{"text":[[{"start":8,"text":"China has proposed new export controls on technologies used in areas including AI models and agents and chip design."}],[{"start":15.92,"text":"The draft controls issued on Friday highlight Beijing’s growing focus on maintaining the security of rapidly developing domestic AI technologies amid intensifying rivalry with the US."}],[{"start":27.56,"text":"The export of leading AI models trained on sensitive Chinese data, as well as advanced AI agents used in areas such as critical digital infrastructure, defence and government services, would be restricted under the draft rules released jointly by the ministries of commerce and information technology."}],[{"start":44.72,"text":"The proposed expansion of China’s lists of technologies that are prohibited or restricted from export, which the FT reported in July, would give Beijing greater oversight of transfers of advanced AI technologies overseas."}],[{"start":57.16,"text":"The move is partly aimed at closing what Beijing sees as a regulatory loophole exposed by US tech group Meta’s $2bn acquisition of AI app Manus, a deal Chinese authorities subsequently ordered to be unwound."}],[{"start":70.6,"text":"The draft controls issued on Friday also cover technologies used to design advanced processing and memory chips, packaging and networking equipment."}],[{"start":79.68,"text":"The proposed restrictions on the export of such technologies do not necessarily mean that products built using them will also be controlled. They would mainly prevent Chinese companies from transferring the underlying technology overseas, for example via acquisitions by foreign entities."}],[{"start":94.92,"text":"The draft rules also include several exemptions. Open-weight AI models — which can be run and customised by users — would be exempt if they were made publicly available and had not been trained on sensitive data."}],[{"start":106.56,"text":"However, the rules would allow restriction on the transfer of technology used in such open-weight models — potentially blocking the transfer offshore of ownership or key employees — if they surpassed 2tn parameters or were ranked top among global peers by performance."}],[{"start":122.08,"text":"The number of parameters refers to the size of an AI model’s neural network, with a higher count generally leading to greater capabilities."}],[{"start":130.24,"text":"Chinese AI start-up Moonshot’s latest K3 model, which caused a global stir this year as its performance approached top-tier offerings from Anthropic, has 2.8tn parameters."}],[{"start":140.72,"text":"Simpler approval procedures would also apply to Chinese companies building and operating AI data centres overseas, manufacturing their own chip designs abroad, conducting research with foreign partners or helping set international standards. Chinese tech groups ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent are expanding their overseas data centre capacity as restrictions imposed by the US and its allies limit their access to advanced chips in China."}],[{"start":169.04,"text":"The commerce ministry said in a statement the proposed controls would ban access to AI models trained on sensitive “core data”, but would not affect indirect access to other Chinese AI models from overseas, for example through apps or websites."}],[{"start":183.76,"text":"“The key distinction is whether restricted technology is being transferred from China to another country,” the ministry said."}],[{"start":191.88,"text":"China’s most recent revision to its export restriction list in 2025 added several lithium-ion battery manufacturing technologies to it, building on existing controls on strategically important sectors such as rare earth extraction and processing."}],[{"start":207,"text":"The latest proposed controls also cover some biomedical and solar technologies."}],[{"start":211.94,"text":"“It is crucial to ensure the safety and controllability of AI technology,” the commerce ministry said, adding that the curbs were intended to “prevent the misuse of AI technologies”."}],[{"start":223.36,"text":"“These technologies could pose risks to national and global security if obtained by malicious actors, and the restrictions are intended to prevent abuse and keep AI under human control,” it said."}],[{"start":239.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792217085_6251.mp3"}