Shaping AI’s Impact for the Better: The Global South May Hold the Answers
- Anupama Vijayakumar
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
A vast part of the Global South may be at the margins of the AI revolution. However, when it comes to AI governance, the Global South has unique solutions to offer to the world. Having keenly observed the trajectory of AI regulation in the Global North over the past few years, the Global South has evolved flexible modes of governance which can quickly adapt to the rapid advances in technology and its fast-paced diffusion. As the world seeks to shape AI's impact toward a sustainable and equitable future, the Global South may have important solutions to offer.
As AI governance moves forward through a topsy-turvy geopolitical track, bringing the Global South aboard the bandwagon has become a much discussed, if not central point in how an equitable AI era is being thought of. Particularly in the lead up to the AI Impact Summit 2026, the concerns of the Global South and what it has to offer to the world in terms of governance insights has featured across myriad panel discussions.
Situating the Global South at the AI Governance Table
In the context of emerging tech governance, the Global South can collectively be understood as a group of developing nations, the majority of whom are located in the Southern Hemisphere in the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Their historical memory of past colonisation continues to shape their perceptions of the world order as well as approach to international relations.
Historically, the Global South has approached emerging technologies with caution and skepticism. This may be particularly so since the three industrial revolutions of the past had served to widen the gap in economic and political standing vis-à-vis the technologically advanced nations of the West.
While cognizant of the opportunities that AI presents, the Global South perceives the technology as a threat to be addressed through ethically grounded governance. Herein, four ‘E’s: Extractivism, Exclusion, Ethnocentricism and Enforcement - have been underlined as embodying the concerns that the Global South countries are seeking to address while formulating AI regulation.
A vast majority of countries in the Global South are in the nascent stages of framing their AI regulations. Unlike regulatory frameworks originating from the United States and Europe, these nations have not tied their approaches strictly to grand national ambitions of winning the AI race or on mitigating risk.
The Global South has instead stood by and observed the plus points and pitfalls of those who moved first to regulate. Regulators in the Global South are also watching keenly the aspects of AI regulation that are occurring as afterthoughts for the Global North.
Shaping AI’s Impact for Development and Inclusivity
Significantly, AI governance in the Global South has sought to draw from subaltern philosophies and ethics, distinct from deontological ethics which has heavy influenced Western AI ethics. The notion of right or wrong in deontology is to focus on the “intention” driving an action and the “means” used to implement it.
In contrast, ethical templates originating in the Global South, whether it be Ubuntu from Africa, Sumak Kawsay from Latin America or India’s Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam emphasise upon inclusivity, interconnectedness and equitable distribution of benefits, at the cost of no harm. Within these broad templates, Global South nations are crafting their AI strategies in light of their respective capabilities, geared towards furthering equitable development.
In pursuance of leveraging AI and all that it has to offer for development, the Global South has evolved targeted, high-impact interventions to enhance inclusivity through sector-based approaches in domains including agriculture, health, skilling and public service delivery. These interventions are multilayered in terms of how they seek to address marginalisation.
On one level, digital inclusion and bringing those excluded into the ambit of public service delivery has been seen as a major priority. Another level at which inclusivity is being pursued is by taking measures to avoid biases perpetrated by Western-made AI, including through developing models trained on sovereign data and ensuring accessibility in local languages. In this regard, the efforts made by a country like India has gone one step beyond and has sought to democratise AI through making the building blocks of AI - compute and diverse datasets - accessible to all.
Learning from the Global South’s AI Playbook
In navigating through the volatile Global AI ecosystem, Global South nations are starting to leverage their unique strengths to bargain with big tech to get what they desire. For one, the Global South originates a large amount of data that the leading players in AI train their models on.
Herein, AI regulations, particularly those in Asia, are starting to counter extractivism by emphasising upon individual privacy and data security as non-negotiables. To ensure enforcement, these regulations have further sought to impose strict and clear liabilities on AI service providers for any harm caused.
Meanwhile, countries such as Brazil are employing their niche strength as a rich data repository to boost its economic and diplomatic profile. Having instituted a strong domestic data protection regime, Brazil recently signed the Adequacy agreement with the European Union, creating “the world's largest area for safe, cross-border data flows”.
The Global South may still be considered as being in the margins of the AI revolution as per several metrics. However, by employing agile and flexible governance frameworks that adapt quickly to the rapidly changing nature of the technology itself, Global South nations are emerging as key providers of innovative and impactful solutions.
Seeking to reduce the social costs of the AI revolution, the Global South has sought to utilise AI as an instrument to address developmental challenges. In doing so, they have employed strategies that are energy efficient and economical. As the first-movers in AI regulation seek to de-complicate AI regulation and implement course correction, the Global South’s AI rulebook may provide important insights to steer the AI revolution toward a sustainable and equitable future.
Disclaimer: The article expresses the author’s views on the matter and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of any institution they belong to or of Trivium Think Tank and the StraTechos website.
Anupama is the Director (Research) of Trivium Think Tank, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. She is also the Editor of the StraTechos website.
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