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Editor's note: Ankit Prasad is a CGTN biz commentator. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

As this year's annual Boao Forum for Asia conference kicks off in Hainan, China, it is presented with the unprecedented opportunity to weigh the big uncertainty factor of the day against the grand disruptive force of our times. The corner of uncertainty is represented by the geopolitical turbulence and tariff turmoil triggered by the US administration under Donald Trump, while the great disruptor is, of course, technological innovation represented chiefly by the advent of commercial-scale AI.

What accentuates the unique situation that has befallen the "Davos of the East" is the fact that the Asia-focused conference comes at a time when the continent increasingly holds the keys to the global growth engine, and has also got a powerful foothold in the AI realm. The "DeepSeek moment", which is one of the "official" buzzwords listed in the Boao Forum's Conference Journal released on Tuesday, occurred merely a fortnight after the WEF 2025 in Davos and Trump's swearing-in, and has inspired a nascent democratization of AI as it is both open-source and uses a lower quantum of compute than was previously thought.