Global South AI Adoption Risks Becoming Passive Tech Consumers Without Local Infrastructure

Countries across the Global South are embracing artificial intelligence as a solution for governance and economic challenges without adequate local foundations. Ethiopia's Digital Ethiopia 2030 strategy integrates AI into education, healthcare, tax services, and justice systems. Pakistan's National AI Policy 2025 positions the technology as transformative across healthcare, education, governance, agriculture, and industry. Chile, Argentina, and Colombia have adopted national strategies promoting AI for modernizing public administration and economic growth. This approach contrasts with developed nations where discourse focuses on AI safeguards, algorithmic bias, government-tech collusion, and environmental costs. The absence of localized governance, digital literacy, and research ecosystems risks turning populations into testing grounds for foreign technologies. Without developing these capacities, countries risk becoming passive consumers rather than active creators of AI systems.