On July 17th, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held in Shanghai for three consecutive days, attended by Xi Jinping. A total of 29 countries were present as founding member countries, establishing a cooperation organization in the field of artificial intelligence. However, experts pointed out that this move by the Chinese Communist Party is seen as mere “self-entertainment”.
From July 17th to 20th, the Chinese Communist Party hosted the 9th World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, with venues spread across the World Expo, Zhangjiang, and Xuhui West Bank. It was stated that there were over 140 forums, with more than 1400 domestic and foreign guests, occupying a venue exceeding 100,000 square meters.
However, many online users expressed skepticism towards the conference, with comments in forums showing concerns about the current situation of A-shares stock market. Some netizens questioned which countries participated, labeling it as “exaggeration” and “embarrassing.”
On the day of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference opening, official data from the stock market showed that while the authorities showcased achievements in industries such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, computing power, and robotics, the A-share technology sector experienced a comprehensive downturn. The ChiNext Index fell by 7.15%, the Sci-Tech Innovation 50 Index fell by 7.12%, and the STAR 50 Index dropped by over 8%; sectors like semiconductors, storage chips, CPO, PCB, and computing power hardware hit limit downs. Over 5000 stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen plummeted, nearly 200 stocks hit the limit down, and the trading volume surged to 2.65 trillion yuan, showing a significant volume sell-off.
The day before, on July 16th, the Sci-Tech Innovation 50 Index had already fallen by 4.02%, resulting in a two-day cumulative decline of approximately 10.85%. As of the 16th, the Wisesoft Electronic Index had a July decline of 21.51%.
Analysts believe that “this contrast reflects that the official grand promotion of the AI industry has not dispelled market concerns over valuation bubbles, massive financing, capacity expansion, and corporate profitability.”
Regarding the invitation of 29 countries by the Chinese Communist Party to establish the so-called “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization”, members included countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and others.
Overseas influencers and writer Cai Shenkun directly referred to this move as another grandstanding act by Xi Jinping, creating a “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization”, and aiming to play a role in “setting rules” in global artificial intelligence governance.
Cai Shenkun also pointed out that based on the composition of member countries, the founding members mainly come from “global southern” countries and traditional diplomatic partners of the Chinese Communist Party, while major artificial intelligence powerhouses like Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Australia did not join.
He defined the Chinese Communist Party’s actions as “self-entertainment,” stating, “Currently, the most advanced large models, AI chips, basic software, and computing resources are mainly concentrated in the hands of the United States and its allies, thus the practical influence of this organization in the international AI standard-setting is merely self-entertainment.”
Mainland netizens openly criticized these countries as “rotten fish and shrimps” in the comment section of the CCTV technology channel. Some netizens even sarcastically asked, “Do these countries even have computers?”
Others expressed disbelief, questioning, “Technology has been reduced to trash; isn’t this a slap in the face? Still talking about artificial intelligence?”
Additionally, some netizens raised doubts about the conference’s ticket price jumping from 168 yuan to 1300 to 1500 yuan. Some said, “A week ago, there were plenty of tickets; suddenly on Monday, they were gone.” Another comment read, “That’s too right. I went to check for information every few days, kept refreshing for tickets, there were plenty of tickets at first, but because I was preoccupied with other matters, I didn’t act. When I went on Monday, I was shocked, there were no more tickets.”
Cai Shenkun analyzed that for the Chinese Communist Party, this conference is not just a technology cooperation initiative but also a competition for international rules. “After proposing global development initiatives, global security initiatives, and global civilization initiatives, and now launching the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, it reflects that the Chinese Communist Party hopes to expand its international influence in the governance of emerging technologies and gain more support from developing countries.”