00:00AI education holds enormous business potential.
00:03The global AI-powered education market is expected to surpass 20 billion US dollars by 2027
00:10as governments worldwide race to transform their education systems and prepare students for the age of algorithms.
00:17However, the reality is that not all students are treated equally.
00:22According to the United Nations, around 87% of students in high-income countries have Internet access at home.
00:28In low-income countries, that figure drops to just 6%.
00:33And more broadly, that means around 2.2 billion people worldwide remained offline in 2025.
00:42Dr. Xiaobing Wang is a senior lecturer in China economics at the University of Manchester.
00:48Great to have you on the show.
00:50Now, look, China is moving quickly to bring AI into classrooms, but with billions still offline globally,
00:57is AI and education becoming the next great digital divide?
01:02The third answer is yes.
01:04We are seeing a brand new digital divide taking shape right before our eyes.
01:10And we have many developed countries that have AI access to all people, to all students.
01:16But we also have many developing countries that do not have even access to basic electricity.
01:24And not only just electricity, but Internet access.
01:28And now to make things more complicated, they need AI.
01:33And AI needs a lot of electricity and needs a lot of infrastructure.
01:39And for poor people in poor countries, they do not have that.
01:44And this will create a new, much profound divide than ever before.
01:49So, I mean, across much of the Global South, the challenge is still that basic Internet access.
01:55So, how can economies really compete in an AI-driven world if students remain digitally unconnected?
02:05I think, I mean, this is a really tough question, not only for the poor countries, but also to the
02:13students.
02:14Because this will create not only just a knowledge gap, a resources for poverty can be transferred into a sort
02:24of cognitive poverty in a sense that they will not have the capability to learn a new technology and not
02:31having the capability to cope with the new world.
02:34And the challenge is that the government of those poor countries should know how to prioritize things, how to build
02:42infrastructure and AI-enabled infrastructure, et cetera.
02:49So, this is really tough, but they need to get it on and do it.
02:54Now, AI is full of promise, isn't it?
02:57You know, personalized learning, wider access to education.
03:01So, could it help developing economies leapfrog, chronic shortages of teachers, of educational resources?
03:11I think this is actually one of the most exciting promises of AI.
03:17Yes, to some extent, it's absolutely difficult for those countries to catch up.
03:23But on the other hand, it can be a saver to some of the countries in terms of their resources.
03:30For example, they do not have enough teachers, highly qualified teachers, et cetera.
03:36But now, with the AI, some of the resources gap can be met by the AI itself.
03:43So, AI can help students to learn, can help teachers to prepare their lessons, et cetera.
03:48So, in this sense, if they use it wisely, it can be a tool to leapfrog the gap before.
03:56Dr. Xiaobing Wang, at the University of Manchester, thank you very much.
Comments