By Chen Shangwen, Gu Yekai, People’s Daily
A recent commentary in The New York Times compared the development of advanced AI models to two distinct paths: “nuclear weapons” and “nuclear energy.” The former emphasizes destructive potential and calls for strict control, while the latter highlights manageable risks and advocates openness and sharing. These contrasting approaches reflect a fundamental question: Is AI a strategic tool for monopoly and competition, or a public good that benefits all of humanity?
China’s answer is clear and firm: AI should be people-centered and used for the benefit of all.
At the opening ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for joint efforts to build a just and equitable system for global AI governance. The proposal reflects a profound understanding of technological and historical trends, embodies the wisdom of governing AI for the common good, and points toward the long-term goal of building a community with a shared future for humanity.
China adheres to the principle of openness and win-win cooperation, boosting innovation-driven development, and enabling AI to benefit all sectors and businesses.
Recently, China’s next-generation large model Kimi K3, was officially released as an open-source model. With 2.8 trillion parameters, it has become the largest open-source model in the world in terms of parameter scale. China has emerged as one of the most active and fastest-growing sources of open-source large models globally, with cumulative downloads exceeding 10 billion. As Chinese large models continue to evolve rapidly, they are not only stimulating domestic demand through diverse applications but also making advanced technologies more accessible through their competitive cost-performance ratios. These models are increasingly becoming productivity tools favored by users worldwide.
Open source and openness are not just approaches to technological development; they also reflect a philosophy of collaboration and shared growth. China has proposed the AI+ International Cooperation Initiative and launched an action plan on AI cooperation and development, outlining actions in eight areas, including sharing open-source AI ecosystems and promoting the coordinated development of rules and standards. China also unveiled Fenghe, an open-source large language model.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said China’s leading role in open-source AI innovation, open platforms, and international scientific cooperation has created new development opportunities for countries worldwide.
China strengthens risk-awareness, ensuring that AI is secure, controllable, and a trusted tool for humanity.
As AI systems continue to grow exponentially in reasoning ability, scientific capability, and autonomy, policymakers around the world must follow the precautionary principle and prepare for possible scenarios and risks, Turing Award laureate Yoshua Bengio noted.
This view aligns with China’s belief that AI must always remain under human control. China has released the Global AI Governance Initiative, which includes proposals on risk assessment and classification, improving laws and regulations, and developing ethical guidelines. The initiative calls on all countries to jointly prevent risks and continuously enhance AI’s safety, reliability, controllability, and fairness.
China has also released versions 1.0 and 2.0 of its AI safety governance framework, integrating safety requirements throughout the processes of model development, deployment, and application. The country issued the Global AI Governance Action Plan, identifying safety and controllability as core principles. In addition, China released an action plan on international AI ethics governance, providing a framework that combines guiding principles with practical measures.
From setting directions to establishing pathways, China continues to provide international public goods, helping ensure that AI, like a powerful steed, can run both fast and steadily.
China encourages inclusiveness and promotes mutual learning among civilizations. It tends to the garden of civilizations with great care to ensure that the beauty of each civilization is appreciated and shared.
Unlike conventional dams that block and redirect water, the Dujiangyan irrigation system harnessed the natural flow of the Minjiang River through scientific diversion and adaptation, benefiting the Chengdu Plain for more than 2,000 years. The Chinese sage Confucius said, “The gentleman seeks harmony but not uniformity.” Different civilizations and systems each have their own characteristics. What matters is mutual respect, coexistence, and shared progress. Danil Kerimi, vice chairman of the Independent Oversight Advisory Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization, drew on Eastern wisdom to shed light on China’s AI governance approach, which reflects a longstanding tradition of inclusiveness and mutual respect.
Today, this Eastern wisdom is being translated into concrete action. The “Cultural Interactions Engine” seeks to uncover deep connections among world cultural heritage sites and showcase the shared characteristics and diversity of human civilizations to users in more than 170 countries. At the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, the Qwen large language model became the first official AI model in Olympic history, creating a new intelligent experience for winter sports events.
Chinese and Malaysian companies have jointly set up an AI multilingual intelligent dubbing and translation center. The facility supports translation for over 130 languages and makes it possible to translate audiovisual content in just 30 minutes. Chinese AI technologies are now crossing borders, allowing civilizations to grow through inclusiveness and renew themselves through exchange.
China advocates solidarity, seeks to improve global governance, and works to prevent new historical injustice in the field of AI.
During the 2026 WAIC and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, the World AI Cooperation Organization was established, with 38 countries becoming founding members. As the world’s first intergovernmental international organization dedicated to AI, it promotes inclusive development for the benefit of all. It follows the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and remains open to all countries, charting a new course for global AI governance in the intelligent era.
In recent years, China has hosted AI capacity-building workshops, launched the Belt and Road Special Cooperation Program on AI Science, Technology and Innovation, and developed the “Digital South” brand project under the framework of the Global Development Project Pool. Over the next five years, China will provide 5,000 AI training opportunities for developing countries and establish international AI application cooperation centers with ASEAN, the Arab League, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS countries. In addition, China will promote the application of the MAZU intelligent meteorological early warning solution in 30 countries. China has consistently believed and demonstrated that AI should become a symphony of global cooperation.
Looking back to the summer of 1956, when the concept of “artificial intelligence” was first introduced at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence in the U.S., the past 70 years have witnessed China’s technological journey from its early beginnings to steady progress. This journey has moved from following and catching up to competing alongside global leaders and gaining an edge in more fields.
Today, with high-level technological self-reliance laying a stronger foundation for innovation and “AI Plus” opening up global opportunities, China’s AI sector is entering a period of unprecedented development. This confidence stems from continuous breakthroughs in core technologies, a thriving innovation ecosystem, institutional safeguards that balance development and security, and a commitment to inclusiveness, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation as a responsible major country.
Standing at a new historical starting point, China is ready to work with all parties with greater openness, more practical actions, and a longer-term vision. Together, they can seize the opportunities and address the challenges in AI development, and jointly create a better future for humanity.
