Infrastructure gap puts Botswana on the back foot in the AI boom, World Bank cautions

As the global economy races toward an AI-driven future, the World Bank warns that countries such as Botswana remain on the margins of global AI capacity, hampered by slow connectivity gains, limited compute infrastructure, scarce local data, and chronic skills shortages. These four deficits make up the 4C framework the Bank says are essential for AI readiness. The findings point to a widening digital divide that experts say will only grow unless Botswana accelerates investment in core tech infrastructure.

The Bank states that by March 2024, AI tools were in use across 209 of 218 economies, yet Botswana ranked among the lowest AI adopters, based on GPT traffic per internet user. On a scale of 0 to 2.6 visits per month, Botswana fell in the 0 to 0.40 range, the same bracket that covered nearly 45% of Africa, save for about a dozen outliers.