Artificial Intelligence: A Driver of Inclusive Development and Shared Prosperity for the Global South

This book presents contextualised and detailed research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Global South. It examines the key challenges of these emerging and least industrialised countries while proffering holistic and comprehensive solutions. The book then explains how AI, as part of these broad interventions, can drive Global South economies to achieve inclusive development and shared prosperity. The book outlines how countries can swiftly prepare to adopt and develop AI across all sectors. It presents novel national, regional, and continental AI adoption, development, and implementation frameworks.

Features:

• Broad non-AI interventions and prescriptions to address Global South challenges
• A comprehensive but accessible introduction to AI concepts, technology, infrastructure, systems, and innovations such as AlphaFold, ChatGPT-4, and DeepSeek-R1
• An overview of AI-related technologies such as quantum computing, battery energy storage systems, 3D printing, nanotechnology, IoT, and blockchain
• How to prepare emerging economies to unlock the benefits of AI while mitigating the risks
• Discussion of specific AI applications in 11 critical Global South sectors
• Details of 11 sector case studies of AI adoption in the Global South and Global North
• Ten country case studies: Sharing emergent AI experiences in the Global South
• AI adoption framework: vision, strategy, policy, governance, legislation/regulation, and implementation matrix
• A framework for democratising and decolonising AI
• The value proposition for AI research, development, and ownership in the Global South
• A case for the participation of the Global South in the AI semiconductor industry

This book is aimed at policymakers, business leaders, graduate students, academics, researchers, strategic thinkers, and world leaders seeking to understand and leverage the transformative role of AI-based systems in achieving inclusive development, economic transformation, and shared prosperity.

Arthur G.O. Mutambara is Director and Full Professor at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Institute for the Future of Knowledge (IFK) in South Africa, where he also serves as Head of the Decentralised Artificial Intelligence and Control Systems (DAICS) Research Group. He is a world-renowned control systems specialist, roboticist, academic, author and technology strategist. Professor Mutambara is a key African thought leader and presenter on the raging Artificial Intelligence revolution. He teaches Control Systems in two departments at UJ: Mechanical Engineering Science and Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science. Engineer Mutambara previously taught and conducted research in Control Systems, Robotics and Mechatronics in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University–Florida State University (FAMU-FSU), both in the United States.