Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai and deliver a keynote address, his first in-person appearance at the event since it launched in 2018. The four-day conference, running July 17-20, will feature more than 140 forums, 1,400 guests and 1,100 exhibitors, with over 300 products making their global debut. Xi’s attendance signals the priority Beijing places on AI for economic growth, technological competitiveness and global rule-setting, alongside China’s broader push for an AI governance body aimed at the Global South.
