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Secretary-General Calls for Global Fund to Address AI Capacity-Building Gaps in Developing Countries #
A new report of the Secretary-General finds that financing for artificial intelligence capacity-building remains fragmented and leaves significant geographical gaps, and recommends steps to advance the establishment of a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building.
11 September 2026 — A new report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly finds that financing for artificial intelligence capacity-building remains fragmented and leaves significant geographical gaps. The report recommends that the Assembly take steps to advance the establishment of a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building.
The report, Unique challenges faced by developing countries in artificial intelligence capacity-building (A/80/817), is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 78/311.
Read the report: A/80/817
The capacity gap
The report identifies a pressing need to ensure a universal floor of AI capacity in all countries while narrowing the AI divide. It describes gaps in foundational capacity, including compute and the associated energy and connectivity needs, high-quality data, digital public infrastructure and skills. It also describes gaps in enablers, such as governance and legal frameworks, as well as institutional capacity required to assess, procure, deploy and govern AI and the capacity to take part in international AI governance processes.
The disparities are substantial. According to World Bank figures cited in the report, high-income countries accounted for 77 per cent of global co-location data centre capacity in June 2025, against less than 0.1 per cent in low-income countries. While around half of all Member States had a national AI strategy in place in 2025, fewer than 20 per cent of least developed countries did.
The report acknowledges that the United Nations system has been scaling up its response but finds those efforts insufficient to cover all countries at the scale required to keep pace with technological change. Citing the Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, it states that the window for concerted action to harness the benefits of AI while addressing its risks is rapidly closing.
Recommendations
The report makes three recommendations.
First, that the General Assembly endorse the need for, and take steps to advance, the establishment of a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building, including elaborating its strategic objectives, governance and administration at the eighty-first session. That work would be informed by the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, by A/79/966, and by a forthcoming discussion paper on the governance and operating model of such a fund, drawing on consultations with potential donors, stakeholders and the United Nations system convened by the Secretary-General.
Second, that the General Assembly may wish to request the Secretary-General to report regularly on the state of AI capacity across countries, supported by measurable indicators of progress, until appropriate regular reporting arrangements are agreed.
Third, Member States are encouraged to nominate additional centres to join the United Nations-supported Global Network for Exchange and Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building.
On the fund, the report sets out an indicative starting point rather than a settled design. At a time when private investment in AI infrastructure exceeds half a trillion US dollars annualised, the report suggests that a needs-based fund, with initial funding commitments in the range of $3 billion over two to four years, could help mobilize and direct resources at scale.
It states that such a fund should complement existing mechanisms rather than replace them, and that it could sit 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.
Building on A/79/966
The report builds on Innovative Voluntary Financing Options for Artificial Intelligence Capacity-Building (A/79/966), the 2025 report of the Secretary-General which identified financing to address underlying AI capacity needs and gaps as a common challenge facing developing countries. The present report finds that challenge persists in 2026.