Every year, China’s president Xi Jinping delivers a New Year’s Eve address, outlining the country’s plans for the months ahead. But Chinese netizens don’t just pay attention to his words; they also scour the bookshelves behind Xi, analyzing the titles and authors found there to try and gain some insight into his mind. And the big additions this year? Well, two new texts on artificial intelligence — a topic of huge interest for the Chinese government.

As reported by The Shanghaiist (and seen via Quartz), the books on AI were Pedro Domingos’ The Master Algorithm and Brett King’s Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane. Both deal with the potential impact of artificial intelligence on society, with King’s book providing a futurist’s slightly fantastical overview on this and other technologies, while Domingos’ offers a more grounded and practical look at the rise of machine learning. (The Master Algorithm is also one of Bill Gates’ recommended reads on AI.)

Xi is said to be a voracious reader, and other books spotted on his shelf this year included a growing collection of Western classics (from War and Peace and The Old Man and the Sea to The Odyssey and Les Misérables), economic texts like Money Changes Everything by William N. Goetzmann and Michele Wucker’s The Grey Rhino, and numerous titles on Chinese history and military strategy.

The intended message these books send is pretty clear — including the ones on AI. China has identified artificial intelligence as the key technology it needs for improving its economy and military, and is pouring money and resources into the field. US experts are worried that America will be left behind in the global AI race, especially as President Trump moves to cut funding for basic research and restrict immigration, reducing the pool of talent the US can drawn from.

Being the global leader in AI wouldn’t just be good for business either, with many believing it will go hand-in-hand with international clout. Russian president Vladimir Putin said as much last September, commenting that the country that leads in artificial intelligence research “will become the ruler of the world.” It seems at least one other world leader thinks the same — and is busy studying up on the subject.