First World Artificial Intelligence Conference opens in Shanghai

Background

Artificial intelligence had by then grown from a narrow research specialty into a field that touches industry, public services and the flow of data across borders. Governments were writing AI into national plans, companies were building products around machine learning, and the question of how countries should cooperate — and compete — in the field was becoming a routine item on the international agenda. A large, government-backed conference is one way that a country signals how seriously it takes such a field, and how it wants to be seen within it.

What happened

The 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, the first edition of what became known as WAIC, opened in Shanghai on September 17, 2018 and ran through September 19 ^[1]. Its theme was "A New Era Empowered by Artificial Intelligence" ^[1].

The event was co-hosted by a long list of national bodies: the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Shanghai municipal government ^[1]. That combination is unusual in itself — it puts economic planning, science policy, industrial policy, internet governance, the two national academies and a city government on the same organising committee. In practical terms it means the conference was treated as a matter of national coordination rather than a purely local or purely academic gathering.

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the opening, emphasizing that China is willing to share digital economy opportunities with all countries in the field of AI ^[1].

Key details

The conference was international in participation. Experts and entrepreneurs from nearly 40 countries and regions took part, and more than 200 leading AI companies joined the forums and exhibition activities ^[1]. A programme of this shape — a forum track running alongside a physical exhibition — mixes the two sides of the field: researchers and officials discussing where the technology is going, and companies showing what it currently does.

Impact

WAIC has been held annually in Shanghai since 2018 ^[2]. The first edition established the pattern: a national-level organising committee, an international guest list, a named theme for each year, and a home in Shanghai. For readers following how AI policy developed, the 2018 conference is a useful marker of the moment when the technology moved onto the main stage of public policy rather than staying inside laboratories and product teams.