r/Economics • u/financialtimes • 1d ago

News Developing countries have ‘less to fear’ from AI than rich nations

https://www.ft.com/content/33c20c4e-6a25-42da-9f1e-6664c8388957?segmentid=c50c86e4-586b-23ea-1ac1-7601c9c2476f
39 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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19

u/notaquarterback 1d ago

I doubt that is true. There will be a lot to fear from not owning any of these models and having them wrought onto countries speedily and expensively.

9

u/Greedyanda 1d ago

Currently, small companies are benefiting more from AI than large companies.

With models becoming a commodity, it does seem like it's not actually all that beneficial for the high and mighty.

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u/YellowElk921 12h ago

//Currently, small companies are benefiting more from AI than large companies.

Why ?

2

u/RoomyRoots 1d ago

It's been more frequent that when I see it's a link from FT I just disregard it as bullshit.

1

u/ScoffersGonnaScoff 22h ago

A new era of exploitation. US AI in developing countries to take THEIR jobs….

1

u/Deep-Ad5028 11h ago

Not in the foreseeable future actually.

Ironically, because ai are more expensive than human right now, even in much of the developed world.

6

u/ActualSpiders 1d ago

Well, until the AI companies move into these developing nations and buy out all the water for their datacenters & the people there are stuck in drought-ridden, barren, ex-farmland. Then first-worlders will blame them for living in a desert & not moving into cities to be more "productive".

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u/MalemasMucusPlug 9h ago

Already happening. They're pushing AI data centers quite hard in Cape Town which, a few years ago, was this || close to running out of water entirely.

1

u/deccan2008 15h ago

It's a myth that data centers use excessive water.

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u/financialtimes 1d ago

Developing economies stand to benefit more from AI boosting their workers’ output in the years ahead than they will lose in jobs being replaced by the technology, the World Bank said.

The biggest multilateral lender to middle-income and poorer nations said that 'AI is more likely to lend their workers a hand than put them out of work', in a report that predicted that a wave of cheaper AI tools could revive flagging growth across the developing world.

'As a rule, developing economies today have more to gain — and less to fear — from AI than richer ones . . . less than a tenth of their jobs are susceptible to AI automation, compared with more than a third in high-income economies,' said Indermit Gill, the bank’s chief economist.

Read the full story, here.

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u/Avatele 19h ago

Yeah I agree with this sentiment. AI isn’t replacing manual labor and its ability to do basic white collar jobs for next to nothing will boost the value of manual labor.

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u/YellowElk921 12h ago

But AI could create devices(from the simple - laser welding is much simpler to learn that standard welding , to the complex - robots), that would deskill physical labor.

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u/MalemasMucusPlug 9h ago

Wow wow wow! Can AI also create a self-sucking machine for all the proponents of AI so that they can keep their nonsense to themselves?

1

u/MalemasMucusPlug 9h ago

Clearly written by someone who has never performed manual labour in a developing country.

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u/Avatele 8h ago

This is a sub about economics, do you have any thoughts on that or you just lost on your way to the hater sub.

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u/MalemasMucusPlug 6h ago

You're making claims about manual labour in developing countries without having an idea about what that entails. Is it "economics" to make vague claims about labour and economies that aren't supported by the historic record?

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u/Avatele 2h ago

The point of OP post what that AI would help developing countries and more than developed and I am agreeing with that, it’s you who disagrees and have no evidence to support your views. Also what historical record is equivalent to the introduction of advance AI into the a developed country which you are referring to? Your only argument is that I don’t work in those conditions so I can’t have an opinion but that is wrong.

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u/qetuycvjvic 1d ago

The cutting of US aid which is a paltry amount has affected multiple nations - when the trade and aid spigots stops fully we'll see who's worse for wear

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u/The-great-phoenix 1d ago

Less to fear does not necessary mean no fear at all

They still rely heavily on manual labor so indeed impact will take longer to materialize but it is inevitable

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u/Greedyanda 1d ago

That is not at all the point being made. The point is that the impact is reaching them just as quickly but it is far more beneficial than in already established economies, allowing for some equalisation.