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Companies in developing countries are adopting Artificial Intelligence applications to increase efficiency and open new markets for their products. This book explores the multifarious capabilities and applications of AI in the context of these emerging economies and its role as a driver for decision making in current management practices. Artificial Intelligence Enabled Management argues that the economic problems facing academics, professionals, managers, governments, businesses and those at the bottom of the economic pyramid have a technical solution that relates to AI. Businesses in developing countries are using cutting-edge AI-based solutions to improve autonomous delivery of goods and services, implement automation of production and develop mobile apps for services and access to credit. By integrating data from websites, social media and conventional channels, companies are developing data management platforms, good business plans and creative business models. By increasing productivity, automating business processes, financial solutions and government services, AI can drive economic growth in these emerging economies. Public and private sectors can work together to find innovative solutions that simultaneously alleviate poverty and inequality and increase economic mobility and prosperity. The thought-provoking contributions in this book also bring attention to new barriers that have emerged in the acceptance, use, integration and deployment of AI by businesses in developing countries and explore the often-overlooked drawbacks of AI adoption that can hinder or even cause value loss. The book is a must-read for policymakers, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the critical role of AI in the emerging economy perspective.

This book dives into the achievements, opportunities, risks and dangers of ICT in the rural Global South, and takes a look at the likely future.Drawing on years of experience across 45 counties, as well as extensive original academic research, Willem van Eekelen situates the evolving role of ICT in wider development patterns in the Global South. He discusses the effects of ICT on agriculture, trade, financial flows, resource management and governmental performance. He then considers the associated risks of financial insecurity, online gambling, exclusion, misinformation and the effects of ICT on people's freedom. The book concludes with six recommendations to maximise the usefulness of rural ICT investments and minimise the risk of them causing harm.This engaging and authoritative account of ICT and rural development will help students, academics, governmental policymakers, donors and investors wishing to support socio-economic development in the Global South.

The Information and Communications for Development series looks in depth at how information and communications technologies are affecting economic growth in developing countries. This new report, the fourth in the series, examines the topic of data-driven development, or how better information makes for better policies. The objective is to assist developing-country firms and governments in unlocking the value of the data they hold for better service delivery and decision making and to empower individuals to take more control of their personal data.We are undoubtedly experiencing a data revolution in which our ability to generate, process, and utilize information has been magnified many times over by the machines that we increasingly rely upon. This report is about how the data revolution is changing the behavior of governments, individuals, and firms and how these changes affect the nature of development: economic, social, and cultural. How can governments extract value from data to improve service delivery in the same way that private companies have learned to do for profit? Is it feasible for individuals to take ownership of their own data and to use it to improve their livelihoods and quality of life? Can developing-country firms compete with the internet majors on their own turf and be even more innovative in their use of data to serve local customers better? Though the report is aimed primarily at government policy makers, it also has great relevance for individuals concerned about how their personal data is used and how the data revolution might affect their future job prospects. For private sector firms, particularly those in developing countries, the report suggests how they might expand their markets and improve their competitive edge. For development professionals, the report provides guidance on how they might use data more creatively to tackle long-standing global challenges, such as eliminating extreme poverty, promoting shared prosperity, or mitigatingthe effects of climate change.The report's chapters explore different themes associated with the supply of data, the technology underlying it, and the demand for it. An overview chapter focuses on government use of data and presentation of definitions. Part I of the report then looks at the “supply side” of the data sector, with chapters on data connectivity and capacity (where data comes from, how it is stored, and where it goes) and data technology (specifically big data analytics and artificial intelligence) and how this is contributing to development. Part II looks at the sector's “demand side,” with a chapter on people's use of data and another that examines how firms use digital platforms in the data economy and how that contributes to competitiveness. Part III brings together the policy implications for developing-country stakeholders, with a chapter considering government policies for data, including data protection and privacy. A closing Data Notes appendix looks at statistical indicators associated with the use of data and presents the 2018 update of the Digital Adoption Index (DAI), a composite indicator introduced in the 2016 World Development Report: Digital Dividends.

The development of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has transformed the world over the last two decades. These technologies are often seen as being inherently'good', with the ability to make the world better, and in particular to reduce poverty. However, their darker side is frequently ignored in such accounts. ICTs undoubtedly have the potential to reduce poverty, for example by enhancing education, health delivery, rural development and entrepreneurship across Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, all too often, projects designed to do so fail to go to scale, and are unsustainable when donor funding ceases. Indeed, ICTs have actually dramatically increased inequality across the world. The central purpose of this book is to account for why this is so, and it does so primarily by laying bare the interests that have underlain the dramatic expansion of ICTs in recent years. Unless these are fully understood, it will not be possible to reclaim the use of these technologies to empower the world's poorest and most marginalised.