Xi pitches a China-led AI governance vision at BRICS as rivalry with the US sharpens

Chinese President Xi Jinping used an appearance at a recent BRICS summit to outline China’s vision for global AI governance, the latest move in an increasingly public contest between Beijing and Washington over whose framework will shape how the technology is regulated internationally.

The pitch leaned on familiar themes from China’s broader technology diplomacy: framing AI development as something that should benefit the wider developing world rather than concentrate power among a handful of wealthy nations, positioning China as a partner to emerging economies rather than a gatekeeper. That framing echoes language used elsewhere this year, including at India’s own AI summit earlier in 2026, where AI-as-global-public-good was a similarly prominent theme.

With the United States pushing a lighter-touch, innovation-first regulatory posture through initiatives like the “Carolina Principles,” and the European Union continuing to enforce its more prescriptive AI Act, Xi’s BRICS remarks add a third distinct pole to the global AI governance conversation — one explicitly framed around South-South cooperation rather than aligning with either Washington’s or Brussels’s approach.