The study, titled The Promise of Artificial Intelligence, arrives as development progress hits its weakest pace in 75 years. Instead, the focus must be on “Small AI,” low-cost, highly tailored tools that can bypass the infrastructural bottlenecks of the developing world. African mapYet, it warns, adopting ready-made AI tools from Silicon Valley and Beijing is not enough either. Artificial intelligence can perform cognitive tasks that usually demand scarce human expertise, diagnosing disease, forecasting weather, designing lessons, or managing public records. The World Bank’s 2026 blueprint is not a call to join an expensive global race for the most powerful AI models.