China has used its first big artificial intelligence expo since the release of homegrown DeepSeek’s breakthrough model to assert its AI ambitions to an international audience, presenting an alternative to US President Donald Trump’s “America First” vision and showcasing the country’s vast manufacturing capabilities.
Robots, flying taxis and other AI-dependent technology from more than 800 companies were on display at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) that runs until Tuesday in Shanghai. The show attracted a more global audience than previous editions, including former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who helped shape the Biden administration’s chip export restrictions, and AI luminaries Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton.
Beijing used the event to project its global AI ambitions as it vies with the US for technological leadership. Premier Li Qiang surprised the audience by announcing plans to establish a Shanghai-based organisation for AI co-operation and two new UN dialogue mechanisms for regulating AI. The move was widely interpreted as distinguishing China’s approach from that of the US, which a few days earlier laid out an “AI action plan” to establish American dominance in the technology.