The following is a summary of David Daokui Li's keynote address to attendees at the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics held at Tsinghua University, Beijing, on May 23, 2026. David Daokui Li is Co-President of the Society for the Analysis of Government and Economics (SAGE), Director of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT) and Professor of Economics at Tsinghua University.
On May 27, 2026, the Eighth Annual Conference of Government and Economics, co-hosted by the Society for the Analysis of Government and Economics (SAGE) along with Tsinghua University's School of Social Sciences and the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT), was broadcasted online. Co-President of the Society for the Analysis of Government and Economics (SAGE), Director of the Academic Center for Chinese Economic Practice and Thinking (ACCEPT) and Professor of Economics at Tsinghua University, David Daokui Li, delivered opening remarks where he introduced the progress made to date in establishing government and economics as a distinctive field of learning.
Li introduced the core ideas, latest developments and future directions for the field of government and economics. He mentioned that the fundamental task for government and economics is to incorporate the government—a significant participant in the modern market economy—systematically into economic analysis, study government behavior and its underlying incentive mechanisms, and thereby fully put into place a proactive government and an effective market. He further stressed that a disciplinary branch of academic learning would possess more dynamism than merely schools of thought. Government and economics shows significant promise as a discipline because it contributes to establishing the theoretical basis for Chinese-style modernization and developing the country's own independent knowledge system, transforming the experience gained from China's economic practices into theoretical contributions that are of relevance to audiences around the world, thereby further promoting the discipline internationally. In terms of research methodology, Li explained that government and market economics ought to adhere to the trio of case studies, theory and statistics as its basic research paradigm.
In remarking on the impact of artificial intelligence's (AI) continuing development, Li stated that the rapid advancement of AI has completely revolutionized research methods in economics, having greatly improved the efficiency of academic research and enabled the iterative upgrading of research models. "The arrival of AI has directly enhanced our research capabilities, including when drawing up case studies, modeling and statistical analyses. I gave my peers a demonstration on the spot, dictating the basic logic behind a theory and telling Doubao to turn it into a game theoretic model. Doubao then generated the model right in front of us. I interpreted the model together with them, which really amazed me. It was perfect. We now needn't take pains in studying game theory as we had as young students. After sorting out our thinking, Doubao also helped us to further develop the model, adding in a more persuasive touch and making it even stronger."
Against the backdrop of AI's transformations across various industries and professions, Li noted that government and economics has had to embrace a new set of research topics, with the core question in the AI epoch being the exploration of new relational forms between government and the market. He revealed that this year the research institute will launch a major report on this special topic, bringing together winners of the Association for Computing Machinery's A.M. Turing Award and Zhipu AI's Tang Jie, along with other leading experts, to conduct in-depth research into new potential forms of societal organization. At this very moment, humans are creating a new living creature that can be called a kind of "silicon-based species," a species just like monkeys or tigers. The point of divergence is that these silicon-based entities are expected to have a formative impact on and interact with society, such that we can say that a silicon-based society is now in the process of taking shape.
Li underscored that the rise of a silicon-based society has generated entirely new governance challenges, which has become a major topic of current research in the social sciences. "What is the relationship between a silicon-based society and human society? How should the former's behavior be shaped? This is a big question and the more we work on this, the more confident we will become in our response. We need to set up a dedicated government agency to regulate the genetic makeup of a silicon-based society. We are now bringing a silicon-based society into being, especially the behavioral rules that will govern the relations between each and every individual unit. Human society cannot function without such institutional arrangements, otherwise disorder will ensue."
As concerns the governance of a silicon-based society, Li proposed a concrete and systematic institutional conceptualization. He suggested that a silicon-based society will also require a sound institutional system for its standardized development, with the field of government and economics possessing unique research insights that can provide a core base of support in this effort. He proposed establishing a brand-new specialized government department—the Committee for the Development and Governance of Artificial Intelligence—and clarified three elements to be included at its creation: first, there must be a clear mission, including being tasked with developing and governing the personality, behavioral goals and systems comprising this new silicon-based society; second, it must be made functionally capable, with the Committee being led by scholars, entrepreneurs and governmental leaders, in a similar fashion to the Federal Reserve System of the United States; and third, it must have supervisory authority, such that its decisions are put into full effect, and with its directives being taken at their face value. "