Impact investment company BFA Global, private wealth management company Caribou Group and global consulting firm MicroSave Consulting (MSC) have formed the Alliance for Inclusive AI – an open coalition committed to ensuring the next wave of AI expands opportunity.

By 2030, the alliance aims to deliver responsible, practical AI solutions to 100-million people and mobilise $100-million in blended finance, the organisations say.

AI is set to reshape economies and public systems. However, new divisions are emerging between countries that can afford the necessary technology and those that cannot, including between enterprises able to adopt AI tools and those left out, and between people who can access these tools and those who cannot.

Without leadership from emerging markets, AI will be built on assumptions that fail to reflect how most of the world actually lives and works, the organisations note.

“Big AI will create a bigger disparity between the developed world and the developing world at the start. On the other hand, small AI, or local models delivered on local devices – is going to be amazingly productive,” says development organisation World Bank Group president Ajay Banga.

The alliance is an open, collaborative and practitioner-led effort to bring inclusive AI into the workflows of financial inclusion, agriculture, climate resilience and digital public services across the Global South.

The alliance's work at the intersection of global development and AI innovation is organised around six pillars, including creating foundational AI infrastructure tailored to emerging markets.

The second is delivering practical, small AI solutions that cater to the needs of the underserved, and partnering with universities to develop local talent for responsible AI.

Further, the fourth pillar is to develop operational tools that work in low-resource, low-connectivity environments and support governments, development finance institutions (DFIs), regulators and regional bodies to design and implement inclusive AI strategies.

The sixth pillar aims to create shared repositories of datasets, case studies, and toolkits, the organisations say.

Technology providers, DFIs, investors, governments, research institutions and civil society organisations are invited to join, they add.

“AI will reshape how people earn, learn and access services. It will only deliver real impact when marginalised communities shape it. This alliance ensures local actors build and use AI in ways that reflect their realities,” says Caribou CEO Jessica Osborn.

“Only by joining forces to mobilise resources, can we bring meaningful AI infrastructure and solutions to hundreds of millions of people globally,” adds BFA Global MD Prateek Shrivastava.