Twenty-nine countries signed on Thursday an agreement to establish the World AI Cooperation Organisation (WACO), an intergovernmental body that China claims aims to foster international cooperation and global governance in artificial intelligence.
Representatives from these 29 countries, including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, Brazil, and Venezuela, along with 10 African and 12 Asian countries, signed the agreement as founding members.
The headquarters of the organization will be situated in Shanghai, as reported by Chinese state agency Xinhua.
The signing ceremony took place in Shanghai on the eve of the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference. During this conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to present an ambitious vision for Beijing’s role in global AI governance.
China had proposed the establishment of the World AI Cooperation Organization at last year’s conference, but no countries had formally announced their membership until now.
