China's Central Role in Addressing Global Challenges

When Stephen Jackson first visited China in 1993, the broad avenues in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing were full of black bicycles. Today, those same avenues are filled with black electric vehicles. The color may be the same; everything else has changed. "That's an extraordinary transformation which is unbelievable," he says.

Jackson, who took office as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China on April 1, 2026, brings more than 30 years of experience in international development, peacebuilding and humanitarian affairs to the position. In conversation, he is warm, measured, and quietly thoughtful. He listens before he speaks.

An unconventional path

Jackson, who holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Trinity College Dublin, followed by a master's in public affairs and a doctorate in cultural anthropology from Princeton University, wanted to work in artificial intelligence (AI) as a teenager. "But I was born too early," he says. "I grew up in what has now become known as the AI winter."

He studied mathematics with that ambition, but felt it was a dead end. Instead, he turned to anthropology, a discipline that allowed him "to think about what it is to be human and how human beings relate to one another rather than AIs."

This dual perspective has given him "a rather unusual way of looking at the world." He describes himself as "not an expert, but at least a qualified amateur" in AI discussions. When he hears terms like "large language model" or learns that AI models are doubling in density every three months, he says, "It kind of scares me as well as excites me."

His career has taken him to some of the world's most difficult places. At 25, he worked in Somalia; at 27, in Rwanda. He witnessed genocide firsthand, lost friends and colleagues, and heard sounds at night that he hopes never to hear again. "Psychologically, to be in the middle of that and to know actually how little you could do was very difficult."

Those years shaped him. From those experiences, he drew a lasting lesson: "There is something very distinct about being a human. I think to be human is a very precious thing."

A fascinating country at a fascinating moment

Before coming to China, people around him told him he was going to "a fascinating country at a fascinating moment." Now, having arrived, he agrees wholeheartedly. "This is the country that is amongst the world leaders, if not the world leader in AI now, and certainly in embodied intelligence."

He had followed China's technological rise from a distance. But seeing it in person "is a different matter." He saw a three-dimensional display rotating ancient artifacts, a robot performing reconstructive bone surgery, and video technology that turns a person's speech into a dragon, a spaceman, or an alien. He admits to feeling both astonishment and a sense that technology is changing so fast that it makes one wonder whether the world can keep up.

Jackson raises a fundamental question: "What does it mean if we are creating AIs?"

Technology for global good

For him, the potential of AI to accelerate progress toward the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals is immense. "There isn't a single goal that can't be assisted through AI," he says, from eliminating poverty and hunger to combating climate change and promoting gender equality.

He points to concrete examples. AI is building better predictive models for agriculture as seasons become less predictable. After the recent earthquakes in Venezuela, China provided satellite imagery to the quake zones for disaster response operations. "Speaking as a former humanitarian aid worker, I think that is absolutely extraordinary." Yet Jackson is equally clear about the risks. AI can widen divides between countries and within them.

On global AI governance, he sees the UN as the essential platform for all 193 member states to discuss common challenges. And he sees China as a vital partner. China's commitment to finding the right balance between innovation, inclusion, sustainability, and safety, he says, is "very, very valuable."

What remains constant

Despite the breathtaking transformation he has witnessed, Jackson notes that some things have not changed. "The energy and determination of the Chinese people and their warmth," he observes, "those two things haven't changed." It is these qualities, he believes, that have transformed China and are now helping to transform the world.

His Chinese name, Jie Si Heng, reflects his vision: Jie means excellence, Si means reflection, Heng means balance. These three characters, he explains, are not only his name but also his vision for this role: to pursue balance through reflection, achieve excellence through cooperation, and work side by side with China for sustainable development at home and around the world.

To China's young innovators, he offers a final piece of advice: Read and think about what it means to be human, not just about what you can build in a lab. It is a message that reflects his own journey, from mathematics to anthropology, from AI to the enduring question of what it truly means to be human.

Source: Science and Technology Daily