The Chinese Association for Science Popularization (CASP) has unveiled its highly anticipated list of the Top 10 Science Popularization Buzzwords for 2026. Reflecting the rapid advancements and pervasive influence of artificial intelligence, seven of the ten terms are directly related to AI. These include “AI+”, “Human-Machine Collaboration”, “Brain-Computer Interface”, “Intelligent Agent”, “Humanoid Robot”, “Token”, and “Embodied Intelligence”. The remaining three significant buzzwords are “Science Toys”, “Tech Ethics”, and “Health Management”.
AI’s Pervasive Influence
The dominance of AI-related terms highlights their increasing integration into various aspects of production, services, and daily life, creating new demands for public understanding. Terms like “AI+”, “Intelligent Agent”, and “Token” signify the growing need to grasp AI’s role in transforming industries and daily routines. Meanwhile, “Brain-Computer Interface”, “Humanoid Robot”, and “Embodied Intelligence” offer public entry points into understanding the principles, progress, and applications of cutting-edge technologies.
Expanding Horizons of Science Communication
Beyond AI, the list also underscores evolving trends in science communication and societal needs. “Science Toys” points to the expanding formats of science popularization content, moving beyond traditional media to interactive and educational play. “Human-Machine Collaboration” reflects the changing nature of science communication itself, with AI tools increasingly assisting in content creation. The inclusion of “Tech Ethics” emphasizes the critical need for responsible technological development and value judgments in an era of rapid innovation. Finally, “Health Management” addresses the public’s persistent demand for accessible health knowledge and guidance towards scientific lifestyles.
Deep Dive into the Buzzwords:
01. AI+
This term represents the integration of artificial intelligence as a core driver, fostering deep and broad synergy between AI and various economic and social sectors. It aims to innovate production methods, service models, and lifestyles. Following the State Council’s issuance of the “Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of the ‘AI+’ Action” in 2025, which outlined six key initiatives, 2026 sees a continued deepening and expansion of “AI+”. The focus shifts further towards large-scale applications and tangible outcomes, while also emphasizing the public’s need to understand AI, master its application methods, and recognize associated risks.
02. Science Toys
Defined as toys designed based on scientific and technological principles that embed scientific knowledge, principles, or methods into play experiences. Through activities like playing, observing, experimenting, measuring, or constructing, they guide users to understand relevant scientific concepts. These toys possess both entertainment and technological education attributes, appealing to all age groups with their scientific accuracy, fun factor, and aesthetic value. The establishment of the Science Toys Professional Committee by CASP in May 2026 further promotes research, standard development, and industry exchange in this field. Science toys are expanding the forms of science popularization and providing new carriers for experiencing science and engaging in inquiry in daily life.
03. Human-Machine Collaboration
This refers to a work mode where humans and intelligent systems collaborate through division of labor, interactive feedback, and complementary strengths to complete tasks. Humans leverage their advantages in goal setting, contextual understanding, value judgment, and creative thinking, while intelligent systems provide support in information processing, content generation, and automated execution. The effectiveness of this collaboration hinges on task allocation, process supervision, and result verification. In science communication, human-machine collaboration can span data organization, content ideation, and multi-format expression, requiring creators to maintain scientific judgment and quality control.
04. Brain-Computer Interface
This technology establishes a direct information channel between the brain and external devices, enabling the conversion and interaction of brain activity information with machine commands. It bypasses the need for muscles and peripheral nerves, supporting tasks like communication, device control, or rehabilitation training by collecting, processing, and decoding brain signals. Key technical pathways include invasive, semi-invasive, and non-invasive methods. In 2026, the “Government Work Report” identified brain-computer interfaces as a future industry to be cultivated. As a frontier field at the intersection of life sciences and information sciences, BCI offers new possibilities for functional assistance and rehabilitation, though its practical capabilities, applicable conditions, and ethical boundaries concerning data privacy require further clarification and validation.
05. Intelligent Agent
An intelligent system capable of perceiving its environment, utilizing tools, and taking actions to achieve specific goals. With advancements in large language models (LLMs), AI-powered intelligent agents can perform multi-step tasks involving information retrieval, data processing, and workflow automation by combining task planning, tool invocation, and execution feedback. They exhibit autonomy, interactivity, reactivity, and adaptability, marking a significant shift from passive question-answering to proactive action in AI. The 2026 “Government Work Report” highlighted the accelerated promotion of next-generation intelligent terminals and intelligent agents, while the “15th Five-Year Plan Outline for National Economic and Social Development” encouraged innovation in technologies like intelligent agents. These agents offer new avenues for knowledge services and interactive science popularization.
06. Humanoid Robot
A type of robot designed to closely mimic human appearance and locomotion, typically featuring a body structure similar to humans, including a torso and limbs. In 2026, the “Humanoid Robot Half Marathon” in Beijing’s Yizhuang continued to test and showcase the motion control, environmental adaptability, and system synergy of humanoid robots by navigating complex courses. From competition stages to practical applications in production and life, the development of humanoid robots provides a window for the public to understand the integration of technologies like mechanical design, motion control, and AI, while also drawing societal attention to their actual capabilities and deployment conditions.
07. Tech Ethics
Refers to the values and norms that guide interactions among people, society, and nature within technological activities. It serves as a crucial safeguard for the healthy development of science and technology and for ensuring technological progress benefits society. Tech ethics permeates the entire lifecycle of scientific research, technological development, and application deployment, emphasizing the enhancement of human well-being, respect for life rights, fairness, justice, rational risk control, and transparency, while preventing harm from technological misuse. In 2026, ten government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, issued the “Measures for Ethical Review and Services of Artificial Intelligence (Trial)”, further detailing ethical governance in AI and promoting public education and participation. Tech ethics is increasingly becoming a vital topic bridging technological advancement and societal discourse, expanding the scope and responsibility of science popularization.
08. Health Management
This is a medical service process guided by modern health concepts and the traditional Chinese medicine principle of “preventing disease before it occurs.” It involves comprehensive detection, assessment, intervention, and continuous tracking of an individual’s or group’s health status and risk factors. Emphasizing prevention throughout the entire life cycle, it aims to maintain and improve health through lifestyle interventions such as balanced diets, regular exercise, and avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, alongside managing risk factors for chronic diseases. The “15th Five-Year Plan for National Health” issued by the State Council in 2026 encourages greater public focus on proactive health, accelerating the formation of health-promoting lifestyles and enhancing primary-level disease prevention and health management capabilities. Health management also necessitates robust health popularization efforts to disseminate health knowledge, improve health literacy, and help the public translate scientific understanding into daily healthy behaviors.
09. Token
The fundamental unit used by large language models (LLMs) for processing and generating information. In text processing, a token can correspond to a character, a word, a word fragment, or punctuation, with the specific segmentation rules depending on the model’s encoding method. Token count is also a key metric for gauging input/output scale, statistical service usage, and computational costs. In March 2026, the National Committee for Terms in Natural Sciences prioritized “Token” as the recommended Chinese term for its use in AI, releasing it for public trial. As LLM applications become more widespread, this professional term is entering the public consciousness, providing a foundational concept for understanding model operational mechanisms, usage costs, and capability boundaries.
10. Embodied Intelligence
An artificial intelligence system integrated into a physical entity, capable of autonomously perceiving the physical world, dynamically adapting to environmental changes, performing physical tasks, and continuously iterating itself. Robots serve as important carriers for embodied intelligence, but the concept is not limited to humanoid structures. In 2026, the “Government Work Report” designated embodied intelligence as a future industry for cultivation. This development pushes AI towards perception and action within the physical world, offering the public new perspectives on how intelligence learns and interacts with the real environment.
