The UK is pitching its vision for leveraging AI’s potential to accelerate development in the world’s most impoverished nations during the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

The vision was set out by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and calls upon international partners to collaborate and coordinate their efforts in harnessing AI for development in Africa and making progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of its efforts, the UK is launching the ‘AI for Development’ programme in partnership with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The primary focus of this initiative is to assist developing countries, primarily in Africa, in building local AI capabilities and fostering innovation.

The announcement coincides with the UK’s co-convening of an event on AI during the margins of the UN General Assembly. This high-level session – chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – will assemble governments, tech companies, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to explore how AI can expedite progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals aim to create a healthier, fairer, and more prosperous world by 2030.

In parallel with these efforts, the UK is committing £1 million in investment towards a pioneering fund known as the Complex Risk Analytics Fund (‘C