TLDR: China has unveiled a comprehensive 13-point Global AI Governance Action Plan during the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, aiming to promote safe, inclusive, and responsible AI development worldwide. The plan emphasizes international cooperation, bridging the digital divide, and ensuring AI serves humanity.
Shanghai, China – A landmark 13-point Global AI Governance Action Plan was officially published on July 31, 2025, during the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, held in Shanghai from July 26 to 28. The comprehensive plan, spearheaded by China, calls for concerted global efforts to advance AI development and governance, ensuring the technology benefits all of humanity while mitigating its inherent risks.
The Action Plan underscores the critical importance of promoting AI for good, respecting national sovereignty, aligning with development goals, ensuring safety and controllability, upholding fairness and inclusiveness, and fostering open cooperation. It positions artificial intelligence as a new frontier in human development, a key driver of the ongoing scientific and technological revolution, and an international public good.
Key tenets of the 13-point plan include:
Jointly Seizing AI Opportunities: Encouraging active participation from governments, international organizations, enterprises, research institutions, civil society, and individuals to accelerate digital infrastructure construction and explore cutting-edge AI innovations.
Promoting Inclusive Innovation: Establishing international platforms for knowledge sharing, removing technological barriers, and fostering cross-border open-source communities and secure, reliable open-source platforms to enhance the inclusiveness and accessibility of AI technology services.
Advancing AI Empowerment Across Industries: Promoting AI application in diverse sectors such as industrial manufacturing, healthcare, education, agriculture, and smart cities, while fostering a healthy, AI-for-good application ecosystem.
Accelerating Digital Infrastructure Construction: Speeding up the construction of global clean power, next-generation networks, intelligent computing power, and data centers, with a focus on supporting the Global South in developing AI technologies aligned with their national conditions.
Strengthening International Cooperation in AI Capacity Building: Prioritizing international cooperation to support developing countries in building comprehensive AI innovation, application, and governance capacities.
The plan was released during an event themed ‘Global Solidarity in the AI Era,’ which convened over 1,200 participants, including government leaders, industry experts, researchers, and investors from 30 countries. Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives, Mr. Kong Xianhua, highlighted that the plan reflects China’s commitment to multilateralism and its intent to support the Global South in achieving equitable access to AI technologies. The Chinese government is also tentatively considering establishing the headquarters of a proposed global AI cooperation organization in Shanghai.
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The initiative comes amidst rising global concern that emerging technologies could exacerbate inequality, with the UN estimating the AI market to reach $4.8 trillion by 2033. The plan aims to bridge the digital and intelligent divide, ensuring that AI technology remains a force for good and promotes inclusive development worldwide.
