By Yi-Ling Liu
Publication Date: 2026-01-20 11:00:00
When DeepSeek burst When it burst onto the world stage in January 2025, it seemed to appear out of nowhere. But the large language model was just one of thousands of generative AI tools released in China since 2023 – and there is a public archive for every single one of them.
The country’s top internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), requires that any company launching an AI tool with “public opinion or social mobilization capabilities” first register it in a public database: the Algorithm Registry. In one submission, developers must show how their products avoid 31 risk categories, from age and gender discrimination to psychological harm and “violation of core socialist values.”
Applicants submit their applications to their local CAC (e.g. the Shanghai CAC for companies registered in Shanghai), which forwards the applications to the central CAC for final approval. Only then will a tool be listed publicly in the algorithm registration. While the European Union…
