Artificial Intelligence and Broadband Divide: State of ICT Connectivity In Asia and the Pacific (2017)

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) serves as the United Nations’ regional hub promoting cooperation among countries to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), consisting of digital technologies and machine intelligence, is increasingly transforming the way we live and work in the region and beyond. Faster and versatile connectivity, together with exponential increase in the availability and type of data collected and analysed in real time, provide us with unprecedented opportunities—and challenges—to social, economic and environmental development in Asia and the Pacific.
AI is expected to create an increasing range of new services, products and value in various socioeconomic sectors. However, the changes induced by AI are still ongoing, and new AI technologies and solutions are brought to the market and society on a weekly, if not daily, basis. With this dynamic and game-changing development of AI technologies, assessing the nature and magnitude of AI’s impact on the economy and society at this early stage
would be preliminary, but important as a baseline for the review of future growth in Asia and the Pacific