Artificial intelligence (AI) could help developing countries achieve in a decade what might otherwise take a century, according to the World Bank’s report.

The lender said governments must act swiftly to address gaps in electricity, connectivity, skills and institutional quality that could leave them behind.

The World Bank disclosed this in its latest World Development Report 2026, titled ‘The Promise of Artificial Intelligence’.

The report surveyed enterprises’ AI adoption in developing economies, sampling 777 firms in Nigeria.

The World Bank, in its report, urged developing economies to adopt an optimistic mindset, noting that AI could help governments reach billions of underserved people with medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services more quickly.

“AI could help extend otherwise costly medical, legal, educational, and agricultural services to the underserved billions—doing in a decade what might otherwise take a century,” the report stated.

It noted that jobs in high-income countries are more than three times as likely to be at risk of automation by generative AI as those in low- and middle-income countries, where 4.5 per cent of existing jobs are at risk, compared with 14.2 per cent in high-income countries.

At the same time, 16.2 per cent of jobs in developing economies could see their productivity meaningfully boosted by AI, close to the 18.7 per cent expected in high-income countries.
The greatest promise for developing countries lies not in replacing workers, but in amplifying what they can do, the report said.

“AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they should seize it,” Indermit Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, added in the report.

He explained that developing economies do not need large models or big data centres to reap the benefits of AI adoption.

By adapting small, low-cost AI tools to local conditions, they can bring better medical care, education, judicial services and agricultural extension within reach of millions, the World Bank chief stated.

The report is the first comprehensive assessment of AI’s implications for developing countries, revealing how businesses and governments there have begun to use AI.

It revealed that AI is already helping people, businesses, and governments solve problems, analyse information, improve forecasts and deliver services on a larger scale.

These capabilities are especially valuable in countries where trained professionals, reliable records and public capacity are often limited.

According to the World Bank, AI tools can make it easier for doctors to diagnose patients, farmers to make better crop decisions, and businesses to become more productive.

Governments, too, could use AI to improve tax collection, social programmes, disaster response, healthcare, and education, it added.

The lender said AI could significantly boost the weak growth performance of developing countries before the end of the 2020s while delivering tangible benefits to people.

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The report added that the opportunity is limited, noting that most developing economies still lack the power, internet access, data, skills and institutions needed to use AI effectively.

The report stated that, without deliberate action, AI could widen disparities between countries, increase inequality within them, concentrate market power, weaken trust in public institutions, and create new risks to safety, rights, and social cohesion.

The report outlines a clear three-stage approach: adopt available tools, tailor them to local circumstances, and gradually progress towards frontier AI development.