China’s new World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization is President Xi’s clearest play yet for a parallel AI order

Xi Jinping used the World AI Conference in Shanghai to announce 5,000 AI training slots for Global South countries over the next five years. A day earlier, 29 nations formally established the “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization” (WIKO), headquartered in Shanghai and first proposed in 2025. Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan, and Indonesia are among the founding members. No Western country signed on. The move is China’s clearest bid yet to build a parallel AI governance structure outside Western influence, anchored in regional alliances across the developing world.

Xi also called for AI to remain under human control. He pushed back against overly broad national security justifications in AI policy, a thinly veiled shot at US export controls on AI chips and technology. China’s “Smart Economy,” which spans AI and other digital technologies, is now worth over one trillion renminbi, roughly $140 billion, according to Xi.

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