China’s AI ascendance gives Xi a stage and a security dilemma

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to debut at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, leveraging China's growing AI model adoption—including nearly 60% usage among U.S. firms on OpenRouter—to advocate for open global AI rules. State media has framed China's approach as a "water" model of AI as a public good, contrasting with an "AI Iron Curtain" warning, while the technology's rise creates security dilemmas for both Washington and Beijing.

The rise of China’s AI models is handing President Xi Jinping new bragging rights and a stronger claim to shaping the technology’s global rules, even as their growing power stirs security alarm in Washington and Beijing alike. Xi is expected to make his case in his debut at the World AI Conference in Shanghai starting Friday, an event that previously attracted Elon Musk and Jack Ma. He’ll be addressing scores of tech and government leaders as Chinese models win over companies worldwide, with their share of U.S. firms’ AI usage nearing record 60% on the popular marketplace OpenRouter. In what could be a preview of Xi’s position, state media this week cast China’s openness as the antidote to a world of walls. The Communist Party’s flagship mouthpiece People’s Daily warned against an “AI Iron Curtain,” contrasting an “oil mindset” that hoards data and computing power with a “water” approach that treats AI as a public good for all, without naming any country.