Why in news?

At the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed setting up a BRICS open-source artificial intelligence (AI) community. China offered to support cooperation among member countries on developing and deploying large language models (LLMs), AI training and a common digital cloud platform.

The initiative could widen Beijing's effort to position its AI technology as an alternative to proprietary systems controlled largely by American companies. The proposal has particular relevance for India, which has also pushed for wider access to compute, datasets and AI models for developing countries.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What Xi Proposed?
• What BRICS Actually Agreed To?
• Why China Is Promoting Open AI Models?
• The US-China Divergence in AI
• Where India Fits?

What Xi Proposed?

• Xi said China would take the lead in establishing a "BRICS AI open source community". The proposal has several components:
  • Cooperation on large language models.
  • Specialised AI seminars and training courses.
  • An open ecosystem for AI.
  • A separate BRICS digital ecosystem cloud platform.
  • Expanded cooperation on digital skills, technology exchanges and intelligent manufacturing.
• This builds on China's growing outreach to developing countries. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in July 2026, Xi announced 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities for developing countries over five years.
• He also proposed AI application cooperation centres with groupings including BRICS, ASEAN and the African Union.

What BRICS Actually Agreed To?

• Xi's proposal has not been adopted as a BRICS-wide programme. The New Delhi Declaration issued after the summit does not mention the open-source community or the cloud platform.
• Instead, it:
  • Commits BRICS countries more broadly to cooperation on improving access to AI resources.
  • Emphasises safety, security, reliability and inclusiveness.
  • Refers to an earlier BRICS statement on global AI governance and pledges continued cooperation in this area.
• Since China takes over the BRICS chairship in 2027, it could place these proposals before the grouping again.

Why China Is Promoting Open AI Models?

• The proposal comes as Chinese companies release a growing number of open-weight AI models.
• DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen family of models can be downloaded and run by developers on their own infrastructure, subject to their licences.
• This differs from closed models, which are generally accessed through APIs controlled by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
• China has increasingly linked open AI with access for developing countries. It argues that AI should be more affordable and accessible globally.
• The BRICS proposal would extend this approach into a multilateral grouping spanning large developing economies across Asia, Africa, Latin America and West Asia.

The US-China Divergence in AI

• China's push to widen access to its AI ecosystem coincides with a debate in the United States about how Beijing's progress should shape efforts to regulate or slow advanced AI development.
• The American ecosystem views China as perhaps its biggest competitor.
• As per the analysts:
  • Any US attempt to slow powerful AI systems must account for China's pace of progress.
  • If US companies slowed down while Chinese labs advanced, China could close or reverse the technological gap.
  • A long-term global slowdown of frontier AI would require some form of agreement with China.
  • Such an arrangement would resemble Cold War-era arms-control agreements, with verification being critical, since either side could gain by secretly continuing development.

Where India Fits?

• India and China both aspire to lead the Global South, though Beijing currently holds a clear edge in AI capabilities.
• India has repeatedly called for wider access to AI resources:
  • At the AI Impact Summit earlier this year, the government pushed for broader access to compute, datasets, models and AI infrastructure, especially for developing countries.
  • Through the IndiaAI Mission, India is investing public money in domestic AI capacity, including subsidised compute infrastructure and support for Indian foundation models and datasets.
• Any BRICS initiative on shared models or cloud infrastructure would therefore sit alongside New Delhi's own effort to expand AI access without relying entirely on foreign technology providers.

Unanswered Questions

• For now, there is no formal BRICS open-source AI platform. Xi's announcement remains a Chinese proposal.
• Neither the New Delhi Declaration nor other summit documents specify:
  • Which models would be used;
  • Where common cloud infrastructure would be hosted;
  • How data would be handled;
  • Which countries would participate
• These details will determine how substantial the initiative becomes when China assumes the BRICS chairship in 2027.