Adapt AI, Don’t Spend Billions Building From Scratch: World Bank to Developing Nations

Developing countries stand to gain most from artificial intelligence by adapting existing tools to local needs rather than spending billions of dollars building advanced systems from scratch, according to the World Bank’s World Development Report 2026.

The report urged governments to invest in infrastructure and skills, support affordable applications and expand solutions that show measurable results in public services.

“Adapting AI tools to local contexts, without spending billions of dollars creating advanced AI systems from scratch, will deliver the biggest benefits,” it said.

FROM FARM FORECASTS TO COURT BACKLOGS

The report cited AI-supported weather forecasts that reached more than 30 million farmers in India, giving most of them earlier predictions of the rainy season than they had previously received.

In Kenya, the judiciary used a predictive AI algorithm to allocate more than 10,000 court cases annually among over 1,500 mediators, helping reduce the backlog.

In Bangladesh, an AI medical-imaging application increased the number of patients screened daily for a diabetes-related complication by 39.5 per cent, the report said.

Many substantial gains came from predictive AI supporting the back-end operations of public services, it noted, even as generative AI used in frontline service delivery attracted greater attention.

Importing technology alone, however, would not guarantee results. “AI is context-specific and adopting AI from abroad will not be sufficient,” the report said.

ELECTRICITY, INTERNET AND SKILLS FIRST

AI’s benefits would be slow to emerge without reliable electricity, internet access and the skills to use it, the report warned. Businesses also identified a lack of information as a significant barrier to adopting or expanding AI solutions.

The risk of job disruption was less imminent in developing countries than in advanced economies, it said, because a smaller share of jobs was amenable to AI use.

For governments, the report recommended strengthening the foundations for small AI investments and using public procurement to expand effective applications. It called for frameworks to procure, evaluate and scale up pilot projects, noting the limited reliable evidence on what works.

On regulation, the World Bank recommended beginning with voluntary standards and flexible rules, building on existing laws to promote trustworthy AI.

It also advocated interoperable systems to manage dependency risks associated with the concentration of leading AI-related companies in the United States and China.

With inputs from ANI.