2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit: Open Source and Openness Drive Inclusive AI

As artificial intelligence enters factory floors, hospital clinics and everyday offices, and as AI models continue to push the boundaries of capability, technological progress brings not only efficiency gains but also a question worth pondering: how can the benefits of artificial intelligence be shared by more people rather than belonging only to a few companies and countries? The 2026 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit opened on the 3rd in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. Under the theme "Open Source, Openness, Co-construction and Sharing — Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," representatives of governments, international organizations, enterprises, and experts and scholars from many countries and regions around the world gathered in Wuzhen to exchange views on topics including AI open source and openness, innovative development, security governance, cultural exchange and international cooperation. People-Centered: People Must Not Become Subordinates of Technology Internet development is undergoing new changes. With the rapid breakthroughs of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet is no longer merely a tool for information transmission and resource connection, but is increasingly becoming an important force driving economic and social transformation. The deep integration of technology and industry is opening up new development space and also raising higher requirements for security governance, ethical norms and international cooperation. How should this round of intelligent transformation be grasped? The conference proposed that a people-centered approach must be upheld, that enhancing human well-being should be the starting point and ultimate goal of technological development, that people must not become subordinates of technology, and even more, that technology must not intensify the divergence of human development. At the same time, in the face of new challenges brought by rapid technological iteration, all parties need to strengthen exchanges and dialogue and jointly build a community with a shared future in cyberspace. "While technological progress brings benefits, it also brings systemic risks. Emerging technologies may undermine international norms, fuel the spread of false and erroneous information, and put vulnerable groups, including children, at a disadvantage," pointed out Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, noting that about 2.2 billion people worldwide still cannot access the Internet. To bridge the digital divide, it is not enough to focus only on network connectivity itself; it is also necessary to accelerate investment in building affordable and resilient digital infrastructure and give priority support to developing countries; enhance the digital capabilities of institutions and talent in all countries; and protect vulnerable groups and basic human rights through responsible technological innovation. Open Source and Openness: Bringing AI Toward Inclusiveness For artificial intelligence to achieve inclusiveness, lowering the threshold for technology use and innovation is an important step. Open source and openness are becoming an important force in the construction of the global AI ecosystem. Joseph Tsai, co-founder and chairman of the Alibaba Group, said that artificial intelligence is rapidly entering all walks of life, and open-source models can enable more developers and enterprises to participate in technological innovation and also provide more possibilities for AI to be implemented in different countries and regions. "Only open source can popularize, and only popularization can create a sustainable and inclusive era of intelligence." Alibaba clearly set out its open-source and open AI strategy three years ago. At present, Alibaba's Qwen has open-sourced more than 470 models, with cumulative global downloads exceeding 4 billion and more than 330,000 derivative models, ranking first in the world. Relying on open-source models, developers can carry out secondary development and deployment according to local needs, which not only helps reduce R&D costs for small and medium-sized enterprises, but is also especially valuable for minority languages and developing countries. A case from Africa is quite representative. Joseph Tsai introduced that a non-profit organization in Uganda developed a local language model based on the Qwen open-source model, covering 68 African languages. For regions with relatively scarce language resources, open-source models provide a technological foundation that can be independently developed and continuously improved, giving artificial intelligence the opportunity to better serve local societies. Digital Inclusion: The Global South Participates in Standard-Setting However, digital inclusiveness cannot stop at enabling more people to use existing technologies. For developing countries, true digital inclusion also means being able to participate in technological development, knowledge production and rule-making, rather than merely passively accepting technological outcomes. Nii Quaynor, chairman of Ghana.com and an inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame, stressed that openness should not remain at the level of technology and resources, but should also be reflected in knowledge, standards and the substantive participation of Global South countries. Developing regions such as Africa cannot be merely adopters of technical standards; they should also become participants in standard-setting, testing and promotion. "A truly open cyberspace should give everyone the opportunity to access technology, understand technology, participate in technology construction, shape technological development and share the benefits brought by technology," he pointed out. If developing countries provide only data, labor, markets and resources over the long term, yet cannot share the knowledge, infrastructure and value generated thereby, then the development of the digital economy will be hard-pressed to achieve true inclusiveness. From open knowledge to participation in rules, digital inclusion also needs to be translated into concrete industrial cooperation. Mats Granryd, director general of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), pointed out that shared standards are an important foundation for accelerating digital transformation. In the face of the industrial transformation brought by artificial intelligence, GSMA and China's three major telecom operators launched the Open Telco AI project to promote AI innovation in the telecommunications industry through open models, shared data sets and the establishment of common evaluation benchmarks. He also said that 5G is driving the transformation of industries around the world, and China has demonstrated the enormous power contained in the large-scale application of 5G-A networks. At present, more than 330 cities in China have achieved 5G-A network coverage, fully demonstrating how advanced connectivity technology can become inclusive infrastructure like electricity and water. The opportunity now lies in translating this technological advantage and leading position into inclusive prosperity and ensuring that no one is left behind.