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ASIA IN BRIEF Chinese President Xi Jinping has delivered a major speech on AI, which he thinks has enormous potential – for good and evil.
In his speech, Xi called for AI development to “adhere to the principle of openness.”
“As a new engine of world economic growth and an accelerator for the shift of growth drivers, AI is moving from the digital world into the physical world. We should seize this rare, historic opportunity to encourage open source, openness, collaboration and sharing,” he said.
China’s leader also thinks we need to remain open to the possibility that AI could go badly.
“We should strengthen risk-awareness and ensure that AI is secure and controllable,” he said. “We should take seriously the various types of inherent and secondary risks that AI may trigger. We should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems in order to strengthen the line of security, prevent abuses and malicious use, and ensure that AI is always under human control.”
“In the meantime, we should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI and placing one country's security over that of others,” he added, a remark that sounds a lot like criticism of the Trump administration’s policy of limiting access to Anthropic’s Mythos model.
Xi’s next suggestion was to “encourage inclusiveness and promote mutual learning between civilizations.” He also wants better global governance of AI.
“AI is an invaluable asset that encapsulates humanity's collective wisdom,” he said.
“China is ready to be more open, take more practical actions, and assume a more visionary perspective,” he added.
To make that happen, China last week also launched an entity called the “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization” (WAICO) and its 29 members, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa.
Several of those nations are already members of the “BRICS” bloc of emerging nations that China sees as a counterweight to other geopolitical groupings.
Xi’s speech included a call for China to “carry out extensive international cooperation and help global South countries with capacity building to bridge the AI and digital divides, promote sustainable development, and prevent creating new historical injustice in AI.” Which sounds like a job for the WAICO.