China will formulate more than 50 national and industrial standards for artificial intelligence (AI) by 2026 and develop a standard system to guide the high-quality development of the sector, according to guidelines jointly unveiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three other government organs.

The guidelines specified seven key areas for developing the AI standard system in the country, including standards for key technologies, intelligent products and services, and industry applications.

Developing AI standards can help promote technological progress, enterprise development and industrial upgrading, thus better leveraging AI to empower new industrialization, according to the guidelines.

In recent years, China's AI industry has achieved progress in technological innovation, product creation, industry applications and other areas. The sector has presented new features with the accelerated development of new technologies like large models.

China now hosts more than 4,500 AI companies. Its core AI industry reached a scale of more than 578 billion yuan (about 81 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, up 13.9 percent year on year, according to official data.

In this year's government work report, China unveiled an AI Plus initiative, a strategic move designed to propel the digital economy's expansion and spearhead the transformation and modernization of manufacturing sectors.