China writes new export controls for 23 AI technologies

The commerce and science ministries of China wrote a draft update to the export rules. The draft has 23 AI technologies, such as large models, agents and data processing. AI tools that write malware without help face a total export ban. The ban is for tools that cause damage to very important infrastructure, the military or government agencies. Until the last rules start, companies must tell the commerce ministry about these exports.

Model controls

There are 2 groups of large models that have export controls. The first group is models that used important data of China in training and that give services from that data.

The next group is the core technology of a model, such as weights, checkpoints and source code. The controls start when the model has one of these:

• 2 trillion parameters or more
• 10^26 FLOPs of training
• A position in the top 10 of the world

Exemptions

AI technology that is open to all has no controls. Open source release of technology that has controls gets automatic licensing. The export is approved when the company sends the documents.

Use abroad

You can use models through API calls, apps, websites or SaaS tools. These uses have no export controls.

To install the technology on local servers in other countries, the company must have a standard export license. The company can use a short procedure if the software is on the company cloud in a different country.