Chapter 6. AI’s Political Impact: Reshaping Power Within and Across Countries - World Development Report 2026 THE PROMISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Chapter 6. AI’s Political Impact: Reshaping Power Within and Across Countries AI is driving power asymmetries between countries, governments, corporations, and indi­viduals. Between countries, control over key parts of the AI value chain—frontier models, advanced chips and data centers—by a few companies creates dependency risks, but pursuing “AI sovereignty” comes at a high cost and with uncertain benefits. Between governments and corporations, finan­cial incentives to attract AI investment squeeze public budgets yet provide uncertain returns. Between corporations and individuals, AI can benefit owners of capital more than people because of the concentration of market power. Between governments and individuals, AI can spread propaganda and enable the surveillance of citizens. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/05dc08f5-8cc7-42cc-8b3b-a52fa3eadab0/content DOWNLOAD CHAPTER 6DOWNLOAD SPOTLIGHT 4 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8b85eec8-3673-462d-90a0-769a95c5b077/content