World Bank urges developing nations to adopt AI for governance, warns of widening gaps

The World Bank is calling on developing countries to embrace artificial intelligence tools to enhance their governance, warning they risk falling behind if they do not. "AI has thrown a lifeline to developing economies, and they should seize it," stated Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank Group, during the release of its World Development Report.

Gill emphasized that significant benefits can be reaped without the need for massive models or extensive data centers. He advocated for adapting lower-cost AI tools to local conditions, citing potential improvements in healthcare, education, justice, and agriculture. The report highlights that AI could substantially boost the current weakest average growth performance seen in developing economies in three decades, delivering tangible benefits to populations before the end of this decade.

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AI has thrown a lifeline to developing economies, and they should seize it.

Examples of AI applications in governance include expanding medical screening for diabetes in Bangladesh and reducing costs for Indian farmers through advanced weather forecasts. The World Bank suggests AI can help scale up medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services to billions of underserved people, achieving in a decade what might otherwise take a century.

However, the World Bank also cautions that AI could exacerbate existing disparities. It warns of widening gaps between nations, increased inequality within countries, market power concentration, diminished trust in public institutions, and new risks to security, rights, and social cohesion. Furthermore, AI tools might hinder long-term economic mobility by displacing middle-class jobs.

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ayudar a ampliar servicios médicos, jurídicos, educativos y agrícolas que de otro modo serían costosos, a miles de millones de personas desatendidas, logrando en una década lo que de otro modo podría llevar un siglo