AI in Development: World Development Report 2026

For many low-income countries, perhaps the greatest deficit they face is a lack of the human skills that build economic growth. The new artificial intelligence tools improve access to a wide range skills. Thus, the World Bank devoted its flagship World Development Report 2026 to “The Promise of Artificial Intelligence.” For a vivid example, consider agricultural extension agents, who are goverment-funded to travel across rural areas providing insight into how output might be improved. The WDR writes: The planning guidelines of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO) for agricultural extension services specify one agent for every 500–2,000 rural inhabitants, depending on a country’s production systems and the density of its population. But the reality on the ground falls short. Recent estimates indicate that in Nigeria, for example, a single public extension agent may serve anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 farmers. In India, which has one of the largest public…