Zhou Hongyi, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and founder of 360 Security Group, answers reporters' questions at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday. [Photo/China Daily]

As China's artificial intelligence industry enters a new phase of development, a national political adviser has proposed a comprehensive framework to drive high-quality growth of the sector, with a focus on inference computing, intelligent agent platforms and AI-powered security solutions.

Zhou Hongyi, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and founder of 360 Security Group, outlined what he calls a "six forces model" for China's AI industry.

The model encompasses electricity, computing power, intelligence, talent, security and productivity, working in coordination to lay a solid foundation for the application of AI in more sectors.

"It is the AI agents that consume inference computing power that can transform general model capabilities into specialized intelligence," Zhou said. These agents, guided and governed by professionals who understand both AI and specific business contexts, operate under the protection of security capabilities to ultimately generate stable and sustainable productivity.

The comments have come at a time when AI is being increasingly applied to a wide range of sectors across China.

Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng said on Thursday that China will spare no effort in promoting the research, development, and iterative upgrading of next-generation artificial intelligence products this year, including brain-computer interface, autonomous vehicles and robots, as part of a broader strategy to integrate AI with the manufacturing sector.

The minister outlined a comprehensive roadmap for AI integration across multiple facets of the economy and daily life. A key priority is the consumer sector, where Li's ministry aims to accelerate the development of AI-powered personal computers, AI mobile phones and smart home appliances to meet people's needs for a better life.

The 2026 Government Work Report said: "We will create new forms of smart economy. We will advance and expand the AI Plus Initiative. We will promote faster application of new-generation intelligent terminals and AI agents and encourage large-scale commercial application of AI in key sectors and fields, so as to foster new forms and models of AI-native business."

Companies are moving quickly to respond to the call.

For instance, Honor recently made the global debut of its latest foldable smartphone Magic V6, which is equipped with a comprehensive suite of system-level AI meeting solutions, ultrasmooth three-screen split for multitasking, and other AI features designed for urban users, such as monitoring two stocks simultaneously on one screen and AI translation.

But the wider application of AI also brings new challenges, such as high technical barriers to adoption, insufficient security capabilities and a shortage of interdisciplinary talent, Zhou said.

To address these issues, he called for a "dual empowerment" approach combining technology and talent development. He suggested that relevant departments take the lead in building inclusive public service platforms for intelligent agents, integrating model capabilities with industry tools, and providing end-to-end services to support small and medium-sized enterprises in developing AI agents at low cost.

Zhou warned that the security landscape is facing multiple challenges: traditional security systems lack intelligent capabilities, the rise of "hacker agents" has transformed cyber warfare from human-versus-human to asymmetric human-versus-machine confrontations and AI systems themselves introduce new risks.

The security industry, Zhou argued, urgently needs transformation by accelerating the use of AI to govern AI. He recommended supporting enterprises with both security and AI capabilities to develop a range of security agent products for vulnerability handling and attack traceability analysis. These should be deployed in key areas such as critical information infrastructure and industrial internet to promote scenario-based applications.

Zhou emphasized that AI has entered a phase of systematic coordination. Only by advancing the coordinated development of various elements while strengthening foundational capabilities, improving application ecosystems, and reinforcing security safeguards, can China continuously improve industrial transformation efficiency and promote high-quality development of AI.