World Bank Warns AI Growth May Exclude Africa's Poor

The World Bank, in its October 2026 Africa Economic Update, cautioned that although artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to alleviate poverty and enhance the digital economy in Nigeria and other African countries, the poorest households are at risk of missing out on its advantages. The report noted that while Nigeria's GitHub developer base has expanded tenfold since 2020, and Ghana's nearly eightfold, access to affordable internet, devices, electricity, and digital skills remains a significant barrier.

Mobile internet in Sub-Saharan Africa is the least affordable globally relative to income, with basic data packages costing about twice the United Nations' affordability target. Furthermore, only 12 percent of households in the poorest income quintile have both a phone and a grid connection.

The World Bank emphasized that AI's productivity gains could disproportionately benefit educated workers and wealthier urban households, leaving farmers and underserved communities behind. It urged countries to focus on connecting poor people and places through investments in connectivity, electricity, digital skills, and computing capacity.