Xi Jinping calls for global cooperation and new cooperation group at AI conference in Shanghai

At the same time, the Chinese head of state announced that China would transfer technology and know-how to countries of the "Global South" and would work toward the development of international AI standards. "Die Welt sieht sich mit Veränderungen konfrontiert, wie es sie seit einem Jahrhundert nicht mehr gegeben hat," Xi said with reference to the geopolitical situation. "Die globale Entwicklung von KI ist in eine Phase nie da gewesener Aktivität eingetreten, dies birgt grosse Chancen, aber auch grosse Herausforderungen für die Governance."

In parallel to the speech, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and representatives of 29 states signed an agreement to establish an intergovernmental AI cooperation group named Woica, which is to be headquartered in Shanghai. According to Chinese state media, the body is intended to promote consultation and cooperation among its members and thus ensure a "gesunde und geordnete" development of AI.

Establishment of the Woica cooperation group

Among the participants, according to information from the Chinese delegation, were Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as well as the heads of government of Cambodia and Thailand. Russia, Pakistan, Laos and Indonesia are also among the signatories. Representatives of Western governments and companies were not present, according to the organisers.

China also announced that it would create 5,000 AI training places for participants from developing countries and establish cooperation centres for AI applications in Southeast Asia, the Arab world, Africa and Latin America. With this, Beijing aims to extend its technological reach beyond its own region.

Training, centres and geopolitical context

The conference, which runs until Sunday, is initiated by China and takes place entirely under the sign of the intensifying technological competition with the United States, according to the organisers. A survey by the Pew Research Center shows that China is now viewed more positively than the United States in many countries – not only in developing and emerging economies.

At the opening, the Beijing start-up Moonshot AI presented its new model "Kimi K3" with, according to the company, 2.8 trillion parameters. The company says it aims to close the gap with the US rivals OpenAI and Anthropic. The latter, however, do not publicly disclose the parameter counts of their most powerful models.

Chinese models in competition with the USA

Chinese firms rejected accusations by American tech companies that they had unlawfully used US technology to train their own AI models. Just in the week before the conference, Chinese government officials had signalled to executives of domestic tech groups, according to information from Reuters, that access for foreign users to Chinese AI models would be restricted on national security grounds.

Market experts expect that the lead of US developers over increasingly powerful and cheaper Chinese AI models will shrink. Xi Jinping reiterated that national security must not be used as a pretext to deny others access to AI models, and called for joint development of the technology. China is striving for greater technological self-sufficiency and treats AI as a national strategic priority.

The WAIC opening marked Xi's first speech at the flagship event of China's AI industry. With the new cooperation group and the announced training and cooperation centres, Beijing is expanding its position in the international AI debate – while also positioning itself as a provider of alternative standards to the Western-led initiatives.

Looking ahead to the coming days, the focus is likely to be on what concrete standards the Woica members will formulate and how they will position themselves vis-à-vis existing initiatives. The announced transfer of knowledge to the Global South will also show whether China can turn its pledges into technological and economic reality – while the competition with the US sets the pace.