On April 24, Shanghai Forum 2026 kicked off at The Grand Halls on North Bund, Shanghai. Lasting three days, this year’s forum takes “The Age of Reconfiguration: Innovation and Global Governance” as its main theme.

Nearly 400 participants from think tanks, universities, governments, enterprises, media outlets and other institutions across more than 50 countries and regions worldwide exchanged views on topics including artificial intelligence governance, green transition and the Global South development, to contribute diverse solutions to advancing inclusive and sustainable global development.

Insights from Keynote Speakers

Drawing on his experience, Ban Ki-moon, chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia and the 8th secretary-general of the United Nations, offered four propositions that echoed this year’s forum theme. First, shouldering shared responsibility. “No one is safe unless everyone is safe.” He commended China for honoring its Paris Agreement commitments. Second, upholding open multilateralism. The Paris Agreement showed countries can transcend self-interests, and platforms like the Shanghai Forum serve as a bridge for global dialogue. Third, fostering mutual trust in the digital age. Trust is hard to rebuild once broken, and without prudent governance, AI could exacerbate inequality. Fourth, embracing global citizenship. Having been personally shaped by post-Korean War educational support, Ban believes education is the cornerstone of peace and global solidarity, and that international educational investment cultivates global citizenship — which is why he launched the Global Education First Initiative as UN Secretary-General.

Thomas Fingar, Shorenstein APARC Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, pointed out that the current international system is no longer fit to address 21st-century challenges. He outlined four structural shifts: First, no single nation dominates as the U.S. did post-1945. Second, deep interdependence among nations. Third, the existing order is now a global common asset, requiring broad consensus for reform. Fourth, uncertainty over whether future major powers will emulate the U.S.’s past self-restraint. The real way forward lies in learning from history, setting clear priorities, designing feasible pathways, and attaching importance to process management during institutional transitions.

XUE Zizhao, vice president, head of Capital Markets at MiniMax, observed that AI has evolved from specialized tools to general intelligence, driven by innovation rather than capital. Chinese models are rapidly closing the gap with the U.S., showing particular strength in programming, AI agents, and multimodal tasks. He also noted that once models exceed Level 3 agent capabilities, they enter a self-recursive cycle: autonomously contributing to the design of their own next iteration. This is the future that MiniMax is building toward as a globally leading Chinese AGI company, committed to making “intelligence for everyone”.

For Bjorn Stevens, director and scientific member at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Earth’s climate sensitivity far exceeds expectations—and AI is the key to addressing it. Using generative AI to learn physical model distributions, planners can generate specific scenarios, transforming complex climate data into actionable tools.  The technical capabilities are now largely in place: we have continuously improving physically based models, as well as the ability to interact efficiently with their data through AI. However, several key forms of support are needed: access to exa-scale computing resources, the establishment of standards for training data and its representation, a robust dialectic between research and practice, and continued improvement of Earth-system monitoring.

William (Wenwei) Xu, professor at the Research Center for Technological Innovation Strategy, Fudan Development Institute and former executive director of the Board at Huawei Technologies, argues AI will evolve from individual capabilities to multi-agent collaboration, shifting from knowledge reproduction to action intelligence. A self-evolving agent economy is emerging, enabling continuous growth. AI will reshape R&D and engineering methodologies as part of a new foundational capability. On governance, he called for tiered, agile approaches and global standards to address regulatory lag and fragmentation. Companies should embed governance across AI’s lifecycle. He urged that AI serve as a cornerstone for shared progress, not a tool of rivalry, bridging the digital divide and upholding “AI for good” to support education, healthcare, environmental protection, and poverty alleviation.

 

CHEN Jing, vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and President of the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; JIN Li, president of Fudan University; and Chey Tae-won, chairperson and CEO of SK Group, delivered opening speeches. QIU Xin, chairperson of the University Council of Fudan University, moderated the proceedings.

Enrico Letta, dean of the School of Politics, Economy and Global Affairs at IE University and former Prime Minister of Italy; Golestan Sally Radwan, chief digital officer of United Nations Environment Programme; Park Sung-taek, chairman of SK China, and Choi Dong-uk, co-CEO of SK China; HU Jiping, president of the University of International Relations, China; FU Jihong, vice president of the Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; and CHEN Zhimin, vice president of Fudan University, attended the opening ceremony. Kim Yoo-suk, president of Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, moderated the keynote session.

 

Launched in 2005, the Shanghai Forum focuses on significant problems in Asia and the world in fields like global governance, social security, environmental governance, economy & finance, scientific and technological innovation, culture and civilization. It is co-hosted by Fudan University and Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, and organized by the Fudan Development Institute.

Over the past two decades, the Forum has fostered intellectual exchange and established an international dialogue framework that brings together government, industry, academia, and application. It also provides practical, diversified solutions for building a new global governance order.

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Writer: ZHOU Zhiying

Proofreader: YANG Xinrui

Editor: WANG Mengqi, LI Yijie