China proposes open source artificial intelligence zone for BRICS

China will lead the creation of an “open source artificial intelligence zone” for the eleven Brics member countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced this Sunday at a summit of the bloc in New Delhi.

Chinese companies specializing in AI are developing “open source” artificial intelligence models, which means that the application code is accessible to everyone, allowing it to be understood and modified, unlike the “closed” models marketed by Westerners, particularly the Americans.

This proposal, which is part of the “initiative for open and inclusive artificial intelligence” promoted by the Chinese leader, plans in particular to “support cooperation in the development and application of large language models”, according to the report of his speech broadcast by CCTV, Chinese state television.

The Brics forum was created in 2009 to bring together large emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, then South Africa) outside institutions dominated by the United States and Western powers such as the G7.

The Chinese leader also called for the establishment of a “broad consensus-based global AI governance framework.” Mr Xi is due to meet President Donald Trump in the United States at the end of September.

The governance of artificial intelligence is expected to be among the main topics of their discussions, as concerns grow about the existential risks that this technology could pose to humanity.

On Saturday, Anthropic boss Dario Amodei called for slowing down the speed of AI development, a message that Elon Musk and Sam Altman (OpenAI) quickly joined in on.