WAIC 2024 Commences: Focusing on Global Governance, Industry Development, and Scientific Frontiers

On July 4, the 2024 World AI Conference&High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC 2024) kicked off at the Shanghai Expo Center and the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center. On the first day of the conference, over 180 overseas guests from 55 countries participated, engaging in in-depth discussions and exchanges on three key areas: global governance, industrial development, and scientific frontiers.

Keyword 1: Global Governance

Artificial intelligence represents a new frontier in human development, significantly impacting economic and social progress while posing unknown risks and complex challenges. Over 1,000 representatives from the United Nations and various governments, representatives from professional international organizations, globally renowned experts, entrepreneurs, and investors attended the plenary session. Under the global agenda of AI governance, they focused on development, security, and governance, and engaged in a series of international, cross-disciplinary, and multi-perspective in-depth discussions..

Three globally renowned Turing Award winners, Chi-Chih Yao, Raj Reddy, and Manuel Blum, along with former Microsoft Executive Vice President and Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Harry Shum, engaged in a high-level dialogue on collaborative governance and innovation. Through highly analytical discussions, they delved into the double-edged nature of artificial intelligence, its interpretability and predictability, as well as the rigorous foundation and transformative qualities of AI. These discussions provided valuable insights and perspectives on the global development and governance of artificial intelligence.

At the Global Governance Forum, over 30 ministerial-level officials from various countries and heads of relevant international organizations exchanged in-depth views on AI development, security, and governance.

Throughout WAIC 2024, ten forums related to global governance explored topics of "governance" from multiple perspectives. Leading forums held that day included the "ITU Al for Good： Innovate for lmpact" and the "Frontier AI Safety and Governance Forum," focusing on criticial issues such as AI safety and value alignment, AI for Good, and AI legislation. These forums bring together over 20 leading figures from around the world, including Chris Meserole, Zeng Yi, and Xue Lan, for East-West security dialogues and international, multi-dimensional discussions. The Forum on AI and Education invited representatives from academia and industry to discuss how to promote sustainable development in education equity and quality enhancement in the intelligent era from the perspective of global governance talent cultivation.

Keyword 2: Industry Development

To comprehensively deconstruct the new elements, new business forms, and new models of the general AI industry, and to analyze the global strategic trends of the current AI industry development, WAIC 2024 hosted a series of "Industry Development" forums. These forums discussed hot topics such as AI application prospects and ecosystem construction. Additionally, guests were invited to interpret AI global governance from an industrial perspective, focusing on how "AI+" can help bridge the intelligence gap and enhance human well-being, working together with society to build a "people-centered" AI industry ecosystem.

On the afternoon of the opening day, the Industry Development Main Forum was successfully held. Over 20 top experts, industry leaders, emerging talents, and representatives from various sectors of the AI industry chain, including Social Data Lab founder, Andreas Weigend, Baidu co-founder, Robin Li and member of Chinese Academy, Wang Jian, focused on cutting-edge topics such as large models, embodied AI, AI infrastructure, and intelligent terminals. They deeply analyzed global strategic trends in the AI industry, discussing AI application prospects, industry governance, and ecosystem construction. The release of the open-source general-purpose humanoid robot "Qinglong" also injects new vitality into the creation of an international digital industry cluster.

Several parallel sub-forums were also held, including the AI for Science-Artificial Intelligence Empowering Chinese Space Astronomy Forum, focusing on the industrial development and achievements in satellite manufacturing; the Summit on Humanoid Robots and Embodied Intelligence Development; discussing the application issues and solutions of embodied AI in humanoid robots and solutions; and forums related to technology empowering various industries, addressing cutting-edge topics and attracting the attention of attendees.

Humanoid robots were the biggest highlight of the exhibition. In the central hall of the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center, an array of humanoid robots named "Eighteen Arhats," from 15 companies, made a joint appearance, showcasing collaborative control among 18 humanoid robots with different technological architectures.

This year's exhibition focused on frontier AI technologies such as humanoid robots, virtual and augmented reality integration, autonomous driving, drones, and brain-machine interfaces, creating a new intelligent "technology feast" for practical applications. The intelligent terminal section highlights intelligent robots, core components, and wearable devices, with a dedicated area for humanoid robots. The exhibition featured the debut of 56 products, including 42 intelligent robots, among which 22 were humanoid robots, demonstrating the potential applications of AI in fields such as healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture, and more.

Keyword 3: Scientific Frontiers

The Scientific Frontiers Main Forum, themed "Next-Generation Trustworthy AI Technology", gathered top global scientists and researchers from various interdisciplinary fields and young researchers, including Juergen Schmidhuber, Dawn Song and Zhou Bowen, to address fundamental issues in AI to substantiate truly valuable topics for the sustainable development of artificial intelligence.

To highlight the importance of foundational disciplines and infrastructure in technological development, Smale Institute for Mathematics and Computing co-hosted the "Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence Forum." The forum brought together global elites from the fields of mathematics and AI, including experts and scholars like Manuel Blum, Jose A. Carrillo, Michael Bronstein, and Xuan Xiaohua, to delve into in-depth discussions on the mutual empowerment of mathematics and AI.

To lay a solid foundation for technological development, the conference focused on trends, strategies, and breakthroughs in the development of large models.

It held a series of sub-forums including the AI Infrastructure Forum, the OpenAtom Open Source Large Language Model Development Forum, and The Closed-Door Seminar on "Trends and Innovations in the Application of AI Large Models in Industry." These discussions aimed to contribute positively to the advancement of technology at the forefront.