Development and governance of artificial intelligence should be a global effort, Chinese President Xi Jinping says, while reiterating China’s objections to what he called the “overstretching” of national security concerns.
Speaking at a Shanghai conference, Xi said AI should not be dominated by any single nation.
American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the world's most advanced technologies, spurring China's efforts to build its own know-how and intensifying the rivalry between the world’s two biggest economies.
“The development of artificial intelligence should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation,” Xi said at the opening of China's annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
Others attending included the leaders of Kazakhstan, Cambodia and Thailand and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
A group of university students took part in an experiment with ChatGPT. (Source: 1News)
Xi opposes the ‘overstretching’ of national security in AI
“We should together oppose the practice of overstretching the concept of national security in the field of artificial intelligence, and of placing one’s own security above that of other countries,” he said, repeating a longstanding Chinese complaint.
China will expand AI cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the BRICS countries, Xi said.
He promised to provide access for 30 countries to a Chinese-developed AI meteorological tool that provides early warning systems.
Over the next five years, Xi said China will provide 5000 AI training opportunities to developing countries.
Closer partnerships can help prevent “historical injustice in AI,” he said.
China’s new AI cooperation body seen as response to the US
Ahead of the conference, 29 countries including Pakistan, Russia and Kazakhstan, signed an agreement with China to establish a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation.
State media described it as an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Shanghai promoting global AI governance.
The new AI cooperation organisation can be viewed as China’s answer to the US-led Pax Silica initiative, said George Chen, partner and chair of digital practice at Washington-headquartered consultancy The Asia Group.
Copyright Licensing NZ says New Zealand is behind on AI regulation, as the Government signals it won't have a framework in place until at least 2027. (Source: 1News)
The Pax Silica framework, launched late last year, focuses on strengthening collaboration with US allies and partners on AI-related supply chains.
Signatories include Japan, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, Israel and India. Following a visit by US President Donald Trump’s to Beijing to meet with Xi in mid-May, China and the United States also agreed to conduct a dialogue on AI development and governance.
Chen, who was at the conference in Shanghai, also said Xi’s speech can be seen as a signal that China can be a reliable partner to the developing world, or “Global South” countries. “China will not let America be the monopoly of AI technology.”
China's advanced tech showcased as it steps up self-reliance
More than 1100 companies and 1400 guests are participating in the annual AI conference this year, Chinese state media said.
During the conference that runs until Monday, tech giant Huawei is showcasing its powerful AI computing system, the Atlas 950 SuperPoD.
Some technology analysts now believe China has become an innovator in AI and is no longer just catching up with the US China’s five-year plan until 2030 has prioritised progress in frontiers of science and technology including AI.
China’s open-source AI models, like DeepSeek, are seen, especially across the developing world, as appealing and often more affordable than US AI models, which are largely closed-source.
Coinciding with the conference, the Chinese AI startup Moonshot released its latest AI model, Kimi K3. It said Kimi K3's 2.8 trillion parameters — one of the measurements of an AI model's capability — will make it the world's largest open-source model.
DeepSeek's V4 Pro version has 1.6 trillion parameters.
Last month, another Chinese AI company Zhipu, or Z.ai, rolled out its new flagship GLM-5.2 open-source model in a challenge to US rivals, including Anthropic’s models.
But US politicians and several major US AI companies including Anthropic have accused Chinese AI models of illicit “distillation” of their models to extract their technologies, a claim that Beijing says is “groundless.” US policymakers have also raised concerns over Chinese AI posing an economic threat to the United States.
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