Multiple innovation achievements unveiled at 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai

Major initiatives and innovation outcomes have been released at the 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai, where a series of frontier technologies and products are making their global debuts, highlighting China's latest advances in the AI sector.

For many, the World AI Conference, being held in Shanghai on July 17-20, represents an important platform for bringing countries together to address shared challenges, strengthen cooperation and ensure that more nations can participate in shaping the future of AI.

For the first time, the exhibition area exceeds 100,000 square meters, with over 1,100 enterprises participating. Organizers said exhibitors will showcase more than 3,000 products and technologies, with over 300 products making their global debuts.

At the conference, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), together with China Media Group (CMG) and other government departments, jointly issued two documents, including an action plan on AI cooperation and development.

The document outlines actions in eight areas covering data, computing power, ecosystems, industrial empowerment, talent development, rules and standards, governance and AI ethics.

Also released at the conference was a collection of case studies on China's international AI cooperation.

Published for the third consecutive year, the collection features 10 stories showcasing China's cooperation with partners around the world, highlighting the country's experience and approach in promoting global AI development.

In addition, a series of innovative outcomes were also unveiled on Friday, including an action plan on international AI ethics governance and a China-led global initiative on mutual trust and interconnectivity among AI agents.

"I think that they are great and Chinese [products] are developing really fast. And we are a European company and we want to help also European companies grow as well as Chinese companies. We are in the data field, so we basically do the data for the robots' intelligence," said a foreign visitor.

On Saturday, multiple sub-forums of the conference were held, focusing on hot topics such as global AI governance, embodied intelligence, and intelligent computing power. A series of high-level dialogues and achievement releases were carried out during these sessions.

"So AI can help us in that, but we need to be in the driver's seat. And in order to do that, we need AI ethics because AI ethics, I mean, the principles are there to protect us, protect the human rights, to protect the human beings, for example, from their data being kind of intercepted or being compromised or the privacy not being respected, et cetera. So it's very important," said Lampros Stergioulas, UNESCO Chair on AI and Data Science for Society as well as Professor in AI and Data Science for Society at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.

Multiple innovation achievements unveiled at 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai

Tokyo stocks ended lower Monday, with the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average falling around 1 percent, amid concern that the surging yen could disrupt companies' business outlooks, said an analyst.

The benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, ended down 607.12 points, or 0.94 percent, from Friday at 63,754.90.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 43.27 points, or 1.08 percent, lower at 3,960.03.

The Japanese yen rose sharply on Monday, briefly surging to the lower 155 yen range against the U.S. dollar, after Japan confirmed joint currency market intervention with the United States and possible further intervention.

The U.S. dollar fetched 156.76-78 yen after briefly hitting 155.20 yen, compared with 157.33-43 yen in New York and 160.20-22 yen in Tokyo at 17:00 local time Friday.

"Over in Tokyo, the big story was of course the rare joint action by Japan and the U.S. to support the yen, which had been trading near 40-year lows in recent weeks. Japan's finance ministry confirmed that coordinated intervention today and said the two countries are prepared to act on that again. The yen rose as much as 1.4 percent at one stage and the Nikkei 225 fell around 1 percent. The stronger currency was weighing on exporters. There we had Suzuki Motor down 6.7 percent. Many Japanese-listed companies earn a substantial share of their revenues overseas, and a stronger yen reduces the value of those earnings when they are translated back into the Japanese currency. AI-linked stocks also weighed on the market, with the chip-testing-equipment maker Advantest down 3.3 percent," said Timothy Pope, a Shanghai-based market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Pope said that in the rest of the week, investors are going to watch closely the earning reports to be released by the major companies.

"Tokyo has some major earnings to watch this week as well. So, we will be following Toyota, Nintendo and SoftBank -- all of them are due to report. SoftBank's results will be watched particularly closely for further clues about the returns, the risks as well as all of those associated with the enormous sums being invested in AI at the moment," said Pope.

Tokyo stocks end lower Monday on stronger yen: analyst