Shanghai transforms into living showroom to showcase AI tech ecosystem

Shanghai will turn its streets, shopping districts and industrial parks into a vast, interactive artificial intelligence (AI) showcase for the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, integrating cutting-edge technologies into the city's historic and modern spaces.

Instead of limiting exhibits to conventional showroom floors, city planners are turning Shanghai's distinctive urban landscape into a "super exhibition ground" to make cutting-edge AI tangible for global executives, industry professionals, and local residents.

The city will offer visitors and residents six routes connecting more than 20 distinct AI application scenarios from Saturday to next Monday. The paths are designed to showcase how deeply AI has permeated Shanghai's daily life and economic sectors, spanning from the Xuhui District's development hubs to the robotics clusters of Zhangjiang.

The six routes include "the AI Innovation Ecosystem Route," "the AI Science Exploration Route," "the AI Culture and Entertainment Route," "the Digital Intelligence Industry and Consumption Route," "the Industrial Innovation Ecosystem Route," and "the Yangtze River Delta Sci-Tech Innovation Trunk Line."

Among them is the newly built Zhangjiang AI Roadshow Center, currently in trial operation. Designed as an "industrial parlor", the center aims to help enterprises connect with clients, attract investment and enter markets through scenario-based displays and immersive experiences.

"When planning these scenarios, we actually focused on three dimensions: life, industry, and the city. We visited and surveyed a large number of enterprises across these three dimensions. By joining this WAIC initiative, we hope to open up this platform to allow more companies to enter, thereby finding more collaborations and development opportunities," said Yun Ting, head of the "Lu Innovation Zone" industrial service platform under the Shanghai Lujiazui Group.

In the Pudong New Area, the AI application store MetAI Hub spanning nearly 2,000 square meters will present the complete ecological chain from algorithm research and development to the implementation of embodied intelligence.

"We are glad to be a stop on the WAIC City Walk. We warmly welcome the public to come to our store to experience and touch the latest technologies. On July 16, our store will host a global debut for the latest commercial rollout of AI hardware," said Yuan Jingjing, a MetAI Hub representative.

Meanwhile, in Jing'an District, the META500 Tech and Art Space has transformed a historic villa into an experience center for extended reality technology, blending technology and art within century-old brick and wood structures.

"This is our first site for urban renewal, and what we have attracted are business related to tech, art, and lifestyle. At META 500, we have mature, street-facing products that are fun, visually appealing, practical, and user-friendly, all available for direct purchase," said Huang Zhiwei, executive deputy general manager of Shanghai Yuyuan Urban Renewal Co., Ltd.

The WAIC will be held from July 17 to 20 in Shanghai.

Shanghai transforms into living showroom to showcase AI tech ecosystem

Rally participants gathered in the Japanese capital on Aug 9, which also marked the 81st anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, to voice strong opposition to the government's push to boost defense spending and revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the national Constitution.

Holding anti-war placards, chanting anti-war slogans, protesters warned that remilitarizing the nation would betray its pacifist ideals and endanger future generations.

"Defense spending keeps increasing. Based on Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan pledged never to wage war again, yet it keeps strengthening its military. I find this extremely dangerous. They are also trying to revise Article 9. So I believe that for the sake of future young people and children, Article 9 must never be revised. Japan decided never to repeat the mistakes of waging a war after its defeat in WWII. I think we should continue to safeguard that commitment," said a rally participant.

For many in the crowd, the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains a powerful moral compass as they believe that militarization offers no path forward for a nation that knows the devastation of war firsthand.

"Japan is the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings. Yet now Japan is going to deploy missiles. I believe Japan must never possess nuclear weapons," said another rally participant.

"I believe Japan has no future if it goes down the path of militarization. Nuclear weapons are absolutely bad for Japan," said a third woman, also a rally participant.

Beyond moral objections, some demonstrators said that Japan's economic vulnerabilities articulate that saber-rattling is a luxury the country cannot afford.

"I can't help but wonder what on earth a country with only a 36 percent food self-sufficiency rate would be fighting with. I have always been opposed to war, and I'm deeply dissatisfied with what the Takaichi administration is doing now," said another rally participant.

Other rally participants said that seeing revision of the Constitution could unleash unchecked military expansion, stripping away the very safeguards that have kept Japan at peace for eight decades.

"Article 9 of the Constitution is the key. If the nature of the Self-Defense Forces is elevated to a level beyond collective self-defense, which is explicitly written into the Constitution, it will allow the authority of the Self-Defense Forces to expand without limit. So no matter what, I want to prevent this from happening," said one more rally participant.

Japanese citizens rally against Takaichi's military expansion, constitutional revision