How AI is shaping global economies: Global trends and investments
In 2017, generative AI broke into public consciousness. It wasn’t a big thing at the time. The Google Transformer model, which became the foundation for nearly all large language models, was developed. In 2018, OpenAI released GPT-1. Both of these events were highly celebrated events.
What started as an experiment has now become the backbone of the 4th industrial revolution, driven by data, intelligence and automation.
Across the world, AI is going beyond the transformation of industries; it is redrawing the map of economic power. Economies around the world, Western, Asian and African, are now racing to embed AI into their national growth plans.
Western economies advancements
In North America and Europe, AI has gone beyond being a cost-cutting tool to a creative tool. Wall Street deploys AI for algorithmic trading risk analysis; Silicon Valley uses it to design new software and hardware, and the creative sector, from Hollywood to advertising companies, is using AI for scripts, storyboards, and even acting.
Goldman Sachs estimates that generative AI could raise the global GDP by 7 percent and lift productivity growth by 1.5 percent over the next decade. The UK has committed over £1 billion in AI research and safety funding, while the European Union’s new AI Act seeks to balance innovation with ethics and accountability. The Western model is unambiguous: regulated where necessary, but it invests aggressively to stay ahead.
Asian economies: Scaling innovation and efficiency
Asia has taken a different path: one built on scale and national strategy. China is integrating AI into everything from smart manufacturing to urban planning. Japan is deploying AI in elderly people’s care and robotics to anti-ageing projects. In India, the primary mission is to train two million citizens in AI skills and embed machine learning into agriculture, logistics, and healthcare.
The continent’s competitive advantage lies in its ability to merge AI with infrastructure. For instance, Singapore’s “Smart Nation” initiative uses AI to manage traffic, energy and citizen services in real time, showing how AI can drive efficient, people-centric governance.
Africa: Horizons of massive possibilities
Africa’s AI evolution is just unravelling. But it carries massive promise. From Kenya’s AI-powered fintech hubs to Egypt’s automation in logistics and Nigerian strides in localisation, policy fog regulation and AI communities, the continent’s youthful population is its main advantage. According to McKinsey, AI could add up to $1.3 trillion to Africa’s economy by 2030 if well harnessed.
“In Nigeria, the government is pushing on multiple fronts: training 3 million tech talents and partnering with the private sector to develop Nigeria’s first open-source large language model.”
Countries like Nigeria are recognising that AI is not just a technology but a significant growth catalyst. Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, now being refined under the Global AI Development Framework, aims to ensure that AI becomes central to public service delivery, entrepreneurship and job creation.
Nigerian AI developments
In Nigeria, the government is pushing on multiple fronts: training 3 million tech talents and partnering with the private sector to develop Nigeria’s first open-source large language model.
In the private sector, there are myriad bright developments, including AI in Nigeria’s communities that are currently operating across the six geopolitical zones of the country. There are also instances of AI solutions across the banking, telecoms, healthcare and other sectors.
Bottom line
AI is that horse that left the stable years ago! The question is no longer if but how fast each nation, company, or individual can adapt. Countries that ride this wave will redefine their economic destiny; those that hesitate will be left behind. The same goes for businesses and people; AI is not replacing people; it’s replacing those who refuse to use it.
As the world accelerates into this intelligent era, the real winners will be those who understand one truth: the future belongs not to those who fear technology, but to those who train it to work for them.
Dotun Adeoye is a seasoned technology strategist and AI innovation leader with over 30 years of global experience across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. He is the co-founder of AI in Nigeria.
