Shanghai — China said on Saturday it wanted to create an organisation to foster global co-operation on AI, positioning itself as an alternative to the US as the two vie for influence over the transformative technology.
China wants to help co-ordinate global efforts to regulate fast-evolving AI technology and share the country’s advances, Premier Li Qiang told the annual World AI Conference in Shanghai.
President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday released an AI blueprint aiming to vastly expand US AI exports to allies in a bid to maintain the American edge over China in the critical technology.
Li did not name the US but appeared to refer to Washington’s efforts to stymie China's advances in AI, warning that the technology risked becoming the “exclusive game” of a few countries and companies.
Global South
China wants AI to be openly shared and for all countries and companies to have equal rights to use it, Li said, adding that Beijing was willing to share its development experience and products with other countries, particularly the “Global South”, which refers to developing, emerging or lower-income countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere.
How to regulate AI’s growing risks was another concern, Li said, adding that bottlenecks included an insufficient supply of AI chips and restrictions on talent exchange.
“Overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules,” he said. “We should strengthen co-ordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible.”
Export restrictions
The three-day Shanghai conference brings together industry leaders and policymakers at a time of escalating technological competition between China and the US — the world's two largest economies — with AI emerging as a battleground.
Washington has imposed export restrictions on advanced technology to China, including the most high-end AI chips made by companies such as Nvidia and chipmaking equipment, citing concerns that the technology could enhance China’s military capabilities.
Despite these restrictions, China has continued making AI breakthroughs that have drawn close scrutiny from US officials.
China vice-foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu told a round-table of representatives from more than 30 countries, including Russia, SA, Qatar, South Korea and Germany, that China wanted the organisation to promote pragmatic co-operation in AI and was considering putting its headquarters in Shanghai.
The foreign ministry released online an action plan for global AI governance, inviting governments, international organisations, enterprises and research institutions to work together and promote international exchanges including through a cross-border open source community.
The government-sponsored AI conference typically attracts major industry players, government officials, researchers and investors.
Conference
Saturday’s speakers included Anne Bouverot, the French president’s special envoy for AI, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, known as “the Godfather of AI”, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has in past years regularly appeared at the opening ceremony in person or by video, did not speak this year.
Besides forums, the conference features exhibitions where companies demonstrate their latest innovations.
This year, more than 800 companies are participating, showcasing more than 3,000 hi-tech products, 40 large language models, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 intelligent robots, according to organisers.
The exhibition features predominantly Chinese companies, including tech giants Huawei and Alibaba and start-ups such as humanoid robot maker Unitree. Western participants include Tesla, Alphabet and Amazon. Reuters
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