First, AI is hugely powerful and one of its profound impacts is making robots smarter. Industrial robots in distribution centers will soon be widespread which is not necessarily a threat to the workforce in advanced economies. We will need to transition to work alongside robots which requires learning a new skillset and adaptation. Looking to developing economies, Asia has leveraged the global market with its comparative advantage (what is sold to the global economy) in labor intensive manufacturing, processing and assembly operations, which could all now be at threat.
Digital technologies have a high fixed, low cost characteristic meaning software is replicated without cost. As such, there are questions about future growth models in developing countries and to what extent they would still be
Second, tremendous opportunities exist, particularly in China with its rapid digitalization of mobile payments systems, e-commerce and finance sectors which can be adapted and replicated elsewhere to produce inclusive growth patterns.
Finally, AI is used for a reduction in inequality in many industries on a global scale. One example is the healthcare sector, with the emergence of telemedicine and AI partners which can scan all the literature for doctors and propose the relevant reading. Although we are in the early stages of being able to take full advantage of the progress on a global scale; responsible behavior, regulation, definition of rights and transparency could provide the foundation to benefit fully from these digitally enabled AI powered services.