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On July 18th, it was learned from the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, that during the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, China's pioneering AI-enabled accelerator-driven advanced nuclear energy system (AIforADANES) technology roadmap was launched globally, and its global innovation alliance was simultaneously unveiled. According to reports, this technology roadmap, by building an intelligent system based on a physical intrinsic world model, pioneers a new paradigm of "data + physical model + expert experience triple-driven," resolving the core contradiction between the "uncontrollable black box" nature of AI and the "zero tolerance for error" in the nuclear industry, filling the technological gap in the global implementation of advanced intelligent nuclear energy.

On July 18th, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), Turing Quantum released QAgent, a quantum-classical hybrid agent platform. This is the world's first quantum-classical hybrid intelligent agent platform based on optical quantum technology and designed for industry-wide deployment. As a landmark achievement of the 2026 Pudong AI Conference, the platform opens up a channel for the industrial application of AI agents and optical quantum computing power. QAgent uses a large language model and intelligent agents as a unified scheduling entry point, relying on its self-developed optical quantum computing system. It deeply integrates a quantum-classical hybrid computing power foundation, the DeepQuantum quantum artificial intelligence programming framework, a full-scenario quantum algorithm library, and industry-specific tools and skills, achieving for the first time an end-to-end closed loop of "natural language input—intelligent task decomposition—quantum agent collaborative invocation—quantum computing power scheduling—result aggregation and output." This signifies that quantum computing is moving from cutting-edge computing power to industry capabilities, and from expert-driven research tools to agent-driven industrial services.

Iran's Ministry of Health: Since June 27, the US attacks have resulted in at least 50 deaths and 500 injuries.

July 18th - The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference will be held from July 17th to 20th. Qianjue Robotics showcased its VTLA (Vision-Tactile-Language-Motion) embodied haptic model, haptic multimodal dataset, core data acquisition equipment, and a haptic sensor hardware matrix. Ma Daolin, founder of Qianjue Robotics, stated that unlike traditional single-vision VLA models, the VTLA model innovatively integrates visual and haptic dual-modal perception information, giving the robot visual recognition and tactile perception capabilities. It can capture physical attributes of objects that cannot be obtained by a single vision device, significantly upgrading the recognition dimensions and detection accuracy.

On July 18th, Sunrate and Mastercard jointly released a white paper, "Beyond Automation: Defining Agent-Driven Global Payments," at WAIC. The report systematically explains how "AI agents" are reshaping the entire B2B cross-border payment chain. In the traditional model, corporate finance departments must manually verify overseas supplier accounts, compare contracts and invoices, select foreign exchange rates, and bear settlement delays exceeding T+2 days. The report points out that AI agents can automatically extract multi-format invoices, match purchase orders, recommend optimal payment routes and exchange windows based on corporate needs, trigger payments within authorized limits after compliance pre-approval, and automatically complete subsequent reconciliation and anomaly flagging, freeing finance personnel from low-value-added operations.

On July 18th, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference's Quantum City Spatial Intelligence Forum held from July 17th to 18th, Shanghai released five core achievements in quantum city spatial intelligence construction, including the first batch of quantum city government intelligent agents and the "Cloud Universe Starry Sky" industry foundation model. It is understood that the first batch of quantum city government intelligent agents released includes the "Yuzhi Heluo" flood control intelligent agent, the "Beautiful Life in Your Hand" intelligent agent, and the "Shanghai-style Jiangnan Tour" intelligent agent.

On July 18th, Ren Zeping was embroiled in controversy again. It is reported that his team disbanded the VIP group chat this week. An assistant from Ren Zeping's team stated that the group chat was disbanded because "it was discovered that someone was using our group to send fraudulent links and privately create groups to post inappropriate information. To ensure everyone's safety, we will no longer use the group for information notifications." Course registration and membership benefits will continue as normal. Third-party platform data shows that since the beginning of this year alone, Ren Zeping's paid knowledge courses on his platform have sold between 20,000 and 100,000 units. The top five courses are all part of the 2980 RMB annual membership, with over 8800 units sold. Based on the listed price, this revenue alone is conservatively estimated to be over 26.22 million RMB. Currently, this membership service is still available for purchase on platforms such as WeChat Mini Programs.

On July 18th, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), NetEase Youdao publicly showcased its Youdao OpenPods for the first time. The device supports real-time simultaneous interpretation in over ten languages and features recording transcription, automatic generation of structured minutes, and mind maps. It is understood that the earphones are already in mass production and are expected to be officially launched in August. Youdao stated that OpenPods will be exported in the future.

On July 18th, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, renowned futurist and "father of the Silicon Valley spirit," Kevin Kelly, stated in a media interview that if one day everyone starts to care about the cost of tokens, the existence of open-source models will be an advantage for Chinese AI. Kelly mentioned that the cost of token consumption is becoming increasingly important, while currently, people don't seem to care about the cost. "But I think that when we are constantly consuming such a huge amount of tokens, people will become concerned (about the cost). If you can provide a model with a cost that is only one-tenth of Anthropic's, then it will be a game-changer." However, Kelly also cautioned that the open-source model requires sufficient funding to operate, as it is not as profitable as the closed-source model. "Building these large models requires a huge amount of capital."

A spokesperson for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense stated that since early this morning, the armed forces have detected enemy ballistic missiles and drones in Kuwaiti airspace and have intercepted and dealt with them. Iranian attacks continue to target multiple military and security facilities in Kuwait, as well as several critical infrastructure and civilian facilities. The attacks affected facilities in the oil and power sectors, causing fires and significant damage.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that in the first half of 2026, the Ukrainian military signed drone contracts totaling approximately $7.5 billion, double the total for the previous year. FPV drones accounted for the largest share of these contracts.

The China Earthquake Networks Center officially reported that a 5.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in Tajikistan (37.70°N, 72.55°E) at 18:36 on July 18, with a focal depth of 140 kilometers.

According to Iran's Labour News Agency (ILNA), the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament stated that the most urgent task is for the Israeli regime to completely withdraw its troops from Lebanese territory and end the occupation.

On July 18, Chen Jining, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPC, met with Richard Sutton, Turing Award laureate and Chief Scientist of Openmind Research Institute, who was in Shanghai to attend the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence. Chen Jining introduced the development of artificial intelligence in Shanghai. He said that artificial intelligence is one of the three leading industries that Shanghai is focusing on developing. Adhering to the people-centered and benevolent principles, Shanghai maintains strategic agility and perseveres, focusing on strengthening basic research, cultivating and optimizing the innovation ecosystem, and accelerating the construction of a high ground for artificial intelligence development and governance innovation. Mr. Sutton is a renowned scholar in the field of artificial intelligence. He welcomed him to seize this rare historical opportunity to more closely integrate his research advantages with Shanghai's innovation advantages, talent advantages, and ecosystem advantages, and to deepen communication, cooperation, and open collaboration in strengthening basic research and talent exchange and training, so that this cutting-edge technology can better benefit human society. Shanghai will continue to create an open and inclusive innovation ecosystem, provide efficient and convenient matching services, and better support global scientists and talents to innovate, start businesses, and achieve their dreams in Shanghai.

On July 18, Kuwait Oil Company (KOL) stated in a press release that a "critical" facility was subjected to multiple fierce attacks by Iran, resulting in multiple casualties and significant damage. The injured have received medical treatment, and the facility has been evacuated. KOL is coordinating with relevant departments to respond to the attack. The press release did not specify the exact location of the attacked facility.

According to the Kuwait News Agency, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) stated that an Iranian attack damaged an oil facility, resulting in injuries and significant property damage.

According to the Jordanian National News Agency, Jordan intercepted and shot down four drones that had violated its airspace.

On July 18, 2026, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, met with Dominica's Foreign Minister Henderson in Shanghai. Henderson was in China to attend the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Wang Yi welcomed Henderson's special trip to China for the conference and emphasized that China does not want a new "intelligent divide" to emerge beyond the existing global wealth gap. He stressed that every country, regardless of size, has the right to economic development and technological progress, and that artificial intelligence should be positive, inclusive, and beneficial to humanity. China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with developing countries, including Dominica, within the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization to promote the organization's effectiveness and strength, contribute to the development of the Global South, and play a role in human progress.

Market news: The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has signed two supplementary agreements with Chevron (CVX.N) to develop oil fields and energy infrastructure.