AI governance tops China’s 2025 technology buzzwords list

"AI governance" topped the "Top 10 Technology Buzzwords of 2025," released by the Chinese Society for Science and Technology Journalism, signaling a global shift in artificial intelligence development from technological competition to rulemaking, experts said.

"Ensuring the safe, reliable and controllable development of AI technology has become the most pressing issue for the global community," Yin Chuanhong, president of the Science Popularization Times, said at the release event Thursday.

"China's tech community is keenly aware that technological excellence must be matched with wise governance to ensure sustainable and steady progress," Yin said.

An editorial published in Natureand cited by the society said China is leading global AI governance.

During the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, China proposed establishing a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization and released the Global AI Governance Action Plan, the society said.

"With China now among the world leaders in AI applications and some foundational research areas, it is no longer just a follower of international AI governance rules but aspires to be a constructive contributor and leader," Yin said.

Other terms selected as the top 10 technology buzzwords of 2025 include embodied intelligence, controlled nuclear fusion, brain-computer interface, commercial space, deep-sea technology, deep-space exploration, silver economy technology, intelligent agents and Chinese innovation.

The selection process combined big data screening and expert evaluation to highlight China's major technological breakthroughs in 2025, with a focus on contributions to national strategies such as high-quality development and energy security. The criteria emphasized not only technological advancement but also public impact, the society said.

Embodied intelligence was included in China's government work report for the first time in 2025, sending a signal that favorable policies will help the sector seize a critical period for innovation and industrial development, according to the society.

China has made crucial contributions to controlled nuclear fusion, a field characterized by international cooperation. In April 2025, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor organization announced the completion of its massive superconducting electromagnet system, the core of its fusion reactor, marking a milestone in controlled nuclear fusion technology.

The society said significant progress was also made last year in China's brain-computer interface industry, with breakthroughs in core technologies, multi-scenario applications and industrial development. In China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), the country identified brain-computer interfaces as one of six priority future industries.

In commercial space, the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site and the Oriental Spaceport in Haiyang, Shandong province, have achieved regular launch capabilities. Several private rocket companies have successfully launched a series of carrier rockets, and multiple enterprises have established new-generation satellite intelligent manufacturing facilities, creating a low-cost mass production capacity of hundreds of satellites annually and paving the way for a trillion-yuan ($144 billion) commercial space market.

At the event, the society also released the "Top 10 Science and Technology News Events of 2025". The list included AI company DeepSeek's release of a series of open-source large models; the unveiling of Zuchongzhi-3, a superconducting quantum computing prototype with 105 qubits; the world's first humanoid robot half-marathon in Beijing; the start of construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Xizang autonomous region; and the commissioning of China's first electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, the CNS Fujian.