The launch of the Pax Silica initiative in June, followed in July by the proposal for a new global organization on Artificial Intelligence, leaves little room for doubt about the extraordinary importance of the issue—not only from a technological standpoint, but above all from a geopolitical one.
Nor is their close timing a coincidence, just as it is no coincidence that the sponsoring countries—the United States and China—are the two principal contenders for dominance over global politics, the world economy, and digital technology in all its forms.
The key question, then, is whether both frameworks can operate fully and simultaneously. Will nations and international organizations ultimately be compelled to align themselves with one or the other, or perhaps with a third alternative that has yet to emerge?
The Birth of WAICO
During the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), held in Shanghai in July 2026, a new international body was formally launched: the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO).
In his opening address to the conference, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China explicitly referred to the proposal for the creation of the new organization.
After reviewing the major technological milestones in human history—from the steam engine to electricity and beyond—Xi argued that humanity has now entered a new phase of technological revolution, advancing at an unprecedented pace while creating challenges that demand urgent solutions, particularly at a time when inequalities in access are widening rather than narrowing.
From China’s perspective, Xi maintained, all countries should adopt a people-centered approach and develop artificial intelligence in a manner that is positive, beneficial, and ultimately serves humanity.
He argued that AI should become a driver of shared prosperity and common security, making it necessary to establish a fair and equitable system of global AI governance.
To achieve this objective, Xi proposed four specific priorities:
- promoting and expanding open-source technologies so that the benefits of AI are shared by all;
- regulating AI through legal frameworks governing oversight and safety while ensuring that AI always remains under human control;
- fostering inclusiveness by giving all civilizations and cultures a voice and meaningful participation;
- strengthening global governance through multilateralism, including support for the Global South in developing AI capabilities, narrowing both the digital and AI divides, promoting sustainable development, and preventing new historical injustices in the AI era.
Xi also recalled that China has, for some time, promoted the consensus adoption of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on Enhancing International Cooperation on Capacity-Building in Artificial Intelligence; published the Action Plan for AI Capacity Building for Good and for All; announced the AI Plus International Cooperation Initiative; and now advocates the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO).
Invoking two traditional Chinese sayings—“A single string cannot produce music, and a single tree does not make a forest” and “The wise adapt to change; the knowledgeable act according to circumstances”—Xi called for concrete action.
Given the breathtaking pace of AI development, he insisted that its advancement must remain positive, beneficial, and dedicated to serving humanity.
To that end, he argued, AI oversight and governance must be precise and effective while continuously guided by human wisdom and international consensus, enabling artificial intelligence to become a genuine force for enhancing human well-being and advancing human civilization.
According to the conference’s final declaration, WAICO, headquartered in Shanghai, is an independent intergovernmental international organization that follows the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, embraces the concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and adheres to a people-centered approach.
It is the first intergovernmental international organization devoted exclusively to artificial intelligence.
Guided by the principles of goodwill and inclusiveness, WAICO seeks to support countries in the Global South by accelerating AI development, strengthening their capabilities in innovation, deployment, and governance, enabling them to participate in the ongoing technological revolution, and reducing the global AI divide.
WAICO’s fundamental principles are:
- adherence to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter;
- respect for the sovereignty and civilizational diversity of all nations;
- commitment to equality and multilateralism;
- adherence to the principles of consultation, joint development, and shared benefits, with the goal of achieving mutual gains and win-win outcomes.
Representatives from 29 countries signed the founding agreement and became the organization’s founding member states: Algeria, Belarus, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, the Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Zambia.
Each of these countries must now complete its domestic treaty-ratification procedures before WAICO formally enters into force.
The treaty remains open to accession by any sovereign state, regardless of its social system or political values.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, together with representatives of numerous countries and international organizations, attended the launch ceremony.
Addressing the opening session of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Guterres described AI as “humanity’s greatest opportunity in the twenty-first century,” while warning that it could also become “one of its greatest risks.”
The UN Secretary-General urged governments and technology companies to work together to ensure that artificial intelligence benefits all countries. Without international cooperation, he warned, AI could deepen global inequality rather than promote sustainable development.
One-third of humanity remains unconnected, he observed, while computing power, technical expertise, and investment continue to be concentrated in only a handful of countries and corporations.
Unless these disparities are addressed, AI could produce “greater inequalities and divisions in income, opportunity, and security.”
Guterres praised China’s strategy of shared development and innovation as a major global success. He also thanked China for supporting the UN Global Digital Compact, adopted in 2024, and for backing the unanimous approval by the General Assembly of resolutions aimed at strengthening technological capacity-building across the Global South.
“The technology that will shape humanity’s future must be shaped by all of humanity,” he declared, emphasizing that AI governance cannot be determined by only a handful of countries or companies and that “every nation must have a seat at the negotiating table.”
Closely echoing the rationale behind the creation of WAICO, Guterres identified three priorities to ensure that AI benefits everyone: expanding technological capacity in developing countries, establishing international AI safety standards, and making AI more environmentally sustainable.
For Guterres, human rights must be protected, and human beings must retain ultimate control over every consequential decision.
Pax Silica
China’s initiative stands in sharp contrast to that promoted by the current U.S. administration under the name “Pax Silica”.
The term evokes different historical eras in which the dominant imperial power imposed its own version of peace through strength and power. Under this banner, Washington seeks to build a consensus among allies and trusted partners on artificial intelligence and the security of AI supply chains.
Rather than creating an international organization grounded in multilateral principles, the initiative aims to bring together countries willing to support the development of AI through the technological leadership, control, and commercial advantages of the private technology companies headquartered in the United States.
The name Silica itself is a reference to Silicon Valley in California, home to many of the world’s leading technology firms.
Its leading advocate, Jacob Helberg, the U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment and formerly a prominent executive at Palantir, argues on the official website that the concept of digital sovereignty should be abandoned.
According to Helberg, digital sovereignty is a “backward and counterproductive” concept. He contends that a world in which sovereign nations attempted to build their own AI ecosystems would become “a planet of scaled-down clones, each heroically recreating last year’s breakthroughs while the frontier moves on without them.”
The initiative is clearly at odds with proposals advanced by the United Nations, the Vatican, and, more broadly, with regulatory approaches to digital technologies—including the international organization proposed by Beijing.
Countries joining the initiative commit themselves to:
- promoting joint projects to address both the opportunities and vulnerabilities of AI supply chains, including critical minerals, semiconductor design, manufacturing and packaging, logistics and transportation, computing infrastructure, power grids, and energy generation;
- pursuing new joint ventures and strategic co-investment opportunities;
- protecting sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure from undue access or control by countries considered to pose security concerns;
- building trusted technology ecosystems encompassing ICT systems, fiber-optic networks, data centers, foundation models, and AI applications.
To date, the following countries have joined the initiative:
Argentina, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, the Philippines, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
The European Union and Taiwan have also joined the initiative, despite Taiwan not being recognized as a sovereign state by the United Nations.
In a statement published on the official website on June 26, Helberg welcomed the countries from the Western Hemisphere that had expressed their intention to join Pax Silica: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama.
He outlined what he considers to be each country’s contribution to the initiative, arguing that they:
“…collectively represent a diverse yet complementary set of capabilities—from critical minerals and advanced manufacturing to logistics, infrastructure, and digital services—that underpin global economic security and resilient supply chains.”
According to Helberg:
- Panama possesses one of the world’s largest free-trade zones.
- Costa Rica has an export-oriented economy specializing in precision instruments and semiconductors, supported by a workforce well suited to nearshoring U.S. production.
- Argentina holds some of the world’s largest lithium reserves, along with significant unconventional oil and gas resources, offering long-term opportunities for energy diversification and supply-chain resilience.
- Chile possesses one of the largest lithium reserves on the planet and produces approximately 25 percent of the world’s copper, a critical mineral for electrical infrastructure and semiconductor manufacturing.
- El Salvador is becoming increasingly attractive for light manufacturing and assembly operations, offering U.S. companies a low-cost alternative geographically closer than Asian production hubs.
Simply reading the welcoming statement makes the role envisioned for participating countries unmistakably clear. They are not partners on equal footing but rather suppliers of the products, minerals, and raw materials required by technology companies headquartered in the United States. According to the figures cited by the initiative, these companies already account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s data centers and roughly 75 percent of global computing capacity used to develop, train, and deploy large-scale AI systems.
Initiatives of this kind—already moving beyond proposals into concrete implementation—have led some observers to characterize the emerging model as a form of new colonialism, based on four defining features:
- claiming resources that do not belong to them;
- exploiting extraordinarily large pools of labor;
- controlling the narrative about their activities, particularly regarding the capabilities of their technologies;
- portraying themselves as carrying out a civilizing mission intended to bring progress and modernity to humanity.
A Crossroads
Viewed from a global perspective, these are two fundamentally opposing initiatives—not only in the way they are presented and the institutional models they embrace, but, more importantly, in the approaches they advocate for governing artificial intelligence.
Consistent with its long-standing foreign policy, China seeks either to strengthen existing multilateral institutions—which have frequently been challenged by the United States—or, as in this case, to establish a new international organization while explicitly grounding it in the principles, purposes, and values of the United Nations.
By contrast, the Pax Silica initiative, in line with numerous policy decisions adopted by the current administration in Washington, stands in opposition to the UN—not only with respect to institutional design and governance, but also regarding its underlying principles and orientation. This includes the Global Digital Compact adopted in 2024, whose provisions the U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment has explicitly criticized and opposed.
From a strictly legal standpoint, a country may choose to participate in both initiatives—or in neither, as is currently the case for many states.
Politically, however, the evolution of international affairs is likely to leave progressively less room for equidistance or neutrality. Decisions will increasingly have to be made, and policies increasingly adopted, that align with one initiative while conflicting with the other.