World Bank says ‘small AI’ could transform developing countries | AI (artificial intelligence)

The World Bank is urging developing countries to start creating “small AI” models, which can run on a low-connectivity mobile phone, to take full advantage of artificial intelligence.

As Silicon Valley’s big tech companies focus on ever more sophisticated consumer products, Paschal Donohoe, chief knowledge officer at the World Bank, said AI could also accelerate the development of emerging economies – but only if it was tailored to local needs.

Small AI uses specialized models that are trained using smaller data sets for a specific purpose.

“We argue that economic development in the countries we serve and collaborate with might have taken centuries to occur, the potential is there for that economic development to happen now decades from now,” Donohoe said.

“A small AI would be available in a local setting, with low connectivity and in the local language of the community – and tends to be available on your mobile phone. »

Donohoe, Ireland’s former finance minister, cited the example of Indian farmers engaged in the World Bank’s agricultural program, AgriConnect, who needed access to soil analysis in their own language.

“There won’t be enough scientists and agricultural experts to do this for every small farm in India. And that’s where what we describe as ‘small AI’ comes in. Because small AI is an AI that would be available on your phone, that can help meet those information needs.”

He suggested that such products could arise from collaboration between the World Bank, governments and the private sector.

The impact of AI on jobs and growth is a central theme at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which are being held this week in Bangkok, Thailand.

Speaking on a panel on the impact of technology on Monday, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva called on governments to provide the preconditions for AI to succeed.

She said: “You need access to electricity. You need access to digital infrastructure. People need to be geared towards adoption. And the government should be able to provide some security, protect against bad actors so that adoption can work.

“If we work hard to get the basics right, (adoption) can be very democratic. As democratic as the cell phone.”

The World Bank’s annual global development report, released in August, praised the potential benefits of AI. But he pointed out that, for example, almost a third of rural schools in sub-Saharan Africa lacked electricity and more than two-thirds did not have a consistent internet connection.

Georgieva warned that ultimately 40% of jobs worldwide are likely to be either augmented or eliminated thanks to AI, with a particularly acute impact for young people at the start of their careers.

“When we look at this, what we recognize is that the people we need to be most concerned about are young people coming into the workforce,” she said. “Normally, they go into these routine, repetitive jobs and then work their way up. But if they disappear, I don’t think a young person wants to become a barista in a coffee shop as a future career.”

Under the leadership of its President, Ajay Banga, the World Bank has made attracting private sector finance to emerging economies a priority of its work.

Donohoe said the World Bank had mobilized $120 billion (£90 billion) of private capital over the past year using guarantees and other financial instruments, at a time when many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, were cutting their aid budgets.

“We want to highlight the link between private capital mobilization, employment and economic development,” he said.