WEF report offers practical steps for inclusive AI adoption

The Blueprint for Intelligent Economies draws from global expertise and provides tailored frameworks for nations at varying stages of AI development. While every region faces unique challenges, the Blueprint emphasises the importance of adapting successful solutions from elsewhere.

For example, regional frameworks for sharing AI infrastructure and energy resources can help overcome national resource limitations, while centralised databanks can create inclusive local datasets that reflect the needs of diverse communities. Public-private subsidies can also widen access to affordable AI-ready devices, helping local innovators adopt AI technologies and scale their operations.

The report outlines nine strategic objectives to drive an effective AI strategy, but identifies and breaks down the following three as the most important for national AI programmes globally:

• Building sustainable AI infrastructure – developing and delivering sustainable and resilient AI infrastructure is essential to unlocking the growth potential of intelligent economies. However, creating scalable, secure and environmentally responsible systems will require significant investment and energy use, and intensified cross-sector collaboration
• Curating diverse and high-quality datasets – data is crucial for developing equitable, accurate and fair AI models, but various data-related challenges exist, including data accessibility, imbalance and ownership. To counter this, data must be available, diverse, inclusive and of high quality to reflect the needs, characteristics, and cultures of a population and their languages
• Establishing robust ethical and safety guardrails – robust frameworks for AI are essential for ensuring that technology benefits society while reducing risks. Establishing standards preventing misuse, bias and ethical breaches will be critical, and help foster trust in AI and promote its responsible development and use.

The report also highlights the crucial role of collaboration between the public and private sectors in accelerating AI adoption worldwide. By implementing supportive policies and incentivising innovation and continuous learning programmes, governments can unlock AI’s potential as a powerful engine for growth and enable workers across the world to thrive in AI-powered Intelligent Age.

Building on the vision of greater AI access, the AI Governance Alliance is launching Regional AI Activation Networks to deliver tailored, on-the-ground programmes designed to enhance AI capabilities. These initiatives will address local challenges, foster resilient AI value chains, enhance local AI ecosystem participation and promote regional efforts on data governance in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Programmes will be developed through a regional multistakeholder platform throughout 2025.

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025, taking place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from 20 to 24 January, convenes global leaders under the theme Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.