China x AI Reference List

By Saad Siddiqui, Sarah Weiler, Gabriel Wagner, Sarah Godek @ 2024-03-13T18:57 (+61)

This is a linkpost to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJcHhhBfNwEbeUaT-d4RIq58I1oJ3XGxu2yCzsnieuo/edit

Background

• There are several China-focused AI reading lists / curricula out there (e.g.: AI governance & China: Reading list (2023), FHI Syllabus (2020), (Basic) Chinese AI Regulation Reading List (2023))
  • They are either relatively brief or somewhat outdated. Our reading list aims to provide a more comprehensive set of key resources when it comes to learning about China, AI safety and policy
  • We incorporated readings from these reading lists where it felt relevant
• This list is based off a community-generated set of readings that were used for a 6-week AI and China discussion group run by the China & Global Priorities Group in 2023
• You can access a version of the reference list on our website too. 

Structure 

• The list is designed as a longlist that can act as a starting point for folks looking to dive deeper into this topic and various sub-topics - it is not a snapshot of the 3 most important readings per topic area
• The entire list is broken down into key themes
  • Domestic AI Governance
  • International AI Governance
  • Key actors and their views on AI risks
  • AI Inputs
  • Resources to follow
• We have added in commentary where we felt it would be useful to do so (e.g., we were made aware of potential factual inaccuracies or biased views)
• Within sections, sources are arranged roughly in order of relevance, not chronology. Sources earlier in a section are more foundational, while later ones are either primary sources that require more context to analyze or older reports/analysis. Sometimes we put related readings next to each other.

Ways to get involved

• Feel free to suggest additional readings using this form - we’re doing some amount of vetting to prevent the list from ballooning out of control
• Join the China & Global Priorities Group if you want to be notified about further discussion groups organized 

Caveats around sources and structures 

• Epistemic status: 
  • This resource list was put together in a voluntary capacity by a group of non-Chinese folks with backgrounds in China Studies and professional work experience on China- and/or AI-related issues. 
  • We spent several hours on resource collection and sense-checked items based on their style, content and methodology. We do not necessarily endorse all of these works as “very good,” but did exclude stuff where we could see that it is obviously low quality.
  • There are many sub-topics where we struggled to find very high-quality material but we still included some publications to give interested readers a start. 
• We expect that most of our audience will not be able to read Chinese easily or fluently, and as such we have provided many English sources. However, it’s important to remember that gaining a deep and concrete understanding of this space is really hard even with Chinese language skills and lived experience in China, so readers without those skills and experiences should be cautious about forming very strong views based on the select few sources that are included here.
• Machine translation is useful but imperfect in many ways. 
  • Machine translation will not be able to tell you the significance of specific word choice, which potentially requires deeper knowledge of what terminology means in the broader ideological context of the party-state (this is especially true for official statements and documents).
  • Moreover, official English versions of Chinese government documents sometimes differ from the Chinese version!
  • What is Lost in Translation? Differences between Chinese Foreign Policy Statements and Their Official English Translations, Mokry, 2022
• China is not a monolith; sources you read that claim that ‘China does X’ should be treated with caution. Different actors within China have different aims and while it’s true that the party-state has immense power, even the party-state itself is not one thing, but a collection of various entities and of people with their own specific desires and plans.
• If you are looking to do further research in this space, then treat this list as a starting point for further exploration.
• For further reading on methodological considerations of doing analysis related to China, you can start with a look at the following links:
  • We interviewed 15 China-focused researchers on how to do good research (disclaimer: two of the authors of that post also contributed to this reading list)
  • China watching in the ‘New Era’: A guide, Parton, 2022

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Oliver Guest, Jason Zhou, and Jeffrey Ding for their feedback on earlier drafts of this list. We would also like to acknowledge Aris Richardson and Zach Stein-Perlman, whose reading lists we took inspiration from. 

Compiled by (in no particular order): Gabriel Wagner, Saad Siddiqui, Sarah G, and Sarah Weiler