China creates World AI body with Russia and 27 others, but without US

China, Russia, and 27 other countries established the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai on July 16 to set AI standards and regulation, excluding the US, EU, UK, Japan, and South Korea. The move aims to provide an alternative to US dominance in AI, with WAICO differing from other global AI initiatives by being open to any sovereign state without regime-type tests and focusing on development and the global capability divide.

China has created an international organization to set standards and introduce regulation for AI, inviting 28 other countries to join — but the US, a leading AI powerhouse is not part it. The World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization WAICO was established by 29 countries, including China, Russia and Brazil, at a ceremony in Shanghai, China https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xw/zyxw/202607/t20260717 11984766.html , on July 16. Notably absent are the US, the European Union and its member states, the UK, Japan and South Korea. Chinese AI companies have made a concerted effort to provide an alternative to US dominance https://www.cio.com/article/4087450/the-geopolitics-of-ai-and-robotics-china-the-us-and-japan.html . While the US is clearly ahead, Chinese enterprises are looking to narrow the gap in various areas: the open-weight model market https://www.infoworld.com/article/4197743/thinking-machines-offers-enterprises-a-us-alternative-in-open-weight-ai.html , AI cyber protection https://www.csoonline.com/article/4170818/what-happens-when-chinas-ai-catches-up-to-mythos.html and open source AI https://www.computerworld.com/article/4149313/chinas-use-of-open%E2%80%91source-ai-threatens-the-us-lead-in-ai-development-us-commission-warns.html . WAICO has been some years in development and has been designed to set some universal guidelines in AI. Researchers say WAICO differs in three ways https://arxiv.org/html/2606.23860v1 from other initiatives to create global AI organizations: membership open to any sovereign state, there is no regime-type test for entry, and its agenda is built around development and the global capability divide. The signing ceremony to create WAICO comes just days after Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, called on the US to take a lead in global AI regulation https://www.cio.com/article/4197497/deepmind-ceo-pushes-for-ai-industry-self-regulation.html . “The US is well-positioned to take the first step in developing such a framework. It could establish a new Standards Body modelled on a federally overseen public-private partnership or self-regulatory organization, much like the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FINRA , with a board that includes independent leading technical experts and open-source representatives,” Hassabis wrote. This article first appeared on Computerworld.