AI governance framework

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## How China Views AI Risks and What to do About Them

A new standards roadmap reveals growing concern over risks from abuse of open-source models and loss of control over AI.

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By [Matt Sheehan](https://carnegieendowment.org/people/matt-sheehan) and [Scott Singer](https://carnegieendowment.org/people/scott-singer)

Published on Oct 16, 2025

China’s most influential AI standards body released a comprehensive articulation of how technical experts and policy advisers in China understand AI risks and how to mitigate them.

[The AI Safety Governance Framework 2.0](https://www.cac.gov.cn/2025-09/15/c_1759653448369123.htm),[1](https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/10/how-china-views-ai-risks-and-what-to-do-about-them#footnote-1) released in September, builds on an earlier version of the framework released a year prior. Alongside the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) unwavering focus on “information content risks” from AI, Framework 2.0 responds to the advances of AI over the past year, such as the global proliferation of open-source models and the advent of reasoning models. It represents a significant evolution in risks covered, including those tied to labor market impacts and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapon misuse. And it introduces more sophisticated risk mitigation measures, establishing a rubric to categorize and grade AI risks that sector-specific regulators should adapt to their domain.

The framework is not a binding regulatory document. But it offers a useful datapoint on how China’s AI policy community is thinking about AI risks. It could also preview what technical AI standards—and possibly regulations—are around the corner. Given China’s massive footprint in AI development, the impact of those standards will ripple out across the world, affecting the trajectory of the technology itself.

### Who’s Behind the Framework?

Studying the framework offers a window into the CCP’s deliberative process for technology policy—how the party-state works to understand emerging technology before charting a path forward. The project has been guided by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country’s most powerful regulator of the internet, data, [and AI](https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/02/tracing-the-roots-of-chinas-ai-regulations?lang=en). The framework was released by two organizations under the CAC: the body charged with formulating many technical AI standards in China (TC260) and the country’s computer emergency response center (CNCERT-CC).

While officially housed under TC260 and CNCERT-CC, the framework was a cross-organizational effort that brought together many of China’s leading experts on AI policy, evaluation, and technical standards. The acknowledgments section of

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