Artificial intelligence (AI) is already one of the most transformative technologies of our time – but can it also transform the field of human social and economic development?
If so, how can developing countries translate its potential into practical solutions?
There are significant barriers to overcome before public institutions in many countries can even begin adopting AI. These include limited resources, technical capacity and infrastructure, as well as a lack of access to expertise.
Beyond the technology itself, countries need practical, adaptable solutions tailored to specific needs and sustainable and scalable over time.
Brewing the solution
In 2024, we began devising an open-source framework for governments and public institutions to train, build and test custom AI solutions with limited resources. A series of consultations shaped our high-level architecture for a generic reference implementation, which was adopted in January 2025, followed by technical development.
We code-named this project GENIE.AI.
And what we achieved with this is our modular, open-source, model-agnostic way to build and run AI-powered public services fitting each country’s priorities. GENIE.AI empowers countries with AI while strengthening their local capacities, technological independence, and influence over their respective digital futures.
The Global GenAI for Good Challenge – launched last year in partnership with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) – invited humanitarian-minded AI innovators to put this approach into practice. Competing AI developers tackled real public-sector use cases in Bangladesh, The Gambia, and Lesotho, with three winning teams selected to take on one-year pilot projects that are now approaching completion.
This experience has helped turn our GENIE.AI technical framework into the foundation of a broader ecosystem linked to digital public infrastructure, digital public goods, and open-source projects. All these approaches can give countries opportunities to build up their public-sector AI capabilities.
From pilots to ecosystems
Technology alone cannot create sustainable capacity. Our Open Source Ecosystem Enabler (OSEE) programme – in place since 2023 and now enhanced by GENIE.AI – helps countries build up key skills, institutions and local tech ecosystems.
In Kenya, for instance, we have equipped government agencies and the local developer community with expertise in open-source AI, with a functional service set for release within months.
In El Salvador, our platform provided the foundation for AgroGenio, an AI-powered agricultural advisory prototype drawing on more than 150 national and international agricultural guidelines and manuals. Developed under the MERIAN project, the solution demonstrates how trusted knowledge can be transformed into practical, accessible assistance for agricultural professionals, while providing a foundation for potential national-scale deployment.
For countries seeking transformative solutions, the growing network around GENIE.AI is as important as AI technology itself.
From one side, countries contribute real-world challenges and local knowledge. From the other, our fellow United Nations agencies – like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – bring domain expertise.
IEEE, as the world’s largest association of engineering and technology professionals, connects our initiative with the AI innovators and solution developers. And corporate technology partners, such as Intel and IBM, contribute open-source technologies and expertise.
The growing involvement of local technical teams means the resulting solutions can be adapted, maintained and sustained.
Passing the baton to countries
Officially launched in July, our GENIE.AI platform answers a call for the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in strengthening AI infrastructure, readiness and capacities. Developing countries, particularly, had requested this in a resolution on AI technologies in telecommunication development adopted at ITU’s latest World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-25).
Our longer-term vision is to foster GENIE.AI implementation locally and knowledge-sharing internationally, encouraging countries to exchange insights, replicate valuable innovations, and accelerate sustainable AI development together.
GENIE.AI is our mechanism for countries to move from AI experimentation towards their own practical public-sector applications. Our aim is to empower government service providers to use AI, build lasting capacity, and improve people’s lives.
Ultimately, this is about countries becoming active shapers of their AI future.
Source: https://www.itu.int/hub/2026/10/genie-ai-empowering-countries-to-shape-their-ai-future/
