Yin Qi delivered a keynote speech at the main forum of the WAIC 2026 opening ceremony: When agents enter the physical world

The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026) officially opened on July 17. As a top-tier global event in the field of artificial intelligence, this year's conference is themed "Intelligent Partners, Co-creating the Future." Yin Qi, Chairman of StepFun and Chairman of Qianli Technology, attended the opening ceremony as a special guest and delivered a keynote speech titled "When Agents Enter the Physical World" at the main forum (morning session). Reflecting on his 15-year journey in AI entrepreneurship, he stated that AI entrepreneurship has evolved from a niche track to a global consensus. Today's AI researchers and entrepreneurs stand on the shoulders of generations of scientists who have continuously explored, and benefit from the industrial accumulation in information technology, mobile internet, cloud computing, semiconductors, and new energy. It is an immense privilege to participate in this era-defining transformation.

Yin Qi predicts that in 2026, model capabilities are crossing a critical threshold. AI has advanced from being able to execute tasks continuously for only a few seconds to working independently for dozens of hours. The industry stands at the foothills of the AGI peak. Following natural language, programming is becoming an important benchmark for measuring AI capability leaps. As agent models accelerate integration with next-generation terminal products, intelligence is moving from digital screens to the real physical world. Agents will evolve from chat tools into the smallest units of productivity capable of perceiving, deciding, and executing tasks. In the future, engineers, designers, researchers, and others will all have their own exclusive agents, enabling one person to possess the capabilities of an entire team.

Yin Qi pointed out that the wave of agents will drive three major structural changes: new systems, new carriers, and new networks. At the system level, agent capabilities are jointly determined by model capabilities and agent operating system capabilities. Agentic OS connects models with data, tools, interfaces, and devices, determining how far an agent can "go." At the carrier level, terminal design philosophy will further shift from "human-centric" to "human-machine symbiosis." Computers, phones, cars, and robots will become different "bodies" for the same agent in different scenarios, supporting continuous presence, free migration, and collaborative task execution across terminals. At the network level, A2A networks will connect humans and agents. Agents will possess their own identities, capabilities, and credit, autonomously seeking partners, organizing collaboration, and completing transactions, becoming crucial infrastructure for the agent economy.

Yin Qi also emphasized that the entry of agents into the real world brings not only capability leaps but also order reconstruction. The industry needs to collectively answer questions such as who agents act on behalf of, who is responsible for the consequences of their actions, and how to ensure credible identity, controllable permissions, and traceable behavior. They must also explore new technical systems, governance mechanisms, and social contracts. He stated that the future is not a world where machines replace humans, but a world where humans and intelligence co-evolve. When agents enter the physical world, every individual's potential will be amplified tenfold!