GENEVA, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could widen gaps between developed and developing countries, according to a United Nations (UN) report released on Tuesday, calling for policy measures to limit the impact.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report warns of the possible emergence of a ‘major divergence’ between nations in terms of economic performance, people’s skill sets and systems of government.
“We believe that AI is heralding a new era of rising inequality between countries, following years of convergence over the past 50 years,” said Philip Schellekens, chief economist at UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Regional Office, at a press conference in Geneva.
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The UNDP report ‘The Next Great Divergence: Why AI May Widen Inequality Between Countries’ states that trade, technology and development have helped reduce differences between countries in recent decades, bringing large gains in income, health and education.
These gains are now at risk of being eroded, he says.
Ultimately, even the richest countries will suffer if poorer countries are left behind by AI, Schellekens said.
‘If inequality continues to rise, the side effects of that in terms of the security agenda, in terms of forms of undocumented migration, will also become more frightening,’ he said.
(Reporting by Emma Farge)
