Dive into the UN Technology and Innovation Report 2025: Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development, a critical publication from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This report offers an insightful survey of the complex artificial intelligence landscape, aiming to guide decision-makers in designing science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies that foster inclusive technological progress.

The report highlights the significant concentration of AI development in a few companies and countries, alongside extensive gaps in digital infrastructure that risk widening existing inequalities globally. AI is projected to impact 40 percent of global employment, transforming production processes and labour markets. While it offers immense potential to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, it also presents various risks and ethical concerns, including bias, privacy invasion, security threats, and environmental implications.

To harness AI's benefits for sustainable and inclusive development, the report identifies three critical leverage points: infrastructure, data, and skills. It advocates for national policies that strategically support AI adoption, adaptation, and development. From an international perspective, the report underscores the urgent need for global AI governance and stronger international cooperation to steer AI towards inclusive and equitable development. This includes fostering a worker-centric approach to AI, promoting digital public infrastructure (DPI), and embracing open innovation models like open data and open source to democratise knowledge and resources.

The report concludes by emphasising that for AI to contribute positively to shared prosperity, its development must shift from a technology-first approach to one that prioritises people, ensuring benefits are shared fairly among countries, firms, and workers.