International award winners among Shanghai audience for World AI Conference

A stellar cast of more than 1,200 guests from upwards of 30 countries and regions gathered for the opening of the 2025 World AI Conference & High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai on Saturday. Among the guests were 12 winners of prestigious international honors, including the Turing Award and the Nobel Prize.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a keynote speech on artificial intelligence serving global development and enhancing the wellbeing of humanity at the event opening ceremony.

Calling for AI governance that benefits all people globally, Anne Bouverot, France's special envoy for AI, said artificial intelligence must not exacerbate existing inequalities.

"On the contrary, it must serve as a tool to uplift all countries, particularly those who risk continuing to lag behind," said Bouverot.

Geoffrey Hinton, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize and the 2018 Turing Award, said he viewed AI as a very cute tiger cub, like a pet, but when it grows up, it can easily lead to a dangerous situation. He added that, although he does not expect countries to collaborate at all times against dangerous uses of AI, countries will collaborate in researching how to prevent AI from getting beyond the control of people.

"The techniques required to train a benevolent AI that does not want to take control away from people may be moderately independent of the techniques required to make AI smarter," said Hinton.

As one of the world's largest, most professional and most influential AI events of the year, the 2025 WAIC is showcasing the latest cutting-edge AI technologies, industry trends and global governance.

A slew of achievements were announced during the opening ceremony, including the latest Chinese contributions to global AI development and governance.

As part of the meeting, the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance has been established to provide abundant public products, as well as attempting to form a global governance framework and standards with broad consensus as soon as possible.

The AI from China·Benefits the World (2025) Case Collection has also been released, recording the many instances where Chinese AI products and technologies have been adopted in other countries and regions.

The International Open-Source AI Cooperation Initiative publication, which compiles open-source community expertise to drive technological innovation, has also been released. According to the publishers, the goal is to improve ecological materials, accelerate application empowerment, and achieve a future of inclusivity and sharing.

Themed as "Global Solidarity in the AI Era", the annual event is in its eighth edition this year, with the exhibition area exceeding 70,000 square meters for the first time. More than 800 companies from China and abroad are attending this year's exhibition.

More than 3,000 cutting-edge products will be demonstrated at this year's WAIC, including 40 large language models, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 robots. More than 100 products will also make their Chinese debuts, representing a new record.