Key Takeaways from Day 1 of the AI For Developing Countries (AIFOD) Summit — Opportunities and Insights for Scholarly Publishers

Key Takeaways from Day 1 of the AI For Developing Countries (AIFOD) Summit — Opportunities and Insights for Scholarly Publishers

by ChatGPT-4o

The opening day of the AIFOD Summit 2025 in Vienna set the tone for a transformative reimagining of AI’s global trajectory. It presented a stark contrast between the promises of AI and the persistent global inequities in its development, access, and benefits. For C-level executives in scholarly publishing, the summit revealed crucial insights—both cautionary and catalytic—regarding investment, partnership, and innovation opportunities across the Global South.

1. Most Important Statement: “The global South receives less than 1% of global AI funding.”

The summit's founder, emphasized that AI is currently on track to amplify global inequality rather than bridge it. The opening address underscored that only 27% of people in low-income countries have internet access, and regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa remain digitally excluded despite being rich in data and human capital.

📌 Why it matters for publishers: Scholarly publishers can step into this vacuum. By partnering with local governments, AI startups, and civil society, they can co-develop educational AI platforms, knowledge repositories, and scientific infrastructure tailored for low-resource settings—contributing to inclusive digital transformation while accessing new growth markets.

2. Most Surprising Statement: “AI markets in North America are saturating; the fastest growth is now in Brazil (28%), India (34%), and Indonesia (28%).”

While major tech players dominate media narratives in the Global North, the host pointed out that emerging markets in the South are becoming the next epicenters of AI growth. Africa, with 1.1 billion mobile money accounts, is leapfrogging infrastructure constraints with innovation.

📌 Why it matters for publishers: Emerging markets offer fertile ground for AI-native academic services—from mobile-first peer review systems to multilingual scientific translation tools. Publishers can invest in regional incubators or partner with sovereign wealth funds to co-create local solutions with global relevance.

3. Most Controversial Statement: “This is not a movement to catch up; this is leadership from the Global South.” – Andrea Jacobs, Antigua & Barbuda

Andrea Jacobs shattered the traditional North-South paradigm, declaring that small island states and other Global South nations are not waiting for inclusion—they are already building AI systems in native languages, developing public digital infrastructure, and setting their own governance standards.

📌 Why it matters for publishers: This challenges assumptions of a one-directional knowledge flow from North to South. Scholarly publishers should now consider equitable partnerships where Global South institutions are not consumers but co-producers of knowledge, shaping not just distribution models but epistemic authority in global research.

4. Most Valuable Strategic Insight: “Sovereign wealth funds are patient capital aligned with national AI goals.” – Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority

A standout panel highlighted how sovereign wealth funds in countries like Nigeria and Singapore can de-risk AI innovation through infrastructure investment, co-funding AI hubs, and forming PPPs (public-private partnerships).

📌 Why it matters for publishers: This opens an avenue for publishers to align their open research platforms, author services, and digital learning ecosystems with long-term national agendas in science, education, and digital public goods. These collaborations can enhance ESG commitments while securing relevance in AI-powered economies.

Additional Notable Trends and Implications

• AI for Education Equity: Wendy O’Brien of UNODC warned against over-reliance on AI as a fix-all, highlighting the need to continue investing in human systems like school meal programs that demonstrably improve outcomes. Her critique of EdTech’s unchecked expansion underscores the need for ethical design and rigorous evaluation in education technologies.

  📌 Opportunity: Scholarly publishers should lead or support efforts to benchmark AI tools for pedagogy and research, anchoring them in evidence-based frameworks and localized curriculum needs.

• Data Sovereignty and Ethical AI: Several speakers, including the hosts and Tajikistan’s UN representative, emphasized the need for AI governance rooted in data sovereignty, human dignity, and climate justice.

  📌 Opportunity: Publishers could collaborate with governments and local universities to develop AI ethics curricula, responsible data usage protocols, and capacity-building programs tied to academic publishing and research dissemination.

• New Investment Frameworks: Andrea Jacobs proposed redefining ROI as Return on Inclusion, encouraging capital to flow toward impact rather than just scale. Similarly, Wendy O’Brien proposed investment not just in compute and chips, but in human dignity, water, education, and trust.

  📌 Opportunity: C-level leaders can reorient CSR or innovation budgets to support small AI startups in underserved markets that embed scientific publishing tools or AI literacy into their platforms.

Recommendations for Scholarly Publishing Executives

1. Forge AI Co-Development Partnerships in Emerging Markets
   Partner with sovereign wealth funds, AI startups, and ministries of education/science to fund and deploy localized AI tools for scientific research, translation, and publishing.

2. Invest in Community-Based Research Infrastructure
   Align with initiatives like Tajikistan’s national AI academy or I’s certification for value-driven AI to develop research infrastructure rooted in local languages, biodiversity, and socio-cultural contexts.

3. Launch AI Fellowship or Incubator Programs for South-Based Innovators
   Sponsor or host AI entrepreneurship fellowships for innovators creating solutions in scholarly communication, metadata tagging, or peer review tailored to low-resource settings.

4. Co-create AI Ethics and Data Governance Standards
   Collaborate with international bodies and regional governments to shape fair, inclusive AI frameworks that recognize scholarly content not as extractive training material, but as a knowledge commons.

5. Rethink Publishing Models Through the Lens of Digital Public Goods
   Adopt open access approaches and low-cost licensing models for low-income regions, supported by cross-subsidization or development agency partnerships to ensure access without exploitation.

Conclusion

Day 1 of the AIFOD Summit redefined what it means to “invest” in AI. It urged a pivot from profit-maximization to impact maximization—from control to collaboration. For scholarly publishers, the message is clear: engage now in the co-creation of the AI future with emerging economies—or risk being sidelined in the next chapter of global knowledge production.

This is not about charity. It is about strategic alignment with the most dynamic growth zones, most urgent needs, and most compelling opportunities to shape AI that uplifts humanity.