On September 18, the 2026 Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Conference opened in Changchun under the theme "Intelligent Connectivity, Shared New Opportunities," gathering more than 20 academicians from several countries and over 200 leading enterprises to advance AI frontier research and local industrial transformation.
The three-day conference featured 20+ parallel forums covering 15+ "AI+" directions. The hard-tech track focused on large models, space-air information, embodied intelligence and optoelectronics; the industry track centered on smart agriculture, enterprise empowerment and power-energy to serve national food security and real-economy transition; the governance track covered AI safety, investment and international cooperation.
At the opening, academicians He You and Gao Jinji delivered keynote reports on information fusion, equipment intelligent O&M and biometric recognition. Zhipu AI co-founder Xu Bin and other entrepreneurs shared front-line experience of AI-industry fusion. A data-labeling firm noted that data will be AI's next battleground, and that Changchun—with ginseng, sika-deer and ice-snow economy data—could claim an ecological niche.
A highlight was the first AI-in-higher-education and human-civilization forum, lifting discussion from technology to civilizational evolution. Organizers aim to convert one-time attendance into long-term cooperation via academician workstations and industry-research bases.
Source: People's Daily (Jilin)
