## 4 Discussion
### Temporal Evolution of Public Sentiment and Event Tracking  
This study analyzes the longitudinal sentiment data of the Chinese public towards AI applications in education from February 2023 to October 2024 (Figure 3). By integrating policy events and media reports, we further discuss the dynamic evolution of public sentiment. The findings reveal that negative events amplify risk perceptions, whereas positive events such as legislative policies and technological inclusivity can restore public sentiment. Although negative events can trigger short-term surges in negative emotions, positive sentiment remains the dominant emotional type in the long run. This trend is driven by multiple factors, including policy promotion, technological breakthroughs, and media influence. Between February and May 2023, positive sentiment towards AI in education dominated, although negative sentiment showed a slight increase. From June to August 2023, positive sentiment experienced a significant rebound, reaching 85.7% in August. This peak was associated with several major events: in July 2023, seven government departments  
Figure 3: Temporal evolution of Chinese public sentiment towards AI in education. jointly released the \"Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services\", implementing a prudent and classified regulatory approach to generative AI services. Additionally, the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) was held in Shanghai, showcasing various AI-driven educational innovations. However, in September and October 2023, negative sentiment saw a sharp increase, reaching 27.2% in October, while positive sentiment declined to 48.2%. This shift was likely driven by concerns over technological security and fairness, exacerbated by negative incidents. For example, in September 2023, Microsoft's AI team leaked 38 TB of data, and in October 2023, China's Internet Joint Rumor-Refuting Platform publicly addressed AI-generated misinformation cases. In the first half of 2024, positive sentiment gradually rebounded and remained above 60%, indicating overall stability and a predominance of positive sentiment. Notably, in July and August 2024, positive sentiment surged again to 77.0% and 89.0%, respectively. Several key policy and regulatory developments contributed to this trend. In January 2024, the State Council's executive meeting emphasized leveraging AI to enhance key industries, supporting the construction of a manufacturing powerhouse, a cyber powerhouse, and a digital China. In February 2024, the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee released the \"Basic Security Requirements for Generative Artificial Intelligence Services\", addressing long-term risks such as AI-induced cybersecurity threats and misinformation. Additionally, the Ministry of Education announced 184 AI education pilot bases for primary and secondary schools. Further reinforcing this positive shift, in July 2024, the WAIC was held again, accompanied by the joint release of the \"Generative AI Education Application Security Guidelines\" by the Ministry of Education and the Cyberspace Administration. Moreover, on 3 April 2024, the National Cybersecurity Committee issued the \"Information Security Technology: Security Standards for Pre-training and Fine-tuning Data in Generative AI\", helping to mitigate the impact of previous negative incidents. The achievements showcased at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the introduction of generative AI management standards, the promotion of AI technology accessibility cases, and the directional signals from national policies--widely disseminated through mainstream media--have collectively created a positive emotional communication environment. This environment has facilitated the enhancement and stabilization of positive sentiment.