New AI initiatives create 'window of opportunity' for devel

SHANGHAI, July 20 (China Economic Net) — Developing countries have a window of opportunity to make use of artificial intelligence (AI), as a series of AI initiatives were launched in Shanghai in recent days, said Jason Slater, chief of the Division of Digital Transformation and AI at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

"There is a window of opportunity, clearly, right now — particularly for developing countries," Slater told China Economic Net (CEN) on July 18 on the sidelines of an AI governance forum at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC).

UNIDO used the conference to launch an industrial AI governance framework developed with Tsinghua University and supported by partners including the British Standards Institution. It sets out readiness indicators intended to help countries assess where they stand in adopting AI and to identify a pathway forward, Slater said.

He was speaking days after 29 countries signed the founding agreement of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai on July 16, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi signing for China and UN Secretary-General António Guterres attending. At the conference's opening the following day, China pledged to provide developing countries with 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities over the next five years.

"I think we started a journey ... with this governance initiative," Slater said.

He said he had visited Sierra Leone weeks earlier and found strong local interest in applying AI to critical minerals, renewable energy, agriculture and food security. Acting on that interest, he said, required access to technology, computing power and skills, along with clear rules covering data and sovereignty.

But developing countries had something to offer in return, he said. "There's a huge amount of untapped talent and data that's out there," Slater said. "AI is a tool, but it has to have a purpose. Those countries have real challenges that have not yet been solved."

They could contribute use cases, regulatory sandboxes and policy experience, he said, citing countries that want to pioneer AI applications in rice production and electrification. "We should not underestimate the desire of such countries to make use of AI, and to help craft a future dialogue around governance," he said.

Asked whether UN bodies would work with WAICO, Slater said he was repeating the words of Guterres and UNIDO Director General Gerd Müller: "We will be partners." He added: "We will observe, we will wait and see."

Many of WAICO's founding members are also UNIDO member states and were likely to seek advice and guidance from the UN system, he said.