WAIC 2025 opens in Shanghai with global calls for AI governance and cooperation

The World AI Conference & High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC) 2025 officially opened on Saturday in Shanghai. The three-day event, themed "Global Solidarity in the AI Era," gathered Chinese Premier Li Qiang, global government officials, corporate executives, scientists including Nobel laureates and Turing Award recipients.

During the opening ceremony of China's top-tier AI event, several key artificial intelligence proposals and results were released, covering AI governance, open-source collaboration and hazard early warning.

Premier Li Qiang delivered the opening speech, emphasizing the deep integration of AI with the real economy and hailing Shanghai as an "AI highland city." This serves as the latest endorsement from China's top leadership, following President Xi Jinping's visit to Shanghai's AI incubators and his encouragement for the city's continued AI industry development.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a video address, called for inclusive and safe AI through robust international cooperation. Anne Bouverot, Special Envoy of the French President, spoke on AI's potential to tackle pressing challenges like the climate crisis and improve healthcare, education, and agriculture. Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary General of ASEAN, highlighted inclusive AI as a "cornerstone" for digital transformation, emphasizing the vision of global solidarity between ASEAN and China.

Among the major announcements at WAIC 2025, the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance officially debuted, alongside the release of the "AI From China Benefits the World (2025) case collection" and the publication of the "International Open Source AI Cooperation Initiative." A notable technological debut was the AI agent MAZU-Urban for Multi-Hazard Early Warning, with MAZU standing for "multi-hazard alert with zero gap and universal." Furthermore, the Global AI Governance Action Plan was officially released.

Geoffrey Hinton, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize and 2018 Turing Award, and Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, discussed the importance of global cooperation in developing AI that doesn't seek to take control away from people, advocating for the independence of mechanisms from AI's intelligence-enhancing technologies.

WAIC forums will continue through Monday, while a separate WAIC exhibition will remain open until Tuesday. The exhibition is proving to be a major draw, boasting over 3,000 cutting-edge exhibits, including 100 global or Chinese debuts. Weekend tickets for the exhibition have already sold out.