The World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai concluded on Monday with a clear call to strengthen international cooperation on artificial intelligence, as participants praised China’s role in the development and dissemination of AI technologies.
A cooperation-focused AI conference
The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and the High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance, held over four days in Shanghai under the theme “AI Partnership for a Brighter Future,” put cooperation at the center of discussions. In his opening remarks on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to “improve the alignment and coordination of development strategies, governance rules and technical standards” in order to rapidly establish a consensus-based global governance framework that ensures AI benefits humanity.
Foreign delegations welcomed this emphasis on collective governance. Mario Nobile, director-general of Italy’s Agency for Digitalization, called an international gathering of this kind “really important” and agreed on the necessity of cooperative approaches to regulate and guide AI.
Innovations showcased and positive feedback
The event combined conferences, exhibitions, competitions and incubation initiatives. For the first time, organizers launched an accompanying academic conference and offered nearly 160 themed forums. The exhibition area exceeded 100,000 square meters, featuring more than 1,100 companies and 4,486 products and technologies, of which 351 were unveiled as world premieres.
China highlighted its open-source AI models, which organizers said have been downloaded more than 10 billion times in total—a figure presented as an opportunity for global collaboration in innovation. Representatives from developing countries praised access to these open-source tools: Nthati Moorosi, Lesotho’s Minister of Technology and Innovation, explained that her country, still at an early stage of application development, relies heavily on online open-source software and applications and views these resources as tangible help to close the gap.
A Moroccan exhibitor summed up a common impression, calling the demonstrations “top notch” and noting the technological depth on display across every layer of the AI ecosystem.
Commercial impact and outlook
The 2026 edition also showed notable economic impact: 177 international purchasing delegations were hosted, with a
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