Internet conference eyes new development empowered by digital, AI technologies

The 2026 China Internet Conference opens at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, July 8, 2026. [Photo by Liu Sitong/China.org.cn]

The 2026 China Internet Conference opened at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on July 8, with the theme of empowering new development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period through digital and AI strengths. 

At the opening ceremony, Wu Hequan, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, delivered a speech by video on AI-native solutions reshaping the internet, stressing the need to enhance "AI for network" and "network for AI" capacities to mutually reinforce each other. 

Wu predicted that as AI-native develops, internet enterprises will transform into computing power providers, model providers, agent developers and data service providers, and that internet and AI enterprises will develop along their own paths while deepening cooperation to tap the AI-native market.

A ceremony to officially launch a program to broaden application of the FlagOS system is held at the 2026 China Internet Conference at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, July 8, 2026. [Photo by Liu Sitong/China.org.cn]

Huang Tiejun, co-founder of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI), introduced a program to broaden the application of BAAI's FlagOS, an intelligent computing cluster operating system for large models supporting heterogeneous computing power seen as the integrated open-source infrastructure for AI computing. 

Huang said a more open system is required for smart computing and will promote further innovation through AI technologies. Basic software such as FlagOS will effectively address the fragmentation of computing powers, incompatibility of multiple chips and high costs for model transfers, he added. 

The program to broaden the application of the FlagOS was initiated by the Internet Society of China, the organizer of the conference, and the BAAI, along with other research institutions and leading internet and AI enterprises, and was officially launched at the opening ceremony of the conference. 

Li Huidi, deputy general manager of China Mobile, said that AI technologies are profoundly shaping ways of production and living, and have opened more opportunities for telecom operators to expand. The 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) will see the rapid development of the internet of agents as AI technologies deeply integrate with the telecommunications sector, Li added. 

Qiu Baohua, deputy general manager of China Telecom, pointed out that a new token-based business paradigm is taking shape, and the company aims to build an integrated computing network to produce tokens cost-efficiently. 

Wang Lei, vice president of Huawei Technologies, said the token economy will be the biggest certainty in the uncertain future and the company hopes to build the new infrastructure for the computing network together with business partners to enhance the intelligence level of the internet.