China proposes export controls on open-weight models and 23 key AI technologies
China plans to tighten export controls on open-weight models and 23 key AI technologies
- Who
- China's commerce and science ministries
- What
- released a draft update the nation's list of banned and restricted export technologies, covering 23 key AI technologies
- Quote
China's commerce and science ministries have released a draft update to the nation's list of banned and restricted export technologies.
What happened
China's commerce and science ministries released draft export restrictions targeting 23 key AI technologies, including large models, agents, compute clusters, and data processing. Controls on core model technologies would apply at 10^26 FLOPs of training compute, at least 2 trillion parameters, or global top-10 status, with separate restrictions covering models trained on China's important data. Open-source publication would qualify for automatic licensing, while installation on local servers abroad would require a standard export license; API access would remain exempt.
2 reports
The story so far
China’s commerce and science ministries released draft export controls covering 23 key AI technologies, proposing licensing requirements for overseas installations while exempting several ways of accessing models. The proposal covers large models, agents, compute clusters and data processing; it remains a draft, not an enacted restriction. Controls on core model technologies would apply if training compute reaches 10^26 FLOPs, the model has at least 2 trillion parameters, or it ranks in the global top 10. The proposal also includes separate restrictions on models trained on China’s important data. Lawfully public data would be exempt. Publishing restricted AI technology and model weights as open source would qualify for automatic licensing, while installing restricted technology on local servers abroad would require a standard export license. Access through APIs, apps, websites, SaaS tools and lightweight versions on local devices would remain exempt from these export controls.
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