NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming a foundational technology shaping development outcomes across sectors, from agriculture and health to financial inclusion and public service delivery. AI now sits at the intersection of geopolitics, public policy, and ethics. Governments and institutions are grappling with how to regulate AI while remaining competitive, as questions of sovereignty, accountability, and international cooperation become more prominent. Increasingly, AI governance is recognized as essential not only to manage risks but to ensure trust, legitimacy, and responsible use.\

At the same time, the uneven distribution of data, infrastructure, and capabilities raises concerns about deepening global inequalities. For many countries, especially in the Global South, the challenge lies in leveraging AI for development without reinforcing dependency or exclusion. As AI moves from experimentation to real-world deployment, the focus is shifting toward building practical, context-aware, and ethically grounded solutions that deliver meaningful impact across diverse environments.

This webinar will explore a set of key questions:

– How is AI reshaping global power dynamics and international cooperation? How should countries in the Global South navigate this?
– How should countries and development actors balance innovation with regulation, risk, and local ownership? Does every country need or can practically have local computing and indigenous models?
– What does the cost-benefit of AI look like? Can low and middle-sized institutions in the Global South afford it, and does it guarantee benefits? How can institutions move from AI hype to building practical, scalable, and responsible solutions?
– Is AI reinforcing existing inequalities, or can it be a tool for bridging them?
– What are the key lessons from deploying AI in real-world development contexts?

Time: 9:00 AM EST