China pitches global AI governance group as the US goes it alone
Chinese Premier Li Qiang unveiled China's vision for future AI oversight at the World AI Conference (WAIC), an annual gathering in Shanghai of tech titans from more than 40 countries.
'Overall, global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences, particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules,' said Li in his speech on Saturday. 'We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible.'
Li's remarks came just days after the Trump administration unveiled its 28-page AI action plan, which aims to remove 'bureaucratic red tape' and establish US dominance in the sector.
While Li did not directly refer to the US in his speech, he alluded to the ongoing trade tensions between the two superpowers, which include American restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports — a component vital for powering and training AI, which is currently causing a shortage in China.
'Key resources and capabilities are concentrated in a few countries and a few enterprises,' said Li in his speech on Saturday. 'If we engage in technological monopoly, controls and restrictions, AI will become an exclusive game for a small number of countries and enterprises.'
AI chips have become a key bargaining tool between US and China in trade negotiations, which continued this week with a meeting in Stockholm. Before the latest round of talks, both countries appeared to make concessions, with Washington lifting its ban on sales of a key Nvidia AI chip to China, and Beijing suspending its antitrust investigation into American chemical firm DuPont.
Speaking from Scotland on Sunday, Trump said the US is 'very close to a deal with China,' but offered no further details. The current deadline for a deal expires on August 12.
China has not been shy about promoting its AI ambitions: with more than 5,000 AI companies, and a core AI industry valued at 600 billion yuan ($84 billion) in April 2025, the nation is all-in on its tech rivalry with the US.
This surge is being fueled by enormous government and private sector spending. Between 2013 and 2023, state venture capital firms invested an estimated $209 billion into AI-related businesses, according to research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private think tank based in Massachusetts, and this year alone, public sector spending on AI is expected to top 400 billion yuan ($56 billion).
It's still a fraction of what the US spends — private AI investment in the US reached $109.1 billion in 2024, around 12 times China's $9.3 billion — but China's commitment to the AI race is evident in other ways. Since 2017, China has published more patents for generative AI inventions annually than all other countries combined, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization.
All this investment is narrowing the gap between the US and China in the AI race.
Earlier this year, the launch of one-year-old Chinese startup DeepSeek's new AI model R1 caused chaos on Wall Street and demonstrated China's technical capabilities by quickly outpacing models by Meta and Anthropic. It was allegedly developed for just $5.6 million, a fraction of the cost spent to make other models like ChatGPT (over $100 million) and Gemini (almost $200 million.)
More recently, another startup Moonshot's Kimi K2 model released earlier this month also sent ripples in the AI community for its lower cost and capabilities that outperform some Google and OpenAI's models.
The rapid development of China's AI market is even predicted to break even within the next few years, delivering a 52% return on investment as early as 2030, according to research from financial services firm Morgan Stanley.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, also called for 'robust governance' of artificial intelligence to mitigate potential threats, including misinformation, deepfakes, and cybersecurity threats.
'These developments demand urgent, coordinated action from the international community to ensure AI serves human welfare and social good,' he said in his speech at the conference, adding that AI implementation in ASEAN could further expand the region's rapidly growing digital economy and 'increase the region's GDP by 10-18%.'
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt reiterated the call for international collaboration, explicitly calling on the US and China to work together.
'As the largest and most significant economic entities in the world, the United States and China should collaborate on these issues,' said Schmidt at WAIC. 'We have a vested interest to keep the world stable, keep the world not at war, to keep things peaceful, to make sure we have human control of these tools.'
Other speakers included computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, sometimes referred to as 'the godfather of AI' and French AI researcher and special envoy Anne Bouverot.
Launched by Singaporean think tank Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII), the conference has been held in Shanghai since its inception in 2018 and has been an important platform for Chinese companies to showcase their technology to the world.
The event — which in the past has been attended by key figures in the tech industry, including Elon Musk and Jack Ma — features technology exhibitions, expert keynotes and discussion panels in a bid to further AI research, development and governance, something China hopes to play a leading role in.
Attended by more than 800 companies, WAIC 2025 was again dominated by Chinese tech firms, including Tencent, Alibaba, SoftBank-backed Keenon Robotics and robotics startup Unitree, with appearances from several major US corporations like Tesla, Alphabet, and Amazon.
Visitors explored tech innovations across 3,000 exhibits, which included over 100 new product debuts. They included new AI models from Tencent Holdings and Hong Kong-based company SenseTime, Alibaba's first AI-powered smart glasses, new popcorn-serving bipedal robot models from Keenon Robotics, and cute companion 'pet' robots from Shenzhen startup ZTE.
Other key exhibitions at the three-day event included Unitree's G1 boxing robot, which quickly caught the attention of visitors and became a fan favorite on social media, dancing robot dogs developed by China Mobile, and PsiBot's mahjong-playing humanoid.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
South Africa readying last-minute trade offer to avoid US tariff
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa is preparing a last-minute "enhanced" trade proposal at the urging of U.S. officials in hopes of avoiding a 30% tariff which kicks in on Friday, its trade minister said on Thursday. South Africa initially submitted a proposed trade deal to President Donald Trump's administration in May and revised it in June, but received no response. "We're having to navigate a last-minute proposal that's enhanced from the proposal that we had initially given," Trade Minister Parks Tau said on South Africa's 702 radio, adding: "And to tell the truth, it's wait and see." The countdown to the August 1 deadline has stirred fear and uncertainty in South Africa, where the central bank governor has estimated a 30% U.S. tariff would put 100,000 jobs at risk, with the agriculture and automotive sectors hit hardest. The U.S. is South Africa's second-largest bilateral trading partner after China. South Africa exports cars, some manufactured goods, citrus fruits and wine to the U.S. Tau said South Africans spoke to U.S. officials on Wednesday night, both at the level of Washington's embassy in Pretoria and also the U.S. trade representative, but uncertainty lingered on what would happen as the tariff deadline approached. "They (said) they would encourage us to resubmit our proposal, possibly an enhanced proposal, to the United States government," Tau said. A top South African diplomat said on Tuesday that U.S. demands on domestic affirmative-action policies were complicating efforts to secure a trade deal. Bilateral relations have been strained by South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies to address the legacy of centuries of racial inequality and its genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel and the U.S. vehemently oppose.
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
One Tech Tip: Is that song by AI or a human? Here are some things to check
LONDON (AP) — Is it The Velvet Underground or Velvet Sundown? The fictitious rock group, Velvet Sundown, which comes complete with AI-generated music, lyrics and album art, is stoking debate about how the new technology is blurring the line between the real and synthetic in the music industry, and whether creators should be transparent with their audience. Computer software is widely used in music production, and artificial intelligence is just the latest tool that disc jockeys, music producers and others have added to their production pipeline. But the rise of AI song generators such as Suno and Udio is set to transform the industry because they allow anyone to create songs with just a few prompts. While some people do not care whether they're listening to AI-generated music, others might be curious to know. If you encounter a new song that leaves you wondering whether it's 100% made with AI, there are some methods that could reveal how it was created. Do a background check If you're wondering who's behind a song, try some old-fashioned detective work. The 'most obvious cues' come from 'external factors,' said Manuel Mousallam, head of research and development at streaming service Deezer. Does the band or artist have social media accounts? Lack of a social presence might indicate there's no one there. If they do exist online, examine the kind of content they post, and how long it goes back. Is there any sign that the artist or band exists in real life? Are there any upcoming concerts and can you buy a ticket for a gig? Is there footage of past concerts on YouTube? Has an established record label released their singles or albums? Try going to the source. Song creators often — but not always — publish their generated tunes on the Suno or Udio platforms, where they can be found by other users. The catch is that you'll have to sign up for an account to get access. Users can look up songs by track name or the creator's handle, and browse genres and playlists. But it can still be difficult to spot a song, especially if you don't know the name of the song or creator. Song tags Deezer has been flagging albums containing AI-generated songs, as part of its efforts to be more transparent as it battles streaming fraudsters looking to make quick money through royalty payments. The Deezer app and website will notify listeners with an on-screen label — 'AI-generated content' — to point out that some tracks on an album were created with song generators. The company's CEO says the system relies on in-house technology to detect subtle but recognizable patterns found in all audio created by AI song generators. The company hasn't specified how many songs it has tagged since it rolled out the feature in June, but says up to 18% of songs uploaded to its platform each day are AI-generated. Song scanners There are a few third-party services available online that promise to determine whether a song is human-made or generated by AI. I uploaded a few songs I generated to the online detector from IRCAM Amplify, a subsidiary of French music and sound research institute IRCAM. It said the probability that they were AI-generated ranged from 81.8% to 98% and accurately deduced that they were made with Suno. As a cross-check, I also uploaded some old MP3s from my song library, which got a very low AI probability score. The drawback with IRCAM's tool is that you can't paste links to songs, so you can't check tunes that you can only hear on a streaming service. There are a few other websites that let you both upload song files and paste Spotify links for analysis, but they have their own limitations. When I tried them out for this story, the results were either inconclusive or flagged some AI songs as human-made and vice versa. Check the lyrics AI song tools can churn out both music and lyrics. Many serious users like to write their own words and plug them in because they've discovered that AI-generated lyrics tend to be bad. Casual users, though, might prefer to just let the machine write them. So bad rhyming schemes or repetitive lyrical structures might be a clue that a song is not man-made. But it's subjective. Some users report that Suno tends to use certain words in its lyrics like 'neon," 'shadows' or 'whispers.' If a song includes these words, it's 'a dead giveaway' that it's AI, said Lukas Rams, a Philadelphia-area resident who has used Suno to create three albums for his AI band Sleeping with Wolves. 'I don't know why, it loves to put neon in everything.' No easy answers AI technology is improving so quickly that there's no foolproof way to determine if content is real or not and experts say you can't just rely on your ear. 'In general, it can be difficult to tell if a track is AI-generated just from listening, and it's only becoming more challenging as the technology gets increasingly advanced,' said Mousallam of Deezer. 'Generative models such as Suno and Udio are constantly changing, meaning that old identifiers – such as vocals having a distinctive reverb – are not necessarily valid anymore.' ___ Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip. Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lula's Defiance Pays Off as Trump Blinks on Brazil Tariffs
(Bloomberg) -- Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's defiant response to Donald Trump's 50% tariff threat was validated Wednesday — at least in the short term — with markets and businesses breathing a collective sigh of relief at the long list of exemptions to the levies. The World's Data Center Capital Has Residents Surrounded An Abandoned Art-Deco Landmark in Buffalo Awaits Revival Budapest's Most Historic Site Gets a Controversial Rebuild San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus We Should All Be Biking Along the Beach Some of Brazil's biggest exports to the US, from civilian aircrafts to orange juice, won't face increases beyond the 10% rate previously imposed, softening the blow of tariffs Trump now plans to implement next week instead of Friday. It came as a shock to a Brazilian administration that had limited contact with the White House in recent weeks, instead relying on a cadre of business leaders, including the head of plane-maker Embraer SA, to plead Brazil's case in Washington. The leftist Lula had also held firm against US pressure to interfere in the judicial system and halt the prosecution of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro. Lula has no power over the top court and his decision to defend it seemed to turn the tariff hikes into an inevitability. Instead, Trump blinked, announcing for the first time that his 50% tariff didn't mean 50% on everything. The clash with Trump has given Lula a popularity boost significant enough to tip the scales in his favor: just over 50% of Brazilians now approve of him, up from 49.7% two weeks earlier, according to LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News and published Thursday. Now, Lula's challenge is to turn the reprieve into a longer-lasting détente with his nation's second-largest trading partner. Bolsonaro's upcoming trial on charges he attempted a coup threaten to further inflame Trump, who could easily remove exemptions. Brazilian officials worry that the US's move to sanction Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes — announced mere hours before the tariff order was published — could lead to punitive measures against other public officials. Plus, key sectors that weren't exempted from the 50% tariff, including coffee and beef, may need economic assistance to help Lula buy time and goodwill among Brazilians as he keeps holding his ground against the much larger economy to his north. Brazil's central bank held interest rates steady on Wednesday, with policymakers planning to keep the benchmark Selic on hold in the face of above-target inflation and the looming threat of levies. Still, Lula declared a cautious victory. 'Today,' he declared during an event at the presidential palace, 'is a sacred day for sovereignty.' S Another Surprise In the days after Trump's initial tariff threats, Brazilian government officials had resigned themselves to their fate. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin became exasperated by US demands: They argued repeatedly that Brazil runs a deficit in trade with the US, unlike most other nations facing Trump's levies. And it seemed obvious to Lula, who seized on the dispute to paint himself as Brazil's defender from foreign intervention, that Trump was dead set on picking a fight over Bolsonaro, and had little interest in talking trade. Even as the White House prepared to publish the list of exemptions, Brazil remained largely in the dark. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, and expressed regret that the US had politicized the 200-year-old relationship between the nations. He reiterated Lula's message that Brazil would negotiate over tariffs but not its sovereignty, he told reporters. Back in Brasilia, Lula learned of the new order from Brazil's embassy in Washington and immediately summoned Alckmin and other officials for an emergency meeting, according to two officials familiar with the proceedings. The government had been working on plans to help businesses and key sectors mitigate the impact of higher tariffs, which Bloomberg Economics estimated could deliver a 1% hit to Brazil's economy. But its sense now was that while it remained at risk, the threat was no longer so dire, the people said. The government has put the release of the plans on hold while it revises them and pursues new talks with the US, one of the officials said. In Lula's eyes, Trump's decision has brought at least some trade rationality back to the discussions, even if he still regards the dispute as primarily political in nature, one Brazilian official familiar with the situation said. Haddad doesn't expect a quick resolution, according to a person familiar with his thinking, who like the others requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. He still hasn't talked directly with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and he expects negotiations to ultimately drag on for the next two-to-three months like they have with other countries, the person said. Still, Lula's government now believes it may be able to win exemptions for additional goods the US doesn't produce, including beef and coffee, according to one of the officials. Both would represent significant victories for Brazil, the world's largest exporter of the two products. 'Chief Tariff Officer' Brazilian companies that had expected to face the brunt of the tariffs also expressed optimism. For weeks, major firms with a significant US presence had warned the Trump administration that such high tariffs would hit the American economy hard. Among them was Embraer, the world's third-largest plane-maker, which boasts more than 2,000 US employees and has pushed for an exemption similar to the one Trump had granted the European Union. In recent days, Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto has been so involved in negotiations that he has jokingly referred to himself as the company's 'CTO' — or Chief Tariff Officer — in private conversations, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. 'The news confirms the positive impact and strategic importance of Embraer's activities for the Brazilian and US economies,' it said in a statement. The company's shares rose 11%. The exemptions will cover 75% of Brazilian mineral exports to the US, according to Ibram, the country's mining institute. State-run oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA and mining behemoth Vale SA will benefit from exceptions for crude oil and iron ore. Pulpmaker Suzano SA escaped massive tariff hikes after wood pulp was excluded. Trump's order even caught markets that had largely shrugged off the economic effects of the tariffs by surprise. Itau now estimates that Brazilian goods will face an effective tariff rate of about 30%, Fernando Goncalves, the bank's head economic research, said in an interview. The bank had been working with an effective tariff rate 10 percentage points higher, and didn't expect such a large number of exceptions. The Trump changes, Goncalves said, also make it less likely that Lula's government will retaliate with trade restrictions of its own, further diluting the economic impact. Bolsonaro Trial Looms The wild card, of course, is Bolsonaro. Already barred from seeking office in the upcoming election, the former president is set to face trial on coup attempt charges later this year. He is widely expected to face conviction that will lead to his arrest. Trump and the US have repeatedly weighed in on the case in recent weeks, and the leveling of Magnitsky Act sanctions against Judge Moraes Alexandre de Moraes was yet another escalation of its efforts to target the crusading judge who has previously clashed with US social media platforms like Trump Media & Technology Group, Rumble Inc. and Elon Musk's X. For now, even that move seems more like an attempt to appease Bolsonaro and his supporters given that Moraes has no assets or money in the US, according to the Supreme Court. 'The delay and long exemption list suggests that Trump wanted the sanctions to be 'symbolic,' only,' said Thierry Wizman, a macro strategist at Macquarie Group in New York. 'To send a signal that persuasion, rather than punishment, is his goal.' --With assistance from Daniel Carvalho, Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo, Mariana Durao and Felipe Saturnino. (Updates with AtlasIntel poll showing Lula's popularity rising in sixth paragraph.) Russia Builds a New Web Around Kremlin's Handpicked Super App Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Everyone Loves to Hate Wind Power. Scotland Found a Way to Make It Pay Off It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Cage-Free Eggs Are Booming in the US, Despite Cost and Trump's Efforts ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
