Between the gravel and the light and shadow of the murals in the Mogao Caves, a global dialogue about copyright in the era of digital intelligence quietly unfolds. When algorithms begin to imitate human brushstrokes, when the millennium cultural context enters the digital torrent, copyright is no longer just a legal provision, but an invisible thread that connects the roots of civilization with future imagination, re knotted, continued, and traveled in Dunhuang.

The 2026 International Copyright Forum, jointly hosted by the National Copyright Administration of China and the World Intellectual Property Organization, was recently held in Dunhuang, Gansu. With the theme of copyright and creative industries in the digital intelligence era - protecting cultural heritage, enabling innovation and creation, the forum relies on copyright to connect traditional context and future development, help build cultural exchanges along the the Belt and Road, promote the quality improvement of creative industries, activate cultural heritage, and attract officials and intellectual property experts from many countries to attend the meeting.

Practice of Copyright Governance in Egypt

Hesham Azmi, Director of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Office, delivered a keynote speech introducing Egypt's governance approach of balancing technological innovation and creator rights. Egypt regards intellectual property as an important lever to safeguard the roots of civilization, steadily promoting the implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy (2022-2027), continuously improving the legal system of intellectual property, and cultivating the awareness of copyright protection throughout society.

Discuss international rules for AI copyright

In response to the copyright challenges posed by artificial intelligence, Azmi calls for the establishment of a balanced international regulatory framework and the strengthening of cross-border collaboration around issues such as the use of AI training data and licensing compensation. He proposed that developing countries should actively participate in global copyright governance, take into account the digital development gap among countries, and create a fair development environment.

Promote multicultural and inclusive development

Azmi proposed to enhance the coverage of Arabic in the AI ecosystem and ensure that multilingual culture is not overlooked in technological development. He emphasized that artificial intelligence should serve human creativity, empower creative output with technology, and safeguard human cultural heritage. Keywords: artificial intelligence, China Egypt cooperation, the Belt and Road news

During the forum, the copyright departments of China and Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation. Both parties will deepen mutual learning in the field of copyright and collaborate to address new digital challenges. This cooperation is an extension of China Egypt friendship in the field of intellectual property rights, and also a new practice of people to people and cultural cooperation under the framework of the the Belt and Road Initiative. It will build a new platform for digital cultural innovation and copyright protection cooperation between the two countries, and help cultural heritage protection and high-quality development of creative industries.Editor/Gong Ziwei