W’Bank urges developing nations to accelerate AI adoption

The World Bank has called on developing countries to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence, saying the technology could help lift economic growth, improve public services and enable poorer nations to achieve in a decade what might otherwise have taken a century. In its World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence, released on Tuesday, the lender said developing economies must move quickly to close gaps in electricity, internet connectivity, computing capacity, digital skills and institutional quality to fully benefit from AI. The report comes as developing economies experience their weakest average growth performance in three decades, with the World Bank arguing that AI presents a rare opportunity to reverse the trend before the end of the decade. While concerns over AI have largely focused on job losses in advanced economies, the report found workers in developing countries face a much lower risk of automation.