India, Sept. 27 -- WAICO's stated purpose is to make AI a global public good, with open access and developing-country participation at the centre of the pitch.

Washington, D.C.

In July, 29 governments gathered in Shanghai to sign the charter of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO), a body the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proposed a year earlier and will host permanently. Eight more governments signed within weeks, bringing the membership to 37. Its stated purpose is to make artificial intelligence a global public good, with open access and developing-country participation at the centre of the pitch.

It was then reported that China's Ministry of Commerce was consulting Alibaba, ByteDance and Zhipu regardin...