The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance opened in Shanghai on the 17th. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech.
The day before the opening, the media had an early look at the venue, witnessing advanced robots from Chinese companies competing side by side. The applications covered pharmacy services, industrial manufacturing, and delicate operations like tea brewing, demonstrating diverse uses, with some products already deployed in real-world settings.
According to Central News Agency reports, the media visited several major exhibitors such as Baidu, Alibaba, Ant Group, iFLYTEK, and others, showcasing the diverse applications of artificial intelligence (AI).
Among them, Ant Group’s “Ant Linbo Robot Pharmacy” is one of the top ten “treasures of the exhibition.” Developed by Linbo, Ant Group’s embodied intelligence company, together with Guoda Pharmacy, it uses a single “brain” to control robots of different brands and configurations. It can complete the medicine dispensing process within 90 seconds and has already been put into actual use at Guoda Pharmacy’s Shanghai outlet.
Zhiyuan launched multiple robot models covering a range of uses from industry to daily life. For example, there are robots for promoting tourism and serving travelers, already in use in Guangzhou Metro and Chengdu Kuanzhai Alley. There are also industrial robots capable of precisely controlling force to pick up chips and others that can carry heavy loads of up to 50 kilograms and transport large goods. Additionally, some robots can perform delicate tasks such as screwing bolts and brewing tea.
AI in healthcare is also a common application at this year’s AI conference. For example, Ant Group’s AI health app “Ant Afu” allows users to upload photos of skin conditions, which Afu can then recognize and diagnose for a variety of common skin issues, providing advice on medication, care, and seeking medical attention; users can even make hospital appointments directly through Afu.
iFLYTEK has also launched an AI medical assistant, mainly designed for grassroots doctors, especially at health clinics or community centers in rural China. The AI can help doctors quickly generate diagnostic and pharmaceutical recommendations. According to staff, this medical assistant has already covered more than 800 districts and counties in China, assisting in over 1.2 billion diagnoses in total.
This year’s AI conference will be held across “three locations and four halls” at the Shanghai Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund, with the theme “Intelligent Partners, Creating the Future Together,” focusing on showcasing advanced AI technologies and real-world applications. The scale of the conference has expanded this year, with the exhibition area exceeding 100,000 square meters for the first time and over 1,100 companies participating.