Key facts
- China's focus on open-source AI could help bridge the global income gap.
- Economist Justin Yifu Lin believes accessible AI models can lower technology barriers for developing economies.
- Powerful AI models are increasingly available at low cost or for free outside their development countries.
Prominent Chinese economist Justin Yifu Lin stated that China's commitment to open-source artificial intelligence could help narrow the income gap between developed and developing countries by reducing technological barriers. Lin, who is also the dean of Peking University's Institute of New Structural Economics and a former World Bank chief economist, suggested that the current AI boom might differ from previous industrial revolutions due to the decreasing cost of powerful AI models for users worldwide.
He noted that these advanced models are becoming increasingly available at low cost, or even for free, to individuals and organizations outside the nations where they were initially developed.