World Bank Report Urges Developing Nations to Adopt AI to Accelerate Growth

The World Bank has stated that artificial intelligence could allow developing countries to achieve a century of development within a decade if they quickly address gaps in skills, connectivity, and power. In the annual World Development Report, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill described AI as a lifeline that emerging economies should seize. Gill noted that these nations do not require vast resources, bespoke large language models, or big data centers to benefit. Instead, they can adapt small, low cost AI tools to local conditions to improve services in agriculture, education, health, and justice.

According to the report, generative AI poses a lower threat of job loss in low and middle income countries, where 4.5 percent of jobs are exposed, compared to 14.2 percent in rich countries. The report suggests that the share of jobs benefiting from productivity gains is similar across both developing and high income economies. However, the World Bank warned that AI could lead to political repression, stealthier misinformation, and greater income inequality. It also noted that advanced AI models developed in China and the United States require massive amounts of water and electricity, which has implications for climate change.

To realize these gains, the report says governments must expand access to computing devices, smartphones, and the internet while improving electricity access. Gill emphasized that developing economies cannot afford to miss this revolution, as they spent two centuries paying the price for missing the first Industrial Revolution. While a center left source focused on the specific productivity percentages and the potential for a 4 percent boost to Sub Saharan Africa, a center right source highlighted the current weak growth performance of developing economies and the environmental costs of large scale AI infrastructure.