At the end of July (7/26 – 7/28), Shanghai hosted the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), drawing over 1,200 participants from more than 40 countries. Even though I wasn’t there, I followed the conference closely, especially the keynote from Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called “Godfather of AI.” His message? AI is advancing faster than we expect, and we need global cooperation to make sure it stays aligned with human values.

Hinton’s talk was historic. It was his first public appearance in China, and he even stood throughout his address despite back pain, which was noted by local media. One quote really stuck with me: “Humans have grown accustomed to being the most intelligent species in the world – what if that’s no longer the case?” That’s a big question, and as someone who’s diving deeper into computational linguistics and large language models, I felt both amazed and a little uneasy.

His warning compared superintelligent AI to a tiger we’re raising as a pet. If we’re not careful, he said, “the tiger” might one day turn on us. The point wasn’t to scare everyone, but to highlight why we can’t rely on simply pulling the plug if AI systems surpass human intelligence. Hinton believes we need to train AI to be good from the beginning because shutting it down later might not be an option.

WAIC 2025 wasn’t all doom and gloom though. Hinton also talked about the huge potential of AI to accelerate science. For example, he highlighted DeepMind’s AlphaFold as a breakthrough that solved a major biology challenge, predicting protein structures. That shows how powerful AI can be when guided properly.

What stood out the most was the recurring theme of cooperation. Hinton and others, like former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, emphasized the need for global partnerships on AI safety and ethics. Hinton even signed the “Shanghai AI Safety Consensus” with other experts to support international collaboration. The message was clear: no single country can or should handle AI’s future alone.

As a high school student passionate about AI and language, I’m still learning how these pieces fit together. But events like WAIC remind me that the future of AI isn’t just about building smarter systems, it’s also about making sure they work for everyone.

For those interested, here’s a more detailed summary of Hinton’s latest speech: Pandaily Report on WAIC 2025

You can also explore the official WAIC website here: https://www.worldaic.com.cn/

— Andrew