ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 examines the so-called ‘double reduction’ regulations, which introduced a dramatic set of restrictions on the private after-school sector in China. While the policy was primarily directed at curbing the private education industry, as well as addressing a range of long-held concerns about the competitive education system in China, this chapter will suggest that the regulations have had a substantial impact on the development of artificial intelligence (AI). This impact will be traced by examining three key companies: New Oriental; Tomorrow Advancing Life (TAL); and Squirrel AI – and examining the ways in which the policy has altered their approach to AI. The regulations will be shown to have radically transformed New Oriental’s business, shifted TAL into a semi-government role to support other start-up companies with AI, and obliged Squirrel AI to pursue state school markets, as well as develop bespoke AI hardware. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the post-‘double reduction’ landscape is one in which AI development for education appears to have been pulled away from the private sector, and closer to the government, further fuelling the imaginary of a data-driven technology that is able to be harnessed and managed by the state.
