For decades, foreign aid has followed a familiar script: money flows from wealthy countries to poorer ones, funding programs meant to boost health, education, and economic opportunity for communities across the world. But as budgets shrink and tensions rise, that model is showing its age — leaving many to turn to artificial intelligence to take its place.
“There are many tech companies that, in the last year or two, have committed to upskilling millions of people in India, and Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa,” said Maha Hosain Aziz, a professor at New York University and co-chair of AI policy at The Digital Economist think tank. “So from my perspective, AI and the individuals or firms using that technology are, in a way, filling the aid gap that has been with us for many, many, many years.”
One example of that is Digital Green, a Kenya-based organization that uses AI to deliver personalized, climate-smart advice to farmers. By leveraging a GPT-3 language learning model, Digital Green created an AI system called Farmer Chat — one that allows farmers to ask questions about specific agricultural problems, and receive feedback on how to improve crop yields, manage pests, or adapt to shifting weather patterns in real time.