GENEVA – Artificial intelligence could widen the divide between developed and developing countries, requiring policy measures to measure its impact, a UN report said on December 2.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report warns of a potential “major divergence” between countries in terms of economic performance, people’s skills and governance systems.
“We think AI will usher in a new era of rising inequality between countries, after years of convergence over the past fifty years,” Philip Schellekens, chief economist at the UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau, said at a press conference in Geneva.
The UNDP report – The Next Great Divergence: Why AI May Widen Inequality Between Countries – states that trade, technology and development have helped close gaps between states in recent decades, bringing major gains in income, healthcare and education.
These gains are now in danger of being eroded.
Ultimately, even richer countries would suffer if poorer states are left behind by AI, Schellekens said.
“If inequality continues to rise, the spillover effects of that in terms of the security agenda, in terms of forms of undocumented migration, will also become more dire,” he said. REUTERS
