🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Public reports on the great divergence lack country-by-country detail

• Public UNDP materials on the great divergence lack country detail while World Bank (a multilateral development institution) data puts high-income countries at 87% of notable AI models, 86% of AI startups, and 91% of venture funding with only 17% of the world population 1.
• Low-income countries hold under 0.1% of global co-location (third-party, shared) data center capacity while high-income nations hold 77% 1. Only 68% of people are online with gaps in speed and affordability 2. Progress turns on the four Cs of connectivity, compute, context (locally relevant data) and competency (skills) 3.

Donor-backed AI capacity efforts can open doors for vendors

• The World Bank is stepping up support for AI and digital transformation with public-private collaboration 2. Inequality warnings could unlock funding for skills and capacity from governments, development banks, plus aid agencies 1.
• Generative AI (GenAI) job vacancies grew ninefold from 2021 to 2024, with one in five roles in middle-income countries 1. Vendors that offer ‘Small AI’ solutions, affordable and resource-light apps that run on everyday devices in local languages, can meet demand 3. The Cotonou Declaration, a pledge by West and Central African governments, targets training 20 million people in basic digital skills and supporting 2 million youth in digital jobs by 2030 4. Vendors that track multilateral project pipelines (funded programs from institutions such as the World Bank) plus tenders (procurement solicitations) can win work as countries mobilize investments through national digital compacts (whole-of-government agreements to coordinate digital priorities) 4.