President Xi Jinping Attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance and Delivers Keynote Address

On the morning of July 17, 2026, President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance at the Grand Halls in Shanghai and delivered the keynote address.

The surging tide on the Huangpu River signaled a new chapter, and the Grand Halls welcomed guests from near and far.

President Xi took a group photo with heads of state and government, heads of international organizations and heads of delegations from participating countries.

Following warm applause, President Xi delivered a keynote address titled “Joining Hands to Build a Just and Equitable System for Global AI Governance.”

President Xi noted that today, major changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. The new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing at a faster pace, and the world has entered an unprecedented period of active innovation on AI technologies. All this carries within it great opportunities as well as challenges to governance. We human beings must answer the questions posed by our times: How to get along with thinking machines? How to ensure security when algorithm is part of decision making? How to tackle ethical challenges by technologies through adaptive governance? How to realize AI for all when the divide keeps widening? In China’s view, all countries should take a people-centered approach and develop AI for the positive and for good. We should ensure that AI is an important driver for shared prosperity and common security. We should join hands to build a just and equitable system for global AI governance.

To this end, President Xi shared four observations.

First, we should adhere to the principle of openness and win-win and boost innovation-driven development. We should seize this rare, historic opportunity to encourage open source, openness, collaboration and sharing. We should facilitate technological innovation, industrial development and scenario-based application of AI. We should make coordinated advances in the transformation and upgrade of traditional industries, the cultivation and growth of emerging industries and forward-looking planning for future industries, so that all sectors and businesses can benefit from AI.

Second, we should strengthen risk-awareness and ensure that AI is secure and controllable. We should take seriously the various types of inherent and secondary risks that AI may trigger. We should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems in order to strengthen the line of security, prevent abuses and malicious use, and ensure that AI is always under human control. We should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI and placing one country’s security over that of others.

Third, we should encourage inclusiveness and promote mutual learning between civilizations. We must shape the values of AI with humanity’s common values, and make good use of AI technologies to increase understanding, tolerance, exchanges, and sharing among all civilizations. We should tend to the garden of civilizations with great care to ensure that the beauty of each civilization is appreciated and shared.

Fourth, we should advocate solidarity and improve global governance. We should practice true multilateralism and recognize the important role of the United Nations. We should enhance alignment and coordination on AI development strategies, governance rules and technical standards, so as to form a consensus-based global governance framework at an early date to make this frontier technology better benefit humanity. We must help Global South countries with capacity building to bridge the AI and digital divides, promote sustainable development, and prevent creating new historical injustice in AI.

President Xi stressed that this year marks the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. It maps out China’s economic and social development for the next five years and provides immense opportunities for the international community. In recent years, China has promoted interplay between an efficient market and a well-functioning government, strengthened AI innovation, actively advanced the AI Plus Initiative, and built a healthy ecosystem for all entities to thrive in together. The core smart economy industries are now worth at least RMB 1 trillion yuan. Intelligent Manufacturing in China has become another shining hallmark of Chinese modernization. At the same time, China lays great emphasis on safety and security in AI development. We are continuously improving laws, regulations, policies, mechanisms, application norms, as well as ethical principles to make sure that AI is safe, secure and controllable. As a responsible major country, China has remained committed to providing international public goods relating to AI, and contributed steadily to the global AI governance

President Xi pointed out that thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) has come into being in Shanghai. This is a major move by China to answer the call of the Global South and unite the international community together to promote vigorously AI development and governance. It will be an important milestone in the history of AI development. To further support global AI development and advance global AI capacity building, in the next five years, China will provide developing countries with 5,000 opportunities in AI training and seminar programs; develop international AI application cooperation centers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS; and enable 30 countries to use the AI-powered meteorological warning system, or MAZU. China is ready to be more open, take more practical actions, and assume a more visionary perspective. We are ready to work with all parties to seize the opportunities of AI development and meet the challenges, and join hands to create a brighter future for humanity.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres also spoke at the opening ceremony. They expressed warm congratulations on the convening of the signing ceremony of the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization in Shanghai, commended China’s important contributions to the global AI governance, and echoed the initiatives and steps proposed by President Xi. The participating leaders said that while AI could present humanity with its greatest development opportunity, it also poses potential risks. With a commitment to the principles of developing AI for good and for all, inclusiveness, safety and security, and controllability, China has actively helped developing countries enhance capacity building and advanced international cooperation on AI, demonstrating the responsibility of a major country. AI technologies should be shared and governed by all countries, so that they can benefit all countries on an equitable basis, serve the sustainable development of all humanity, and bridge both the global AI and digital divides and the North-South gap. The opportunities and challenges brought by AI know no borders, and they should be seized and addressed by all parties together. It is hoped and believed that WAICO will play an important role to this end, and foster open, inclusive, equal-footed and mutually beneficial cooperation to create a secure, prosperous and beautiful future that leaves no country behind.

During the conference, the Chair’s Statement of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance was issued.

On the evening of July 16, President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan held a welcome banquet at the Grand Halls for the international dignitaries attending the conference.

Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Wang Yi, among others, were present at the above events.

Chen Jining presided over the opening ceremony.