Xi Jinping told the World AI Conference in Shanghai on Friday that artificial intelligence “should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation,” casting Beijing as the patron of open, shared technology.
The line, aimed at the developing world and, by implication, at Washington, set the tone for a speech heavy on governance and light on product.
His appearance had been flagged for days, the first time a Chinese president has addressed the summit in person. It came a day after 29 governments signed a China-led cooperation body in the same city, with foreign minister Wang Yi putting his name to the agreement.
Xi framed AI as a technology of “great opportunities and governance challenges,” according to the official Xinhua readout, and pressed for what he called a people-centred approach.
He warned that leaving poorer nations behind risked hardening the technology gap into “new historical injustices.”
