IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/telpol/v49y2025i8s0308596125001168.html

Same goal, different paths: Contrasting approaches to AI regulation in China and India

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Puxin
  • Jayakar, Krishna
  • Taylor, Richard
  • Liu, Chun

Abstract

This paper is a comparative analysis of how two leading developing nations, China and India, are proposing to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Despite similarity in circumstances as large developing economies aiming to upgrade their technology sectors and create jobs, the two countries have taken significantly different approaches to AI regulation. Based on interest group theory, we argue that contrasting problem definitions—predominantly in terms of economic competitiveness and national security in China and as applications in India—resulted in the recruitment of very different decision-making groups in the two countries; homogeneous groups of technocrats and security specialists in China and a broader group including consumer advocates in India. This in turn resulted in ambitious and deep policy changes in China and relatively incremental and consensus-based moves in India.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Puxin & Jayakar, Krishna & Taylor, Richard & Liu, Chun, 2025. "Same goal, different paths: Contrasting approaches to AI regulation in China and India," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:49:y:2025:i:8:s0308596125001168
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2025.103019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596125001168
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.telpol.2025.103019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gherhes, Cristian & Yu, Zhen & Vorley, Tim & Xue, Lan, 2023. "Technological trajectories as an outcome of the structure-agency interplay at the national level: Insights from emerging varieties of AI," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Eva Krick, 2015. "Negotiated expertise in policy-making: How governments use hybrid advisory committees," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(4), pages 487-500.
    3. Jonas Stein & Vincenz Frey & Andreas Flache, 2024. "Talk Less to Strangers: How Homophily Can Improve Collective Decision-Making in Diverse Teams," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 27(1), pages 1-14.
    4. Inga Ulnicane & William Knight & Tonii Leach & Bernd Carsten Stahl & Winter-Gladys Wanjiku, 2021. "Framing governance for a contested emerging technology:insights from AI policy [The next space race is Artificial Intelligence]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(2), pages 158-177.
    5. Jonathan Lewallen, 2021. "Emerging technologies and problem definition uncertainty: The case of cybersecurity," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1035-1052, October.
    6. Daniel Béland & Robert Henry Cox, 2024. "How framing strategies foster robust policy ideas," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 43(2), pages 240-253.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew B. Whitford & Derrick Anderson, 2021. "Governance landscapes for emerging technologies: The case of cryptocurrencies," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(4), pages 1053-1070, October.
    2. Xi, Yipeng & Mai, Luu Thuc Ngan, 2025. "Shifting tides: How public perceptions of GPT regulation evolved before and after GPT-4 on Quora," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(7).
    3. Jian Liu & Liping Shen & Weihua Huang, 2025. "Navigating Copyright Risk and Governance Challenges in Artificial Intelligence Development: A Case Study From China," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(5), pages 1168-1193, July.
    4. Mohammad Hossein Azin & Hessam Zandhessami, 2025. "Strategic Alignment Patterns in National AI Policies," Papers 2507.05400, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2025.
    5. Wang, Shangrui & Zhang, Yuanmeng & Xiao, Yiming & Liang, Zheng, 2025. "Artificial intelligence policy frameworks in China, the European Union and the United States: An analysis based on structure topic model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    6. Torres, Ana Paula Gonzalez, 2026. "Regulating emerging technologies: Asymmetric legal uncertainty and the EU General-Purpose AI Code of Practice," SocArXiv tykag_v1, Center for Open Science.
    7. Feng-Shang Wu & Hong-Ji Huang, 2024. "Why Do Some Countries Innovate Better than Others? A New Perspective of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Regimes and National Absorptive Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, March.
    8. Tuzov, Viktor & Lin, Fen, 2024. "Two paths of balancing technology and ethics: A comparative study on AI governance in China and Germany," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    9. Zeynab Aeeni & Mehrzad Saeedikiya & Kamal Sakhdari & Vahid J. Sadeghi, 2025. "Blooming in the cracks: productive entrepreneurship amid institutional voids," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1723-1762, April.
    10. Johan Christensen, 2018. "Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(3), pages 291-311, September.
    11. Jongheon Kim, 2023. "Traveling AI‐essentialism and national AI strategies: A comparison between South Korea and France," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(5), pages 705-728, September.
    12. Javier Arévalo‐Royo & Francisco‐Javier Flor‐Montalvo & Juan‐Ignacio Latorre‐Biel & Emilio Jiménez‐Macías & Eduardo Martínez‐Cámara & Julio Blanco‐Fernández, 2025. "AI Guidelines for Sustainable Rural Development and Climate Resilience in Resource‐Constrained Regions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(6), pages 9385-9397, December.
    13. Camille Tremblay-Antoine & Steve Jacob & Yannick Dufresne & Patrick Poncet & Shannon Dinan, 2024. "An open window into politics: A structured database of plenary sessions of the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(3), pages 605-622, September.
    14. Sylvia Veit & Thurid Hustedt & Tobias Bach, 2017. "Dynamics of change in internal policy advisory systems: the hybridization of advisory capacities in Germany," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(1), pages 85-103, March.
    15. Trayce Hockstad & Mizanur Rahman & Steven Jones & Mashrur Chowdhury, 2025. "A regulatory gap analysis in transportation cybersecurity and data privacy," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(1), January.
    16. Genia Kostka & Anton Bogs, 2026. "The Expanding Digital Reach of the Chinese State: Digital Governance in China," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 3-17, January.
    17. Elbehairy, Farah & Mora, Luca & Soe, Ralf-Martin, 2025. "Who are you? Examining the multifaceted innovation roles of municipal governments in AI governance," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    18. Ali A. Guenduez & Saskia Fuchs & Ines Mergel & Tobias Mettler & Sebastian Frowein, 2026. "From patterns to meaning: a mixed-methods framework that integrates computational and qualitative text analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 2713-2738, February.
    19. Eryn Rigley & Caitlin Bentley & Joshua Krook & Sarvapali D. Ramchurn, 2024. "Evaluating international AI skills policy: A systematic review of AI skills policy in seven countries," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(1), pages 204-217, February.
    20. Rotolo, Daniele & Natalicchio, Angelo & Porter, Alan L. & Schoeneck, David J., 2025. "Emerging technologies, institutional groups and inter-organisational networks: The case of microneedles," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:49:y:2025:i:8:s0308596125001168. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.