China announces plans for safety standards across AI's entire life cycle
China's National Development and Reform Commission said on 3 November 2026 that it plans to accelerate comprehensive AI legislation and establish safety standards and ethical principles covering development through deployment.
NDRC official Wang Ruomeng identified data, computing capacity, algorithms and key applications among the areas to be governed, Xinhua Finance reported. The rules are also intended to undergo periodic review and adaptation as technology develops rapidly.
The official briefing forms part of work on the fifteenth Five-Year Plan. These announcements describe a regulatory direction; they do not by themselves create a new enforceable obligation for companies. The consulted accounts provide neither a final text nor an effective date for the proposed standards.