The 2026 World AI Conference opens in Shanghai

What the report says

The Independent Uganda, citing Xinhua, reported that Shanghai is hosting the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance from Friday to Monday, with activities centered on the theme “AI Partnership for a Brighter Future.” The event is being staged across venues in Pudong, Zhangjiang and Xuhui, and is described as Shanghai’s major artificial intelligence gathering of the year.

According to the report, organizers expect more than 1,400 domestic and international guests and over 140 forums. The programme includes conferences, exhibitions, awards and competitions, application experiences, innovation incubation and talent-focused activities. The exhibition space is set to surpass 100,000 square metres for the first time, with more than 1,100 companies participating and over 3,000 products and technologies on display, including more than 300 global debuts.

Highlighted exhibits include Huawei’s Atlas 950 AI computing super node system, MiniMax’s M3 multimodal foundation model, an agentic AI phone, humanoid robots and AI-powered dexterous hands. The conference is jointly hosted by several Chinese central government bodies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Association for Science and Technology, alongside Shanghai’s municipal government.

The report frames WAIC as both a showcase for China’s AI sector and a forum for international discussion on AI governance. It also notes Shanghai’s growing role as an AI hub, citing city figures for 2025 that included 394 major AI enterprises, an industry scale above 637 billion yuan, major AI investment funds, nearly 300,000 AI workers and a large base of open-source model and developer activity.