If you ask online chatbot ChatGPT how artificial intelligence could be used in global development, it lists a variety of ways: predictive analytics for disease outbreaks and natural disasters; computer vision for urban planning; automated monitoring and evaluation for impact assessment; and smart resource management for agriculture.
Experts agree it can do all this and more, with the potential to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
“AI has the potential to transform a lot of the aspects of humanitarian and development work as we know it,” said Bernhard Kowatsch, head of the innovation accelerator at the World Food Programme. On an organizational level, it can streamline operations and optimize data insights while also making development programs more accessible to communities, he said.