AI threatens to increase inequality between states: UN

The report warns of a possible “great divergence” in which developed states benefit and others are left behind.

Artificial intelligence risks increasing inequality between developed and developing countries, according to a United Nations report.

The report, titled “The Next Great Divergence,” released Tuesday by the Asia-Pacific regional office of the United Nations Development Program, calls for urgent, coordinated policy action to address the impact of technology.

It warns of the possibility of a “divergence” between rich and poor states as the effects of technology take hold and reverse the effects of decades of declining global inequality.

“We believe AI is ushering in a new era of increasing inequality between countries, after years of convergence over the past 50 years,” Philip Schellekens, the bureau’s chief economist, said at a briefing in…