Keep pulling the thread on Victor Shih.
Under Xi Jinping's leadership, Politburo members must follow his policy directives without deviation or they will be purged.
Artificial intelligence is one of the highest priorities for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese Communist Party is highly paranoid that an internal or external actor will use artificial intelligence as a tool to usurp its power.
There is currently no succession plan for when Chinese President Xi Jinping is no longer in power.
The next leadership transition in China is predicted to be more ruthless, brutal, and disruptive than previous ones.
In 2022, China's central government took measures that effectively killed the local land market, making local governments highly dependent on central funding.
The shift of decision-making in China from the Politburo Standing Committee to various "leading small groups" has centralized nearly all policy power with Xi Jinping personally.
Ding Shuxiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, is in charge of China's Central Science and Technology Commission and its cybersecurity apparatus, making him the key figure for any large-scale AI initiative.
In a speech at Davos, Chinese official Ding Shuxiang stated that China must develop the 'brakes' for AI concurrently with developing AI capabilities themselves.
The Chinese government will require human overseers to be designated in all government agencies and commercial entities that use AI, with the authority to act as a kill switch.
It is almost certain that a team of people with the authority to 'pull the plug' on its AI systems is embedded within the headquarters of major Chinese AI company DeepSeek.
Xi Jinping consolidated power using a method similar to Joseph Stalin, by forming temporary coalitions to sequentially purge his most threatening political rivals like Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai.