GenAI Adoption in the Global South Comes with Lessons for Leaders in the Global North

TL;DR

• Workers have different feelings about implementing AI depending on their position–managers and senior leaders are enthusiastic, and frontline employees are more anxious.

• GenAI has higher adoption and approval rates in so-called developing regions, creating new opportunities and use cases for workers in the Global South that the Global North would do well to emulate and implement.

• AI doesn’t simply help frontline workers in the Global South catch up to the Global North; like with other innovations, new use cases for the technology are being created there.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has utility for workplaces across roles, industries, and the world. In a recent global study, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) interviewed 13,102 employees at all levels, from executives to frontline workers, across 15 countries and regions. The research finds workers are more productive with GenAI tools and are more positive than negative towards the technology, with workers using tools saving five or more hours a week. Frontline workers are far less trained than company leadership and those in the Global North are more anxious about GenAI than counterparts in the Global South. 

DCI’s New Rules previously explored the new roles emerging in company leadership to keep up with the risks and opportunities of the digital world and emerging technologies. BCG confirms consistent enthusiasm for AI among leaders, with 82% regularly using GenAI for work. Nearly two-thirds of leaders (64%) already implement GenAI tools to reshape their organizations, and 50% are “confident” about the technology, compared to only 33% of frontline employees. Despite a lack of confidence, regular GenAI use among frontline employees has jumped from 20% to 52% in the last year. 

This research also shows that AI use is higher in the Global South than in the Global North. Only a little over a third (37%) of frontline employees in the Global North use GenAI for work, compared to nearly six in ten (57%) frontline employees in the Global South. Confidence in AI is highest among workers in India, Brazil, the Middle East, Nigeria, and South Africa. At the same time, anxiety plagues workers in Japan, the US, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Brazil most.

This story is not unique to AI, though Europe’s heavy AI regulation and adverse innovation climate receive notable media attention. At the same time, the Global South has experimented with FinTech, blockchain, satellite data sharing, communications, and sustainable energy technology for years. Under material constraints, less stability, less entrenched competition, and fewer regulatory restraints, innovative tools have emerged to address real problems in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Countries previously disconnected from and underserved by traditional solutions and institutions can advance. 

Relative speed, decentralization, lower cost, and scalability make the utility of digital technologies like AI more immediately meaningful in these regions. The comparatively minimal infrastructure required by new technologies has presented learning opportunities for workers in the Global South who have been experimenting with AI longer than those in the Global North. Learning by doing is important. In the case of AI, workers in the Global North should look to the Global South and start small by experimenting more with how the technology could fit into their work.

The growing use of AI across industries demonstrates its functionality for the workplace and the need for industry, policy, and workers in the Global North to adapt to new technological norms. As more employees embrace AI, particularly those on the front lines, organizations can harness this innovation, driving growth and efficiency while addressing job security and training challenges.

Lilly Gillespie is a Senior Research Analyst at the RXN Group.