(Aug 4): Developing economies must move fast in adopting artificial intelligence (AI) for their governments and businesses, the World Bank said, urging countries to adapt existing tools to local needs.

The Washington-based lender said that emerging countries should not compete with richer economies on building big data centres or creating large language models, while adapting small, low-cost AI tools could drive better medical care and educational outcomes. 

The bank said that AI could help bring developing countries back to a growth path, as these economies are facing their weakest average economic performance in three decades.

“AI is more likely to lend their workers a hand than put them out of work,” the report released on Tuesday said. “AI could help extend otherwise costly medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services to underserved billions — doing in a decade what might otherwise take a century.”


Jobs in high-income countries are more than three times as likely to be at risk of automation by generative AI than those in low- and middle-income countries, the report said. AI can address shortages of skilled workers by helping teachers prepare lessons, enable nurses to read medical scans, and give farmers guidance on crop decisions to help make them more productive.

The biggest challenge is that some of these countries still struggle with lack of internet access, energy and skills needed to use AI. For instance, three out of 10 rural schools in Sub-Saharan Africa did not have regular access to electricity as of 2024 and 89% of 10-year-olds could not read and understand simple text. 

AI adoption could widen productivity gaps with richer countries rather than close them without better infrastructure, skills, institutions and access to finance, the World Bank said. The report also warned of job losses in areas such as call centers and entry-level software services, as well as greater inequality, cybercrime and dependence on foreign technology.

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