At the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a new open-source AI group for developing nations. The move is being seen as China's attempt to lead the world in artificial intelligence while competing directly with the United States.
The BRICS summit, held this year in New Delhi, turned
into much more than just a regular meeting between member countries. This time,
one topic stood out from everything else — artificial intelligence. And
it was China's President Xi Jinping who made the biggest move.
Speaking on Sunday, Xi announced that China will lead the
creation of a brand new group called a BRICS "community" for
open-source AI. In simple words, this means China wants BRICS countries to
work together on building and using AI models, instead of depending only on
American companies like OpenAI or Google.
Xi explained that this new group will help countries share
large language models, run AI training programs, and hold seminars
so that developing nations don't get left behind in the AI race.
Why This Is a Big Deal
This isn't just a small announcement. It's part of a bigger
picture. A day before this speech, Xi had already invited BRICS countries to
join something even larger called the World AI Cooperation Organization,
a new group set up by China that already has close to 30 countries as
members.
Basically, China is trying to build its own AI alliance,
separate from the West, and it's using BRICS as the stage to do it.
Why AI Matters So Much to BRICS Countries
According to experts quoted from Chinese state media, the
real worry among developing nations is falling behind. As one commentator put
it, "If we lose the opportunity of AI, developing countries may lose a lot
of development opportunities for the future." China is positioning itself
as the country that can help close this gap — offering technology-sharing
instead of just competition.
This actually connects to something bigger that happened
earlier this year too. Back in February 2026, India hosted the AI
Impact Summit in New Delhi — the biggest AI summit the world has ever seen,
bringing together representatives from over 100 countries, including
every BRICS member. That summit had one simple theme: "AI for
All." The idea was that AI shouldn't just belong to rich, powerful
countries — everyone should get fair access to computing power, data, and
decision-making.
Analysts even called that summit a turning point, saying it
shifted the global conversation away from just talking about "AI
safety" and toward talking about who actually owns the technology —
the chips, the data centers, the undersea internet cables, and the computing
power itself.
Terrorism and AI Both on the Table
Interestingly, AI wasn't the only serious topic. Indian Lok
Sabha Speaker Om Birla, while addressing an earlier BRICS parliamentary
meeting, also spoke about the responsible use of AI. He said, "It was
agreed that AI must be used, and it is indeed essential. But there must also be
transparency and accountability in its use." That same meeting also
strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir and called for zero
tolerance toward terrorism worldwide.
The Bigger Picture: China vs America
What makes all of this even more interesting is the timing.
Right now, the world's biggest AI companies — including OpenAI and Anthropic
— are based in the United States. China clearly sees BRICS as an opportunity to
build an alternative path, one where developing countries aren't forced to rely
entirely on American AI tools and rules.
So in short — yes, AI was one of the central topics at this
year's BRICS summit, and China used the platform to push its own vision of
global AI cooperation, directly challenging America's current lead in the
technology.