Techbytes: AI could fast-track development — World Bank

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help developing countries achieve in a decade what might otherwise take a century, but governments must urgently close gaps in electricity, internet connectivity, skills and institutional capacity, the World Bank has warned.

The warning is contained in the World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence released last week, which examines how developing economies can harness AI to accelerate economic growth and improve public services.

“AI is already helping businesses and governments in developing economies analyse information, improve forecasts, solve problems and deliver services on a larger scale,” the report said.

For Zambia, the technology could create opportunities to improve agricultural extension services, healthcare diagnosis, tax collection, social protection, education and disaster response.

However, the report says developing countries face a different AI challenge from advanced economies, with fewer jobs at immediate risk of automation but significant potential for productivity gains.

Jobs in high-income countries are more than three times as likely to be exposed to automation from generative AI than those in low- and middle-income countries, with about 4.5 percent of existing jobs in the latter group at risk compared with 14.2 percent in high-income countries.

At the same time, 16.2 percent of jobs in developing economies could experience significant productivity gains from AI, compared with 18.7 percent in high-income countries.

The World Bank said this suggested that the greatest opportunity for developing countries was to use AI to enhance workers’ capabilities rather than replace them.

World Bank Group Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Indermit Gill said developing countries did not need to build large AI models or expensive data centres to benefit from the technology.

He said countries could instead adapt small, low-cost AI tools to local conditions to expand access to healthcare, education, agricultural extension and judicial services.

However, the World Bank cautioned that the benefits of AI were not automatic.

Many developing economies still lack reliable electricity, internet connectivity, computing capacity, quality local data and skilled workers needed to deploy the technology effectively.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly one-third of rural schools lack reliable electricity, while more than two-thirds lack dependable internet access.

The report recommends a three-stage approach for developing economies: adopt available AI tools, adapt them to local conditions and eventually advance towards frontier AI development.

It also calls for stronger institutions, investment in digital infrastructure, increased access to local-language data and systems to measure whether AI initiatives are producing tangible results.

The World Bank warned that without deliberate action, AI could widen inequality within and between countries, increase market concentration and undermine public trust through risks including algorithmic bias and breaches of data privacy.

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