China’s National Copyright Administration has released its Copyright Work Plan for the 15th Five-Year period (2026-2030) (版权工作“十五五”规划), outlining regulatory priorities that include a stated intent to develop new rules for artificial intelligence. The plan, issued in August 2026, positions AI-related copyright issues as an area requiring future rulemaking rather than treating existing law as sufficient.
Separately, under a section titled “Copyright Regulations Revision Project,” the plan states the intent to “research and draft generative AI copyright rules.” This is listed as a drafting objective alongside planned revisions to implementing regulations for the Copyright Law, collective management rules, and software protection regulations. No substantive generative AI rule is contained in the plan; the plan only commits to producing one.
On enforcement, the plan directs regulators to “regulate copyright order in generative AI-related fields” and “actively promote the resolution of AI-related copyright compliance issues.” This appears within a broader discussion of enforcement priorities across sectors including publishing, film, and online literature. The language sets a policy direction rather than defining specific enforcement targets, penalties, or compliance standards.
The plan also assigns copyright collective management organizations an anticipated role in “licensing works for AI training data corpora,” listed alongside their anticipated role in “managing batch infringement litigation.” The plan does not describe how such licensing arrangements would operate mechanically; it identifies this as a function these organizations are expected to develop.
Blockchain, big data, and AI are also referenced as tools for modernizing copyright administration itself. The plan calls for “fully utilizing blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence, and other information technologies to raise the digitalization level of copyright registration” in connection with a planned national copyright registration information service platform. This reflects a stated intention to build such a platform, not a description of a system already in place.
Other topics covered in the plan include:
- Planned revisions to implementing regulations for the Copyright Law, collective management regulations, and software protection rules
- Quantitative targets for work registrations, software copyright registrations, and copyright pledge financing through 2030
- Administrative enforcement mechanisms, including cross-agency coordination and targeted anti-piracy campaigns such as the “Sword Net” (剑网) initiative
- Plans for dispute mediation systems, including online mediation-litigation connection mechanisms
- Plans for copyright trading platforms and financial products such as copyright-backed financing and insurance
- International engagement, including WIPO treaty negotiations and protection of traditional cultural expressions and folklore
- Continued software legalization efforts in government, state-owned enterprises, and targeted industries
- Public education programs and professional talent development in copyright-related fields
The full text of the plan is available here (Chinese only).