China has emerged as a global leader in the development of AI world models, with its thriving real-world application ecosystem powering both technological advancement and commercialization, said a top Chinese AI researcher.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing 2026 Global Digital Economy Conference, the integrated application of artificial intelligence has become a central focus of industry attention, with physical AI and general world models emerging as key developmental trends.
In an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Zhu Jun, a professor from the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, shared his insights on the latest breakthroughs in physical AI and general world models.
"[Large language models] learn primarily from symbolic text data, including natural language and machine language. But world models go much further. They are designed to understand the physical world, and ultimately guide actions within physical world," said Zhu.
When assessing the global landscape of AI-generated video tools, Zhu noted that Chinese players are keeping pace with their international counterparts and are currently standing at the forefront globally.
"In terms of the architecture and conceptualization [of general world models], I believe China and the United States are essentially starting at the same time and exploring in parallel. In many areas, China is keeping pace with the United States. China's large video models are standing at the forefront globally, and some may even outperform certain American models," he said.
To move from a technological edge to a commercial advantage, Zhu streessed that China's vast scenario demands are providing a huge advantage for rapid model iteration.
"Large language models have many favorable conditions for commercialization in China, because our scenario demands are very strong. Take video models as an example. They are developing rapidly in China, and I believe that is closely linked to our advanced content production ecosystem. From AI animated series last year to AI live-action short dramas this year, and now people are paying attention to medium-length and even full-length dramas. These demands are driving our models to iterate quickly. Our scenarios give us a huge advantage," he noted.
Running from Thursday to Sunday in Beijing, the 2026 Global Digital Economy Conference hosts a series of special topic sessions covering artificial intelligence, digital talent development and industrial digitalization, bringing together nearly 40 high-level industry delegations and over 1,000 distinguished guests from across the globe.
China leads development of AI world models: expert
