About the Interviewee
Dr.Jiuan ZHANG, Senior Research Fellow, Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies
Artificial intelligence is no longer a matter for engineers alone. As President Xi Jinping noted in his keynote address at the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, AI is moving from the digital world into the physical world. It is becoming part of economic and social development, and it is bringing both opportunities and governance challenges. The question before the world is therefore about direction as much as speed: where AI should go, how it should be governed, and who will share in its benefits.
The four observations put forward in Shanghai offer a clear answer: adhere to openness and win-win cooperation, strengthen risk awareness and ensure controllability, encourage inclusiveness and mutual learning among civilizations, and advocate solidarity to improve global governance. These four points are not separate slogans. They connect development, security, culture and institutions into one approach to AI governance.
The first point begins with openness. AI has become a new engine of world economic growth and an accelerator for the shift of growth drivers. The speech called for encouraging open source, openness, collaboration and sharing, and for promoting technological innovation, industrial development and scenario-based application. This matters because AI’s value will not be measured only by the size of models or the speed of computing. It will be measured by whether it can support the transformation of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries and the planning of future industries.
Openness is also a matter of fairness. Computing power, data, talent and technical capacity are unevenly distributed across countries. If AI development is shaped mainly by closed circles, the technology may widen existing divides. Open cooperation gives more countries a chance to participate in innovation and to apply AI according to their own development conditions. It also reduces the risk that technological progress will be trapped by geopolitical confrontation.
The second point is risk awareness. The speech stressed that AI should be a trusted tool for humanity and should remain under human control. This is a sober judgment. AI can bring inherent and secondary risks, and its misuse can affect security, privacy, social order and public trust. Laws and regulations, technical monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems are therefore necessary parts of AI governance.
Security, however, should not be turned into technological exclusion. President Xi explicitly called on all sides to oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI and placing one country’s security above that of others. This distinction is important. Governance should prevent abuse and malicious use, but it should not become a cover for blockades or discriminatory restrictions. AI will develop more steadily when development and security are pursued together.
The third point brings civilization into AI governance. AI development and application should not erode the diversity of world civilizations or the uniqueness of different cultures. Models, data and applications all carry values in one form or another. If AI systems reflect only a narrow range of languages, experiences and cultural assumptions, they may make other voices less visible.
This is why the call to shape AI’s values with humanity’s common values deserves attention. AI can be used to increase understanding, tolerance, exchanges and sharing among civilizations. It can help different cultures communicate and learn from each other. But that outcome requires guidance. Technology should enlarge the space for civilizational diversity, not flatten it into a single template.
The fourth point concerns global governance. AI is a global technology, but governance capacity remains uneven. Many Global South countries face gaps in infrastructure, capacity building and participation in rule making. The speech warned against creating new historical injustice in AI and called for extensive international cooperation to bridge the AI and digital divides.
A just and equitable AI governance system must therefore practice true multilateralism and recognize the important role of the United Nations. Countries need stronger coordination on AI development strategies, governance rules and technical standards. At the same time, coordination should respect different development stages and national conditions. The Global South should have a substantive place in shaping rules, not merely a symbolic presence.
China’s recent actions show how these principles can move from ideas to public goods. Since the Global AI Governance Initiative was proposed, China has promoted the adoption by consensus of the UN General Assembly resolution on enhancing international cooperation on AI capacity building, published the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, announced the AI Plus International Cooperation Initiative, and advocated the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization.
The measures announced in Shanghai are concrete. 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 ASEAN, the League of Arab States, the African Union, CELAC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS; and enable 30 countries to use the AI-powered meteorological warning system MAZU. These commitments focus on capacity, platforms and practical applications.
The value of the four observations lies in their balance. Openness gives AI room to innovate. Security keeps AI under human control. Inclusiveness protects the diversity of civilizations. Solidarity gives developing countries a path to participate in global governance. Together, they answer the central challenge of the intelligent age: how to make AI serve humanity rather than narrow interests.
Steering AI toward the common good will not happen automatically. It requires open cooperation, prudent governance, respect for cultural diversity and real support for capacity building in the Global South. The message from Shanghai is clear: the future of AI should be shaped by human wisdom, international consensus and a shared responsibility to build a just and equitable system for global AI governance.