The Shanghai-based World Laureates Foundation has proposed establishing the World Laureates Organization to further strengthen global research collaboration among scientists, with the initiative unveiled at the 2026 World Laureates Forum, which concluded in Shanghai on Nov 1.

The initiative calls for promoting cross-border collaboration and reciprocal research visits, while committing to making human wellbeing the ultimate measure of scientific breakthroughs.

"The WLO will neither replace existing international organizations nor pursue size for its own sake. It is created to build lasting connections among scientists and help the young generation have their voices heard," said Efim Zelmanov, a Russian-American mathematician and the 1994 Fields Medal laureate, as he outlined the initiative at the forum and called on scientists worldwide to join.

Wu Xiaohua, chairman of the WLF, said the WLO should serve as a platform that connects scientists and promotes open science. "Sticking to the idea of open science, the organization is expected to promote basic science and the translation of innovations, launch international big science projects, and help international scientific organizations take root in cutting-edge, unexplored fields," he said.

Despite what Zelmanov described as a challenging time for international collaboration, this year's forum brought together 33 recipients of prestigious international science awards in Shanghai to explore what questions scientists should ask and what breakthroughs they might achieve over the next decade.

The participants included Nobel laureates, Turing Award winners, Wolf Prize recipients and Fields Medal winners, as well as 23 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 139 senior scientists.

Since its inaugural edition in 2018, the forum has attracted scientists from more than 30 countries and regions. The forum has welcomed Nobel Prize winners more than 800 times over the years and hosted more than 600 high-level dialogue sessions.

The initiative also highlights the importance of creating more opportunities for young people, including through the development of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and support young people ranging from high school students to lab researchers.

This year, the forum introduced an award for young scientists for the first time, while young researchers accounted for nearly one-third of all participants.

Several prominent scientists also discussed how artificial intelligence is expected to reshape scientific research in the foreseeable future, particularly for the next generation of researchers.

A survey initiated by Elsevier, a major scientific publishing group, and other institutions on AI use among Chinese doctoral students, found that their need for the technology has expanded beyond basic tasks such as literature searches and knowledge organization to include research topic selection, theoretical exploration and research design.

More than 83 percent of respondents in fields including medicine, engineering and physics said they believed AI would become a significant force in generating new knowledge over the next two to three years.

The findings suggest that doctoral students' expectations of AI extend beyond improving research efficiency to include providing deeper support for developing research capabilities and advancing scientific exploration.

Experts said that in the AI era, the ability to identify scientific problems, critically evaluate evidence and make independent judgments would be essential competencies for young researchers.

"AI will help humans concentrate on finding truly new directions and coming up with entirely new ideas," said Ingrid Daubechies, the winner of the 2026 World Laureates Foundation Prize in Computer Science or Mathematics.