China’s top intelligence official has issued one of Beijing’s most detailed warnings yet about the security risks posed by artificial intelligence, saying the technology could undermine the Communist Party’s grip on power, expose sensitive information and create new vulnerabilities in the country’s critical infrastructure.
Chen Yixin, head of China’s Ministry of State Security, called for stronger Communist Party oversight of artificial intelligence and tighter government regulation in an article published Sunday by the state-run magazine China Cyberspace.
His warning comes as Beijing has simultaneously accused the United States and Western technology companies of exaggerating the dangers surrounding artificial intelligence. The contrast highlights a growing divide between how the two countries frame A.I. risks, with China increasingly treating the technology as both a strategic asset and a potential security threat.
Chen said greater oversight was necessary to protect political stability, counter increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns by what he described as “hostile forces,” and maintain China’s military competitiveness with the United States.
He specifically pointed to advanced A.I. systems developed by U.S. technology companies, including Claude Mythos and GPT-5.5-Cyber, as examples of emerging cybersecurity threats. He also warned that foreign intelligence agencies could exploit A.I. to conduct large-scale espionage and target critical infrastructure.
The assessment suggests that Beijing is approaching A.I. security from a fundamentally adversarial perspective, according to Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University.
“Beijing is going into these talks viewing A.I. safety not as a shared humanitarian mission, but through an adversarial lens,” Gao said. He added that China was signaling to both domestic technology companies and foreign governments that political security and control over data would remain non-negotiable.
The warning comes ahead of expected discussions between Chinese and U.S. officials on A.I. safety, as well as a planned Sept. 24 meeting in Washington between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Deepfakes and political instability
Maintaining the Communist Party’s control remains Beijing’s overriding political priority, and Chen warned that artificial intelligence could be exploited to directly challenge that authority.
He said individuals with “ulterior motives” could use A.I. to create convincing fake audio and video as part of a propaganda campaign against China.
The concern is that fabricated statements attributed to senior officials could spread quickly and trigger confusion or even political instability.
“They’re worried, among other things, of say a deepfake of a Chinese official saying something that wasn’t actually said, and that spreading rapidly and destabilizing everything,” said Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies Chinese technology and industrial policy.
Growing cyber risks
Chen also argued that artificial intelligence had significantly reduced both the technical expertise and financial resources traditionally required to launch sophisticated cyberattacks.
That could expose China’s information infrastructure to what he described as “serious risks.”
The warning came shortly after researchers in California revealed a hacking tool capable of compromising potentially millions of accounts on WeChat, China’s dominant messaging platform.
Chen’s broader argument was that A.I. was changing the scale and accessibility of cyber operations, creating new opportunities for hostile actors to target Chinese
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