China's central bank is putting artificial intelligence onto legal tender. This September, the People's Bank of China will issue a three-coin commemorative set themed "Science and Technology Future (Artificial Intelligence)" — one gold coin and two silver coins, all with legal tender status.
The gold coin weighs 5 grams and comes in an 18mm square shape. Its reverse features a chip, brain-shaped circuits, and a stream of 0s and 1s. The two silver coins each weigh 15 grams, with designs drawing on faces, circuits, spiral dot matrixes, and keys paired with artificial intelligence symbols.
The gold coin has a face value of 80 yuan, with a maximum mintage of 10,000 pieces. Each silver coin carries a face value of 5 yuan, capped at 20,000 pieces per design. That face value, though, isn't the price. For precious-metal commemorative coins, the face value mainly marks their legal tender status — the real price depends on the gold and silver content plus production costs.
When the issuing authority solicited design drafts in March, organizers gave designers explicit permission to use AI tools as an assist, but still banned submitting AI-generated images as-is. The three coins were assigned themes of basic AI research, technology for good, and "AI+" applications across industries.