By Saira Uttamchandani
November 16, 2024
The development of artificial intelligence has led to some fascinating, increasingly popular inventions, such as the large language model ChatGPT. While artificial intelligence (AI) can do many interesting things, such as write music or create art, it also has had a significant positive impact on various fields, such as finance, transportation, and medicine. As a result, investors are betting that the implementation of AI could raise global GDP by 7.5% by the year 2034. However, this incredible potential for growth could also exacerbate global inequality, as AI’s benefits are experienced unequally across countries and regions. Many developing countries lack the resources needed to take advantage of AI’s benefits and may also be the first to experience its harms.
Reaping the benefits of AI requires countries to have the necessary hard and soft infrastructure to support its use. This requires extensive digital connectivity, a technically savvy population, appropriate laws and regulations, and innovation. Higher-income countries are better prepared to take advantage of AI's benefits in all these areas due to the current wealth disparity between nations. Higher-income nations are thus better poised to benefit from artificial intelligence financially and economically. As these countries continue to benefit from artificial intelligence, it threatens to increase global inequality, as AI has the ability to increase productivity and generate greater wealth.
Artificial intelligence also requires a lot of energy for the algorithm running, data center operation, and other similar tasks. This poses an issue, as lower-income countries often lack access to stable and reliable energy sources. This means they are less likely to benefit from the use of AI compared to higher-income nations, further increasing the chasmic divide.
Artificial intelligence has been shown to improve economic productivity and economic status. If lower-income countries do not have access to these benefits, they will continue to fall behind as higher-income countries grow richer. Similarly, AI requires extensive computing power to run effectively, which many lower-income countries do not have. This is yet another difficulty lower-income countries face when trying to harness the power of artificial intelligence.
It would be bad enough if developing countries were only less able to take advantage of AI's benefits, but this harm is exacerbated by the fact that AI also threatens to weaken the economies of developing countries through labor market disruption and a lack of technological skills in the countries’ workforce.
Labor market disruption via artificial intelligence has already begun. For example, automated assembly lines are replacing human workers, especially among “routine and repetitive” jobs, which automation can easily replace. Many corporations, such as Nike and Apple, outsource labor to developing countries, and a significant part of these countries’ GDP can be attributed to these manufacturing jobs. As they invest in their factories to improve productivity, the workers who are replaced by artificial intelligence have less disposable income and dollars to reinvest into the economy of these developing countries, thus stunting growth.
Incorporating artificial intelligence also increases demand for workers with skills to work alongside these new systems.
AI is different from previous significant technological developments. For example, compared to the Industrial Revolution, AI is more likely to impact both blue-collar and white-collar jobs, and there is much more potential for high-skilled workers to reap the benefits. Complementary jobs in cybersecurity and IT, which already pay quite well compared to other fields, will surge as AI creates new opportunities As a result, high earning workers may experience a disproportionate increase in their income. These high-wage earners are disproportionately located in developed countries and, therefore, workers in lower-income countries may not experience the benefits as robustly.
In an increasingly automated world where artificial intelligence is continuously growing at remarkable speeds, we must recognize the unequal benefit it provides and the harm it causes.
