Dispatch from the Digital Planet: May 2024

Dispatches

Dispatch from the Digital Planet: May 2024

May 6, 2024

Digital Planet > Dispatches > Dispatch from the Digital Planet: May 2024

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Getting Real About AI for the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid:
Improving the Economic Outcomes of Smallholder Farmers in Africa

Agriculture, a linchpin of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) economy, confronts formidable challenges, including low productivity and yield exacerbated by evolving climate dynamics. In a study sponsored by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we examined the potential of AI-enabled crop protection solutions to deliver dividends at scale to smallholder farmers and the region’s economies. The study explores Crop Protection AI (Crop AI), a strategic and readily adoptable solution tailored to the region’s agricultural landscape.

PERSPECTIVES

AI’s Trust Problem: Bhaskar Chakravorti

Harvard Business Review

As AI becomes more powerful, it faces a major trust problem. Consider 12 leading concerns: disinformation, safety and security, the black box problem, ethical concerns, bias, instability, hallucinations in LLMs, unknown unknowns, potential job losses and social inequalities, environmental impact, industry concentration, and state overreach. Each of these issues is complex — and not easy to solve. But there is one consistent approach to addressing the trust gap: training, empowering, and including humans to manage AI tools.

India’s missing jobs — and where the next government can find them: Bhaskar Chakravorti

The Indian Express

India is poised to become the world’s third-largest economy, but less than half of the working-age population is actually working. Digital Planet Chair Bhaskar Chakravorti delves into the country’s employment scenario in the backdrop of the 2024 general elections. He points to the critical need to address the shortfall by shifting the lens on domestic value creation and encouraging less automation-intensive industries.

Is BRICS offering an alternative model for global governance?: Mihaela Papa & Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi

East Asia Forum

After the 15th BRICS Summit in 2023, observers have speculated that the bloc may be seeking to create an alternate world order to challenge Western-led global governance. But while BRICS has diverged from the Western-led system through initiatives such as reducing reliance on the US dollar and creating new institutions, questions remain about its ability to effectively leverage its members' resources and realize its ambition of representing the Global South.

ANALYST OF THE MONTH

Francisco Salazar

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON

Developing a Digital Economy measurement method to compare countries’ environmental impact from digital activities, alongside a report on STEM talent diversity.

AN INSIGHT I DISCOVERED

The projects I work on require cross-sector collaboration, pooling insights and expertise to solve complex problems.

I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT

Finding the best way to communicate. It may require an initial time investment, but it pays off by avoiding misunderstandings.

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IN THE NEWS

US campus crises: Are America and a fragile world order at risk of coming apart?: Bhaskar Chakravorti | The Indian Express

Trump got one thing right: Banning TikTok would help Meta
(and Google) | Washington Post

Why India Needs A ‘Ministry Of AI’ | NDTV

Modi’s Moment: How Narendra Modi is Changing India and the World
| Newsweek

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Digital Planet is an interdisciplinary research initiative of The Fletcher School's Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC) dedicated to understanding the impact of digital innovation on the world and providing actionable insights for policymakers, businesses, investors, and innovators.

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