World Bank says developing nations have more to gain from AI than rich ones

The World Bank on Tuesday warned that developing countries face a narrow window to harness artificial intelligence or risk being left behind, releasing its annual World Development Report with a call for urgent action on infrastructure and policy.

"AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they should seize it," said Indermit Gill, the World Bank's chief economist, in a statement accompanying the report. The report, which the bank described as a "first comprehensive assessment" of AI's potential impact on the 6.8 billion people living in developing economies, concluded that emerging nations have "more to gain—and less to fear—from AI than richer ones."marketscreener+1

A Century of Progress in a Decade

The World Bank said AI could enable developing countries to achieve in a decade what would otherwise take a century, provided governments act now to close gaps in electricity, internet connectivity and digital skills. The report found that generative AI threatens just 4.5 percent of jobs in low- and middle-income countries, compared with 14.2 percent in rich nations. Meanwhile, the share of jobs expected to benefit from productivity gains is nearly equal: 16.2 percent in developing economies versus 18.7 percent in high-income countries.thenationalnews+2

Gill stressed that emerging economies do not need massive data centers or large language models to benefit. "By adapting small, low-cost AI tools to local conditions, they can bring better medical care, education, judicial services and agricultural extension within reach of millions," he said.reuters

Risks and Dependencies

The report cautioned that AI could also bring "greater income inequality, stealthier misinformation, and political repression" if poorly managed. It also flagged the risk of technological dependence, noting that the world's most advanced AI systems are controlled by a small number of companies, mainly in the United States and China.marketscreener+1

Rather than replicating the AI supply chain, the World Bank recommended that developing countries buy models and cloud services from multiple providers to avoid excessive reliance on any single nation. Gaurav Nayyar, co-author of the report, pointed to the UAE and Saudi Arabia as examples of economies advancing from AI adoption to frontier development, noting that models trained on local languages and dialects are outperforming some global models in those contexts.thenationalnews+1

The Cost of Inaction

Developing economies are currently experiencing their weakest average growth in three decades. The World Bank framed the stakes in historical terms: "Today's developing economies missed the first Industrial Revolution and spent the next two centuries paying the price," Gill said. "They cannot afford to miss this one."news.rthk+1