What is AI's true mission? Insights from Daniel Kammen

"I began collaborating with China in the late 1980s. Shanghai has long been one of the country's leading centers for technological innovation, and the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) has become an important global platform for AI collaboration." During the 2026 WAIC, Daniel Kammen, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, reflected on China's remarkable innovation-driven growth and spoke highly of the country's AI ecosystem and the role of WAIC in an interview.

A physicist whose research has long focused on energy, climate change, and sustainable development, Kammen brought an interdisciplinary perspective to WAIC. Discussing WAIC Academic, a new platform introduced this year, he emphasized that AI's future depends on collaboration across disciplines. "AI can no longer advance through the efforts of computer scientists alone," he said. "The most important breakthroughs will come from collaboration among different fields. Climate scientists, energy experts, biologists, and social scientists all have a role to play in shaping AI. WAIC's ability to bring together people from such diverse disciplines is itself a valuable innovation."

"In the future, AI developers, engineers, businesses, researchers, and the people applying cutting-edge technologies should all be sitting at the same table to discuss where AI is headed," Kammen said. He noted that the growing participation of scientists outside traditional AI disciplines reminds him of the Chinese science fiction novel "The Three-Body Problem." "In the novel, what ultimately shapes the future is not who possesses the most advanced technology, but who can best use science to serve society."

In Kammen's view, the key challenge today is no longer simply how to develop more powerful AI, but how to ensure AI evolves in a way that is more equitable and inclusive, ultimately serving human well-being and advancing the vision of AI for Good.

Asked which areas AI should prioritize, Kammen offered a clear answer: climate change, environmental pollution, and poverty remain the world's most pressing challenges, and AI's foremost mission should be to deliver practical solutions to these problems.

"Can we use AI to improve the lives of people living in poverty, women, and minority communities? Can we make the planet healthier? The real question is not how much energy AI consumes, but how we ultimately choose to use it." Kammen also called for bolder thinking on AI governance, urging policymakers and innovators to harness AI to protect the planet, oceans, and atmosphere, attract greater investment to underdeveloped regions, and expand equitable access to education. "These challenges are not unique to China," he said. "They exist in Africa, the United States, and around the world."