World Media Summit opens to highlight transformation in AI age

BEIJING: The 7th World Media Summit held its opening ceremony in Beijing on Saturday under the theme 'Media in the Intelligent Age: From Consensus to Action.' Xinhua News Agency and the Beijing municipal government jointly organised this year's summit, which runs from Thursday to Monday. It drew nearly 500 representatives from nearly 330 mainstream media outlets, think tanks and government bodies from 112 countries and regions, as well as the United Nations and other international organisations. Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony. Yin Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, also addressed the ceremony. At the summit, delegates discussed the role of the media in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and how the industry should respond to the challenges it poses. They called for closer cooperation to broaden access to advanced technologies and help media organisations worldwide develop together, while urging concrete steps to uphold journalistic ethics and safeguard the authenticity of news content as AI use expands. Addressing the opening ceremony, Fu Hua, president of Xinhua News Agency, ca­­­lled on media professionals to share new technologies and applications, exch­ange experience in using them, and close gaps in AI research, development and und­­­e­­rstanding. 'We sh­­o­­uld lead the way in ensuring that all me­­­dia professionals have a fair chance to be­­nefit from AI,' he said. Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2026