Presented by International Monetary Fund
Artificial intelligence is moving at supersonic speed. Can the development community, which often moves at a snail’s pace, keep up — and maybe even catch up?
Also in today’s edition: A long-standing trade pact between the U.S. and Africa could be on its last legs.
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Intelligent move?
Even before this year’s aid cuts, the creaky donor-recipient system was beginning to show its age, much like an IBM personal computer. Now, the aid cuts threaten to make it obsolete altogether. Can artificial intelligence pump new life into it?
That’s the hope for many, and for some, it’s already the reality.
Digital Green, a Kenya-based organization, uses AI to deliver personalized, climate-smart advice to farmers, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes. 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.
GPT-3 is far more effective than traditional development services because it delivers hyper-local advice tailored to a farmer's specific needs, rather than blanket recommendations, explained Rikin Gandhi, CEO at Digital Green, speaking at Devex Impact House on the sidelines of the 80th U.N. General Assembly.
“We can think of a less dependent form of aid and development,” he told us. “The farming communities that we serve are able to access models directly on their phones — and the cost of doing so is so low that they can be able to do this on a sustainable basis.”
There is, of course, the risk of swapping one type of dependency for another, with communities becoming reliant on AI solutions just as they once were reliant on development aid, said Maha Hosain Aziz, a professor at New York University. And remember, despite AI’s explosion, about one-third of the world’s population — roughly 2.6 billion people — remains offline.
Still, the train whistle is blowing, and it’s up to the aid sector to ensure it doesn’t get left at the station.
“I don’t think we can stop AI, nor can we stop the export of AI,” Aziz said. “It’s not so straightforward, but I think it’s positive. I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Read: As foreign aid falters, can AI step in?
UN gets in on the act
If AI is advancing as fast as proponents say — and even if it isn’t — it would need regulations and oversight to prevent it from having negative effects, such as perpetuating global inequality (or turning into Skynet and destroying us all).
On Thursday, the United Nations launched two new AI-related endeavors: an independent scientific panel to assess AI’s risks, opportunities, and challenges, as well as a “Global Dialogue” for governments, U.N. agencies, nonprofits, and the private sector to discuss AI governance.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that with this push, “Every country will have a seat at the table of AI.”
“It will complement existing efforts around the world — including at the OECD, the G7, and regional organizations — and provide an inclusive, stable home for AI governance coordination efforts,” Guterres said.
It’s desperately overdue, many say.
“We know we need innovative solutions that extend beyond lines of code,” said Vilas Dhar, president of the AI-focused philanthropy the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, at Devex Impact House. “Now, a forum is created where we can do that effectively, and it will be one of a set of institutions that I think will come out of this moment of extreme transformation that we face.”
Deemah AlYahya, secretary-general of the multilateral Digital Cooperation Organization, agreed.
“The approach that the U.N. is taking right now is more into partnerships, and more open to including [the entire] ecosystem,” she said, speaking alongside Dhar. “It’s a new mindset for the U.N.”
Invoking the example of Gaza, which has been plunged into a digital blackout, AlYahya added: “The power of digital is a lifeline, and we have to look at it that way. Not from a luxury perspective, but for continuity of life and prosperity. It’s as important right now as water and electricity.”
Read: UN launches two institutions to govern artificial intelligence
You can’t spell ‘AI’ without ‘I’
Alexis Bonnell, AI partnerships manager at OpenAI, takes an agnostic, almost philosophical view of the technology. Speaking at Devex Impact House, she compared it to the atomic bomb, pointing out that the world is once again grappling with a technology as powerful as it is perilous, Elissa writes.
“I think of [AI] as my superpower suit, and the question is not what it can do,” she said. “The question is, who will I become when I put that suit on?”
For Bonnell, the technology is neither savior nor villain. Its impact, she argued, will ultimately embody the people and policies behind it.
“Will you use it to sow division, fear, and hate, or will you use it to elevate, connect, and heal?” Bonnell said. “AI doesn’t change our character. It reveals it.”
Read: Is artificial intelligence a superpower or a weapon? (Pro)
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And you can’t spell ‘humanitarian’ without ‘human’
For all the talk of the technology replacing humans, Anila Qehaja and Devanand “Dev” Ramiah, both from the U.N. Development Programme, argue that people are irreplaceable during humanitarian disasters.
“Technological advances are helping make strides in the efficiency of humanitarian response — but ground truthing, the process of verifying digital insights through local knowledge, remains indispensable,” they write in an opinion piece for Devex.
“Unfortunately, there is often a tendency to swing too far in one direction: either overrelying on digital tools or leaning exclusively on traditional assessments,” they add. “Technology enhances efficiency, scale, and accuracy. But if pursued at the expense of local participation and knowledge, it risks undermining the very goals it aims to achieve. Striking a balance is essential.”
Opinion: Why human touch remains key to crisis response in the age of AI
AGOA-ing, going, gone
Barring some extremely last-minute action, the African Growth and Opportunities Act, or AGOA — a long-standing trade preference agreement between the U.S. and African countries — is set to expire today.
It’s a major blow. The program — which allows duty-free access to the U.S. market for some 1,800 products — was created 25 years ago. Its path to renewal has been made more treacherous because it is up for reauthorization at a time when trade is a cutthroat topic in Washington, D.C.
African leaders haven’t given up, though. Several delegations have been in D.C. in recent weeks speaking to lawmakers and the administration to push for an extension, my colleague Adva Saldinger tells me. And there are some indications that the Republican-led Congress is open to renewing the trade agreement. One of the questions, however, has been where the Trump administration lands on AGOA, especially given its propensity toward tariffs and “America First” trade policies.
Mokhethi Shelile, Lesotho’s minister of trade, industry, and business development, told Reuters that lawmakers in the House and Senate told him that AGOA will be extended for a year, but that the extension likely wouldn’t come until November or December.
The benefits go both ways, argues the African Union Mission to the U.S. In a fact sheet, it points out that AGOA supports an estimated 450,000 jobs in the U.S. with $1.8 billion in annual salaries.
As for the African countries that rely on it, AGOA’s expiry would result in a significant increase in tariffs that could curb exports to the U.S., hurting local businesses and jobs.
With the Trump administration’s Africa policy increasingly focused on a commercial relationship with the continent, experts told Devex earlier this year that it doesn’t make sense to eliminate AGOA while pursuing a “trade, not aid” policy.
Related: AGOA, the Lobito corridor, and the future of US-Africa engagement (Pro)
Background reading: Inside the United States’ new ‘trade, not aid’ strategy in Africa (Pro)
Opinion: Trump’s tariffs are gutting Africa — and America’s influence
In other news
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a 20-point peace plan for Gaza on Monday. [Reuters]
A humanitarian convoy carrying Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and some U.N. and EU diplomats was attacked during nationwide protests over fuel subsidy cuts, prompting a declaration of a state of emergency across several provinces in the country. [BBC]
Major capital cities around the world are now experiencing 25% more “extremely hot” days each year compared to the 1990s, underscoring the urgent need for heat-resilient policies as global warming intensifies. [The Guardian]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
