Twenty-nine countries have agreed to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization, marking a significant step toward coordinated global AI governance. The agreement was signed ahead of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, reviving a proposal China first introduced at last year’s event but which failed to secure formal approval.

The countries—including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, Brazil, and Venezuela, as well as 10 African and 12 Asian nations—signed on as founding members of the agreement. Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted that AI development shouldn’t be a “solo performance” by one country, but a “symphony of global collaboration”. 

As AI advances at an exponential rate, he said, it must be developed in a positive, beneficial way for humanity.

Xi also posed questions that he feels must be answered by the international community. “We human beings must answer the questions posed by our times: How to get along with thinking machines? How to ensure security when an algorithm is part of decision-making? How to tackle ethical challenges through technologies through adaptive governance? How to realize AI for all when the divide keeps widening? These questions demand serious consideration and real answers from the whole international community,” he said.

Over the next five years, China is committed to supporting AI development in developing countries, including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Arab League, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the African Union, Latin America, and the BRICS countries. Xi confirmed that the country would fund 5,000 AI research projects, along with training programs, seminars, and cooperation centers. 

China has made major strides in frontier technology recently, especially in AI. Moonshot AI just released Kimi K3, a large open-source AI model that now matches top U.S. models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The country has built the world’s fastest supercomputer, LineShine, using only homegrown chips. And its star AI player, DeepSeek, is now raising $1.5 billion at a $71 billion valuation and eyeing an IPO by 2027.