The AI Book

CHAPTER 69AI for Development and Prosperity

By Susan Holliday¹

¹Senior Advisor, IFC

There is a lot of emphasis right now on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on different sectors, especially financial services, and on jobs. At the World Bank and IFC, the focus is on partnering with governments and the private sector to end poverty and increase shared prosperity. This topic is becoming increasingly mainstream, as demonstrated by the United Nations Programme Development blog of 21 January 2019.¹ Over 160 actual or potential use cases of AI for the “non-commercial benefit of society” have been identified. Most of these applications are commercial, showing the importance of the role that the private sector has to play, even if in some cases the customer is local or central government. This piece discusses some other examples relating to key factors in prosperity: natural catastrophe, capital markets and diversity and inclusion.

Natural Disasters

The insured losses from natural catastrophes in 2018 amounted to $76 billion but the economic loss was more than double,² meaning there is still a massive protection gap. For global catastrophes this has been estimated by Sigma at $280 billion in 2017 and 2018 alone. They also note the rising impact of secondary and secondary effect perils. There are several examples of where AI is being used and we expect these tools to be developed further over time and adopted more widely.

One example is prioritization of rescue efforts. AI ...