New Development Bank president highlights need to fully embrace AI

The New Development Bank (NDB) will fully embrace AI, in terms of both supporting the industry's development and incorporating the technology in its operation, according to president of the organization Dilma Rousseff.

The NDB will maintain its direction of supporting digital infrastructure development in the coming years, Rousseff, who will start her second five-year term as NBD president in July, told China Media Group (CMG) in an interview in Shanghai on Monday, while giving a special mention of Chinese AI model DeepSeek.

"We will continue to invest in digital infrastructure. Digitalization and the digital economy are prerequisites for achieving this goal. In my view, China presents an example that must be taken into consideration, and that is the emergence of the big AI model DeepSeek. It proves that it is possible to create groundbreaking new technologies using existing technology. Previously, Western countries blocked (China's import of) chips to prevent China from advancing in the field of artificial intelligence. DeepSeek is an inspiring case for the Global South," Rousseff said.

Rousseff also says the NDB is actively studying how it can utilize the power of AI.

"I even hope to promote the use of DeepSeek at the New Development Bank. We have already started doing this, engaging with various fields to understand where we can apply it because this is not traditionally the bank's area of expertise. We want to become a multilateral bank that embraces new technologies, and that is our responsibility," she said.

New Development Bank president highlights need to fully embrace AI

People across China have embraced a new tradition of watching movies on the the Spring Festival or first day of the Chinese New Year, with with this year's box office hitting a record high of over 1.27 billion yuan (about 186 million U.S. dollars) on that day alone.

Single-day box office revenue on the Spring Festival, which fell on February 17 this year, reached 1.278 billion yuan. Notably, nearly 60 percent of moviegoers purchased tickets the same day, the highest in six years, according to data from Maoyan, a leading Chinese movie ticketing and data platform.

"The total number of screenings during the 2026 Spring Festival film season exceeded 4.34 million, setting a new historical high. On the Spring Festival alone, 595,000 screenings were recorded, setting a new single-day record. Watching a film on the first day of the Chinese New Year has evolved from a casual holiday option into a new festive tradition," said Lai Li, a market analyst at Maoyan.

During the Spring Festival film season, which ran from February 15 to February 23, third- and fourth-tier cities posted strong performances in box office revenue, contributing nearly 60 percent of the total.

Spring Festival moviegoing becomes new tradition as box office hits record