The Bank of International Development has called on low-income nations to begin building ‘small AI’ systems that can operate on basic smartphones even where network coverage is weak. While major technology firms in the United States concentrate on ever larger consumer products, the Bank’s chief knowledge officer, Paschal Donohoe, argues that artificial intelligence must be reshaped to meet the specific requirements of emerging markets.
‘Small AI’ refers to narrowly focused models that are trained on limited data sets to perform a single function. Donohoe highlighted an illustration from the Bank’s AgriConnect programme in India, where farmers required soil-quality assessments delivered in their native language, a task that a lightweight, locally tuned model could handle on a simple handset.
The Bank sees joint effort among its own staff, national governments and private-sector innovators as essential for delivering such tools. Under President Ajay Banga, the institution has emphasized attracting private financing to developing economies, reporting that guarantees and similar instruments helped marshal roughly $120 billion of private capital in the previous year. Donohoe said this flow of investment is intended to link directly to job creation and broader economic progress.
The influence of artificial intelligence on employment and growth dominates the agenda of the World Bank-IMF spring meetings in Bangkok. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged governments to secure the basic conditions for AI uptake, including reliable electricity, robust digital networks and regulatory safeguards against misuse. The Bank’s latest development report noted that nearly one-third of rural schools in sub-Saharan Africa still lack power and more than two-thirds miss steady internet access.
Georgieva warned that AI could reshape the labour market, estimating that around 40 percent of occupations worldwide may be either enhanced or displaced, a shift that will hit young entrants most sharply. She called on policymakers to create the infrastructure and protective frameworks needed for inclusive adoption, echoing the Bank’s push for small, locally relevant AI solutions.