Connecting the World, Cultivating the Future

Artificial intelligence (AI), as a strategic technology leading a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, is profoundly changing the way humans produce and live. Digital technologies, particularly those centered on AI, hold immense potential for advancing inclusive, equitable, and quality education, as well as promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. These technologies are transforming the educational landscape and accelerating the global transition toward smart education. As the world confronts various challenges in peace and development, the World Digital Education Conference calls on the international community to unite in embracing this new era, setting new standards, and innovating pathways forward. The conference seeks to fast-track the implementation of the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future’s Global Digital Compact, advance progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education within the 2030 Agenda, and foster the development of an international digital education community characterized by innovation, security, and inclusivity.

To achieve these goals, the conference proposes the following:

1. Build Digital Education Standards and Foster Platform Interconnectivity

We advocate for the establishment of a multilateral and collaborative governance system for digital education, leveraging partnerships with organizations such as UNESCO. This includes developing an international framework for digital education standards; creating cross-border recognition systems; and promoting global interconnectivity in smart education.

Efforts should be intensified to develop specialized large-scale educational models, integrating AI into educational scenarios to drive innovation. Exploration of new educational spaces—such as future schools, classrooms, and learning centers—should be encouraged. Additionally, cross-border systems for building teaching capabilities in smart education should be prioritized, alongside collaborative efforts to develop the teaching workforce of the future and to promote AI education in all school grades and in social general education. Innovative talent cultivation models must be introduced to enhance the digital literacy of citizens, and prepare high-level, multidisciplinary digital talent for the intelligent era.

2. Share Quality Education Resources and Promote Factor Exchange

We call for the joint development of multilingual, cross-cultural, and highly adaptable shared resource repositories. Expanding the membership of the World Digital Education Alliance is encouraged to facilitate the widespread and consistent use of digital textbooks, intelligent assistants, and digital profiling tools.

Collaborative human-machine approaches to creating high-quality digital resources should be explored, with a focus on improving intelligent education products, tools, services, and supervision. Efforts should be made to enhance the accessibility of digital education and assist developing countries in promoting education digitization.

3. Promote Smart Transformation in Education and Foster Experience Sharing

We call for extensive international cooperation in AI education to bridge the global intelligence divide. We propose the creation of open-access corpora, open-source models, and shared computational resources to build a collaborative technological service system. Through open-source collaboration, breakthroughs in common technologies for digital education should be pursued.

Collaborative innovation ecosystems for research and development must be constructed. Joint initiatives should focus on establishing platforms for smart education innovation and experimentation, as well as demonstration zones. Conducting joint innovative experiments in smart education and identifying effective practices for applying frontier technologies such as AI and big data in education. A regular mechanism for sharing experiences should be established to provide global technical solutions and practical guidelines for educational transformation.

4. Safeguard AI Security and Enhance Connectivity in Shared Values

We emphasize the importance of adhering to the idea of a shared future by prioritizing ethics and a people-centered approach in the development and application of AI. Collaborative efforts should focus on establishing and improving ethical guidelines, standards, and accountability mechanisms for AI applications in education. These measures will ensure the safe, responsible, and equitable use of AI in education.

By addressing these critical areas, the international community can advance collective efforts to harness the transformative potential of digital technologies, ensuring an inclusive, innovative, and secure future for global education.