The World Bank said developing economies stand to benefit more from AI boosting workers' output than they will lose in jobs replaced by the technology. "AI is more likely to lend their workers a hand than put them out of work," said Indermit Gill, the bank's chief economist. Less than a tenth of jobs in developing economies are susceptible to AI automation, compared with more than a third in high-income ones. Gill noted AI is bringing efficiency gains in countries from India to Kenya, including more accurate medical imaging and faster clearance of court case backlogs.

In an optimistic scenario, AI will raise the average maximum long-run growth of developing nations from 4.1 per cent to 4.9 per cent this decade, and boost richer countries from 1.2 per cent to 3.6 per cent. The bank warned that government efforts to spend big on "AI sovereignty" could be a "development trap," and said adaptation, not competing for chips and data centres, must be the mainstay for smaller economies.