Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday outlined Beijing’s vision for developing and regulating artificial intelligence at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, signalling the strategic priority China now places on AI amid rising global competition and concern over security and misuse. Xi’s first attendance at the four-day event, which brings together more than 1,000 Chinese tech firms, officials and researchers, puts the spotlight on how China plans to balance technological progress with governance on issues from cyber‑security to military use.
Chinese AI models have been closing the gap with leading U.S. offerings and are drawing international users with lower costs and customisability, the WAIC programme shows. Still, Poe Zhao, founder of analysis publication Hello China Tech, told AFP that “the United States retains a clear lead in advanced chips, frontier computing infrastructure and the most capital‑intensive model development,” while adding that China is “its closest and most comprehensive competitor.” Zhao described WAIC as “the most important annual event for understanding the direction of China’s AI industry.”
The conference will showcase roughly 3,000 products, from high‑performance semiconductor systems to a smartphone claimed to operate apps autonomously. Highlights this year include MiniMax’s M3 model — promoted as the first phone with an autonomous AI agent — and Huawei’s Atlas 950 “supernode,” an architecture aimed at large‑scale learning and reasoning. Zhao says the main theme is the shift “from AI models to systems that can be deployed at scale” in everyday life, with AI agents — tools that can converse, manage software and carry out complex tasks — taking centre stage.
Governance and international cooperation are also on the agenda. Premier Li Qiang announced at last year’s WAIC a China‑led body for international AI cooperation; Xi is expected to expand on that idea. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news briefing that “China opposes drawing lines on the basis of ideology and technological blockades,” an apparent reference to export and restriction regimes by the United States and European Union. Lin said China hopes to use the conference to “have candid exchanges with all parties and build consensus.”
China’s AI push is fuelled by large state investment and rapid consumer uptake. Officials cited by state media say daily consumption of AI “tokens” has risen a thousandfold over two years. Official figures value the Chinese market at 1.2 trillion yuan in 2025 and project growth of more than 30 percent this year, while more than 6,000 AI companies were active in 2025. The World Intellectual Property Organization recorded over 43,000 generative AI patent filings between 2024 and 2025, and the China Internet Network Information Centre put last year’s generative AI user base at about 602 million people — roughly 43 percent of the population. Companies abroad, including Siemens, are increasingly adopting Chinese open‑source models, drawn by performance, cost and customisation advantages over some closed U.S. systems.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/xi-jinping-to-present-chinas-ai-dream-at-major-conference-today-11781947#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-07-17 01:53:00
