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China has announced a drastic plan to expand its role in artificial intelligence governance, including the creation of a global partner organization, as Beijing competes with Washington for technical leadership.
At the opening of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai on Saturday, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang said AI innovation was hampered by “bottlenecks” such as the supply of computer chips.
Without explicitly mentioning the US, he aims for “technical monopoly” and restrictions, which could lead to AI becoming “an exclusive game for a few countries and businesses.”
“Today, overall global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries are particularly different in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts (and institutional regulations),” Li said.
“We need to strengthen coordination and form a global AI governance framework with broad consensus as soon as possible,” he said, adding that China will help create a “world AI cooperation organization.”
After Li spoke, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a 13-point plan for AI global governance, which proposed the creation of two new AI dialogue mechanisms and the creation of a safety governance framework under the auspices of the United Nations.
In recent months, Beijing has promoted China’s “open” innovation and a willingness to “share Indigenous technology.” Deepseek and Alibaba, the country’s top AI groups, have made large-scale language models (LLMs) available to developers around the world as open source technology.
China’s plans include promoting greater cooperation in open source technology, as well as sharing critical software and hardware, such as semiconductors, through new cross-border platforms and developer communities.
Swas, a country of advanced open source LLMS, raised concerns in the US that low-cost Chinese technology would undermine Silicon Valley’s global domination and prices.
Li’s comments reflect a fierce rivalry with the US as Washington restricts the export of advanced semiconductors to China, limits the equipment used to make them, and pushes allies to do the same.
China is still making progress, and this year the release of LLM by Hangzhou-based Deepseek has sparked debate over whether the US can maintain its technology advantage.
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“We are willing to provide more Chinese solutions to the international community and more Chinese wisdom to global artificial intelligence governance,” Li said, adding that AI will become a new engine for economic growth.
He said China is particularly keen to share technology with countries in the southern part of the world in order to “benefit the world with the results of AI development.”
China’s Foreign Ministry said it has invited high-level representatives from over 40 countries and international organizations to attend AI conferences and exhibitions that are taking place over four days.
This year, WAIC attracted more foreign visitors, in contrast to the 2024 national conference.
China’s plans come days after the White House announced plans to achieve US domination with AI. It focused on accelerating innovation by reducing deficits, building infrastructure and ensuring international diplomacy and security for the United States.
He also called for the United States to counter the influence of Chinese companies. He said this is an frustrating effort to build an AI framework in line with the American values of international organizations.
This month, Washington lifted the ban on NVIDIA, which sells H20 chips that were coordinated for China and compliant with export controls. Pivot came after Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang issued a Stark warning that he would hand over his tech leadership to rival Huawei by cutting it out from the Chinese market.
