Xi Jinping opens WAIC in person for the first time, pitching global AI governance

Xi Jinping showed up in person, and that is the story.

On July 17, 2026, the World AI Conference opened in Shanghai, and Xi Jinping delivered the opening keynote himself. It is his first in-person appearance since the conference launched in 2018. He sent a congratulatory letter that first year. This time he came.

What he said

His line: AI development “should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation.” He called for a people-centered approach and pushed for laws, monitoring, early warning and emergency response to ensure AI “is always under human control.” He also warned against creating new historical injustices.

The substance behind the speech

The keynote came with concrete moves. A day earlier, on July 16, Wang Yi and representatives from 29 countries signed the agreement establishing an intergovernmental AI cooperation group.

Xi pushed a proposed World AI Cooperation Organization, headquartered in Shanghai, and pledged 5,000 AI training opportunities for developing countries over the next five years. The conference runs through July 20, co-held with the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance.

The shape of the play

Read this next to the week’s other news, a Chinese open model taking the top spot on a frontier coding leaderboard, and the shape becomes clear. China is not just building competitive models. It is bidding to write the rules of AI governance, and explicitly inviting everyone who feels shut out of the current rule-making order.

An in-person head-of-state keynote, a 29-country signing, a proposed Shanghai-headquartered international body, and training pledges aimed at the developing world: individually these are diplomatic gestures, together they are a strategy. The question the week leaves open is the big one. Who should set the global rules for AI, and who actually will?