World Bank sees AI as growth engine for emerging economies

The World Bank said artificial intelligence could give emerging economies a lifeline, arguing that countries that moved quickly on power, connectivity and skills could gain a century’s worth of development in a decade. The bank’s case turned AI into a development story, not just a disruption story, and placed the burden on governments to build the conditions that let the technology spread beyond a thin layer of large firms and highly trained workers.

That promise rested on practical uses already visible across businesses and public agencies. Companies in developing countries could use AI to improve customer service, translate languages, write code, analyze data and automate routine office work. Governments could use it to improve public-service delivery. The World Bank also cast AI as a tool that could augment jobs and create new ones, particularly in markets that are still building digital capacity, rather than simply eliminating employment as many workers in richer countries fear.

The upside, however, depended on foundations that many emerging economies still lacked. Reliable electricity, digital infrastructure, education systems and regulatory capacity were all necessary before AI could deliver broad gains. Without those prerequisites, the technology could deepen existing divides by concentrating benefits among a narrow set of firms, urban centers and highly skilled workers. Countries with stable power grids, stronger connectivity and better-trained workforces were likelier to turn AI into domestic productivity gains, while those without them risked becoming customers for tools built elsewhere.

The policy test was whether AI could expand exports, improve public administration and raise productivity faster than it destroyed low-skill jobs. That question mattered because the bank’s framing suggested AI could be a rare bright spot for economies facing weak growth, but only if adoption was paired with investment in human capital and the rules needed to govern data, competition and access. The World Bank’s broader digital agenda reflected that shift. A topic page highlighted an AI and Digital Development research initiative, and its World Development Report 2026 concept note carried the title Artificial Intelligence for Development, signaling that the institution was treating AI as a core development policy issue, not just another technology trend.