China said on Saturday it wanted to create an organisation to foster global cooperation on artificial intelligence, positioning itself as an alternative to the U.S. as the two vie for influence over the transformative technology.

The new framework suggests a strong US open-source AI network has “geostrategic value” because it could underpin businesses and academic research globally.

Star founders, Beijing officials and deep-pocketed financiers converge on Shanghai by the thousands this weekend to attend China’s most important AI summit. At the top of the agenda: how to propel Beijing’s ambitions to leapfrog the US in artificial intelligence — and profit off that drive.

Despite recent concessions and shifts in rhetoric, US President Donald Trump's new artificial intelligence action plan leaves the core of American policy towards China unchanged - maintaining tight restrictions on key technologies while accelerating deregulation and infrastructure support for his country's AI giants.