This week I explored the future of tech in Shanghai at the World AI Conference (WAIC), which attracted over 300,000 visitors and completely sold out.
While much of the Australian AI conversation centres on developments in the US, we're actively expanding our perspective by engaging with the rapidly evolving Chinese ecosystem.
The pace of AI development and enterprise adoption here is astonishing. A few takeaways from the week:
- Geoffrey Hinton’s keynote set a thoughtful tone, calling for global collaboration in shaping the future of AI. One quote that stayed with me: “Humans have grown accustomed to being the most intelligent species in the world, what if that’s no longer the case?”
- Major tech releases were front and centre. Tencent announced a suite of open source foundation models under its Hunyuan series, covering text/reasoning, image, video and 3D generation. Meanwhile, Alibaba unveiled its Quark AI glasses, fully integrated into the broader Alibaba and Alipay ecosystem. It’s a clear signal that Chinese tech giants are not just deploying AI at scale but also building the hardware stack around it.
- Robotics <> AI is rapidly growing. In previous years, robotics played a minor role at WAIC. This year, an entire exhibition floor was dedicated to it. China is clearly treating AI and robotics as deeply integrated disciplines. A highlight was UniTree’s live demonstration of humanoid robot combat, which drew huge crowds and serious technical interest.
- Enterprise AI adoption is well underway. While many Australian companies are still in the exploratory phase, here the stack is already production ready. Solutions from Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei and smaller players are being deployed at scale across industries. SuperApps like WeChat and Alipay give Chinese companies a major distribution advantage. New AI features can be launched to hundreds of millions of users almost instantly, and feedback loops allow for rapid iteration that is difficult to replicate in western markets.
- AR/VR technology is starting to deliver. We’ve seen many waves of hype over the years, but the product maturity is now there. XReal’s demos were particularly impressive, and their recently announced partnership with Google on AndroidXR will be worth following closely.
- I also had the chance to visit the Tencent HQ and learn more about their growing investment in the APAC region, particularly through Tencent Cloud.
My visit to WAIC made one thing clear: real-world AI use cases are no longer on the horizon, they’re here. The opportunities are enormous, and the time to build the right environment for deploying AI safely and productively in Australia is now.
Last but not least, Shanghai is a stunning city and I can’t wait to be back!
