On 31 July 2025 the State Council executive meeting reviewed and approved the Opinion on Deepening the Implementation of the AI+ Action. The opinion was formally issued in late August, but the signal released at the meeting was already clear enough. See our note on the State Council’s AI+ action opinion.
Three keywords in the meeting’s language
“Large-scale, commercialised application.” The meeting made clear that AI should be pushed towards commercial rollout at scale, not just demonstration projects. That reframes the evaluation standard from technological sophistication to whether it is usable and affordable.
“A complete industrial system, a large market and rich application scenarios.” This is a judgment about China’s comparative advantage in AI. The policy approach is to play to strengths: trading scenarios and scale for time rather than seeking a single-point breakthrough in foundation models.
“A virtuous cycle in which innovation drives application and application promotes innovation.” This defines the relationship between innovation and application — application is not the endpoint of innovation but the input to the next round of it.
Why “demonstration role” is worth noting
The meeting required government departments and state-owned enterprises to strengthen their demonstration role. That means the public sector will become a buyer and user of AI ahead of the market.
For AI companies this is a clear demand signal: government and SOE scenarios will be the entry point for early large-scale deployment. See our note on the guideline for deploying and applying government large models.
At the same time, public-sector procurement usually comes with stricter compliance requirements, which turns compliance capability into a threshold for competing.
Connecting to the later policy line
The meeting sits on a clear line: from the earlier AI+ deployment, to this meeting, to the formal issuance of the action opinion, and then into the top-level design of the 15th Five-Year Plan. See our notes on the State Council’s AI development and deployment and the Fourth Plenary Session’s 15th Five-Year Plan proposals.
The policy rhythm shows that AI+ is not a single document but a main line running over several years, continually spawning industry-level and local implementing rules.
Where companies can start
First, map your business to the priority areas of AI+, judging which steps may attract policy and demand support.
Second, prepare in advance the compliance materials needed for public-sector cooperation, including security assessments and data arrangements.
Third, track industry-level implementing rules, because the rules that truly land usually appear in the supporting documents of ministries and localities. See our note on the Central Economic Work Conference’s AI deployment.
The significance of the meeting is not in adding new obligations but in confirming that policy resources will concentrate on what is usable, good to use and scalable.
This article is based on public information on the 31 July 2025 State Council executive meeting and is for reference only; it does not constitute legal advice.