Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming productivity and innovation worldwide, but nearly half of humanity remains unable to benefit due to lack of electricity, internet, and digital skills, global technology leaders warned at the Abu Dhabi Global AI Summit on Sunday.
“There are 8.1 billion people in the world, but 700 million don’t have electricity,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. “Add those without internet access, and now 2.6 billion can’t use AI. Add those without digital skills, and it’s 3.9 billion — roughly half the world can’t access or use AI.”
Calling it “the most urgent digital divide of our time,” Smith said expanding access must start with basic infrastructure. “We cannot democratise AI until everyone is connected,” he emphasised. He praised the UAE as a global leader in responsible AI adoption, noting that it tops the world with a 59% per capita adoption rate, ahead of Singapore and several developed economies. “We are in the global capital of AI adoption today,” Smith said, crediting the UAE’s early investments in digital skills and technology.
At the same panel, Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group, warned that AI inequality is evolving into a geopolitical fault line. “AI is geopolitical by design,” he said. “If we want to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, this is the bet the world is making. But the question is — who controls the algorithms?”
Bremmer called for a “coalition of the willing” among governments and tech companies to ensure AI serves humanity collectively, not as a new battleground for superpower rivalry. “We need global governance around AI. It can’t just be a US-China competition,” he said, adding that the UAE could play a “balancing role” in building inclusive governance.
Peng Xiao, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42, said the world’s AI future will depend more on energy than computing power. “Eventually, the cost of intelligence will become the cost of energy,” he warned. “Even in the US, energy is now the major lock on unleashing AI.” G42 is developing up to five gigawatts of clean, high-performance computing capacity in Abu Dhabi to meet growing regional and global demand.
Baroness Joanna Shields, CEO of the Responsible AI Foundation, said AI could reverse decades of “brain drain” by enabling entrepreneurs to build globally competitive startups from their home countries. “The best talent used to move to Silicon Valley,” she said. “Now they can stay home and innovate locally.”
However, Bremmer cautioned that AI will soon disrupt white-collar professions previously shielded from automation. “It’s coming real soon — advanced degree, urban, suburban, and women professionals,” he said. “We must get ahead of this before it becomes the next populist shock.”
Experts at the summit agreed that nations investing early in education, digital infrastructure, and responsible AI policies — like the UAE — are best positioned to turn this disruption into opportunity rather than division.
