China's Xi to outline AI diplomacy vision at key Shanghai forum

The gathering comes as Washington and Beijing prepare for their first government-level AI talks under U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, turning WAIC from a technology showcase into an early test of how China intends to compete for influence over the rules governing AI worldwide.

The two rivals set out competing visions for AI governance at a UN AI dialogue last week, where Washington argued that sweeping regulation would stifle tech breakthroughs and Beijing framed its low-cost, open-source AI models as a public good that would bridge global AI inequality.

"Against this backdrop, WAIC has become more than a technology showcase; it is now a geopolitical stage where Beijing seeks to articulate its vision of AI as both a national priority and a diplomatic instrument," wrote George Chen, chair of digital practice at the Asia Group.

In a January speech, Xi compared AI to an "epoch-making, major technological transformation following the steam engine," and Beijing has explicitly bet future growth on diffusing AI throughout its economy and achieving self-sufficiency in frontier technologies.