China is developing an identification system for artificial intelligence agents under new national standards released on Friday to regulate the next phase of autonomous technologies.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) introduced the standard “Interconnection of Artificial Intelligence Agents,” which aims to establish a “closed system” with a unified identification management system for all AI agents, according to state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). This directive marks China’s first national standard focused on connecting AI agents and is intended to strengthen the institutional foundation for the safe cross-domain interaction of AI agents, as noted by CCTV.
Strengthening the security foundation
The standard establishes seven sub-standards covering key aspects from overall architecture to specifics such as creating identification codes and deploying tools for AI agents. This initiative underscores Beijing’s broader efforts to support the implementation of AI agents by enterprises while ensuring security as they rapidly expand in real-world applications. The unified framework will enable enterprises to connect to standardized AI agent components, reducing development costs and shortening product launch cycles, according to CCTV.
“Issuing a ‘digital identification card’ to each AI agent will help solve the problems of who they are and how to ensure reliable mutual recognition,” said Fan Keven, an official representative of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, at a press conference on Friday, as quoted by the business publication Yicai.
Beijing’s broader regulatory efforts
As AI rapidly evolves from simple text generation to autonomous task execution, AI agents—systems capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of humans—are becoming a new driver for China’s digital economy. While leading U.S. AI developers such as Anthropic and OpenAI present models with enhanced cybersecurity features, Chinese policymakers are moving toward establishing common standards for evaluating rapidly changing AI technologies.
Beijing has notably intensified regulatory efforts to manage AI in recent months. In May, the central government released new directives aimed at creating a common criterion for AI, allowing the measurement and comparison of models, computational power, and data quality under a single national standard.
Source: South China Morning Post