Overview
- The World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization was formally established with 29 founding signatories in Shanghai after an agreement signed July 16 and was unveiled by Xi Jinping at the World AI Conference on July 17.
- Xi pledged 5,000 AI training and research opportunities to developing countries over five years and announced regional cooperation centers aimed at blocs such as ASEAN, BRICS and the African Union.
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres attended the conference and said the UN will build a Global Network for AI capacity building and propose a Global Fund for AI to support developing countries.
- Chinese firms released very large open-weight models, including Moonshot’s Kimi K3 and Z.ai’s GLM-5.2, while Huawei demonstrated new AI hardware, showing China is advancing domestic AI capability even as U.S. chip export controls remain in place.
- Analysts say the main test is delivery: whether training slots, cooperation centers and technology access materialize at scale, and they note membership choices such as India’s absence could steer AI governance into competing blocs.