The 2026 World AI Conference, which kicked off on Friday in Shanghai, has received widespread global attention, cementing its status as a premier platform for shaping the future of artificial intelligence governance.
As nations grapple with balancing innovation and regulation, the Shanghai gathering has become an increasingly vital venue for fostering international cooperation on AI policy.
Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank, praised China's role in shaping global AI governance.
"China acts as a pragmatic standard-setter, a capacity-builder and a partner on safety-shaping, interoperable governance that seeks to preserve innovation while managing systemic risks," she said.
Jeffrey Sachs, Professor of Economics at Columbia University and a former high-level UN advisor, highlighted the conference's growing significance on the world stage.
"This gathering in Shanghai, which has been going on for several years on an annual basis, is growing in global importance because of this broadening partnership of China and the emerging economies," he said.
Themed "AI Partnership for a Brighter Future," the 2026 World AI Conference features more than 140 forums and brings together 1,400 guests from home and abroad. It spans six sections: Conferences and Forums, Exhibitions and Showcases, Awards and Competitions, Application Experiences, Innovation Incubation, and Talent Attraction.
Foreign officials, scholars highlight importance of 2026 World AI Conference
Foreign officials, scholars highlight importance of 2026 World AI Conference
China now holds a higher global favorability rating than the United States, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, a shift that a Chinese international relations expert attributes to China's development achievements and its contributions in global governance.
The poll, released on Wednesday, showed that among the 36 countries and territories surveyed, 25 hold more favorable views of China than the United States, including some U.S. allies.
In Canada, only 33 percent of respondents view the U.S. positively, down from 57 percent in 2023. Over that same period, favorable opinions of China among Canadians jumped from 14 percent to 44 percent.
Major European nations have also pivoted, with France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands all showing more positive opinions toward China than toward the United States.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington welcomed the findings, saying the poll demonstrates that China’s governance achievements and development progress are widely recognized.
That view was echoed by Rong Ying, a chair professor at Sichuan University, who said the shifting of favorability reflects a growing global acknowledgment of China's constructive role.
"Change or the shift of that favorability between China and the United States demonstrate very much the way that China's development, the result of development, are recognized by more and more countries, not only those that have been surveyed, but the world at large. And they've also been very much in a way that with the growth, I mean the development of China, China's contributions, China's role in terms of development, global development and in terms of international peace and security has also been very proactive and widely recognized,” said Rong.
At the same time, Rong attributed the decline in U.S. favorability to what he described as American disruptive impact on global order.
“On the contrary, I think the reversal of the United States favorability is very much the result of the shift of U.S. role, which demonstrated unreliability and indeed, I think the disruption caused by the United States in terms of international order, in terms of regional peace and stability, and in terms of providing credibility and stability," said Rong.
China's rise in global favorability driven by development, contributions: expert
