AI’s $4.8 Trillion Explosion – Will Africa Get a Slice of the Pie?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic fantasy; it’s a colossal economic force, projected to balloon into a $4.8 trillion market. That’s the size of Germany’s entire economy! But a new report from UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (https://unctad.org/media-centre) is raising a crucial alarm: are we about to witness a massive AI wealth grab that leaves Africa and the Global South behind?    

The UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2025 (https://unctad.org/media-centre) highlights AI’s transformative power. It’s not just buzzword bingo; AI is rapidly reshaping industries and economies across the globe.    

By 2033, the AI market is tipped to reach $4.8 trillion.    That’s an eye-watering figure, but the report warns that access to this wealth isn’t evenly distributed.

The Big AI Players – A Small, Powerful Club

Despite AI’s potential to revolutionize economies, its benefits remain concentrated in the hands of a select few:

• A mere 100 companies, predominantly in the US and China, control a staggering 40% of global corporate R&D spending.    
• Tech behemoths like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft boast market valuations rivaling the GDP of the entire African continent.   
  This concentration of power threatens to leave developing nations in the dust, exacerbating existing economic divides.    

AI is also set to disrupt the global job market, potentially affecting a whopping 40% of jobs worldwide. This raises serious concerns about automation-driven unemployment, particularly in economies reliant on manual labor.    

While AI-powered automation could displace jobs, especially in developing economies where labor-intensive industries dominate, it could also create new job markets and significantly boost productivity.    

The UNCTAD report (https://unctad.org/media-centre) urges urgent action to prevent AI from becoming a tool of exclusion. Key recommendations include:   

• Holding AI accountable: Implementing transparency frameworks, similar to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards, to track ethical AI development and deployment.    
• Expanding AI infrastructure: Creating global shared facilities to ensure equitable access to AI infrastructure and computing power.    
• Fostering open innovation: Promoting open data and open-source AI models to democratize access to this transformative technology.    
• Investing in skills: Radically strengthening AI education and training, particularly in developing nations, to equip the workforce of the future.    

118 Countries Left Out of the Conversation

One of the most alarming takeaways from the report? A staggering 118 countries—mostly in the Global South—are currently excluded from major AI governance discussions. Without immediate intervention, these nations risk being permanently locked out of the AI revolution, further widening the global inequality gap.    

AI has the power to drive unprecedented global progress—but only if it’s developed and governed equitably. The UNCTAD report (https://unctad.org/media-centre) is a wake-up call: Governments, tech companies, and international organizations must act decisively to shape AI policies that work for all, not just the elite few. Without global cooperation, ethical AI governance, and strategic investments, AI could become one of the biggest forces of economic exclusion in modern history.