China called for upholding fairness, inclusivity, and collaborative governance in artificial intelligence as the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance kicked off in Geneva on Monday, with Beijing pledging concrete actions to bridge the digital divide and support Global South countries in the AI era.
Leading the Chinese delegation, Li Lecheng, China's minister of industry and information technology, said in his opening remarks that AI is a common asset of humanity, and that developing countries' rights to develop and use the technology must be firmly safeguarded.
He proposed three priorities: ensuring fair and inclusive development by deepening AI applications in healthcare, education, industry, agriculture, and poverty alleviation; fostering innovation-driven cooperation through open-source sharing and cross-border flow of knowledge and talent; and strengthening collaborative governance by balancing development and security, and ensuring effective participation of all nations — especially developing ones — in global rule-making.
"China is ready to work with all parties to promote fair and inclusive development, actively assist countries in developing AI technologies and services, and jointly build a governance framework with broad consensus," Li said.
