SHANGHAI: Chinese tech companies, from industry giants to ambitious startups, converged at the World AI Conference in Shanghai this week to showcase their latest innovations and express strong support for the country's artificial intelligence sector despite U.S. sanctions.

More than 150 AI-related products and solutions are being exhibited, with a small number of foreign firms like Tesla and Qualcomm joining the predominantly Chinese lineup.

One notable innovation is SenseTime's SenseNova 5.5, its most advanced large language model, aiming to rival OpenAI's GPT-4.

Executives like Zhang Ping'an of Huawei and Liu Qingfeng of Iflytek expressed confidence in overcoming challenges posed by U.S. sanctions and emphasized the need for innovation in areas like cloud computing.

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, urged the industry to focus on AI adoption rather than just developing large language models.