Global AI Divide
General- purpose AI research and development is currently concentrated in a few Western countries and China. This ‘AI Divide’ is multicausal, but in part related to limited access to computing power in low- income countries. Access to large and expensive quantities of computing power has become a prerequisite for developing advanced general- purpose AI. This has led to a growing dominance of large technology companies in general- purpose AI development. The AI R&D divide often overlaps with existing global socioeconomic disparities, potentially exacerbating them.
ENTITY
3 - Other
INTENT
2 - Unintentional
TIMING
3 - Other
Risk ID
mit778
Domain lineage
6. Socioeconomic and Environmental
6.1 > Power centralization and unfair distribution of benefits
Mitigation strategy
1. Prioritize the establishment and sustained funding of a globally inclusive and distributed high-performance computing (HPC) cyberinfrastructure, such as national AI research resources or regional cloud-based platforms, offering subsidized or free access to advanced AI-tailored computational power for researchers, startups, and public-sector entities in developing economies. 2. Develop an international, multi-stakeholder governance framework to mandate shared digital infrastructure and technology transfer, aligning with global development goals (e.g., UN Sustainable Development Goals), to diminish the dominance of a few large technology companies in general-purpose AI R\&D. 3. Implement globally coordinated capacity-building programs that strategically invest in human capital development, specifically enhancing STEM education and AI-specific skills in low- and middle-income countries, thereby creating the localized expertise necessary to leverage new computational resources and foster indigenous AI innovation ecosystems.