Key takeaways from President Xi’s speech in his first ever appearance at the World AI Conference in Shanghai:

  • Started the speech by referring to his signature maxim, “great changes unseen in a century are unfolding across the world”

  • Said that the world has “entered an unprecedented period of active innovation on AI technology”, which means "great opportunities as well as challenges for governance”

  • reaffirmed commitment to open source to promote AI “openness and win-win”

  • warns against “over stretching” the concept of national security as applied to AI where one country’s national security is prioritised over others

  • China opposes emergence of “new historical injustices” in AI (one of the most strongly worded parts of the speech)

  • China in next 5 years will provide 5000 opportunities to developing countries in “AI training and seminar programmes” and “cooperation centres” - names ASEAN, League of Arab States, African Union, CELAC, SCO and BRICS