DOMINICA, Could 22 (IPS) – The 2025 Human Improvement Report warns of slowing human growth progress, with disparities between wealthy and poor nations widening. It’s highlighting each the challenges and immense potential of synthetic intelligence to enhance lives.The United Nations Improvement Programme’s 2025 Human Improvement Report (HDR) says crises such because the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to ‘the flatlining of many years of progress within the Human Improvement Index,’ with Latin America and the Caribbean dealing with distinctive challenges and alternatives.
Regardless of these challenges, the doc, titled “A matter of selection: Folks and Prospects within the age of AI,” states that synthetic intelligence (AI) is a strong instrument to enhance lives and shut persistent gaps.
Lead writer Pedro Conceiç?o described a ‘triple growth squeeze’ affecting many international locations.
“Difficulties accessing exterior financing, shrinking job creation alternatives and elevated commerce volatility,” he defined. “The alternatives of many international locations to export to worldwide markets, which is a crucial driver of growth or has traditionally been, these alternatives are additionally narrowed.”
Amid these pressures, AI emerges as a double-edged sword. In line with a current UNDP survey, “As much as two-thirds of individuals in low, medium, and excessive HDI international locations count on synthetic intelligence to turn into an necessary a part of their lives inside the subsequent 12 months—in well being, training, and way of life,” Conceição famous. He stated the report and survey emphasize that “what issues much less is the expertise and extra the alternatives which are made to make sure that AI advances human growth.”
The report’s suggestions are clear:
- Construct a complementary economic system the place AI empowers, not replaces, individuals.
- Drive innovation with intent, utilizing AI to spice up creativity and scientific progress.
- Put money into digital capabilities so everybody can thrive in an AI-driven world.
The Latin America and the Caribbean State of affairs
UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Michelle Muschett outlined the area’s progress and stress factors.
“Latin America and the Caribbean consolidated its second 12 months of restoration after the pandemic, transferring from 0.783 in 2022 to 0.8 within the Human Improvement Index regionally in 2023,” she stated. Nevertheless, she cautioned, “Progress continues, but it surely stays slower than earlier than the pandemic.”
The area stands out for its excessive human growth scores—19 international locations are categorised as excessive, and 10 as very excessive. However Muschett warns, “Each growth and democracy are beneath most likely unprecedented stress within the historical past of growth of our area.”
She stated this could function each a warning and a name to motion.
“It’s a transparent name to pondering and rethinking these establishments, public insurance policies, processes, and the instruments we’ve got in order that that stress can turn into a optimistic power that strikes us alongside the road of progress and shared prosperity.”
Muschett is candid concerning the area’s digital disparities. “We see already at the moment the deep distinction when it comes to protection once we evaluate rural areas with city areas in Latin America and the Caribbean,” she says. “The very best quintile when it comes to earnings has greater than twice the entry to AI than the bottom quintile. So we’ve got a warning sign that is essential.”
To handle digital gaps, the report requires closing connectivity gaps, particularly in rural and low-income areas; funding in digital literacy and lifelong studying; and making certain that knowledge is dependable and free from bias via sturdy, inclusive governance frameworks.
“This must be a central precedence of public insurance policies,” Muschett urges. “Strategic alliances with different sectors of society—academia, personal sector—turn into completely important.”
A Resilient Future
Muschett says the UNDP is getting ready to launch an “atlas of AI targeted on human growth,” providing policymakers instruments to make knowledgeable, inclusive decisions.
The message is obvious: Whereas the area faces vital challenges, deliberate motion can shift the view of AI as a stress level into a strong driver of progress.
“The distinction between one and the opposite is exactly within the deliberate resolution we make as a area… whether or not it’s an enormous risk or an unprecedented alternative,” she stated.
The message is obvious: by fostering innovation, empowering people, and placing inclusion on the forefront, Latin America and the Caribbean have the potential to rework present obstacles into future prospects—and turn into a worldwide mannequin for leveraging expertise to profit all.
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