The World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) is a new intergovernmental body, headquartered in Shanghai, through which China and 28 other countries — mostly from the Global South — say they will coordinate policy on artificial intelligence. It is not a UN agency and it has no power to regulate companies directly; it is closer to a standing diplomatic forum, similar in shape to bodies like the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), but built and led by China rather than Western governments.
How WAICO came to exist
Twenty-nine countries signed the founding agreement in Shanghai on July 16, 2026, establishing WAICO as an independent intergovernmental organization. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, signed on behalf of Beijing, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony. The next day, President Xi Jinping gave the keynote address at the World AI Conference, the annual Shanghai tech expo where the organization was formally unveiled — a separate event from WAICO itself, despite the similar name.
The founding members are mostly developing economies: Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, Venezuela, and more than a dozen African and Asian states, among others. No G7 country signed on. Xi framed the organization as answering, in his words, “the call of the Global South” for a bigger voice in how AI is governed, arguing that “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation.”
What China is offering members
WAICO is as much a package of incentives as it is a governance forum. Over the next five years, China pledged 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities for people in developing countries, plus joint AI application centers built with regional blocs such as ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS. China also said 30 countries would get access to MAZU, a Chinese-built AI weather-forecasting system — a concrete, visible benefit aimed at member states that often lack their own AI infrastructure.
Where it fits among other AI governance efforts
WAICO joins an already crowded field. The OECD-hosted GPAI, launched in 2020, does similar research and standard-setting work among mostly Western and allied economies. The United Nations has its own AI advisory processes. And in December 2025 the United States launched Pax Silica, a rival grouping focused on securing semiconductor and AI supply chains among allies including Japan, South Korea, Australia, the UK, India, and later the EU and Germany.
Analysts have described WAICO as China’s answer to that US-led effort — a way to offer countries wary of depending on a single dominant AI supplier an alternative partner. Xi’s keynote also urged countries to “oppose the practice of overstretching the concept of national security” in AI policy, a veiled reference to the export controls Washington has used to restrict Chinese access to advanced chips. In that sense, WAICO is less a technical standards body than a diplomatic vehicle: a way for China to build goodwill and influence among developing nations at a moment when access to AI compute and talent has become a matter of great-power competition.
Why it matters
WAICO does not have enforcement power — it cannot fine a company or block a model release. What it offers instead is a seat at the table: a standing institution, rather than one-off bilateral deals, through which member countries can shape AI norms and receive training and infrastructure support from China. Commentators have cautioned that WAICO is unlikely to govern the AI industry in any binding way, at least in its early years. Its significance is less about rules on paper and more about which bloc — a US-led coalition or a China-led one — ends up shaping how the rest of the world adopts AI.
In the news
Read our brief on China launching WAICO with 29 founding members.
FAQ
Is WAICO part of the United Nations? No. It is an independent intergovernmental organization; the UN Secretary-General attended the founding ceremony, but WAICO is not a UN body.
Which countries joined WAICO? Twenty-nine founding members, including Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, South Africa, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, and Venezuela — mostly Global South economies. No G7 country is a member.
Is WAICO the same as the World AI Conference (WAIC)? No — they share a Shanghai venue and a launch date, but WAIC is China’s annual AI trade expo, while WAICO is the new standing governance organization announced there.
Sources: Xinhua (via the founding ceremony coverage), Fortune, Caixin Global, and the Digital Watch Observatory.