Building Metaverses with (or without) AI: Variegated AI Imaginaries in China’s National and Local Metaverse Policies

Abstract Since 2021, the global ‘Year of the Metaverse’, the Chinese government has appeared more proactive than its tech giants, treating the metaverse as both a new economic growth engine and a chance to enhance global leadership. Over the past three years, authorities at all levels have issued numerous policies aimed at fostering domestic metaverse industries while maintaining regulatory control. This study systematically reviews these policies, revealing a notable level of ambiguity, inconsistency, and complexity – characterized as localism in China’s digital policymaking. By paying particular attention to how AI is positioned in China’s multi-tiered regulatory constructs of the metaverse – a futurist landscape driven by a web of interconnected innovations – this study highlights that dynamic central-local relationships contribute to variegated AI imaginaries in China. This localism perspective sheds light on how subnational and smaller-scale stakeholders, though often overlooked, still play crucial roles in shaping global socio-technical imaginaries.