James Manyika, senior vice president of research, labs, technology and society at Google and Alphabet, told Semafor’s Next 3 Billion event that the Global South is "a little bit more optimistic" about artificial intelligence (AI) than the West, driven by different perceptions of how the technology can benefit societies.
Manyika contrasted attitudes toward AI across regions, noting that pushback in the United States has been growing—particularly opposition to data centers—while communities in the Global South see more possibilities for positive impact. He also acknowledged real challenges such as infrastructure and access that can limit AI’s reach.
Concrete examples cited
- Google Translate: Manyika highlighted that Google Translate now supports 300 languages and that the company has a "moonshot" goal of reaching 1,000 languages.
- Health diagnostics: He pointed out that nearly 40% of people with tuberculosis go undiagnosed globally, a gap concentrated in the Global South. To address such gaps, Google spent a year working in countries including Zambia and India to demonstrate that AI can help diagnose these cases.
- Planetary Prediction Engine: Manyika said Google’s Planetary Prediction Engine was used to predict Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 83% accuracy.
Why this matters
The examples Manyika provided suggest that AI can already deliver practical, measurable benefits in areas such as language access and infectious disease detection, not only in some distant future. At the same time, realizing these benefits broadly depends on addressing infrastructure and access limitations and tailoring solutions to local contexts.
Summary
According to Manyika, the Global South’s relatively optimistic stance stems from seeing tangible benefits from AI applications. The cited achievements—from expanded translation coverage to health diagnostics and epidemic prediction—illustrate current, concrete uses of AI, while underscoring the need to overcome infrastructural and access barriers.
