The APEC High-Level Forum on Artificial Intelligence has opened in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province. It's part of the 2026 APEC Digital Weeks. Government, businesses and academic representatives from across the Asia-Pacific are discussing inclusive AI development. 

 

Under the theme of "Promoting Inclusive and Accessible AI Development," participants exchanged views on AI governance, applications and regional cooperation. They said AI opportunities are growing across the Asia-Pacific, with diversity among economies becoming a strength for cooperation.

 

China will follow the "APEC approach." That means promoting people-centered AI development, deeper integration with the real economy, and inclusive cooperation.

 

SATVINDER SINGH ASEAN Deputy Secretary General ASEAN Economic Community "I think what China has done very constructively is to move very aggressively into applications across all segments of society, I think from e-government services right down to impacting the way to agriculture, even in education and even in health care, China is showing the world, how AI can be used to solve any societal problems."

 

Host city Chengdu has continued to advance its "AI Plus" initiative. In 2025, the core AI industry in Chengdu exceeded 150 billion yuan in scale, with more than 1,200 related companies. The forum also showcased a range of AI application cases.

 

Meanwhile, generative AI is lowering the barriers to technology adoption and expanding into areas including education and content creation.

 

LIAN XIYU Director at Alibaba Group "The Wan 2.7 Video model developed by Alibaba has evolved into a professional-grade AI video generation tool. It enables users – from advertisers to educators – to develop more effective AI-powered creative tools tailored to their own professional needs."

 

The forum released the APEC High-Level Forum on AI Statement on Promoting AI Development in the Asia-Pacific Region.

 

China also announced plans to establish the "China Center for APEC Cooperation on Cross-border Data Flows" in Qianhai, Shenzhen, to build an open platform for data cooperation.

 

Edited by Zhang Yuanlin

Source: CGTN