Xi addresses China and the world in rare public speech on AI
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Mon, 07/27/2026 - 10:02
picture alliance / Xinhua News Agency | Xie Huanchi
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Jul 27, 2026
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Xi addresses China and the world in rare public speech on AI
In his speech to the World AI Conference, China’s party and state leader presented his vision of a world where humans collaborate with machine intelligence. But he also mentioned for the first time in a public forum the loss of control risks specific to AI, writes Rebecca Arcesati.
Xi Jinping chose his in-person debut at the World AI Conference (WAIC) to deliver a rare speech on AI, representing one of his most significant public interventions on AI to date. Previously, Xi’s richest speeches on AI had come from Politburo Study Sessions , and outsiders only got to see summaries. Here, he was addressing both the nation and the world.
What emerges starkly from his speech is the Chinese leadership’s vision, evolved and matured over a decade, of a world where humans find ways to collaborate with machine intelligence. “How to get along with thinking machines?” Xi asks shortly after beginning his speech. We find references to “integration,” “connectivity,” and “collaboration”—all familiar concepts in Chinese AI policy, reflecting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) high expectations for physical AI to boost growth, development, and societal wellbeing. Not surprisingly, agents and embodied AI were in the spotlight at this year’s WAIC.
“Controllability” has been a consistent leitmotif in Chinese AI policy
A precondition for all this, in the CCP’s view, is that AI technology remains firmly under human control. “Controllability” (可控) has been a consistent leitmotif in Chinese AI policy, but what is meant by “control” can vary widely. (For example, it may refer to political control, cybersecurity, or the preference toward domestic technology.) What is new and more interesting is Xi’s explicit reference to “loss of control” (失控), probably best understood as the risk of AI systems running afoul. Xi had already sounded the alarm at a Politburo Study Session in January in a discussion of future technologies at large. However, this is his first known mention of loss of control risks specific to AI—and it appeared in a public speech.
Still, it is not immediately clear from Xi’s WAIC speech, nor from other policy signals, that China’s leaders are concerned about alignment risks as understood by the international AI safety community. One cue that Xi might be concerned about safety flaws in model design lies in his distinction between “inherent and secondary risks” (内生和衍生风险).
Restrictions on access to Chinese open-source models could be on the horizon
Xi’s choice of words could indicate an intensified worry that AI systems might behave unpredictably. If we take an essay that appeared in the party’s top theory journal a day before Xi’s WAIC speech at face value, then the CCP would seem to be leaning toward a wider definition of human control that encompasses the preservation of human judgment, subjectivity, and power in the AI age. By contrast, current international (especially Western) AI safety debates emphasize existential risks from superintelligence.
Media reports suggest that some restrictions on access to Chinese open-source models could be on the horizon, yet it remains unclear whether this emerging discussion on AI export controls stems from genuine concern around alignment risks or reflects Beijing’s growing preoccupation with technology and know-how leakage. It will be key to watch whether top-level signals like Xi’s speech result in an acceleration of technical safety research—or a tighter regulatory grip on the industry.
This article was first published by Stanford University’s DigiChina Project on July 23, 2026.
Author(s)
Rebecca Arcesati
Head of Program (Co-lead)
Author(s)
Rebecca Arcesati
Head of Program (Co-lead)
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Aggregated summary from an independent source. Read the original at Merics.