Governance examples show AI’s potential to improve public services, such as Bangkok’s Traffy Fondue handling hundreds of thousands of citizen reports and Singapore’s Moments of Life cutting parental paperwork dramatically, while Beijing uses digital twins for urban planning and flood management.

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A UNDP report warns that AI benefits may stay concentrated in wealthy nations unless we close access gaps to basic needs, skills, electricity, and internet connectivity across regions.

Alongside opportunities, AI deployment carries privacy, ethics, cybersecurity, and misinformation risks—deepfakes and data-driven surveillance—that require robust transparency, regulation, and guardrails for fair, accountable use.

Asia and the Pacific sit at the center of the shift, home to over half the world’s population, more than half of global AI users, and a surge of innovation, with China alone accounting for a large share of AI patents and thousands of new AI companies across six economies.

The study is the product of a multination effort spanning Asia, Europe, and North America, synthesizing nine background papers.

Collaborating institutions include MIT, the London School of Economics, the Max Planck Institute, Tsinghua University, and several partners in India and China.

The report is freely downloadable on the UNDP Asia-Pacific website, reflecting a commitment to broad accessibility.

Crucially, outcomes hinge on policy choices; it’s the world’s people who must decide which technologies to prioritize and how to use them.

Vietnam aims to become a regional AI leader by 2030, seeking top-three status in Southeast Asia and among the top 50 globally, backed by inclusive policies and responsible governance.

The UN views this moment as defining for AI history, elevating responsible AI from academia to urgent international policy priority, with ongoing monitoring of governance initiatives like the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact.

A central message is that capability—investments in skills, computing power, and governance—will determine whether countries prosper with AI or fall behind.