KATHMANDU: The World Bank has urged developing countries to rapidly adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public services and accelerate economic growth, warning that those failing to embrace the technology risk falling further behind.
Launching its annual World Development Report on Tuesday, World Bank Group Chief Economist Indermit Gill said AI offers a “lifeline” for developing economies and can transform sectors including healthcare, education, justice and agriculture through low-cost, locally adapted solutions.
Gill said countries do not need to build massive AI models or expensive data centers to benefit, but should instead focus on tailoring AI tools to local needs.
The report comes as developing economies face their weakest average growth in three decades. The World Bank said AI could significantly boost economic performance before the end of the decade by expanding access to essential services for billions of people who currently lack affordable healthcare, legal assistance, education and agricultural support.
The report recommends that governments invest in electricity infrastructure, expand access to computing power, improve local data availability and begin deploying localized AI solutions immediately. It also highlights successful applications, including diabetes screening in Bangladesh and AI-powered weather forecasting for farmers in India.
At the same time, the World Bank warned that AI could widen inequality, concentrate market power, erode public trust and create new risks to privacy, security and social cohesion if deployed without adequate safeguards. It also cautioned that while immediate job losses in developing countries may be limited, AI could eventually reduce middle-class employment opportunities over the longer term.
