As satellites orbit the Earth, artificial intelligence is transcending national borders and profoundly reshaping the landscape of global development and cooperation. Entering 2025, China achieved major progress in the open-source development of artificial intelligence, with its overall strength ranking among the world's top.

China is providing solid support for the coordinated development of AI across the globe with an open and inclusive attitude. From the green data centers operating around the clock in the mountains of Gui'an, Guizhou province, to the 5,300-hectare precision agriculture projects in Gaza Province, Mozambique, supported by BeiDou + drone technology, and to the ASEAN AI Multilingual Translation Center building bridges for inter-civilizational exchanges, these scenes of practical cooperation paint a magnificent picture of "AI+" empowering the world.

In September 2025, China launched the "AI+" International Cooperation Initiative. As an international public good and a concrete effort to implement the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, the initiative focuses on five key areas: people's well-being, scientific and technological progress, industrial application, cultural prosperity, and talent cultivation, and establishes an action framework for coordinated global AI development, which has been well received by the international community.

A people-centered initiative

The "AI+" International Cooperation Initiative places people's well-being at the forefront, enabling AI technologies to benefit people of all countries, especially helping developing nations address development challenges.

In healthcare, for instance, AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems extend high-quality medical resources to remote areas, improving diagnostic accuracy through imaging recognition. In education, smart learning platforms break geographical barriers, allowing students in developing countries to access high-quality educational resources around the world, bringing the warmth of technology to every corner.

A solid AI support

Behind the humanistic warmth of technology lies solid scientific and technological support. The initiative uses AI to lead the transformation of innovation paradigms and promote cross-domain research and development collaboration. As one of the leading countries in large model R&D and open-source sharing, China is providing low-cost, inclusive model technical support to the world through open-source sharing.

Promoting innovation on model technology and green computing power construction as the dual pillars, China is laying a solid foundation for global AI cooperation. By the end of 2025, China's intelligent computing power reached 1.59 million PFLOPS, with eight planned national computing power hubs under accelerated construction and 306 national green computing facilities built, providing a replicable Chinese model for green computing power development. In basic scientific research, large AI models are empowering cutting-edge fields like bio-manufacturing and quantum technology, helping global researchers share innovative achievements.

Empowerment of global development

AI's empowerment of global development is also profoundly reshaping global industrial and supply chains. Focusing on industrial applications, the initiative advocates using AI to upgrade industries, foster new business forms, and stabilize global industrial and supply chains. China's paradigm of "computing power supply + R&D and application" is generating remarkable results: Eight national computing power hubs have formed an integrated national computing power network, supporting cross-border production collaboration. In smart mining areas in Tajikistan and urban intelligent security systems in Pakistan, China's digital and intelligent solutions are deeply integrated with local needs, proving that multilateral cooperation is an effective path to industrial empowerment.

Civilization thriving on AI

Promoting cultural prosperity is an important part of China's Global Civilization Initiative, in which process AI is expected to play an essential role in advancing people-to-people connections.

Cooperation between China and Malaysia sets a fine example: Chinese tech enterprises, joining hands with local enterprises, have built the ASEAN AI Multilingual Translation Center, which supports two-way translation among 130-plus languages and enables "30-minute rapid dubbing" of film and television content.

The "Global South AI Workshop" launched in 2025 has built a new platform for countries to deepen "AI+ vocational education" cooperation. The AI application in digital culture, tourism and cultural relics protection has breathed new life to the cultural heritage in various countries, highlighting the humanistic warmth of "AI+". Civilizations thrive through exchanges, and "AI+" is becoming a digital bridge for mutual learning among civilizations.

Talents that matter

Talents are the foundation of development, and talents cultivation is the guarantee for the sustained empowerment of "AI+". The initiative emphasizes helping partner countries build independent innovation capabilities through open-source technology and joint training. Following an open and inclusive philosophy, China not only exports technologies but also shares experience.

By the end of 2025, China's valid invention patents reached 5.32 million, and its valid AI patents ranked first in the world, accounting for 60 percent of the global total. China shares relevant technologies worldwide through open-source communities and joint R&D, significantly lowering technological barriers for developing countries.

In terms of institutional guarantees, the China-initiated resolution on strengthening international cooperation on AI capacity-building was adopted by consensus at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in 2024. China has hosted several AI capacity-building workshops on AI development, governance and application, earnestly implementing the UNGA resolution.

Through local training, joint education programs, etc., China helps partner countries cultivate AI talents, overcoming the last barrier to technology application, and supporting their effort to leapfrog from technology importers to independent innovators. Since the beginning of 2026, China has launched more special AI capacity-building training courses for ASEAN, Central Asia and Arab countries, further deepening regional AI cooperation.

Intelligence knows no borders, and win-win cooperation is the way to go. China's "AI+" International Cooperation Initiative—a complete framework composed of a conceptual vision, working mechanisms and practical guidance, will serve as a powerful engine driving international cooperation for common development, bringing the dividends of AI to people around the world.

The author is an associate research fellow in the China Institute of Fudan University.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

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