UN warns that AI will widen the gap between haves and have nots

Una: the United Nations Development Programme's AI-generated Environment Champion for the Asia-Pacific region. Image credit: United Nations

AI and Autonomy

UN warns that AI will widen the gap between haves and have nots

“AI will lift prosperity but not evenly,” said UNDP Chief Economist Philip Schellekens

Rowan Dunne

Published

4 hours ago

The United Nations is warning that advancements in artificial intelligence will result in greater inequality among many countries.

In a report released on Dec. 2, the UN Development Programme said that millions of jobs are at risk in the Asia-Pacific region in particular as adoption of AI technology surges in wealthy nations. Titled “The Next Great Divergence: Why AI May Widen Inequality Between Countries” the report highlights the imperative need for addressing this gap.

The assessment warns that progress made to narrow global wealth divides over hundreds of years could go down the drain in a single generation. It urges world governments to spend more time evaluating AI ethics before increasing their reliance on it for multiple purposes.

“We need to ensure it’s not technology first, but it’s people first,” lead report author Michael Muthukrishna told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand.

Automation will accelerate job losses, thereby impacting the world’s poorest people most harshly. The UN Development Programme has compared the impending years of the AI revolution to the Industrial Revolution and the disproportionate allocation of wealth that resulted in those days.

“The true measure of success will not be how intelligent the machines become, but how much more empowered people are because of them,” the report concluded. “The freedom to learn and express themselves; to live healthier, safer lives; to find dignified, productive work; and to be served by ethical, efficient public institutions.”

Asia-Pacific at the epicentre of transformation

The United Nations report primarily focuses on the obstacles and opportunities in the several countries within the Asia-Pacific region. As these nations collectively account for 55 per cent of the global population, they reside at the centre point of the ongoing technological revolution. More than half of the world’s AI users are situated within this region.

Advanced economic influences such as Japan, China and Singapore are benefitting from the changes brought about by AI, but others are falling behind at a pace equal to the rapid development of the technology we have been witnessing. China alone is in possession of 7 out of 10 of the world’s AI patents.

Afghanistan is a prime example of a country that global markets are leaving behind because of economic barriers. This nation’s average income is 200 times lower than that of a wealthy state like Singapore, as highlighted by the UN. In Asia-Pacific, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea also struggle with basic electricity and internet access. About 25 per cent of the Asia-Pacific region lacks online resources.

“Lower-income countries and also poorer provinces, cities, and municipalities struggle to finance cloud services, compute, connectivity, cybersecurity, staff training, and data governance at scale,” the report specified. “Richer countries thus use AI to build more adaptive safety nets, while poorer ones risk further exclusion, widening cross-country inequality in resilience to shocks.”

In countries with financial resources, AI has the power to revolutionize healthcare, strengthen disaster response capabilities and benefit society in many other ways, but these advantages are what is driving the enlargement of the inequality gap.

“The next great divergence is not just about technology,” UN Assistant Secretary General Kanni Wignaraja said. “It is about power, access and agency. So let us work together to ensure it is an era of convergence instead.”

Women and youth will suffer the most

Females and young people will be disproportionally affected by the AI revolution’s impact on low-income nations, the UN explained.

This is primarily because jobs held by women are about 100 per cent more likely succumb to automation than those held by men, the report highlighted.

“Women are more likely than men to be working in informal and care economies, and with the introduction of AI could further be exposed to algorithmic bias and online harm,” the authors described.

“Unless these imbalances are deliberately addressed so that women are more digitally empowered, these divides are likely to widen and deepen.”

The report has specified that AI will hit youth hard by performing tasks that many entry-level jobs previously required workers to do.

These include things such as drafting, information processing and translation that have historically formed the foundation of early-career employment opportunities.

“This erosion of traditional stepping-stone opportunities risks creating new barriers to labor market entry,” the UN Development Programme researchers stated, “leaving young people with fewer chances to gain practical experience and build career pathways.”

READ NOW | @UNDPasiapac’s flagship report on AI and human development explores how AI is reshaping economies and societies, and why it may widen inequalities between countries that could trigger a next great divergence unless urgent action is taken.

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— UN Development (@UNDP) December 2, 2025