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This paper examines artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainable development in China. The Chinese government has developed ambitious policies for global leadership in the field of AI and sustainable development. While China has made progress in several areas of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is lagging behind in achieving the SDGs overall, and AI technologies can bolster its progress toward SDGs. Using the latest data of 193 countries around the world, the paper also analyzes the implication of AI on sustainable development both at the global and regional levels. Broadly, a strong positive relationship between the government AI readiness and progress toward SDGs is observed. When classifying the SDGs into four dimensions including economy, society, environment, and partnerships, government AI readiness is found to have a strong relationship with economy followed by the society dimension, whereas there are no clear relationships with the environment and partnerships dimensions. To fully harness and scale the power of AI to meet the SDGs, the Chinese policy maker should align the potential AI technologies to address its SDGs gap, and identify the priority or targeted areas and design appropriate business models and incentive structures for scaling viable solutions. AI technologies, when implemented strategically and properly, can accelerate China’s progress toward SDGs.
Subin Liengpunsakul (Wed,) studied this question.