.

AI safety and security company founded in 2018 out of Tsinghua University's Institute for AI. Provides AI security platforms and solutions (adversarial robustness, deepfake detection, model safety evaluation) for sectors including finance and government, and runs its own AI governance research institute.

The CAS Institute of Automation's dedicated center for AI ethics and governance research, focusing on responsible AI models, applications, and governance for sustainable AI development.

A major Chinese AI company with a Committee of AI Ethics and Governance. It has published a Code of Ethics for AI Sustainable Development and reports certification against the ISO/IEC 42001 AI management-system standard.

City-level public service platform for AI safety and governance unveiled at WAIC 2024, operating under the Shanghai AI Laboratory to support Shanghai's development as an AI governance hub.

National-level AI research institution unveiled at WAIC 2020 with a stated vision of open, controllable, and trustworthy AI. Alongside frontier research, it runs prominent safety-relevant efforts including the OpenCompass evaluation platform and the FLAMES and SALAD-Bench safety benchmarks, and hosts the Shanghai AI Safety and Governance Institute.

Law school hosting the Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for AI Social Governance, a municipal platform for research on the social governance of AI. Co-organizes AI governance forums with the National Experimental Comprehensive Base of Intelligent Social Governance, connecting legal scholarship to Shanghai's AI governance experimentation.

A Shanghai-supported research institute founded in 2020, with programs spanning artificial intelligence, information security, and quantum computing. It has participated in the International Dialogues on AI Safety and China's AI-safety research ecosystem.

Joint center of the SJTU AI Institute and the China Institute for Law and Society focusing on AI governance, AI and law, legal AI, and data governance through interdisciplinary research and policy/legal frameworks.

Competent authority for national standardization work, operating under SAMR. Administers China's national standards system, including AI standards, and co-issued the 2024 Guidelines for Building a National AI Industry Comprehensive Standardization System that set targets for AI standards development.

Ministerial-level market supervision agency responsible for competition, product quality, certification, and national standards administration. Relevant to AI governance through standards (via SAC), certification, and oversight of algorithmic market conduct.

Shanghai-based AI company founded in 2023 by former Microsoft researchers, specializing in multimodal large models (Step series across text, vision, video, and audio); a frontier Chinese model developer engaged in the domestic AI ecosystem.

Technology conglomerate developing the Hunyuan model family and applying AI across social, content, and gaming businesses. Maintains named security research units (e.g., Zhuque Lab) and research arms engaged in AI ethics and governance.

Policy think tank at Tsinghua University bridging government, industry, and academia on security and strategy, including Track II dialogues and policy work on AI security and international AI governance.

University-level research institution established in 2020 focused on major theoretical and policy issues in global AI governance; provides intellectual support to China's participation in international AI governance and convenes international dialogues.

An intergovernmental international organization established July 16, 2026 in Shanghai on the eve of WAIC 2026, with 29 founding member countries. Following the UN Charter, WAICO's mission is to promote cooperation on global AI governance, capacity-building, and safety, with an emphasis on bridging developed and developing economies. The signing ceremony was jointly hosted by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MIIT, and the Shanghai Municipal Government; Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed on China's behalf, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in attendance. Shanghai AI Laboratory and Fudan University served as the de facto secretariat during the establishment process. First proposed by Premier Li Qiang at WAIC 2025, reiterated by President Xi Jinping at APEC 2025, and formally announced by Xi in his July 17, 2026 WAIC 2026 opening keynote titled "Joining Hands to Build a Just and Equitable System for Global AI Governance" (Xinhua English full text linked as reference URL; additional coverage via Xinhua Chinese, gov.cn, CGTN, and China's State Council Information Office). No standalone WAICO website has been established at time of entry.

Tsinghua-spun AGI company founded in 2019, creator of the GLM model family. Active participant in Chinese AI safety and governance initiatives, including safety commitments and evaluation work alongside its frontier model development.