Adapting artificial intelligence to local needs, rather than competing with existing technologies, is the World Bank's recommendation for emerging countries in its World Development Report 2026, its first report dedicated to the central theme of global innovation.
The message in the document published on Tuesday, August 4th, is an attempt to shake up the economies of these countries, which are experiencing their worst average growth performance in three decades.
According to the World Bank, these middle-income countries don't need to compete with the United States and China in the race for billion-dollar data centers; they just need to be smart enough to adapt the innovation that is developing. "AI as a shortcut can restore lost momentum and do in a decade what would take a century," the report states.
The text mentions Brazil by name, although not to praise the local infrastructure. It points out that, as of March 2024, the country was already among the five countries with the highest traffic for ChatGPT in the world, alongside India, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
The document states that middle-income countries, such as Brazil, adopt AI disproportionately compared to all other economic indicators that typically explain this type of behavior.
The World Bank's conclusion is that Brazilians use generative AI far more than their income, digital infrastructure, or average education level would allow.
A survey released in January of this year showed that 71% of Brazilian adults have already used some type of AI chatbot – a jump of 25 percentage points since 2023 – and that eight out of ten want to learn more about the subject. Among students, Brazil is vying for global adoption leadership alongside India.
Brazil as a laboratory
The World Bank team responsible for the report is using data from ongoing research on governance in Brazil – along with Malaysia – to design the global methodology for measuring AI adoption within governments.
In the report, Brazil is being treated as a case study to understand how the public sector of an emerging country is incorporating AI into data systems, processes, and administrative decisions.
Specific analyses of Latin America show that AI adoption in the region is advancing, driven by Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – largely due to the strength of local fintech ecosystems.
But more than 40% of companies in the region still cite a lack of technical skills and uncertain return on investment as the main obstacles to going beyond pilot projects and mere curiosity.
This is the same warning that the World Bank report makes on a global scale. Without energy infrastructure, connectivity, data, and institutions, the adoption of AI could widen the gap between those who already have the capacity to absorb the technology and those who do not.
The capital investment by American big tech companies in data centers already exceeds the GDP of several entire emerging economies. The conclusion is that emerging economies cannot compete in this game.
The World Bank's bet – and the message for Brazil – is that the relevant dispute is not about who builds the largest model, but about who manages to put AI tools, however small, in the hands of teachers, doctors, farmers, and public servants first.
