AI should be a global public good

Efforts to develop artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly being seen as a global race, even a new Great Game. Apart from the race between countries to become more competent and establish a competitive advantage in AI, enterprises are also in a contest to acquire AI talent, leverage data advantages, and offer unique services. In both cases, success would depend on whether AI solutions can be democratized and distributed across sectors.

The global AI race is unlike any other global competition, as the extent to which innovation is being driven by governments, the corporate sector or academia differs substantially from country to country. On average, though, the majority of innovations so far have emerged from academia, with governments contributing through procurement, rather than internal research and development.

While the share of commodities in global trade has fallen, the share of digital services has risen, such that digitalization now underwrites more than 60 percent of all trade. By 2025, half of all economic value is expected to be created in the digital sector. And as governments have searched for ways to claim a position in the value chain of the future, they have homed in on AI.