UN calls for $3 billion Global Fund to close AI capacity gaps in developing countries
Key Points
- A UN report recommends advancing a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building for developing countries.
- The proposed fund could start with $3 billion in commitments over two to four years.
- Low-income countries held less than 0.1% of global co-location data centre capacity in June 2025.
The United Nations Secretary-General has called for steps towards establishing a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building to address financing and infrastructure gaps in developing countries, with a new report suggesting initial funding commitments of about $3 billion over two to four years.
The report, Unique challenges faced by developing countries in artificial intelligence capacity-building (A/80/817), was submitted to the UN General Assembly on September 11 pursuant to General Assembly resolution 78/311. It finds that current financing for AI capacity-building is fragmented and leaves significant geographical gaps.
The proposed $3 billion is an indicative starting point rather than an agreed budget. The fund's final design, scale and governance have not yet been settled.
UN report identifies gaps in compute, data and AI skills
The report calls for a universal minimum level of AI capacity across countries while narrowing disparities in access to the resources needed to develop, deploy and govern artificial intelligence.
It identifies gaps in computing capacity and its associated energy and connectivity requirements, as well as access to high-quality data, digital public infrastructure and skills.
The disparities also extend beyond technical infrastructure. The report identifies shortcomings in governance and legal frameworks, institutional capacity to assess, procure, deploy and govern AI, and countries' ability to participate in international AI governance processes.
World Bank figures cited in the report show the scale of the infrastructure divide. High-income countries accounted for 77% of global co-location data centre capacity in June 2025, while low-income countries accounted for less than 0.1%.
National AI strategies show another gap. Around half of all UN Member States had a national AI strategy in place in 2025, compared with fewer than 20% of least developed countries.
The report says the UN system has expanded its AI capacity-building efforts but that existing initiatives are insufficient to cover all countries at the scale required to keep pace with technological change.
Proposed AI fund could start with $3 billion
The Secretary-General's report makes three recommendations, led by a proposal for the General Assembly to endorse the need for a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building and take steps towards establishing it.
Under the recommendation, the General Assembly would elaborate the fund's strategic objectives, governance and administration during its eighty-first session.
The report suggests that a needs-based fund could begin with initial funding commitments of around $3 billion over two to four years. It contrasts that figure with private investment in AI infrastructure, which it says exceeds half a trillion US dollars on an annualised basis.
The $3 billion figure is not a final funding target. The report describes it as an indicative starting point for a mechanism that could mobilise and direct resources at scale.
The proposed fund would complement existing financing mechanisms rather than replace them and could operate either within or outside the United Nations system.
The report points to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Global Financing Facility as possible models.
UN proposes tracking AI capacity across countries
The report's second recommendation concerns measuring the AI capacity gap.
It says the General Assembly may wish to ask the Secretary-General to report regularly on the state of AI capacity across countries, using measurable indicators to track progress until appropriate regular reporting arrangements are established.
The third recommendation encourages UN Member States to nominate additional centres to join the United Nations-supported Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building.
Together, the recommendations address financing, measurement and international cooperation rather than focusing solely on access to AI technology.
The latest proposal builds on the Secretary-General's 2025 report, Innovative Voluntary Financing Options for Artificial Intelligence Capacity-Building (A/79/966), which identified financing for underlying AI capacity needs as a common challenge for developing countries. The new report finds that the financing challenge persists in 2026.