Humans have always created tools that have made our lives easier. Our tools have also made us faster, more efficient, more adept at survival and better able to control our environments.
The potential of AI, our latest tool, is both enormous and sobering. Its abilities are proceeding at a remarkable rate, evolving almost daily before our eyes.
At the same time the world is reeling from complex and interconnected challenges—climate change, conflict, mass migration and rapidly rising inequalities.
We have reached a point where we face a choice. How do we use AI to carve out opportunities to meet the challenges of the moment?
UNDP’s latest Human Development Report “A matter of choice: People and possibilities in the age of AI" examines this unique moment in history.
UNDP has tracked the Human Development Index (HDI) for 35 years. For the first three decades, HDI rose steadily while inequality fell. Had pre‑2020 trends continued, we would be on course to reach a very high HDI world by 2030.
Instead it has swung from extreme volatility in 2020 to troubling stagnation in 2024, and inequality has widened for a fourth consecutive year.
If the meagre HDI growth projected for 2024 becomes the “new normal,” that milestone could slip by 30 years.
Countries in the lower human development category face a ‘triple squeeze’ of inadequate financing, fewer manufacturing opportunities because of automation, and trade uncertainties.
They are slipping further behind because they can’t rely on exports and manufacturing growth.
We have created machines that we can talk to, and which can talk to us. Machines are aggregating knowledge at speeds we cannot possibly comprehend, and also have the potential to shape the way we think.
What kinds of conversations should we have?
Our report shines a light not only on what it is happening now, but also a workable path forward.
It shows that most people expect AI to become much more a part of their education, work and healthcare and more than half the world remains hopeful that AI can improve their lives.
In the last two years more than half of the traffic through ChatGPT has come from middle income countries. And work use of generative AI, which learns from data to create text, images, music and video, is increasing faster than the use of computers or the internet.
Men are using AI more than women. The more educated are using it at greater rates than the less educated, and there’s also an age factor built in—older people feel that AI might reduce their opportunities and sense of control over their lives.
One in eight people think that AI could take their job. However, the findings from UNDP’s survey present a largely optimistic outlook, especially in developing countries.
AI can now do a wide range of non-routine tasks that it couldn’t before.
Yet, this does not mean AI will replace human labour. UNDP research reveals that AI has many unexplored opportunities for rethinking work and expanding opportunities.
Delegating tasks to machines can free up humans to spend more time on what we are good at—caring for patients, or teaching children, or learning new skills.
AI can leap effortlessly over language and literacy barriers, allowing learning and information to flourish.
Our research reveals that AI holds the potential to restart the engine of human development, and open new pathways to make up for lost time.
It can improve industrial capacity and lead to greater diversification of value chains, as well as better markets for self-employed workers. It can lead to new knowledge and skills to help everybody from farmers to small business owners.
And, as with any machine, inventions will carve out new roles for humans in ways that we can’t yet imagine.
Concerns about AI are real—who will have the power to control it, what they will do with that power, what are the implications of an AI ‘arms race’, and how should governments respond?
But the real danger of AI is that we will squander its true potential by denying it to those who would benefit the most. And with it we’ll lose the opportunity to revolutionize healthcare, education and work for people all over the world.
Only about 40 percent of the world’s elementary school children have basic mathematics and science skills.
This rate varies from around 67 percent in highly developed countries, to 4 percent in low HDI countries. The potential for AI to bridge these gaps could be revolutionary.
This is the moment to harness AI’s potential to advance human development.
The risks are not the whole story. There is much greater scope for the greater good, particularly among less developed countries. This year’s HDR focuses on the possibilities.
We must ensure people find more opportunities to collaborate rather than compete with AI.
Policymakers should promote economic models where human labour and AI work together, promoting economic models that complement human tasks, safeguard decent work and increase productivity.
Opportunities for people must be an integral part of AI design, not an afterthought. This involves harnessing it to boost innovation, building on open source and small-language models.
It is also crucial to steer AI research toward human development goals through diverse partnerships, accurate and unbiased data, and new benchmarks that measure how it is contributing to human development.
Investing in the right places will mean people have the opportunities to make the most of AI.
Education and health systems need to be modernized to harness the enormous potential in these fields, and AI tools should expand access, personalize services, and strengthen human capabilities such as critical thinking, adaptability, and well-being for everyone.
Seizing the moment and harnessing the power of AI to meet people’s expectations for a better life depends on more than just algorithms; it depends on choices.
At UNDP, we focus on building AI systems that can help tackle key development challenges and partner with governments to ensure they can effectively navigate this technological transformation.
With the support of our partners, we are part of a global coalition for digital transformation, aiming to unlock access to AI for millions of people. Together, we are building a future where AI can transform the lives of many, not just a select few.
AI can and should be used to make life easier. Rather than ‘competing’ with people it can help us to achieve more—building fairer economies, encouraging innovation and freeing people to use their imagination, time and creativity on tasks that matter.
But real progress requires human leadership. Bold innovation, smart investment, inclusive institutions, and a commitment to listening to the communities AI should serve.
Realizing AI’s true potential means focusing on how it can work with, rather than against us. By building a complementary economy, and fostering innovation with intent, societies can use AI to expand human opportunities and create new more prosperous futures for us all.
© 2026 United Nations Development Programme
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