The rule of law progress in the artificial intelligence field in China last year was assessed to be generally good, but theoretical research in this area should be fast-tracked to catch up with the practices that have developed rapidly, according to a report.

In tandem with the growing scale of the market, relevant laws and policies in the AI field have been unveiled each year, and the overall index of the rule of law in the AI field was given a rating of 83.79, according to the 2019 Assessment Report on China's Rule of Law in Artificial Intelligence.

The report was published during the ongoing World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020 on Friday.

Six sectors – policies and documents, theory development, law enforcement, market scale, social attention and the environment of rule of law – were the primary factors in the index, according to the Shanghai Law Society, which published the report.

"We also found that Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin as well as provinces of Guangdong and Henan were the most developed when it comes to academic research in the rule of law regarding AI," said Liu Xiaohong, an expert on the editorial committee of the report and president of the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

Liao Guoxun, deputy secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Political and Law Commission, said that AI development should always come with an optimized governance supported by new intelligence.

"Rule of law functions like laying tracks for the train of AI to grow and expand more safely and healthily in a coordinated environment," he said.