Multilateral development banks play a key role in promoting artificial intelligence as a public good to help the region adapt to complex challenges in Asia and The Pacific.
Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, is emerging as an important tool in addressing the complex challenges facing Asia and the Pacific. It is not only progressively becoming embedded in daily life and in industries, but it also continues to have a strong potential to drive economic growth, enhance public services, and foster inclusive and sustainable development.
A lack of access, knowledge, and skills serve as formidable roadblocks that prevent communities, governments, and organizations from maximizing the technology’s benefits. We need to encourage the development of AI systems that serve public, not corporate, interests. This is where the concept of AI as a digital public good comes in.
The Digital Public Goods Alliance, a collaborative group supported by the United Nations, formally recognized AI systems as digital public goods in May 2025. Increasingly, AI is being recognized as a digital public good with potential to address social and environmental challenges. By the same token, AI that lacks data privacy and transparency cannot be considered a digital public good, even if it’s open source.
Recognizing AI as a digital public good is an important move for equitable and ethical AI development because it prevents the monopolization of technology by a handful of corporations that leverage the technology for profit.
Recognition as a public good is a matter of ethical governance and a strategic response to the evolving demands and challenges faced by society. In Asia and the Pacific, where digital divides and societal inequalities persist, it can help bridge these divides, promote inclusion, and foster resilience.
In addition, taking this step impresses upon stakeholders the importance of complying with responsible AI principles. This, in turn, will improve trust, on the side of the individuals and teams that will leverage AI for their own initiatives and the public.
Advocating for AI as a digital public good is even more critical today as we are on an upward trajectory in generative AI development. We need to ensure that AI systems are not just tools for profit, but engines of public value—designed to serve collective needs, reduce inequalities, and empower communities.
If AI continues down a path of privatization, society runs the risk of exacerbating existing inequalities and creating new ones. AI enables transparency, local adaptation, and cost-effective deployment. These are values that are essential for governments and institutions across Asia and the Pacific.
Multilateral development banks are uniquely positioned to catalyze the recognition and operationalization of AI. Their mandates—to reduce poverty, promote inclusive growth, and support sustainable development—align naturally with the principles of AI as a public good.
They can play the role of institutional stewards and can contribute to promoting AI as a public good through the following:
Financing enabling mechanisms. Multilateral development banks can fund enabling mechanisms, including open data platforms and research hubs, to support the equitable development and deployment of AI.
Shaping governance frameworks. They can also help economies develop legal and regulatory policies and frameworks to ensure that AI is used ethically, inclusively, and transparently.
Embedding AI as digital public good principles in development programs. Multilateral development banks can encourage the integration of these principles in their ways of doing business by including AI ethics, openness, and accessibility into their project design and evaluation criteria. Intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations have already taken steps to move this forward. Multilateral development banks are also in a critical position to inject these into their projects and programs.
Convening multi-stakeholder dialogues. Multilateral development banks, as well as intergovernmental organizations, have the capacity to convene and facilitate knowledge exchange and policy alignment across borders.
Recognizing AI as public goods will ultimately benefit the broader public, and not just select segments of society. However, doing so will require a fundamental shift in how we design, deploy, and govern AI systems. Recognizing AI as digital public goods is a lofty and commendable goal. The reality, however, is that many AI tools have layers of complexity, from their actual architectures to data ethics and whether these are suitable for deployment in different contexts.
This is where research becomes indispensable, and multilateral development banks are in the position to initiate research related to AI that could be leveraged by economies and organizations for their own applications.
Multilateral development banks must lead by example, and research must illuminate the path forward. Governments, nongovernment organizations, nonprofits and foundations, the private sector, and open-source communities also have the responsibility to help ensure that AI systems serve public interests.
By anchoring AI in ethical principles and investing in the systems and knowledge to support them, Asia and the Pacific—and the rest of the world—can ensure that AI becomes not just an instrument for innovation, but also one that promotes equity, resilience, and progress.
Source: blogs.adb.org
