Summary

The World Bank has analysed key global trends in the development of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the findings, high-income countries account for 87% of all AI models developed worldwide, 86% of AI startups, 91% of venture capital investment and 54% of scientific publications in the field. Adoption of AI in both the public and private sectors of low- and middle-income countries (with the exception of Brazil, Viet Nam, India, Indonesia and China) remains at an early stage. Experts identify four categories of barriers that prevent developing countries fr om fully participating in the AI economy: Connectivity. Poor network quality, slow internet speeds and high access costs lim it widespread use of advanced technologies. In 2024, only 4% of the population in low-income countries had access to 5G, and the price of a fixed broadband package reached 29% of average monthly income. Compute. More than 50% of global internet servers are located in the United States, 41% in other high-income economies and only 9% in developing countries. The United States controls 87% of global cloud-computing exports. High-income countries host 77% of all data centres and 86% of supercomputing capacity, leaving most developing economies dependent on imported cloud services. Context (local relevance of data). English accounts for 45% of global URLs, 56% of open datasets and 98% of scientific publications. AI models trained primarily on English-language data often fail to reflect the linguistic, cultural and socio-economic realities of developing countries, reducing their accuracy and usefulness. Competency. Only 5–40% of the population in developing countries possess basic or intermediate digital skills. The World Bank warns that without targeted investment in infrastructure, energy and education, AI may become a new driver of global inequality. At the same time, countries that begin strengthening the four foundational components of the digital ecosystem will be positioned to leverage AI as a catalyst for economic growth and innovation.