“China stresses that artificial intelligence should not be an exclusive privilege of a small number of countries. AI should be developed for good and for all. This is of great significance for building a fair and equitable global AI governance system,” Christos Petrocheilos, CEO of Greek technology company KIEFER, said in a recent interview with our reporter. He noted that while achieving rapid advances in AI technology, China has also actively promoted global AI governance, acting as a responsible major country.

In recent years, KIEFER has developed in-depth cooperation with Chinese companies, bringing a range of advanced humanoid and quadruped robots to Europe and successfully deploying them in diverse scenarios including photovoltaic power plants, high-voltage substations, automated logistics and emergency rescue. “China not only has advanced information technology and manufacturing industrial chains; it has also demonstrated openness and a willingness to share technology and innovation with us,” Petrocheilos said. He added that most of the technology and R&D behind the company’s software applications stems from cooperation with Chinese researchers.

Petrocheilos cited the use of embodied intelligence for automated pile-position setting-out at photovoltaic power plants as an example. In the construction of a conventional utility-scale photovoltaic plant of around 100 MW, survey teams must manually mark as many as 7,000 pile positions one by one, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that is highly susceptible to terrain and weather conditions. KIEFER introduced a Chinese wheel-track quadruped robot, extensively customized it, and developed specialized applications. “This new ‘co-worker,’ equipped with a robotic arm and precision compensation algorithms, has now been fully deployed on photovoltaic projects. It compresses several days of work into just a few hours, can operate around the clock, and keeps pile-marking errors within 2 to 3 centimeters,” Petrocheilos said. He described it as a vivid example of Chinese robotic hardware being deeply integrated with local software to support the upgrading of traditional infrastructure.

In 2025, KIEFER launched the development of an AI Factory designed to integrate artificial intelligence, computing power and clean energy within a single industrial ecosystem. Petrocheilos said that robot ecosystems developed by Chinese partners such as Unitree Robotics have significantly lowered the barriers to further application development, while Alibaba’s open-source Qwen large language models, with strong multilingual and multimodal capabilities, create favorable conditions for adapting AI to Greek industries. These companies have built efficient feedback loops linking R&D, manufacturing and real-world deployment, enabling rapid progression from prototypes to mass production with continuous iteration. Focusing on technology safety, operational safety and cyber-security, KIEFER connects Chinese innovative technologies with European engineering standards through localization, validation under real operating conditions and comprehensive operations and maintenance support, thereby combining the strengths of both sides and creating additional value. “The core value of this cooperation is that it greatly shortens development cycles, allowing Greek and other European companies to focus their resources on safety and compliance, application innovation and deepening industry expertise,” Petrocheilos said.

Petrocheilos said China brings a pragmatic approach to global governance, strong technological capabilities, an increasingly open cooperation ecosystem and a willingness to share experience, while Europe has a sound institutional system and a risk-based regulatory framework, and the United Nations can provide an inclusive platform for small and medium-sized countries and developing countries. “Only by combining these strengths organically, rather than retreating into geopolitical self-isolation, can global AI governance advance toward institution-building and infrastructure sharing,” he said.

“Looking ahead, I hope Greece-China cooperation will enter a new stage featuring joint R&D, localized adaptation, knowledge sharing and value creation,” Petrocheilos said. He added that KIEFER will work with Chinese partners to shape trustworthy technologies, cultivate highly skilled teams and create solutions that can be deployed globally. The company will also continue to serve as a bridge, helping more Chinese frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence find wider application in Greece and other European markets and contributing to a new blueprint for global AI development.