Representatives from 29 countries signed an agreement in Shanghai to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, a new international body aimed at coordinating how nations govern and develop artificial intelligence.
The signing ceremony took place on July 16, according to reporting carried by AOL and PR Newswire, and unfolded alongside the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). Multiple outlets, including TV BRICS and Yahoo Finance Singapore, reported that 29 nations put their names to the founding agreement.
The organization's reach appears deliberately broad. Tech Review Africa reported that Senegal joined as a founding member, while MLex reported that Indonesia used the WAICO founders' meeting to lay out its own AI governance priorities. That spread of participants — across Asia, Africa and beyond — signals an attempt to build a coalition that stretches past any single region or bloc.
The launch also underscores a widening split in how the world approaches AI rules. Tech Times reported that WAIC closed with "two incompatible AI governance orders" now locked in for enterprises, a framing that positions this new Shanghai-based organization as one pole in a broader contest over who sets the standards for the technology.
Many operational details — the group's funding, headquarters, enforcement powers and full membership list — were not spelled out in these initial reports.
Why it matters: as governments race to write the rules for AI, a new 29-nation organization anchored in Shanghai could shape which standards companies and countries follow — and deepen the divide between competing global visions for governing the technology.