Artificial intelligence can enable developing countries to achieve in a decade what might otherwise take a century, but only if governments move quickly to address gaps in electricity, internet connectivity, digital skills and institutional capacity, the World Bank has said.
The warning and opportunity was stated in the World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026 titled ‘The Promise of Artificial Intelligence’.
The report said developing countries could benefit significantly from AI without necessarily building the large-scale models and data centres that currently dominate the global AI race.
Instead, the greatest gains could come from adapting smaller, lower-cost AI tools to local needs.
The report noted that only 4.5 percent of existing jobs in low and middle-income countries are at risk of automation from generative AI, compared with 14.2 percent in high-income countries.
However, the productivity opportunity is much larger. About 16.2 percent of jobs in developing economies could experience meaningful productivity gains from AI, compared with 18.7 percent in high-income economies.
Read also: Otedola’s FirstHoldCo buying spree makes him Africa’s fastest-growing billionaire
The figures suggest that AI’s immediate value for developing economies may lie less in replacing workers and more in increasing their capacity to perform complex tasks.
“AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they should seize it,” said Indermit Gill, senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank Group.
Gill said developing countries do not need large AI models or massive data centres to begin benefiting from the technology.
By adapting small and affordable AI tools to local conditions, he said, countries could expand access to healthcare, education, judicial services and agricultural extension services to millions of people.
The World Bank’s report comes as developing economies face their weakest average growth performance in three decades. It argues that AI could help reverse some of that slowdown before the end of the 2020s by improving productivity and expanding access to essential services.
The report identified practical applications across sectors where developing countries face shortages of skilled professionals, reliable data and institutional capacity.
In healthcare, AI could support doctors with diagnosis and help extend specialist knowledge to underserved communities.
Farmers could use AI-powered tools to improve crop decisions, while businesses could use the technology to analyse information, improve forecasting and increase productivity.
Governments could also deploy AI to strengthen tax collection, improve social protection programmes, respond to disasters and deliver better healthcare and education.
Read also: Lagos ready to host maiden national intermediate sports – Sanwo-Olu
The World Bank said these applications are already emerging across developing economies, where businesses and public institutions are using AI to solve problems and deliver services at greater scale.
But the report cautions that the benefits are far from guaranteed.
The global AI race remains concentrated among a relatively small number of countries and technology companies, while many developing economies continue to struggle with inadequate electricity, internet access, computing capacity, local data, digital skills and institutional frameworks.
Without targeted investment, the report warns, AI could widen the technological divide between countries and increase inequality within economies.
It could also concentrate market power, undermine trust in public institutions and create new risks involving safety, rights, privacy and social cohesion.
For Sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank said access to basic infrastructure remains one of the biggest barriers to AI adoption.
Nearly one-third of rural schools in the region still lack reliable electricity, while more than two-thirds lack dependable internet access.
The infrastructure gap is significant because AI adoption depends on the availability of electricity and connectivity before more advanced capabilities can be deployed.
The World Bank is working with partners through Mission 300, an initiative aimed at connecting 300 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa to electricity by 2030.
The initiative could provide part of the infrastructure foundation required for wider digital and AI adoption across the region.
Beyond electricity and connectivity, the report says developing countries need greater access to computing resources and locally relevant data, including datasets in local languages.
This would allow AI systems to better understand local contexts and address problems specific to individual economies and communities.
Rather than encouraging developing countries to immediately compete with the world’s leading AI developers, the World Bank recommends a three-stage approach which is adopt, adapt and advance.
The first step is to adopt AI tools that are already available rather than waiting to develop sophisticated domestic systems.
The second is to adapt those tools to local languages, institutions, industries and social conditions.
Only after establishing the necessary foundations should countries seek to advance towards frontier AI development.
The approach, according to the World Bank, could help developing countries avoid the cost and inefficiency of attempting to replicate advanced AI ecosystems before they have the infrastructure and skills required to support them.
“The window to get this right is narrow,” said Gaurav Nayyar, director of the World Development Report 2026.
He said AI represents an opportunity to address problems that have remained unresolved for generations, but countries must begin building the foundations now.
The report also calls for stronger digital and AI skills, improved access to investment and better systems for evaluating AI projects.
The World Bank said although numerous AI pilots are already underway in developing countries, governments need better evidence to determine which initiatives actually deliver measurable results.
It recommends stronger procurement and evaluation frameworks to help governments identify successful applications and scale them.
Governments should also create conditions that allow new technology companies to attract investment, experiment and grow.
The World Bank recommends that governments initially use voluntary industry standards and international cooperation to promote responsible AI development and avoid fragmented regulations.
Where voluntary measures fail to prevent harm, existing laws should be applied to address issues such as discrimination, privacy violations and other abuses.
Read also: Why Kano is turning mass weddings into social protection investment
For Africa and other developing regions, the report presents AI as both an opportunity and a race against time.
The countries that invest early in reliable power, broadband connectivity, computing access, local data, skills and effective institutions could use AI to accelerate development.
Those that fail to close these foundational gaps risk seeing the technology deepen the very economic and digital inequalities it promises to overcome.
Get Newsletter Updates
Enjoying our column?
Subscribe to our specialised **Tech Pulse** feed to receive fresh reports and analyses directly in your inbox.
