By Sharon Atieno
Countries, particularly developing economies, should act now to harness the artificial intelligence (AI)’s potential for sustainable development by investing in digital infrastructure, building capabilities, and strengthening AI governance.
The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Technology and Innovation Report 2025: Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development says.
According to the report, AI has great economic benefits, with the market value set to reach US$4.8 trillion by 2033, however, access to its infrastructure and expertise is concentrated in a few economies.
Of concern, is that just 100 firms, mainly in the US and China, account for 40% of global corporate research and development (R&D) spending while leading tech giants, such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, each have a market value of around US$3 trillion, almost matching the gross domestic product (GDP) of the whole African continent.
Companies in the US have an edge in digital technologies and computing platforms, such as AI, IoT, big data, blockchain and 3D printing, companies from Japan lead in robotics development and those from the Korean Republic are more active in 5G and nanotechnologies.
Companies in Western Europe cover a wide spectrum of frontier technologies. Among developing countries, the dominant player is China, which leads technological development in 5G, drones and solar photovoltaics (solar PV).
Market dominance, at both national and corporate levels, may widen technological divides, leaving many developing nations at risk of missing out on the benefits of AI, the report cautions.
With regard to infrastructure, for example, the United States has around one-third of the top 500 supercomputers and more than half of the overall computational performance. Most data centres are also located in the United States.
Besides Brazil, China, India and the Russian Federation, the report notes that developing countries have limited capacities in AI infrastructure, which hinders their ability to adopt and develop AI.
There is also an evident AI divide in terms of knowledge creation. As with R&D investments, knowledge creation in frontier technologies is dominated by China and the United States, which together are responsible for around one-third of global peer-reviewed articles and two in three patents.
UNCTAD’s report provides a roadmap for ensuring that AI drives inclusive growth rather than deepening divides. A key policy recommendation for the international community includes a framework for industry commitment, which is similar to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework. “An AI equivalent public disclosure mechanism can improve accountability, translating global commitments into impactful outcomes,” the report says.
Other recommendations include shared digital public infrastructure which can help ensure equitable access, using open innovation models as they can democratize knowledge and resources, fostering inclusive AI innovation, and capacity building initiatives where AI knowledge and resources can be shared, especially South-South cooperation- this can strengthen the capacity of developing countries to seize the benefits of AI and address common challenges.
“The use of artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but if unevenly distributed and not guided by ethical oversight and transparency, its diffusion can exacerbate existing inequalities,” said Rebeca Grynspan, UNCTAD’s Secretary-General.
“The report analyses the requirements and policies needed at all stages, from development to adoption, to foster inclusive technological progress for sustainable development.”
