The conclusion of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi in September 2026 brought renewed focus to one of the defining questions of our time: how do we harness the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), while ensuring its development is safe, inclusive and accessible to all?
As AI rapidly reshapes economies, societies and the way countries engage with technology, the New Delhi Declaration places greater emphasis on strengthening governance, expanding access to AI resources and ensuring technological progress does not deepen existing inequalities.
Leaders committed to advancing the implementation of the BRICS Leaders’ Statement on the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, adopted at the 17th BRICS Summit, while calling for wider access to AI resources, stronger safeguards and more inclusive participation in the development and governance of the technology.
The message is clear: the pace of technological development must be matched by responsible governance that protects people, promotes fairness and ensures the benefits of AI are broadly shared.
Without such safeguards, the rapid expansion of AI could deepen existing inequalities, concentrate technological capabilities and economic benefits in the hands of a few, and expose societies to risks that are not evenly distributed.
AI is moving ahead like a bullet train; the sheer speed and scale of its development is both extraordinary and terrifying.
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming pivotal to the way economies and societies develop, with significant potential to accelerate economic growth and sustainable development. The New Delhi Declaration recognises opportunities for AI to drive progress across sectors, including healthcare, energy, manufacturing and the green economy.
For BRICS nations and the broader Global South, this potential is particularly significant. AI could help countries overcome traditional development constraints by expanding access to education, supporting healthcare diagnostics, improving agricultural productivity and optimising energy systems.
If harnessed responsibly and made accessible, these technologies could help developing economies improve the delivery of essential services, strengthen productivity and create new pathways for inclusive growth.
Yet this promise looms like a dual-edged sword − unchecked acceleration of AI might well be a race to the bottom with unthinkable consequence for countries. The Delhi declaration highlighted risks including security threats, data protection failures, cyber crime, misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and deepfakes.
Without deliberate safeguards, AI and other new technologies risk amplifying existing inequalities in access to digital infrastructure, skills, data and economic opportunities. This could further marginalise communities that are already underserved, and widen the technological divide between countries and societies with the capacity to develop and benefit from AI and those that remain primarily users of technologies developed elsewhere.
Previous technological transformations have shown that innovation can create new opportunities, while also exposing or widening existing gaps in access and opportunity.
AI is moving ahead like a bullet train; the sheer speed and scale of its development is both extraordinary and terrifying. Speaking at the summit, president Cyril Ramaphosa proposed that BRICS establish an international mechanism for the independent scientific evaluation of artificial intelligence.
His words are a sharp reminder that global fairness is a must. The current AI landscape risks locking the Global South into the role of data providers and end-users rather than co-creators and governors. Computing power, multilingual datasets, specialised talent and advanced models remain concentrated in the hands of a few.
This is recognised in the New Delhi Declaration which emphasises the need to enhance accessibility of AI resources, while ensuring safety, security and inclusion. Partnership is the only way forward and must include open source collaboration, joint research and support for sovereign digital ecosystems. This will ensure countries are able to shape AI according to their own development priorities and needs.
This also requires governance frameworks that can keep pace with technological development. Regulation must strike an appropriate balance between protecting intellectual property, facilitating responsible technology transfer and advancing the public interest. The objective should not be to slow innovation, but to ensure innovation develops in ways that are safe, accountable and accessible.
The path forward will require sustained international cooperation. The experience of COVID-19 demonstrated the importance of countries sharing knowledge, expertise and capabilities when confronting challenges that cross borders.
A similar spirit of cooperation is needed in AI, with safety and accountability built into the development and deployment of these technologies from the outset. Governance structures must also reflect the diversity of countries, communities and development contexts affected by AI.
AI's transformative potential is clear, but so is the need to manage the risks that accompany its rapid development. The challenge before us is to ensure accessibility, safety, inclusion and reliability advance together.
In South Africa, we have already seen how global tech giants are investing billions into localised cloud regions and AI-ready hardware. South Africa stands to benefit massively; however, if we don’t act decisively, we risk losing out on the promise of AI and emerging technologies.
As a country we must continue to invest in human capital and digital skills for the future. We must work to ensure robust, enabling data and ICT infrastructure. Our innovation and research ecosystem is thriving but there is a need for greater collaboration so that systems and process speak to each other. We must also redouble our efforts in advanced manufacturing and technology growth.
Machine learning, robotics, 5G technology, 3D printing, biotechnology, nanotechnology and quantum computing are all part of the wider AI ecosystem. Each one can unlock untold economic growth and enable a new way of living and work. Estimates of the benefits of AI to our economy over the next decade runs into many trillions.
However, the clock is ticking. The choices made today will help determine whether AI deepens existing technological inequalities, or becomes a tool that expands opportunity and supports more inclusive development.
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