China's Xi Urges Countries Unite in Tackling AI Challenges

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a ceremony to welcome participants of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 17, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a ceremony to welcome participants of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 17, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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China's Xi Urges Countries Unite in Tackling AI Challenges

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a ceremony to welcome participants of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 17, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a ceremony to welcome participants of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, October 17, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Savostyanov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that potential risks associated with artificial intelligence are challenges that countries should deal with together.

Xi’s prerecorded speech was broadcast at the opening of the World Internet Conference Summit in the eastern city of Wuzhen.

He called for common security in cyberspace instead of confrontation. He said China would work with other countries to address risks brought by the development of AI and expressed his objections to “cyberspace hegemony.”

China is ready to “promote the safe development of AI,” he said, with the implementation of the Global AI Governance Initiative, a proposal launched by the Chinese government last month calling for an open and fair environment for AI development.

Li Shulei, director of the Communist Party’s publicity department, echoed Xi’s remarks at the conference, saying China would work with other countries to “improve the safety, reliability, controllability and fairness of artificial intelligence technology.”



Iran Complains to UN Nuclear Watchdog about Israeli Threats against Its Nuclear Sites

People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
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Iran Complains to UN Nuclear Watchdog about Israeli Threats against Its Nuclear Sites

People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
People walk through the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)

Iran has written to the UN nuclear watchdog to complain about Israeli threats to strike its atomic energy sites, its foreign ministry spokesman said at a weekly news conference on Monday.

Israel has vowed to attack Iran in retaliation for a volley of Iranian missiles on Oct. 1, stirring widespread speculation that Iranian nuclear sites could be among the targets.

"Threats to attack nuclear sites are against UN resolutions.... and are condemned ... We have sent a letter about it to ... the UN nuclear watchdog," ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told the televised news conference.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel would listen to key ally the United States regarding a response to Iran's missile attack but would decide its actions according to its own national interest.

His statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil sites.

Baghaei, responding to a question about the possibility of Iran changing its official nuclear doctrine, said "weapons of mass destruction have no place in our policy". Tehran would decide on how and when to respond to any Israeli attack.

Iran has repeatedly denied Western accusations that it has covertly sought to develop nuclear bombs in violation of its commitment to the global Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran fired scores of missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip - the second Iranian missile attack on Israel this year. Israel responded to the first missile volley in April with an airstrike on an air defense site in central Iran.