Countries need to fit tech to priorities

Artificial intelligence could become one of this century's greatest accelerators of development, or a new source of dependency and inequality. The difference will not be determined solely by access to a model. It will depend on whether countries possess the infrastructure, skills, institutions and policy space to shape technology around their own priorities. The AI divide is therefore a development divide and bridging it must begin with national capability.

On Oct 25, China will mark the 55th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. In the decades since, China's development transformation has resonated far beyond its borders. The country has moved from low-income to upper-middle-income status and lifted close to 800 million people out of extreme poverty.

No national experience can simply be replicated, but China's trajectory demonstrates the enduring importance of long-term planning, sustained investment in infrastructure and education, productive and technological capacity, and capable public institutions.

These lessons are urgent. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 finds that only 15 percent of the 139 targets with sufficient trend data are on track, while another 15 percent have regressed below their 2015 baselines. With only four years remaining, incremental adjustments will not suffice. Countries need financing, institutional capacity and policy space to pursue nationally owned development strategies.

China knows from its own experience that development cannot be imported or delivered from outside. It must be built through national choices and sustained investment, supported by international cooperation. Countries at different stages of development will follow different paths. The multilateral system should not prescribe a single model, but help each country mobilize the knowledge, technology and resources required to advance on its own terms.

China's contribution is also multilateral. The Group of 77, established in 1964, now brings together more than 130 developing countries. Since 1991, China's cooperation with the Group has been expressed through the established formulation "the Group of 77 and China". As Ecuador's foreign minister and chair of the G77 and China in 2017, I saw how this coalition strengthens the negotiating capacity of developing countries. In the G20 and BRICS, China has likewise become a prominent voice for development and for greater participation by the Global South in global governance.

AI provides a concrete test of these principles. China's expanding ecosystem of open and open-weight models is lowering barriers to entry and creating opportunities to adapt systems to different languages, cultures and development needs. Together with its infrastructure experience, South-South cooperation and AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, China can make a distinctive contribution alongside other partners. But access to a model is not a development strategy. Countries also need reliable electricity and connectivity, affordable computing power, well-governed data, skilled people, research institutions, cybersecurity and public authorities capable of evaluating systems responsibly. According to the International Telecommunication Union, 2.2 billion people remained offline in 2025. Many more are connected but lack the resources required to become producers, innovators and decision-makers in the AI economy.

Capacity-building and governance must therefore advance together. No single state can govern this transformation for the world, no corporation has the legitimacy to do so, and no purely technical body can generate the necessary political confidence. The United Nations should not attempt to become a global technology regulator. Its irreplaceable role is to provide the universal space in which member states, scientists, civil society and responsible companies can exchange knowledge, develop practical safeguards and identify areas of convergence.

Member states have already laid the foundations. The Global Digital Compact recognizes the contribution of digital public goods, including open AI models. The United Nations General Assembly resolution 78/311 placed international cooperation on AI capacity-building on the global agenda, while resolution 79/325 established the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance. These instruments do not impose a single regulatory model. They create a platform for cooperation across different national approaches.

The next UN secretary-general should turn this foundation into national capability. The UN should map countries' needs, align its agencies with national priorities and mobilize technical and financial partners. Developing countries must participate from the outset, not as permanent consumers or rule-takers, but as producers, innovators and authors of the decisions that will shape their future.

The next era of development should not be measured by how much the UN delivers for countries, but by how much more countries are able to deliver for themselves. Bridging the AI divide will be a defining test of that principle and of our ability to build a more capable, credible and effective United Nations.

The author is former president of the United Nations General Assembly and a candidate for UN secretary-general.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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