The US and China have formed rival AI alliances. Now, countries worldwide face pressure to pick a side or fall behind. Pakistan has already joined China’s bloc as one of 29 founding members of the World AI Cooperation Organization, or WAICO.
The US-led group, called Pax Silica, offers advanced chips, AI technology, and manufacturing partnerships. However, Washington has made clear that it only accepts trusted partners. The State Department recently warned that no country can join Pax Silica while supporting China’s competing AI initiatives.
Meanwhile, China’s WAICO positions itself as open and inclusive. The group counts Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and 26 other nations as founding members. Beijing frames the initiative around open-source AI systems and affordable technology for developing countries. In addition, the Chinese embassy in Washington stated that major countries should not control AI.
Many countries now try to balance between the two blocs. For example, Kazakhstan joined Pax Silica in June and signed with WAICO just three weeks later in Shanghai. Kazakhstan has critical minerals and cheap electricity for data centers. It also has a $10B NVIDIA deal to build a data center valley.
Similarly, Indonesia joined WAICO while seeking US ties, and Singapore is also considering WAICO membership. On top of that, Saudi Arabia’s AI startup Humain unveiled a new AI platform in September. The platform runs on a Chinese open-source model, even though the kingdom holds a chip deal with NVIDIA.
The stakes are high. Trump recently declared that whoever wins AI wins. Furthermore, his administration uses the term super intelligence to describe advanced AI. US officials also accuse China of extracting capabilities from American AI models through a process called distillation.
China has already funded AI-related projects in at least 77 low and middle-income countries. Top recipients include Nigeria, Zambia, Ghana, Bangladesh, Senegal, and Kenya. Therefore, Beijing continues to expand its influence while Washington tightens its circle of trusted allies.
