Chinese president Xi Jinping used a technology conference in Shanghai on Friday, July 17th to argue that artificial intelligence (AI) should not be dominated by a single nation.
Urging international cooperation on AI development, Xi opened the World Artificial Intelligence Conference by declaring
AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation.
We should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI or placing one country’s security over that of others.
Interestingly, some of Xi’s speech echoes the recent thinking of Pope Leo XIV, who has expressed concerns about the dehumanizing effects of AI. Calling for a “people-centric” approach, Xi told the conference we “should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning, and emergency response systems, in order to… ensure AI is always under human control.”
The same conference offered a snapshot of some of the technology’s potential benefits, coinciding with—for instance—the launch of a new AI-piloted electric vehicle (“Physical AI. For everyone, everywhere”) by Xpeng.
Xi’s speech comes hot on the heels of efforts to set up an intergovernmental AI cooperation group, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. Thursday saw foreign minister Wang Yi meet with representatives of 29 countries including Indonesia, Russia, and Pakistan. The European Union was absent from this founding meeting, but the senior Beijing Communist excused this on the basis of Brussels already having adequate controls in place.
