China Proposes Global AI Governance Framework at 2026 Shanghai Summit

The conference highlighted China’s shift toward innovation-driven growth, categorized domestically as new quality productive forces. Through the AI Plus Initiative, the country is integrating smart technologies into manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics, while simultaneously promoting open-source models like DeepSeek, Qwen, and Zhipu GLM for global use. Officials emphasized that security measures must remain balanced, explicitly rejecting the use of national security as a pretext to stifle international cooperation or exclude developing nations.

To address the widening North-South digital divide, the summit marked the launch of the World AI Cooperation Organization, which secured 29 founding member nations. China committed to a series of initiatives over the next five years, including 5,000 AI training placements and the deployment of meteorological and agricultural technologies to regional partners like ASEAN and the African Union. The move aims to foster a multilateral governance structure that prioritizes shared technological benefits over exclusionary regulatory practices.