Xi Jinping pitches China as the fair, open alternative in the global AI race

[CodyRhodes99]

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered his first ever keynote address at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, using the moment to lay out China's clearest vision yet for how AI should be governed globally. He called for equitable access to the technology, urged countries to seize what he called a rare historic opportunity through open source development, and argued AI should not be a solo performance by a single country, explicitly warning against new historical injustices emerging from unequal access to the technology

Xi compared AI's significance to the invention of the steam engine and electricity, and pledged China would share its AI technology and expertise with developing nations while helping lead efforts to build international governance standards. He also acknowledged real risks directly, including the potential for loss of control, striking a notably more balanced tone between innovation and safety than some of Beijing's more purely growth focused messaging in the past

The timing carried its own message. Xi's remarks came shortly after Donald Trump used a prime time address to accuse China of orchestrating what he called the largest compromise of election data in history, and the two countries had already staked out competing visions for AI governance just last week at a UN dialogue, with Washington arguing that heavy regulation risks stifling innovation while Beijing framed its low cost, open source models as a public good that could help close the global AI divide

The conference itself doubled as a showcase of China's hardware ambitions. Huawei is set to publicly debut its Atlas 950 SuperPoD, its most advanced AI computing cluster yet, linking thousands of homegrown Ascend processors through high speed interconnects into a single system, a clear demonstration of Beijing's push to build large scale AI infrastructure without relying on Nvidia's most advanced chips. Attendees at the Shanghai gathering included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres alongside heads of state from Kazakhstan and Thailand, underlining how deliberately China is using the event as a diplomatic stage as much as a technology showcase

Inside the room as Xi Jinping outlines China's global vision for AI in landmark speechwww.nbcnews.com

[Gareth84]

Framing open source AI as a public good for the Global South is a genuinely smart diplomatic angle, positions China as the generous alternative right as US export controls keep restricting access elsewhere