The Shanghai Lightshow for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2026

The skyline of modern Shanghai is something of a wonder – it’s like a mix of Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell and The Fifth Element combined, even though that fairly lazy simile doesn’t do it justice (I shouldn’t really imagine the present using yesterday’s science fiction – it’s there in front of me). Yet although this is one of the most striking cityscapes on the planet by day, when the sun sets the city comes to iridescent life, with lights reflecting across the Huangpu river. For visitors to this year’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), the nightly light show that the city offers to inhabitants and visitors alike was given a further boost with a sequence of dazzling synchronised projections and animations which were designed to celebrate and showcase innovation and technology. So, there is an extra layer of spectacle on top of what is already seen each evening. The phrase that kept coming into my mind as I watched this film of the lightshow by LaLin Photography was…