Between July 17 and 20, 2026, Shanghai played host to two landmark events: the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, drawing global attention to China’s evolving role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a foundational keynote address at the opening ceremony, laying out a comprehensive, systematic framework for China’s policy stances, long-term visions, and collaborative propositions for both AI development and global governance frameworks.
This year’s conference stands as one of the largest global AI gatherings in recent history, with more than 1,100 participating enterprises from across the world bringing their cutting-edge innovations to the exhibition floor. Over 300 new technologies and products made their global debut at the event, with a total of 4,400 distinct exhibits on display. Attendees and virtual observers gained a full, immersive overview of the most advanced breakthroughs in AI across every major subfield, showcasing how rapidly the technology is advancing globally.
Centered on the unifying theme “AI Partnership for a Brighter Future,” the conference served dual purposes: it highlighted the most exciting recent technological leaps in the sector, while also creating critical space for global stakeholders to build shared consensus around responsible AI governance. Beyond technology and policy, the event also functioned as a key global window for the international community to understand the governing approach of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as China’s ruling party.
Tracking China’s decades-long strategic approach to AI reveals the CPC’s consistent, long-term vision and unwavering commitment to executing planned development roadmaps. The trajectory of China’s AI strategy stretches back to 2017, when the government released its landmark New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, establishing the first national strategic framework for the sector. Between 2021 and 2025, national investment and research focused heavily on closing gaps in foundational algorithms and core hardware technologies, addressing key bottlenecks that limited industry growth. Now, as China enters the 15th Five-Year Plan period spanning 2026 to 2030, the national strategy has shifted to full-scale implementation of the “AI+” initiative, which aims to empower nearly every sector of the national economy through digital and intelligent transformation. Throughout this entire trajectory, the CPC has consistently positioned AI as a core strategic driver of the ongoing global scientific and technological revolution, adapting policy to keep pace with rapid industry changes.
To turn the “AI+” initiative from a strategic plan into tangible progress, China has rolled out a series of targeted supporting measures across the public and private sectors. These include the construction of a national integrated computing power network that connects data and processing resources across every region of the country, targeted support for specialized small and medium-sized “Little Giant” technology enterprises, official approval for a network of national AI innovation and application pilot zones, and expanded investment in AI-related academic programs and talent training at universities across China. This consistent, long-term investment has already yielded impressive results: in early 2025, China’s open-source DeepSeek-R1 large language model stunned global AI researchers with its performance, and today the model reaches daily token usage on the scale of quadrillions, demonstrating the sustainable momentum of China’s AI sector to keep hitting new milestones.
The widespread adoption of AI across China’s economy also makes clear the CPC’s enduring commitment to its core “putting the people first” governing principle. Guided by the overarching philosophy that technology should serve the public good, the ruling party has focused on harnessing artificial intelligence to improve public well-being, embodying its core governing commitment that development is for the people, relies on broad public participation, and delivers shared benefits to all people.
Today, AI has been deeply integrated into nearly all key sectors of China’s economy, from manufacturing and agriculture to healthcare and finance. AI-powered tools have improved access to public services across geographic and demographic divides: city-wide smart governance platforms streamline administrative processes, cross-provincial smart government services eliminate the need for citizens to travel to access official documents, remote smart healthcare brings specialist care to rural and underserved regions, and shared smart educational resources expand learning opportunities for students regardless of location. As intelligent agricultural equipment, accessible voice assistants for people with disabilities, and other smart devices enter ordinary households across urban and rural China, technological innovation is being converted into tangible, daily improvements to people’s quality of life at an accelerating pace. Today, “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” has emerged as a new calling card for Chinese modernization, showcasing how inclusive technological progress can drive national development.
On the global stage, China’s approach to AI cooperation and governance reflects the CPC’s broader vision of building a global community with a shared future for mankind. China consistently upholds a people-centered approach to global AI development, emphasizing that all advances in the sector should ultimately work to improve human well-being. The country firmly opposes technological decoupling, blockades, and the exclusionary “small yard, high fence” strategy pursued by some major powers, and has repeatedly called for greater representation and a stronger voice for developing countries in global AI governance rule-making.
Artificial intelligence stands as a unique, invaluable product of humanity’s collective scientific ingenuity. With a clear global vision, the CPC has tied the development of China’s AI sector to the broader progress of AI development across the world, linking the destiny of the Chinese people to the well-being of people in all countries. China stands ready to build extensive, inclusive AI cooperation with every country around the world – including small island developing states like Antigua and Barbuda – to align development strategies, coordinate governance frameworks, align technical standards, and ensure that the benefits of intelligent innovation are shared broadly across all of humanity. Through this collaborative approach, China is working with global partners to build a fair, equitable, and inclusive global AI governance system that works for all countries.