Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming our world, reshaping industries and helping to solve complex global challenges. What was once the stuff of science fiction is now an undeniable reality.
Yet as AI progresses, it also threatens to widen the gap between countries that can harness its power and those that risk being left behind. A recent report by the UN Secretary General’s High-level Advisory Body on AI highlights this moment as a critical turning point, and it presents an extraordinary opportunity for emerging markets to leap forward.
The UN’s seven recommendations on AI governance provide a comprehensive roadmap for managing this powerful technology responsibly. But beyond policy discussions, these recommendations also offer a blueprint for how emerging markets can seize the moment and position themselves at the forefront of the AI-driven future.
One of the key proposals is the creation of a scientific panel on AI to identify both opportunities and risks. For emerging markets, this panel represents a chance to participate in the global conversation about the future of the technology.
Historically, scientific innovation has been concentrated in just a few regions, but the interconnected nature of today’s world allows talent from around the globe to contribute. This is an unprecedented opportunity for emerging economies to ensure that their unique challenges and needs are taken into account when developing AI systems. These countries can ensure that AI becomes an inclusive and equitable force, relevant to their local contexts.
The UN’s seven recommendations on AI governance provide a comprehensive roadmap for managing this powerful technology responsibly
Perhaps the most urgent issue is the growing AI divide, the gap between countries with access to AI technologies and those without. The UN’s call to create a global fund to provide resources to countries in need is a vital step toward levelling the playing field.
AI requires access to computational power, sophisticated models and vast amounts of data – resources that many emerging markets currently lack. By offering access to these critical enablers, this fund could be transformative for nations that are eager to harness AI but currently do not have the infrastructure in place.
AI has the potential to revolutionise sectors such as agriculture, health care and education, all of which are vital to many emerging economies. By providing equitable access to AI resources, countries can accelerate their development pathways, solve local problems more efficiently, create jobs and drive long-term economic growth.
Building AI capacity is another important component of the UN recommendations, and the establishment of a capacity development network linking UN-affiliated centres is a powerful opportunity.
For emerging markets, investing in education and training programmes tailored to their specific needs is essential. By cultivating a skilled workforce, these nations can ensure that AI becomes a tool for development rather than a driver of inequality.
AI governance must not be limited to a few advanced economies; it needs to be a global effort that includes emerging markets, ensuring they have the tools to govern and apply AI responsibly. In addition, developing local standards and participating in policy dialogues can help these countries align with global best practices while addressing their unique circumstances.
Data, the lifeblood of AI, is another area where emerging markets have a critical role to play. The UN’s proposal to establish a global data framework, ensuring equitable access to AI data, is crucial for countries with limited data infrastructure. AI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on, and without access to high-quality data, emerging economies risk being excluded from the AI revolution.
By ensuring fair access to data while upholding privacy and ethical standards, these countries can build systems that address their local challenges and needs. Data-sharing partnerships and international collaborations could unlock new possibilities for sectors that are crucial to emerging economies, from climate resilience to public health.
The creation of an AI office within the UN Secretariat, tasked with co-ordinating global efforts, is another promising move. AI governance is inherently complex, requiring the collaboration of governments, industries and civil society.
This office can ensure that emerging markets are not only included in global discussions but have an active role in shaping the future of AI. The office could also provide a framework for developing AI strategies that align with sustainable development goals, particularly in areas such as climate action, economic growth and education.
This moment presents an unprecedented opportunity for emerging markets to position themselves as leaders in the AI revolution. With the right infrastructure, resources and governance, AI can become a powerful engine for sustainable development in these regions.
The UN’s recommendations are not just about managing AI risks – they are about unlocking its potential for everyone. For too long, many emerging economies have been on the periphery of technological innovation. AI offers the chance to change that.
AI is not just the future of technology; it is the future of how we work, how we educate and how we govern. Emerging markets must seize this moment to ensure they are not only passive participants in the AI-driven world but active leaders. By embracing the principles of inclusivity, equitable access and global collaboration, these nations can shape the AI future and ensure that it benefits everyone.
This is humanity’s moment to turn AI into a force for good, and the time to act is now.
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ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
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MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
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About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
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World Cup League Two
Results
Oman beat Nepal by 18 runs
Oman beat United States by six wickets
Nepal beat United States by 35 runs
Oman beat Nepal by eight wickets
Fixtures
Tuesday, Oman v United States
Wednesday, Nepal v United States
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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The burning issue
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Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
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Rating: 3.5/5
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18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
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Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 592bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Price: Dh980,000
On sale: now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
