China urges against drawing ‘ideological lines’ in AI development

China on Wednesday urged against drawing "ideological lines" in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), state media reported.

Beijing "opposes drawing ideological lines, the generalization of national security concept, and the politicization of economic and technological issues," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in the Chinese capital.

The statement came in reaction to US Vice President JD Vance's address to the AI summit held on Tuesday in the French capital Paris, where he said: "Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data, and create propaganda to undermine other nations' national security."

However, Guo said China has "repeatedly emphasized its commitment to embracing intelligent transformation, vigorously promoting AI innovation, valuing AI security, and supporting enterprises in independent innovation."

He added that Beijing "actively promotes the inclusive development of AI, assists developing countries in strengthening their capacity building, advocates for open-source AI technology, and enhances the accessibility of AI services."

Addressing the two-day summit which began on Monday in Paris, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing called for promoting common development and security in the field of AI to "jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind."

"The AI has become an important driving force for a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation," said Zhang, adding: "China participates in global governance of AI in a highly responsible manner."

"The international community should work together to deepen innovative cooperation, strengthen inclusiveness and universal benefit, and improve global governance," he added.

Chinese DeepSeek, the low-cost, open-source generative AI tool, has recently been able to compete with leading artificial intelligence apps like the US-based OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Backed by the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, DeepSeek launched its DeepSeek-R1 large language model on Jan. 20.

Notably, South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan have advised their public employees to stop using DeepSeek, which has sparked a global tech sell-off and is reportedly the most downloaded free application in the US.

DeepSeek also suffered cyberattacks, which Chinese state-run media said predominantly originated from US IP addresses.