In recent months, China's DeepSeek AI model has gained global attention and reignited discussions on the inclusive development of artificial intelligence (AI) and improving access to AI services. As the AI wave accelerates, overcoming global disparities in AI requires governance solutions, collaborative responses to challenges, and inclusive progress.
Every technological revolution brings both leading stars and hidden cliffs. "Nowadays, everything seems to be pregnant with its opposite," He noted Karel Marx during the industrial revolution. "New sources of wealth are by some strange magic turning into sources of scarcity."
The "wealth paradox" is taking on a new form in the era of artificial intelligence. Today, the global AI divide is reflected in R&D investment, hardware resources, talent pools and application capabilities.
In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Office of Technology revealed that more than $300 billion is spent annually on technologies to increase computing capacity, but these investments are seen primarily in higher-income countries. This creates a disparity in access to infrastructure and skills development that puts developing countries and their domestic start-ups at a "serious disadvantage".
For example, there is less than 1 % of global data centre capacity in Africa. The IMF's AI Readiness Index quantifies this difference: in 2023, developed countries score 0.68, while emerging markets and low-income countries score 0.46 and 0.32 respectively.
International observers warn that the division of AI threatens to create extreme polarisation, with a few countries benefiting from technological gains while developing countries are left to supply the raw data.
The policies of some countries deepen this division. Some advanced economies are seeking to monopolise AI advantages, creating exclusive blocks, erecting technological barriers and sabotaging global AI supply chains. Introducing hierarchy and block confrontation in AI development reinforces technological stratification and disenfranchises developing countries from progress.
As he pointed out Felix Dapare Dakora, former president of the African Academy of Sciences, these measures only undermine international cooperation and move the development of AI from collaboration to separation.
The widening divide is a reminder that while technology enhances growth, it does not inherently ensure equitable distribution and inclusive development. UN Secretary-General António Guterres once warned that the world "must never allow AI to mean 'advancing inequality'".
To use AI for good, humanity needs not only smarter algorithms, but also broader wisdom and vision. Bridging the gap requires global solidarity to ensure that no nation is left behind and to make AI a truly inclusive engine of global development.
Countries should focus on capacity building and promote open sharing of AI technology, talent and infrastructure
The power of technology lies not only in upgrading tools, but in igniting an endogenous impulse. All relevant parties should actively engage in North-South, South-South and trilateral cooperation to help developing countries strengthen the AI-digital infrastructure nexus, increase AI literacy and cultivate talent, thereby building an ecosystem for AI development.
Greater digital inclusion can be achieved by further universalising networks, computing power and data, providing low-threshold and low-cost AI services to SMEs and the general public.
As she noted Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union, global coordination should be ensured "in building safe and inclusive AI accessible to all".
The international community should promote equality and inclusiveness and guarantee equal rights to develop and use AI.
At the AI Action Summit held in Paris, countries, regions and international organisations, including France, China, India and the EU, endorsed a declaration on inclusive and sustainable AI for people and planet to help countries in the Global South strengthen capacity building in AI.
The polarisation of AI is a common problem for all parties. The international community must reject walls, separation and discrimination and co-create an open, inclusive, beneficial and non-discriminatory AI ecosystem where all nations have equal rights and opportunities and are governed by the same rules.
Countries should take a people-centred approach and develop frameworks for ethical governance of AI
Data security, algorithmic discrimination, privacy and intellectual property rights are related to the security and ethical issues of AI development, which require global risk assessment and early warning systems.
While ethical principles are widely discussed, binding laws, contracts and governance are still in their infancy. While respecting national differences, the world must reach consensus to align AI with global social responsibility.
As a responsible AI power, China is actively bridging the gap. It has proposed a global AI governance initiative and action plan to build AI capacity for good and for all. It supported the consensus adoption of the Resolution on Strengthening International Cooperation in AI Capacity Building on 78. General Assembly and took the lead in advocating for helping the global South to benefit equally from AI development.
China and Zambia jointly hosted a meeting of the Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity Building at the UN Headquarters in New York. It launched the China-Laos AI Collaboration Center and established a partnership with Cambodia to help farmers with AI-based precision crop cultivation.
These tangible steps are helping many developing countries become participants in the AI revolution, not just bystanders. All countries can work together to ensure security and promote growth.
The ultimate measure of technological progress is its impact on human society. As artificial intelligence, an important driver of a new round of technological revolution and industrial reform, reshapes the world, nations must come together, use algorithms to solve common challenges, and ensure that the intelligent revolution illuminates their shared future.
Author of the article Huan Xiang
is a commentator
international affairs
for People's Daily
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