AI Offers Lifeline to Developing Economies in an Era of Weak Growth

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/08/04/ai-offers-lifeline-to-developing-economies-in-an-era-of-weak-growth WASHINGTON, August 4, 2026—Artificial intelligence (AI) could allow developing countries to do in a decade what might otherwise take a century—provided that governments act swiftly to close the gaps in power, connectivity, skills, and institutional quality that threaten to leave them behind, according to the World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence.