Summary
China’s generative AI boom is accelerating — the country now counts 515 million users as of June 2025, up 266 million from late 2024, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
The report, unveiled at the 2025 China Internet Infrastructure Resources Conference in Beijing, shows that 36.5% of China’s population now uses generative AI tools, marking one of the world’s highest adoption rates.
AI has moved rapidly from experimentation to everyday use, driven mainly by younger, urban, and educated users — with 74.6% under age 40 and over a third holding college degrees. Chinese-built models dominate the domestic landscape, powering intelligent search, creative content generation, office automation, and smart devices.
Beyond digital applications, AI is increasingly used in agriculture, manufacturing, and scientific research, CNNIC said.
Globally, China’s influence continues to rise — with 1.57 million AI-related patent filings by April 2025, representing 38.6% of the world’s total, the highest of any nation.
CNNIC Director Liu Yulin described the trend as a “transition from trial use to everyday integration,” underscoring how AI has become a mature, mass-scale service in China.