The World Bank Group has launched its first digital strategy, setting out a global plan to expand internet access, lower technology costs and help developing countries use artificial intelligence to create jobs and improve public services.
The strategy was unveiled on October 20 at the Global AI and Digital Summit in Seoul.
It brings together the World Bank’s public-sector financing, policy advice, private investment and guarantees under one digital development framework.
The Bank says its focus is not just on advanced AI systems, but on practical technologies that countries can actually afford and use.
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Four Priorities Will Shape the Strategy
The new strategy is built around four main areas.
The first is expanding reliable connectivity.
The World Bank plans to support infrastructure ranging from international cables and national networks to local connections serving homes, businesses, schools and clinics.
It also wants countries to coordinate electricity and connectivity investments in places where both remain limited.
The second priority is affordability.
The Bank says many people live within mobile-network coverage but still cannot afford smartphones or data plans.
It plans to work with manufacturers, mobile operators, financial institutions and refurbishment businesses to reduce device and broadband costs.
The third area is digital services and skills.
The strategy supports digital identity systems, payments, secure information-sharing and training linked to employment.
The fourth is AI readiness.
The World Bank wants countries to strengthen access to computing power, usable local data and technical skills so they can adopt AI without depending entirely on expensive foreign infrastructure.
World Bank Pushes ‘Small AI’ for Developing Economies
A central idea in the strategy is what World Bank President Ajay Banga calls “small AI”.
This refers to AI tools built for specific tasks and local conditions rather than extremely large general-purpose models.
Examples include systems that help farmers identify crop diseases, assist health workers or help small businesses manage inventory.
The approach is intended to make AI useful even in countries with limited connectivity, computing capacity or financial resources.
That is an important distinction.
Much of the global AI race has focused on increasingly large models and enormous data centres.
The World Bank is instead arguing that developing economies may gain more from smaller, targeted systems that solve specific local problems.
Banga said digital technology can help countries create jobs and make limited resources go further, but only if basic infrastructure, affordability and skills are addressed at the same time.
More Than 2 Billion People Remain Offline
The strategy also highlights the scale of the digital divide.
More than 2 billion people were still offline globally in 2025.
Only 23% of people in low-income countries used the internet, compared with 94% in high-income economies.
That gap creates a serious challenge for AI development.
Countries cannot benefit meaningfully from AI if large parts of their populations lack reliable connectivity, affordable devices or digital skills.
The World Bank is also linking the strategy directly to employment.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, around 1.2 billion young people are expected to reach working age in developing countries.
Those economies are projected to create only about 420 million jobs.
The Bank believes digital technology can help narrow that gap by improving productivity and creating opportunities in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism and manufacturing.
Shared GPU Infrastructure Targets AI Access Gap
Alongside the broader strategy, the World Bank announced a new AI Infrastructure and Readiness Initiative.
The programme will help emerging-market governments access computing power through shared, pay-as-you-go GPU infrastructure.
GPUs are specialised processors commonly used to train and operate AI systems.
Instead of every country building its own expensive national data centre, governments could access shared computing capacity when needed.
The initial focus will be on Africa and Latin America.
Cassava Technologies and Nvidia will participate as knowledge partners.
The model could lower the financial barrier to AI adoption for countries that cannot justify spending billions of dollars on standalone computing infrastructure.
It could also give local developers and public agencies access to computing resources without relying entirely on overseas cloud platforms.
Privacy, Cybersecurity and Fraud Built Into Strategy
The World Bank says safeguards will apply across all four priorities.
Those include privacy protections, cybersecurity measures and fraud controls.
That matters because expanding digital identities, payment systems and data-sharing platforms can create new risks if security is weak.
Developing countries may face particular challenges because digital systems are sometimes introduced faster than cybersecurity capacity can be built.
The strategy therefore treats security as part of basic digital infrastructure rather than something to be added later.
The wider objective is to help countries move from simply connecting people to using digital infrastructure for productivity, public services and employment.
The Bank says it will work with governments, technology companies, development partners and philanthropic organisations to implement the strategy.
What this means for you:
The World Bank is shifting from basic internet-access projects toward a broader model that combines connectivity, affordable devices, digital skills and AI. For developing countries, the focus will increasingly be on practical AI that can create jobs without requiring massive data-centre investment.
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