Experts from around the globe convened at a sub-forum of the Shanghai Forum 2025, focusing on the governance challenges presented by the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Discussions centered on identifying pathways to overcome barriers in AI governance. Kim Won-soo, former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, highlighted several critical divides that demand attention, including technological gaps between the Global South and Global North, divergent legal frameworks, and differing values between East and West. He stressed the importance of achieving global consensus through building capable alliances to address gaps resulting from declining global leadership.

Thomas Greminger, executive director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, detailed the European Union's AI governance foundation, emphasizing key requirements such as human rights protection, system safety, privacy protection, system transparency, sustainability, and accountability. Greminger noted that while major powers consider AI a geopolitical asset, significant opportunities for cooperation remain, given AI's disruptive nature, which necessitates unified frameworks and rules to mitigate risks.

Chinese experts also contributed their insights on AI development and governance. Wei Kai, director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, revealed that large language models' capabilities have increased by 35 percent over the past year, based on their testing metrics. Wei stated that AI has entered a new stage of data-driven rapid evolution.

Feng Shuai, secretary-general of the Center for International Governance of Cyberspace at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, emphasized that AI governance has evolved into a global process involving multiple stakeholders. Feng explained that while competition between major powers in AI development and governance is unavoidable, the focus should be on finding opportunities for cooperation within that competition and managing conflicts.

Participants collectively agreed on the crucial need for trust-building among leading AI-developing nations to ensure effective global governance. They emphasized the necessity of including the Global South and developing countries in these discussions. Furthermore, they highlighted the importance of dialogue mechanisms and international standard-setting, recognizing that developing a comprehensive governance system requires sustained collaboration among all stakeholders. The Shanghai Forum 2025, themed "Age of Innovation: Technology, Development and Governance", hosted over 500 guests and representatives from think tanks, universities, governments, enterprises, and media organizations from more than 50 countries and regions.