Xi Pitches China-Led Open-Source AI Community to BRICS

CNBC (Joanna Ossinger, 13 September 2026) reported President Xi Jinping saying China will pioneer a BRICS AI open-source community. He spoke at the bloc summit in New Delhi. The remarks went out in a Sunday statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is a summit speech released as an MFA readout. It is not a signed BRICS treaty, not a Chinese AI statute, and not a bilateral deal with any single member.

Xi said China would support cooperation developing and applying large language models, hold AI seminars and training courses, and build an open AI ecosystem. He also proposed a BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform, digital skills training, technological exchange and industrial alignment, a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance, and a youth exchange for scientific and technological innovation. CNBC notes he did not address the AI safety slowdown debate in that account.

TheNextWeb (13 September 2026) adds that Xi separately invited BRICS members into the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), a Beijing-founded body launched in July with 29 countries and a Shanghai headquarters. Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, and Brazil are among them, and no EU member state is. The Saturday joint declaration did not mention the open-source community pitch, asking instead for cooperation on AI access while ensuring safety, security, inclusiveness, and reliability.

Beijing is still weighing its own openness ceiling. TheNextWeb reports China's commerce ministry spent a month discussing whether to curb overseas access to Qwen, Doubao, and GLM. That sits beside Monday MFA pushback that China rejects AI slowdown as fear mongering, and beside private US lab talks about an AI industry standards body.

Track whether any later BRICS communique or the Shanghai WAICO membership list actually names the open-source community, and whether commerce publishes overseas-access rules for Qwen, Doubao, or GLM.