World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence

World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence

Should you have feedback on this article, please complete the fields below.Please indicate if your feedback is in the form of a letter to the editor that you wish to have published. If so, please be aware that we require that you keep your feedback to below 300 words and we will consider its publication online or in Creamer Media’s print publications, at Creamer Media’s discretion.We also welcome factual corrections and tip-offs and will protect the identity of our sources, please indicate if this is your wish in your feedback below.

ARTICLE ENQUIRY SAVE THIS ARTICLE EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

The World Development Report 2026 assesses what artificial intelligence (AI), as a general-purpose technology, means for 5.6-billion people living in low- and middle-income countries and how it could address development challenges that have resisted solutions for decades.

Advancing the AI frontier that relies on semiconductors, data centers, AI-ready training data, and top-level research talent is out of reach for most developing countries in the near term. But adopting AI that is available in the market is not enough because AI’s effectiveness depends on the local context. Adapting AI to solve defined problems in developing countries can do in a decade what might have otherwise taken a century – diagnosing disease, growing small businesses, advising farmers, and delivering public services.

To seize AI’s potential, governments will need to keep strengthening the analogue and digital complements that power AI solutions: electricity, internet connectivity, and foundational skills, but also access to compute infrastructure and local language data. Countries will also need to establish frameworks to procure, monitor and evaluate AI applications so that pilots that work well can be deployed on a larger scale.

To manage the risks, countries can leverage voluntary standards to facilitate trustworthy AI and turn to existing regulations when markets fail to protect people against the harms of AI. This report urges policy makers in developing countries to be blinded by neither the hype nor the hysteria surrounding AI in the global headlines. It reminds them instead that adopting and adapting AI—with care but without delay—and eventually advancing AI could enable developing countries to solve problems that have resisted solutions for decades.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY FEEDBACK

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:Engineering NewsMining WeeklyResearch Channel Africa

Sign up for our FREE daily email newsletter

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za