My recent engagements with the global AI community, most recently in Seoul, South Korea, have left me reflecting on a fundamental question: as artificial intelligence advances at extraordinary speed, are we making it accessible to the people who stand to benefit from it most? At the Global AI & Digital Summit, hosted by the World Bank Group alongside the Government of the Republic of Korea, I had the opportunity to engage with policymakers, technology leaders and development partners on the future of AI and its potential to transform economies, governments and public services.South Korea offers important lessons for countries like Pakistan. Its transformation into a global technology leader demonstrates what sustained investment in digital infrastructure, human capital and innovation can achieve. But beyond the technological advances, my biggest takeaway from Seoul was the importance of ensuring that this new wave of innovation reaches everyone, including those who have historically been left behind.Artificial intelligence may be the most transformative technology of our generation. But for billions of people, there is still a fundamental barrier between its promise and its usefulness: AI does not yet adequately understand the languages they speak. Think about a farmer in Punjab asking for agricultural advice in Punjabi. A mother describing her child’s symptoms in her local dialect. Or a student trying to learn a difficult concept in the language spoken at home. If AI cannot understand their words, accents and local context accurately, how inclusive is it really?This question is increasingly central to global conversations about the future of AI. At the United Nations General Assembly, governments adopted the Global Digital Compact, calling for digital technologies and AI systems that protect linguistic and cultural diversity and reach people currently excluded from the digital economy. In September, a global coalition of 60 organisations announced an ambitious five-year goal: to enable an estimated 3.4 billion people who speak languages underrepresented in today’s AI systems to use AI in their own language and voice.The message emerging from........

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