Generated AI promotes smart governance – Opinion

As a cutting edge technology, generative artificial intelligence is becoming a game changer in smart governance. By innovating service models, optimizing governance frameworks and restructuring decision-making processes, the generation AI provided key support for making governance, government services and decision-making more efficient.

The fact that China will use generated AI to advance its “AI Plus” and pursue smart governance, outlined in the 2025 government work report, telling us a new stage of comprehensive implementation of smart governance.

With the expansion of application scenarios, the Generated AI is modifying government services. As the ecosystem of large-scale AI model applications in government work is formed, generative AI is being applied in areas such as government office work, document drafting, management services, smart justice, smart party buildings, urban management, and public safety. By leveraging interactive capabilities and generative AI demand matching, local governments have significantly improved their service models.

Generated AI also improved the efficiency and accuracy of government services. For example, the Hangzhou Healthcare Security Bureau has developed an AI-powered integrated services platform called Xiaozhi, which allows online processing of healthcare security services. AI Voice Assistant handles more than 70% of inquiries and has an accuracy of over 90%.

What's more, AI interactions are restructuring government services. AI can analyze multilingual and multimodal public requests and automatically generate user demand profiles by integrating technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), computer vision (CV), and voice processing. By deep learning about user behavioral data, AI systems can dynamically adjust service strategies.

Furthermore, multimodal generation AI has overcome the limitations of traditional fields. In the Feian district, the first country to adopt large-scale models in urban governance, CV and NLP models allow for multimodal fusion of text, video and imagery and analysis of urban events.

The rapidly expanding generation AI greatly enhances collaboration between departments. Multimodal and large model-based platforms allow real-time data sharing and smart task matching between departments, improving coordination and fostering rapid response to emergencies.

Additionally, the open consultation platform powered by generative AI makes it more convenient for a diverse range of stakeholders, including businesses and the public, to participate in policy design. For example, governments can gather opinions from citizens, businesses and experts on urban planning via online platforms and use generated AI to analyze feedback to resolve practical suggestions.

Accelerated development of the three basic pillars of AI – computing power, big data and algorithms – helps generate AI to drive intelligent transformation of governance capabilities.

Some governments have established independent computing power networks. A suitable example of this is the AI ​​Public Computing Centre of Beijing E-Town, a national infrastructure pilot project that recently upgraded its capabilities to 5,000 petaflops, which will help to quickly integrate AI into a variety of industries and promote intellectual government decision-making.

Additionally, several local governments have established dynamically updated government data hubs to dismantle inter-sector data silos and streamline decision-making with the help of AI. A major example is Hangzhou's “Qinqing Online” platform. It collects real-time data from multiple sectors, including market regulations, taxation, social security, and public safety. When processing an enterprise grant application, the system is automatically referenced and completes the process within seconds.

Better algorithms have significantly improved technology performance among large, industry-specific models tailored for government use. Built on Huawei Cloud's Pangue-Weather model and equipped with a high-quality regional weather dataset, Zhiji, the first regional AI prediction model, improved weather forecast resolution from 25km to 3km, transforming complex weather data patterns into accurately predictable weather changes.

It is fair to say that the ongoing advancement in digital infrastructure will allow government decisions to go from experience-driven to digitized smart decisions, laying a solid foundation for modernizing governance. Deepseek's deepening applications of AI technology are restructuring governance frameworks and service models with smarter policies, more efficient governance, and more people-centered services.

However, technical empowerment carries many facets of risk, including potential misuse of technology, data security vulnerabilities, and black boxes of algorithms that need to be properly addressed. China's governance is currently undergoing digital transformation. Generated AI helps to drive modernization of governance, but requires a careful balance between innovation and security. Therefore, a comprehensive yet careful ecosystem for intelligent governance must be built to raise the generation AI from mere technical tools to strategic pivots for systematic reform and to enhance modernization of China's governance systems and capabilities.

The author is the vice-president of the Department of Smart Governance, R-University, China, and a researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategic Development at the same university. Views do not necessarily reflect Chinese views every day.

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