Global AI Accessibility: Strategies and Initiatives for Equity

The UAE exemplifies how countries can leverage AI to enhance global accessibility and share valuable lessons with other nations.

### Bridging the AI Divide: Global Perspectives and Initiatives for Inclusive Access
* 🌍 "The World Economic Forum is committed to **improving the state of the world** through **equitable access to AI technologies**."
* 🤖 The UAE has initiated several practical AI initiatives, including a **large language model focusing on Hindi**, while also addressing local challenges like **traffic optimization in major cities**.
* 📊 The UAE's investment in a data center in Kenya aims to **empower Africa with necessary infrastructure and skills**, including a coding program targeting **10 million people in Ethiopia**.
* 🌐 Meta promotes global AI inclusivity by offering **open-source AI infrastructure**, enabling communities to **customize applications for their specific cultural and linguistic needs**.
* 💡 Salesforce emphasizes sustainability and equitable access in AI, advocating for a **collective effort to democratize technology** and ensure it **serves all communities effectively**.
* 💻 Rwanda's Vision 2020 strategy laid the groundwork for a knowledge-based economy, achieving **97% broadband connectivity** and fostering local talent through partnerships with institutions like **Carnegie Mellon University**.
* 🏥 An innovative AI-driven health project in Rwanda demonstrates the potential of generative AI in improving community healthcare, achieving a **significant accuracy increase in diagnostics** over time.
* 📈 The session concluded with a call to action for stakeholders to **prioritize inclusivity**, **address the AI divide**, and **leverage AI as a catalyst for societal transformation and economic benefits**.

[Music] Hello and welcome to the AI for Global Good session. I am LRE S, Senior Fellow at the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution, and I'm fortunate to be your moderator for today. As you know, the World Economic Forum has always been committed to improving the state of the world. New technologies emerge, such as generative AI, and they have the potential to tremendously transform economies, societies, and industries. However, the benefits are not shared equally around the world. The Forum's AI Governance Alliance, through its global member base, has initiated for over a year the development of the global roadmap to enhance equitable and global access to AI technologies. The Inclusive AI Growth and Development Initiative aims to both policymakers, industry leaders, and other stakeholders as part of the work and what we are to discuss today with our esteemed speakers are ways for all stakeholders to collectively engage and help leverage the benefits of AI while mitigating its risk in order to engage and receive.

wisdoms. We are joined today by an incredible group of distinguished panelists, including Omar San Alama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications for the United Arab Emirates. We also have Prof. Yan Lukan, Vice President and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer for Meta. We have also Sebastian Niles, who is President and Chief Legal Officer of Salesforce, and Crystal R, who is Managing Director for the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. So, let me start with you, Minister. What practical initiative has the UAE taken to promote global accessibility to AI, and also what are the learnings that you think can be exported to other regions of the world? Thank you very much for having me, and it's an absolute pleasure being here and contributing to the session. The UAE has been on a journey for the last years to be a practical custodian of AI and to do it in a way that can be replicated, can be scaled, and can be emulated in other countries. Now, there are many

different efforts that the UAE has undergone when it comes to artificial intelligence locally and internationally. On the international front, probably the most recent announcement was the large language model of the UAE produced and exported that focuses on the Hindi language. It's called Nand. We also worked on a lot of initiatives on creating large language models focused on climate, large language models focused on the Arabic language, really finding what are the gaps that exist today that can be bridged by the UAE's efforts. Internally, we've seen a lot of practical use cases when it comes to artificial intelligence because our focus is to deploy AI not just for productivity gains but for quality of life improvements. So, if you look at, for example, alleviating traffic in cities that have incredible pull and attraction capabilities to bring global talent to them, like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, we do have a challenge that the infrastructure might not be able to be built as fast as the inflow of people that's coming in, is and in that

circumstance. Maybe the only solution is leveraging AI to get people from one point to the other in the most efficient way possible, through optimizing traffic lights, through optimizing public transportation, and through also making smart investments to alleviate bottlenecks that exist across these cities. What we're seeing is that the promise of AI is actually endless. You can deploy it in many different fields, and you can actually see results. The only challenge is, does it make economic sense? So, I was talking to Yan, you know, before the session started, and what we were discussing is, is every single application that is being presented economically feasible? This is what governments need to do. They need to understand where it's worth investing, deploying, and putting in the effort, and where today the technology is not ready to take over. So, these are just a few examples. I love the point you are making. You are making, ministers, would you mind elaborating on how you have successfully exported some of those technologies, our capability for

adoption in other regions of the world. So, it depends if we're talking about specifically large language models or we're talking about infrastructure. So, you know, maybe some of the investments that you might have seen. The UAE has made. We've built a world-class data center in Kenya, for example, focused on renewable energy. Our focus there is to make sure that the African continent is able to build infrastructure that will allow them to be part of the new revolution when we talk about artificial intelligence. So, they have data centers, they have the talent and the capabilities there. We've worked on many different programs, working on upstream and downstream when it comes to the technological requirement to work on AI, whether it's something as basic as teaching people how to code. So, we have a program in Ethiopia to teach 10 million people how to code. We believe algorithmic thinking is necessary to get the youth to understand what technology can do for them and what it will not be able to do for them, to understand how to

deploy and leverage the technology effectively. For example, and then you know we have projects like I mentioned in Kenya for data centers on the large language model side. So, the UAE has worked on an open-source large language model called Falcon. One thing that we are doing as well is working across different geographies, trying to see how we can customize Falcon to cater to the needs of these governments that today do not have the ability to build their own large language model, deploy their own AI tools, and do it effectively, and also be able to iterate continuously on them. Fabulous, Professor. So, how do the leading gen AI developers such as Meta approach the issue of global AI inclusivity? So, Meta is a little bit unique in the AI industry in that it makes all of its foundational AI infrastructure open source and free to use. And what we've seen is that a lot of countries, particularly in the global South, have adopted those platforms for all kinds of applications because it enables communities, whatever they are.

whether they are, uh, you know, private industry, uh, NOS governments, or just, uh, cultural groups, to fine-tune those systems for their language, their culture, their value system, the centers of interest. And I think it's the only way to go, really. So, so, that's the vision for the future that we envision. Um, and for that, it's a model that is not completely new. Um, the entire software infrastructure of the internet or the mobile communication network is all open source. Uh, and the reason it's open source is because people want it to be open source because, you know, it's easier to, uh, customize, to disseminate, to port to new platform, etc. So, I think, uh, uh, open source AI is really the main, the main driver for that. Thank you. I like the point. And how do you operationalize, uh, that dimension, especially in the least developed countries around the world? So, in various, various different ways. So, the first one is you just make the models, the basic models available, right. They've

been trained to do basic things on all the publicly available data on the internet, all the ones that can be used. The problem with this is that the linguistic diversity, for example, is not that great. You know, a lot of content is in English, and there is very little content, certainly in regional languages or in dialects that are not written particularly, which I think is very important to preserve. So, just making the models available for people to fine-tune with their material, cultural material, linguistic material, etc., is the first thing. The second thing is directly partnering with organizations that can actually drive this, whether there are governments, for example. So, there is a partnership between Meta and the government of India so that future versions of the open-source LLM from Meta, Llama, can speak at least all 22 official languages of India, and perhaps, you know, all the hundreds of local languages and dialects. There's a similar issue in Africa, obviously, where linguistic diversity is enormous. So, there also, there are sorts

of various Partnerships where you know meta essentially helps people, but ultimately I think what we need is a very simple open infrastructure. Think of it as Wikipedia for AI systems, right? So Wikipedia is open to the entire world. Anybody can contribute. How about having a similar infrastructure for training AI systems or fine-tuning them so that basically anyone can contribute to educating those AI systems for local languages and cultures, etc. And Professor L, how do we ensure that those applications are adapted to the needs of the people around the world in addition to being open, so you give them the ability to do that, to build the systems that are useful for the local population? I'm just going to give you a single example because it's done by a colleague and friend, Mustafa C in Sagal. He's built an application based on open-source LLMs to give access to medical information to people. It's very difficult to get an appointment with a doctor in Sagal, particularly if you are in rural areas.

um so you can you can talk to an ani assistant for this, but it has to speak woff in addition to French and three other official languages of Sagal. So um so again, that's only enabled by open-source tools um and then you know there is you know helping so making making it easy for for for people to to do this on their own. Fantastic. And now turning to Sebastian Niles Salesforce uh recently launched its sustainable AI policy principles. Could you tell us more about uh them and how this principle or order uh could be used uh to promote equitable access to AI? Yeah sure no happy happy to do so. I think you know stepping back for a moment though when we think of the sustainability the stewardship right element of whether it's generative AI whether it's sort of how we were leading in predictive Ai and now moving forward with agentic AI. These concepts of sustainability of equality of trust right of customer stakeholder success of innovation really do we feel have to be at the core. So whether it's when it

comes to you know the sustainability principles for AI for how are we measuring and managing and ensuring all providers right of AI systems are disclosing their environmental impact or how are we ensuring that AI is being leveraged for environmental stewardship or you know planetary stewardship or other sets of items is is very important um you know we have a Salesforce accelerator our AI for impact uh you know set of programs or whether it's working through our Salesforce Ventures arm or Uplink or other initiatives to make sure that initiatives and startups and businesses really of all sizes that are focused on whether it's climate whether it's a nature positive set of solutions or other parts of broader uh sort of set of impact are being you know funded and encouraged um I might also step back though for a moment and think about sort of philosophy philosophically sort of in Salesforce the way we approach um not just you know agentic AI but sort of more broadly the role of business is really three-fold first that

the purpose of business to be to solve problems, solve the problems of people, solve the problems of the planet, and solve the problems of other businesses. You know, two is that business truly can be the greatest platform for innovation, for transformation, but most importantly for positive change. And just three, those values, you know, that I mentioned as we kind of drive forward, and you know, the other panelists here sort of mentioned this, um, as we think of how do we create an ecosystem of trust, an ecosystem of sustainability, an ecosystem of innovation, an ecosystem, right, of equality, you know, an ecosystem of this customer stakeholder success. We must make these technologies, uh, empowering, see, we must make them easy, we must democratize access to the technology. You know, just this past week, uh, we were in, um, you know, San Francisco, you know, for our, uh, Dreamforce and Agentforce, uh, sort of launches and conferences. I highlight that only because we had tens of, uh, thousands of people just sitting together with us, and we said, Let's sit with you, let's build your first agent.

actually, let's together and some people say, Oh, well, I understand it. I'm not that interested. No, no, no. I mean, these are senior-level. We had ministers, right? You have heads of, you know, sort of companies. You have people who are trailblazers, but sort of sitting with them and getting into the system on the Salesforce platform. You know, there's, and let's build the actual workable agentic AI, the agents that can drive, right, the business outcomes, the environmental, the social outcomes, and just the way in which you see people's eyes light up, like, of all ages, okay, including, you know, folks who've been doing this for many decades. But to actually put your hands in the soil, right, to your point, you others, is this is how we democratize access to the technology, make it very inclusive, and ensure that the potential is available not just to a few, right, but to all, and it's fundamentally empowering. So, I really like the dimension of access that you are highlighting, but we also know that

between access, usage, and productive usage of those technologies, we have variations around the world. As a matter of fact, how do you engage to ensure that the corporations, but also the people who have access, will also be using those technologies productively to be contributors to society for economic prosperity? I think you've raised such a fundamental point. It really is about having healthy ecosystems around all these different sets of dimensions, right? Being very inclusive also that you have all the whole range of communities being part of the product feedback, the product development, and really kind of crowdsourcing in different ways what are the most transformative use cases, right, that are practical, that are feasible, but also unlocking the right sets of creativity. What we're also seeing is that there's a very unique moment, sure, around AI, agentic AI, whatnot, but it's also a leadership moment. And so, how do you balance innovation with robust self-governance, right, with common-sense regulation, with inclusivity that actually delivers, right?

at scale, and you know, with the right momentum. So, I think you have to really kind of look very broadly across all communities, you know, across all industries, and really say, Let's all work together in new ways to drive, you know, the opportunity forward. So, I write this point and connected to it. We know that the digital divide has been monumental, and many scholars and experts are highlighting the fact that the AI divide is even wider than the digital divide. So, are you optimistic of your ability to contribute to bridge, or the ability of various industries and multiple stakeholders to bridge the AI divide more than what was done for the digital divide? I am optimistic if we can all achieve collectively to do several things. One, as we connect the unconnected, we also then take the next step to say, Once folks are connected, right, what are the next set of steps, right? So, not only have access to the tools and the technology, but how are the, you know, is how is everyone deploying

them using them right, helping to build the next great organizations. Industries, you know, out of the future, you know. I think too back to this concept of empowerment, you know, back to the element of how do we bring forth, you know, really the best, you know, of all sort of different, you know, sort of set of communities to be deploying the Technologies in a way that uplift communities, uplift families, right? Kind of grapple with sort of these other, you know, sort of issues. And I think three, when you look at whether it's the potential of AI and whether it's in healthcare, it's another set of practical sort of business sets of areas, um, the issue of shortfalls and gaps, right, around we have critical areas, you know. I think, you know, the World Health Organization, I think this is 10 million, uh, you know, shortfall of healthcare workers, right? You can each, each area, we have sort of incredible shortfall. Well, how do we use agentic AI systems to actually fill those types of labor gaps and those types of shortfalls? And this I

think is going to be one of the key ways in which we're able to achieve whether it's the sustainable development goals, whether it's other sets of priorities. But the only way we're going to operate and achieve and bridge so many gaps in many ways, we have to do so in trust. We have to do so at scale, right? And we also just have to do so collectively and together. Thank you so much, and let me turn now to Crystal. So what are some initiatives that Rwanda has adopted to accelerate the broader dissemination of AI and technology, the adoption in the broader society? Thank you, Landry. I'm happy to be here with all of you. So when I reflect on this question of what are some of the key initiatives, it's really been, I think, more so a deliberate strategy that the government has taken that's been put in place for several decades now. So I look back to the year 2000, and this is really just coming out of you.

know kind of the darkest time in the country, the 1994 genocide, and you know really strategic decisions that had to be made in how to rebuild the country. And not just, you know, reconstruct the country that was, you know, completely destroyed, but really being able to think forward to say we're not just responding to the challenges in this moment, but where do we want to be, you know, 20 years from now, you know, 50 years from now. And so the Vision 2020, um, you know, strategy that was put in place in 2000 was to build a knowledge-based economy. And so when I reflect on this moment that we're in now in 2024 and the kind of investments and decisions that were made, um, over 20 years ago, it's really what has prepared us to, um, kind of be able to fully, at least start to harness some of the benefits, um, you know, in this moment where AI is really coming of age, you know. So starting with investment, you talked about, um, uh, the need for

connectivity. Uh, you know, there were really deliberate investments in being able to connect, you know, the entire population. Now we have 97% of the population that's connected to broadband. Um, the other, you know, the other, you know, important element is the people. You must invest in the people if you're going to have a knowledge-based economy. And so, not just having the basic levels of digital literacy, but meaningful, uh, digital literacy. So, being able to access services, e-government services, um, or, you know, any kind of digital services that are really adding value to their lives, U, making their lives more convenient, um, you know, improving their lives and livelihoods. But at the other end of the spectrum, um, not just, you know, talking about, uh, you know, digital literacy, but really being able to invest in the future technology leaders, the future, you know, technology innovators. One example I can point to, uh, was a government inviting, uh, Carnegie Mellon University to set up an Africa campus, um, in Keali. And as, as you know, many of you know, you know

Carnegie Mellon is a pioneer, you know, in the field of artificial intelligence. So, being able to have the presence of a world-class institution like that offering master's degrees not just to Rwandans, but, you know, to a Pan-African kind of pool of talent, you know, in the field of artificial intelligence and many other, you mentioned Mustafa C, also, you know, the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences. You know, these are really intentional steps to build, um, not just the digital talent, you know, stack, but really that top tier of talent that will help us to transition, not just from being consumers of the technology or AI, but really being able to take part in developing solutions that are, you know, contextually relevant, um, because they're the most familiar, you know, with both the challenges and the opportunities that are there. And I would say lastly, really, um, you know, also making sure that, you know, to tie it all together, that it has to be, uh, you know, the foundational.

enabling environment you know for innovation, and that starts with policy and legislation in some cases. And so, one of the things that we worked on as a center supporting the Ministry of ICT is the law on the protection of personal data and privacy that was put in place in 2021. You know, we know the data is the oxygen of AI and these emerging technologies. And so, having the right guardrails in place to make sure that people's rights are protected, so the technology is being used responsibly, people have agency to make decisions over how their data is used, is really kind of a fundamental principle that must be embedded. But beyond that, also making sure that the policies and laws that are put in place are there to stimulate innovation and create an innovation-friendly culture. And so, you know, just lastly with Rwanda's development of their National AI policy, you know, really moving it beyond theory to make it very instructive, and one of the

things that you know we looked at is how can we really ground it in some of the key objectives that are already there in the government's strategy. Now we're at Vision 2050. We looked at, you know, what are the use cases that are really able to unlock, you know, value, accelerate, you know, some of the goals that are in place, and taking it a step further to quantify what could be the possible contribution, you know, to the GDP. Because you have such a, you know, broad list of possible applications, but really being focused to say how will this improve, you know, the lives of our population. And so that's really how we, you know, kind of grounded the AI policy. So it's really, you know, responding to the needs of the population. Thank you very much, Crystal. Is there any story of a successful impact story of AI adoption that you would like to share? Sure, sure. You know, I think particularly we know that when we speak about generative AI.

there's so many possible applications that could really bring value to the community, but I think the health sector is one of the most promising. It's one of the areas that we've already started building a pilot. So, Rwanda has roughly 70,000 community healthcare workers. So, these are really the frontline workers that are kind of at the lowest level, lowest jurisdiction within the country, before people go to a clinic, before they see a nurse, or are seen by a doctor. These are the people who are trying to discern whether or not they need more critical care. And so, we also know that they're not trained, right? They're not trained as nurses; they're given kind of basic information. And so, giving them access to tools like generative AI, especially those that are really customized for the medical context, could give them access to tremendous information and access to kind of a greater

skill set um, but most of those community health workers are not conversing in English. And so we've built a translation model that's both voice and text-based um, so they can interact with it and be able to, you know, um, uh, you know, be able to discern, you know, if someone has a headache, if someone has a cough. Um, if you're in the US context, you know, that might mean that you have the flu. In our context, it could possibly be, you know, tuberculosis, you know, for example. And so it was really important for us, one, not just to uh, look at it from a linguistic perspective, but you know, the context that we're in, you know, being able to train it with the question and answer data sets that um, are really aligned to to to our environment. And so we we've seen, you know, in in the the the training that we've done initially, we were looking at, we were using um, uh, chat gbt 4 um, and so you know, it started out with about 8% accuracy um, initially um.

and over the last 12 months, we've now reached 71% accuracy. We're continuing to build on that work to do a silent trial with the community health workers validated by the nurses and doctors in those clinics. And so, I see that as one of the most promising use cases. But I think that there are so many that we've actually documented through the national AI policy, not just for the health sector, but all of the key priority sectors for the government. And what the government is now doing is also curating open data sets for these specific use cases that they can then partner with the Innovation Community, partner with the startups, because we know that they already have some solutions. And so, the bottleneck is them being able to have access to the data to be able to train them and validate their hypothesis. I really like the specific illustration and especially the comparison that you make between Health context in the US versus Rwanda and which challenges Rwanda or other

African countries are facing when it comes to AI adoption. Will you elaborate a little bit more, Chryst? Yeah, sure. So, I think data is certainly one. I think it's both the challenge and also one of the greatest opportunities. You mentioned the rich linguistic diversity of the continent. We're talking about about 1,400 distinct dialects. Now, we may not have applications that can interact in 1,400 dialects, but certainly, we should be able to serve the majority of our populations. And so, I see that as one area where both the government as well as the private sector should really be investing, because it's a challenge for us to be able to take part and benefit from the technologies that are there, but it's also just such a missed opportunity to be able to serve a really vibrant young population. I think maybe the other

would be around um affordable compute. So, we see a lot of startups who have fantastic ideas, you know, that we've seen, you know, come about over really the last two years with, with uh um kind of the proliferation of, of, of generative AI. Um, but they can only go so far in being able to pilot these solutions because it's prohibitively expensive, you know, um. And so, that's an area where I think as African governments are really trying to think how can we pull our capacity to be able to, you know, um, better serve the innovation community, um. And so, I think that that's an area where it really would require um, you know, public-private um, and philanthropic partnership um. And so, I think that that's also, you know, a significant uh challenge but also um, I think even more so an opportunity. So, what I'm hoping is that, you know, we're not just um looking at when we talk about inclusive AI and equitable access, it's not just um making sure that people are not left behind but really

framing it in a business context, there's a huge opportunity, you know, with this, uh, you know, growing youth population that will be, you know, 40% of Youth by 20, uh, 40 will be African, you know, and so there's a market there, you know, and, and, and, and this is a market that can also become, you know, the world's digital Workforce. And so we should be, you know, creating an enabling environment so they can solve for these issues. Yeah, thank you so much, Crystal. Now I will turn to, uh, Minister, uh, the UAE has been incredibly, uh, amazing at Bridging the digital divide. Which lessons will you advise to other, uh, emerging, uh, Nations and least developed countries, uh, in Bridging the AI Gap? Thank you very much. I think, um, when we talk about EI development, there's a life cycle. There is a requirement for investments in infrastructure. I think that is necessary if you want to deploy AI effectively. Um, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for all governments analyzing where you stand and where you

can deploy effectively, and which sectors will have the biggest impact is necessary before jumping on the opportunity that comes to your table from any different player from around the world. Another important fact is, I think one of the biggest challenges that governments face is ignorance within the decision-making process, which is, you know, if a government official needs to decide whether or not to deploy AI, if they don't understand what AI is or isn't, they will take decisions that are based in ignorance. I think that will ultimately lead to bad, you know, outcomes in most cases. Upskilling government officials is necessary, upskilling them to understand what AI can and cannot do. How do you actually silence the fear-mongers? Because everyone's talking about AI at one point of time reaching the ability to control us and take over the world, but the reality of the matter is today AI is far away from that, and we need to actually look at what it can and cannot do instead of listening to the fear mongers or the optimists. A government

ofici needs to sit in the middle, needs to be very pragmatic, need to be both Optimist and a pessimist, pessimist for the bad challenges that will arise because of AI, and Optimist for the good use cases. And then um if we talk about capacity building, you know one of the challenges that I see and you know this something we've see in the UAE um what do we mean by capacity building. So you know I hear depending on the meetings that I go to, we're going to train a million people in AI. What does training a million people in AI mean? Are you talking about prompt Engineers? Are you talking about AI experts? Because if it's AI experts, I think globally there isn't a million people right identifying what they should or or should not do or can or cannot do is important. Having a standardized approach of what does AI literate mean, what does an AI expert mean, is something that we require to if I tell you for example that I'm going to hire a you know chartered accountant or

chart chartered financial advisor. You know exactly what that means if I tell you high an AI expert. No one understands other than a few people who have a touring award. Honestly, it's very difficult to understand as a government official what it means and what I'm paying for and what I'm actually working on building. So, I think there's a necessity for us to create this framework to understand AI literacy. It means you'd be able to prompt effectively, increase your productivity, for example, um, an AI expert, someone that can do X, Y, and Z. Maybe for certain fronts, you don't need an expert. You need a CTO in the government that's able to do that. Um, my final advice is, so one thing we're going to announce in the UAE, uh, and hopefully deploy soon, is we're going to open access for government departments to have um, CTO as a service, um, for the government department to understand, you know, what we need to do, how we can deploy effectively, what investments need to be made, uh, from an

expert and that CTO is going to have both the understanding of a conventional CTO but also on where the government is going on AI and what needs to happen there. I think having that kind of umbrella approach is also probably a good idea for governments to think about. Thank you so much, Excellency, for providing a comprehensive strategy to further leverage AI and bridge the digital AI gap. Sebastian, so what is the role that the private sector can play in further bridging that AI divide? I think first, choosing to prioritize bridging these different divides, right, and declaring and then implementing that it matters, that it's important, and that these end goals of having the benefits of this set of technology, and again, in an end-to-end type of way, where so that inclusivity, right, it's not an afterthought, right, trust, it's not an afterthought, right, equality, you know, these sort of sets of elements, you know, and also, you know, how do you upscale

everyone right. How do you bring a level of that AI and technology literacy, engagement, comfort, and confidence, right, not as an afterthought but actually as core, right, to the overall sort of sets of, uh, you know, sets of items? Um, I think we also need to be, you know, the private sector ought to be developing and modeling, you know, best practices and shared practices on emerging practices on responsible, right, adoption, on responsible, responsible, um, deployment, right, and implementation around these sets of ways, uh, and then again, I think that both the mindset but also deeply in the implementation around thinking of how are we creating healthy ecosystems, right, that are balancing innovation with, uh, you know, again, prioritizing the right kinds of impact. So, I really like this, and to what extent could you connect the AI policy principle, which were learned, uh, to a broader generalization? How will you export/sell those principles so that other companies can also help, whether in the US or around the world, uh, from your leadership on the question? It's a great

Great. I definitely need to think about that more, but the point is that we want to have frameworks that are interoperable, right, across regions, across contexts, also in a way across industries. Even as you know, kind of with Salesforce, we see and work across industries, so there's areas where you go very, very deep in the industry-specific right sets of elements. But you know, having the right sets of partnerships around it, you know, here, you know, with we, right, we have got a global AI steering committee, right, global AI alliances, you know, and the like. But I think as we empower and upskill industries, nonprofits, communities, you know, regions, the point is that, you know, whether it's our framework, whether it's sort of other frameworks, we actually everyone gets experience, right, with using them, with implementing them, and then ultimately, right, with updating, you know, sort of and revising them so that, you know, ultimately, this is how we think.

of it at Salesforce. We think of it with agent force, agentic AI. Um, this is the most exciting right kind of computer science project, right? Whoever had, and yet it should not just be AI for AI's sake, right? It's balancing development with transparency, with sustainability, with inclusivity. It's also how we're going to get the best kind of innovation at scale. Love the point. So, uh, Professor, so to what extent can we, uh, partner with various stakeholders? So, Meta, for example, to really achieve that inclusive AI. So, when I think, I think it's important to project ourselves in the future and imagine what the future is going to be, and then work towards making that future the best, uh, possible. So, the way the technology, I'm a technology, I'm a scientist, right? So, I tried to envision where technology is going and what is going to be made possible. We're going to have systems within some number of years. It's very difficult to tell exactly when, uh, the systems that, uh, match human intelligence in all respects.

or or surpass it in many respects. So, this is going to be a situation where every one of us is going to be empowered by a team staff of AI assistants working for us essentially, right? And this is going to be true for anyone who can access the internet essentially. Um, how are those systems going to be accessed? They're not necessarily going to be accessed through smartphones. The future of hardware is going to be things like smart glasses, um, which can see what you see, can hear what you hear, can remember what you don't remember, and help you remember it. Um, can answer any question you have. So, it's like having a human staff working for you at all times. Um, and those systems will have displays. So, these kinds of devices are coming up, you know, within the next year or two. Um, and what that enables is interaction between people in their own language, for example. So, we already have prototype systems that can translate hundreds of languages in any direction. We are starting to have systems that can translate non-written languages, um, as well, so directly from

speech to speech. We can do text to text, text to speech, speech to text, and speech to speech, including for languages that are not written, of which there are many, of course, in the world, including the developed world. It's not just an issue of global sales and so, uh, AI will basically facilitate access to that knowledge and information because people could interact with AI systems through voice. You don't need to know anything; you need to learn how to use, you know, guides or whatever. You can just talk to those systems, and the reason why we want to, um, basically make them match human intelligence is because that's what humans are used to do. We're used to interacting with humans, and so if you have a system that you can interact with as if it were a human, uh, you don't need to learn anything new. So, that's kind of the future, but then again, uh, that future needs to be diverse. So, for the same reason that we need access to a wide diversity of sources of information.

you know, through the press or social media or whatever, we also need a high diversity of AI assistants to cater to all of our diverse interests and cultural norms and value systems and languages. Thank you very much, Prof. Crystal. What about the leadership, the continental leadership of Rwanda, in framing the broader AI initiative in the continent, but also the African Union AI strategy? Do you have hope that this will help bridge the gap within the continent, within the countries, and between the continent and the rest of the world? Yeah, so you know, it's been an interesting time. We've seen different regions of the world coming together to have a common understanding and kind of shared objectives around AI, both from a societal aspect, but there's also the element of competition. Africa is often left out of many of those conversations or an afterthought. And so, what I've seen emerging over the last year or

So, there is a lot of conversation around how Africa can come together to have a shared vision for how AI can accelerate some of the commitments and the vision for the continent. Obviously, the leadership of the AU has been outstanding in putting in place a continental strategy. There's also Smart Africa, made up of 41 member states, that put in place an AI blueprint a couple of years ago. So, building on that, one, Rwanda is the only country at the moment that actually hosts one of the centers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We're one of 20 in the network, but the only one on the continent. And so, we said, one, we get access to these spaces and conversations and networks, and how can we leverage that to make sure that we're kind of bringing everyone along as we are collectively embarking on this AI journey.

journey, and so one of the steps that Rwanda has taken is to host the inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa. It will be hosted in April of 2025, and the theme around it, you know, much you speaking to what I mentioned earlier, you know, we have this rapidly growing youth population, you know, home to the fastest-growing workforce in the world. How do we harness that opportunity, you know, AI and this huge demographic dividend that Africa has, and how can we really reimagine what those economic opportunities could be for the workforce, so we're not just catching up, but we're actually building a workforce that is prepared to fully engage in the future. And what are the steps that we can take now, you know, just referencing how the government invested more than 20 years ago. It's brought us to this moment where we have people connected enough.

you know not completely, but they're connected enough to at least be able to, um, you know, take part in some of the opportunities that are there. So, we, of course, we want to share our learnings, but we also want to make sure that we are, uh, I think there's circulation of knowledge across, you know, the continent. And so, we're hoping, you know, that we can invite the world, you know, to engage with Africa on this topic, um, through this inaugural summit, and really be able to build on some of the, um, you know, the good work that has been happening globally. What a wonderful way to bring this session to conclusion, uh, Crystal. So, I'm incredibly grateful for the words of wisdom that you have shared. So, some key takeaways include, uh, to focus on global and equitable access, uh, to AI technologies and infrastructure, inclusivity for AI models and applications, also to address the digital divide and the AI, uh, divide, so that, uh, in a very intentional way, so that they constitute an opportunity, uh, versus a

risk uh also using AI as a catalyst for the broader transformation of uh Society for the broader economic benefits and not just because it's a technology. And finally, leveraging the global and Regional initiative promoting a better access but also usage and effective productive usage of uh AI to Build a Better World. On this note, I would like to thank our audience for joining us this morning for this incredible session. Thank you and see you soon. [Music]

AI for Global Good

The World Economic Forum is the international organization committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation in the spirit of global citizenship. It engages with business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Incorporated as a not-for-profit foundation in 1971 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Forum is independent, impartial and not tied to any interests. It cooperates closely with all leading international organizations.

Best known for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum, also publishes benchmark global reports on Competitiveness, Gender, and Risk.

World Economic Forum

Promoting Global Accessibility to AI: UAE's Initiatives

The UAE has been actively promoting global accessibility to AI through various initiatives, including the production and export of large language models focused on underrepresented languages and climate issues.

The country is leveraging AI to improve quality of life and alleviate urban challenges, such as traffic congestion, by optimizing public transportation and traffic management.

Additionally, the UAE is investing in data centers and coding programs in Africa to build infrastructure and provide training, while also offering open-source AI tools to governments in need of support.

Open source AI is crucial for customizing systems to fit diverse languages and cultures, especially in least developed countries.

Making basic models available and partnering with local organizations can drive linguistic diversity and cultural preservation.

A simple, open infrastructure for training AI systems, similar to Wikipedia, can empower global contributions and address local needs.

Bridging the AI Divide: A Collective Effort

The discussion highlights the importance of democratizing access to technology and empowering communities through agentic AI.

There is a need for inclusive ecosystems that engage diverse communities in product development and feedback.

The speaker expresses optimism about collectively bridging the AI divide by connecting the unconnected, deploying technologies effectively, and using AI systems to fill labor gaps in critical areas.

Rwanda's Strategic Rebuilding and AI Adoption

Rwanda's Vision 2020 strategy aimed to build a knowledge-based economy following the 1994 genocide, with a focus on long-term development.

Key investments were made in broadband connectivity and digital literacy, resulting in 97% of the population being connected.

The presence of world-class institutions, like Carnegie Mellon University, and the development of a National AI policy have been instrumental in nurturing local talent and driving innovation in the country.

Promising AI Applications in Rwanda's Health Sector

Rwanda has 70,000 community healthcare workers who play a crucial role in providing basic care, but they lack proper training.

The use of generative AI, with a customized translation model, is being piloted to provide these workers with essential information and skills.

The Rwandan government is curating open data sets to partner with the innovation community and startups, aiming to address the challenges of data access and affordable computing for AI adoption.

Bridging the AI Gap: Insights and Strategies

The growing youth population, particularly in Africa, presents a significant market opportunity and potential for the world's digital workforce.

Effective AI deployment requires infrastructure investment, a tailored approach for each government, and upskilling decision-makers to understand AI's capabilities.

The UAE's initiative to offer CTOs as a service for government departments aims to provide expert guidance on AI deployment and investment strategies.

Building AI Literacy and Inclusive Systems

AI and technology literacy should be a core focus, with the private sector modeling best practices for responsible adoption and deployment.

Interoperable frameworks across regions and industries are essential for empowering and upskilling various stakeholders.

The future of AI involves systems that match or surpass human intelligence, offering personalized assistance and facilitating diverse interactions through voice and smart devices.

Rwanda's Leadership in Africa's AI Initiative

Rwanda is playing a crucial role in framing the African Union's AI strategy and has hosted the only center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the continent.

The country is organizing the inaugural Global AI Summit on Africa in April 2025, aiming to harness the continent's rapidly growing youth population for economic opportunities.

The initiative focuses on global and equitable access to AI technologies, inclusivity in AI models, and addressing the digital divide to promote a better future for Africa.