As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, experts warn that the widening AI divide is becoming a major challenge for the Global South. They say China is helping narrow the gap by promoting more inclusive approaches and expanding practical cooperation.
China”s initiatives in AI governance provide the Global South with a greater voice in shaping global AI rules while helping developing countries benefit from the technology, they said.
The divide is already evident. While more than 1 billion people worldwide use AI chatbots every week, the Global South lags “far behind the Global North” in AI adoption, the United Nations said in a report this month.
The International Monetary Fund’s AI Preparedness Index underscores the disparity, with advanced economies scoring 0.68, compared with 0.46 for emerging markets and just 0.32 for low-income countries. The gap is largely driven by the Global North’s dominance in computing infrastructure and the Global South’s limited capacity for AI research and deployment.
The consequences are far-reaching and potentially transformative, as experts warn of a new form of technological dependency and industrial stratification.
“The Global South, home to 88 percent of the world’s population, generates highly valuable local scenario data for model adaptation”, said Jiang Tianjiao, a research fellow at the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance in Shanghai. “Yet, without the computing power for storage, cleaning and training, these data are often sent abroad for processing.”
Jiang cautioned that this could create a future in which data originate in the South, but profits and development gains remain in the North, leaving advanced economies to control foundational AI models such as ChatGPT while developing countries are confined to application-layer fine-tuning and niche local models.
“What appears to be a division of work is, in essence, hierarchical stratification,” he said, warning that the trend could also erode local languages and cultures in AI models.
Carlos Maria Correa, executive director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental organization for developing countries based in Geneva, said AI is, above all, a development issue for the Global South.
Persistent and widening digital divides have left many developing countries ill-equipped to govern or benefit from AI, risking “entrenching dependence on external actors for access to AI”, he said.
Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore Business School, warned of AI “lock-ins” that could prevent Global South countries from advancing along the world’s AI development path.
Such dependency on the Global North could give rise to a new form of AI colonialism, “where the less-developed countries may be trapped perpetually”, he said.
UN data underscore these concerns. According to UN Trade and Development, fewer than one-third of developing countries have national AI strategies, and 118, mostly developing nations, remain absent from global AI governance discussions.
Experts say the challenge is compounded by policies in some countries that prioritize unilateral security and economic interests by erecting technological barriers, further hindering the Global South’s development.
Loh criticized the “small yard, high fence” approach, warning it could create “a restrictive AI order” in which Global South countries become technology rule-takers and importers rather than co-creators of standards and AI systems.
Hernan Gabriel Borisonik, director of the Center for Science and Thought at the National University of San Martin in Argentina, said technological walls duplicate efforts and fuel competing standards instead of cooperation to address shared AI risks, such as algorithmic bias.
“At the same time, it would be naive to dismiss the strategic logic behind these fences,” Borisonik said. “The path forward is to build a genuinely planetary framework that can create mechanisms for coexistence and mutual influence, even amid competition.”
More equitable
Experts say China’s AI governance initiatives are playing an increasingly important role in constructing a more equitable global framework. In recent years, China has introduced a series of governance initiatives and action plans aimed at using AI for good, countering unilateral technological monopolies and advancing inclusive global AI governance.
During the just-concluded 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai, 29 countries signed an agreement to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, helping bridge the AI divide by supporting faster AI development in the Global South.
“International cooperation and capacity-building initiatives are key to bridging the global AI divide and promoting inclusive AI development and governance,” Correa of the South Centre said, describing the organization’s establishment as “very encouraging”.
Correa also praised China’s AI governance initiatives for enhancing fairness and prioritizing sustainable development, saying they contribute to “a more balanced global AI landscape, fostering mutual benefits and reducing existing inequalities”.
Borisonik echoed the view, saying China’s initiatives made a crucial contribution to global AI governance by treating it as a shared challenge that must reflect the perspectives and interests of developing countries, not just technological leaders.
China’s emphasis on capacity building is especially significant, he said. “AI governance depends not only on legal principles but also on scientific institutions, educational systems and long-term international cooperation. Supporting these capacities is one of the most effective ways to reduce structural inequalities in the global AI landscape.”
In recent years, China has expanded practical AI cooperation through infrastructure and talent development. In 2024, it launched the China-BRICS AI Development and Cooperation Center to deepen AI collaboration among BRICS members. Last year, Chinese tech companies also helped Laos develop the world’s first Lao large language model.
Alex Gakuru, director of the Center for Law in Information Technology in Kenya, said China’s approach differs fundamentally from Western models. “It is not aid-dependent but partnership-based,” he said.
He cited the Lao large language model as a prime example, saying its architecture, training data, governance and the Lao government’s role reflect “a fundamentally different approach — one centered on sovereignty and self-determination rather than dependency”.
“It is the best example of how the Global South could replicate the preservation of their culture in collaboration with China,” he said. “The partnership model ensures that linguistic and cultural sovereignty is not sacrificed for technological convenience, and many countries are bound to embrace it.”
yangran1@chinadaily.com.cn
