2025 World AI Conference & High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance will be held in Shanghai from July 26 to 28.

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2025 to be held in Shanghai next week will display over 100 new AI products, including large language models (LLMs) and other AI-related products. The event is expected to showcase the dynamism of Chinese AI sector, highlighting China's intensified efforts in the global AI race, said a Chinese expert.

The major developers of LLMs are claiming significant performance improvements and greater adoption at China's biggest annual AI conference, Global Times reporters learned on Thursday.

This year's event will see the unveiling of more than 40 LLMs, 50 AI-powered devices and 60 intelligent robots, according to the organizers. Most of the AI solutions and products on display were developed by Chinese institutions and businesses.

Shanghai-based SenseTime told the Global Times on Thursday that it will release updated versions of its SenseNova LLMs, including SenseNova 6.5, as well as an upgraded suite of productivity tools designed for scenarios such as offices, note-taking and programming. 

The company will also launch an embodied-intelligence platform that combines perception, visual navigation and multimodal interaction to power next-generation robots and smart devices.

SenseTime is among a number of Chinese tech companies that have sought to use the WAIC as an opportunity to boast about progress made in developing LLMs amid heightened competition in the domestic market. 

Ant Group, an affiliate of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, will present its AI-powered services and technologies at WAIC 2025, highlighting key achievements in connectivity and AI-powered medical services. The company hopes to make AI "as ubiquitous as QR-code payments," according to information the company shared with the Global Times on Thursday.

Moreover, robotics will take center stage at this year's expo. Hangzhou-based DeepRobotics will introduce M20 Lynx, a wheeled-leg hybrid robot built for extreme industrial inspections, alongside its first full-size humanoid robot. The firm, already holding an 80 percent share in China's quadruped-robot sector, will recreate real-world power-line inspection scenarios to demonstrate autonomous task completion, a representative of DeepRobotics told the Global Times on Thursday.

It is expected to showcase the latest achievements in "AI+" applications and unveil numerous innovative products. More than 800 companies are participating, with more than 50 percent coming from outside Shanghai or overseas. The number of exhibits is set to exceed 3,000, a Shanghai official told a press conference on July 10.

Despite challenges posed by external geopolitical uncertainty, China has demonstrated resilience and innovation, reinforcing its role as a major player in the AI sector, said a Chinese expert.

The event will push "Chinese wisdom" to the world by promoting China's open-source approach to AI, which has gained momentum thanks to models from DeepSeek and Alibaba, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"I believe the WAIC 2025 will showcase a wide array of AI-enabled systems, with embodied intelligence systems drawing particular attention. These systems, which can understand, reason and interact with the physical world, demonstrate China's focus on gaining an edge in the next wave of AI development," Wang added.

The WAIC, hosted by Chinese government ministries and the Shanghai municipal government, has become a key venue for China to ramp up its relevance and influence in the international AI industry.

Having been held annually seven times, this year's WAIC focuses on the theme "Global Solidarity in the AI Era," with aims to showcase global tech, science and the industry ecosystem.

This year's conference, being held from July 26 to 28, is larger than previous editions, with the exhibition scale and the number of exhibitors and new products reaching the highest in history, according to the organizers.

More than 1,200 officials, industry leaders and scientists from 30 countries and regions have confirmed their participation in this year's WAIC, including representatives from industry giants such as Tesla, Siemens and Google, as well as domestic leading tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, MiniMax, Unitree Robotics and iFlytek.

At present, China is home to over 4,500 AI companies, with its core AI industries valued at nearly 600 billion yuan ($83.41 billion), the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing China Internet Network Information Center's report on generative AI.

China is experiencing rapid growth in the AI sector and now holds 60 percent of the world's AI patents, the most globally, reflecting its growing strength in technological innovation, according to a World Intellectual Property Organization report.