China AI summit hears Global South needs equal access to avoid digital divide

Delegates at the World AI Conference in Shanghai warn fragmentation risks isolating emerging markets and concentrating advanced computing in rich economies Greater global cooperation and development-focused AI regulations are urgently needed to prevent a widening digital divide, scholars and international figures said at China’s premier AI conference on Saturday. “We need to build international consensus,” said Xue Lan, a prominent scholar of public policy and global AI governance and dean of the Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, during a panel on Saturday. Xue called on international organisations to improve interoperability between national governance systems and prevent the fragmentation of global rules, while urging expanded cooperation between the Global South and the Global North. Meanwhile, representatives from developing economies cautioned that AI governance risked stifling early-stage progress in emerging markets. “Governance is not about regulating at the very beginning,” said Nambaryn Enkhbayar, former president of Mongolia, adding that nations had to first be able to seize technological opportunities and participate in the global AI economy.

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