Page 8 - Connecting the Future How Connectivity and AI Unlock New Potential

Connecting the Future: How Connectivity and AI Unlock New Potential

1 Connectivity Infrastructure Matters in Unlocking AI’s Potential

To fully realize AI’s transformative potential, global efforts must prioritize the expansion of digital
infrastructure and the bridging of persistent connectivity and workforce divides. AI’s lifeblood is
data, and its storage, transmission, processing, and analysis across time and space rely on both
hyperscale computing elements (e.g., data centers) and robust networking infrastructure. This
network infrastructure encompasses several physical components, from subsea cables to Internet
Exchange Points (IXPs), and some of these elements play even greater roles in enabling AI-based
applications. Accelerating digital development will require a whole-of-society approach, where
governments, the private sector, international organizations and civil society organizations share
responsibility in driving these investments and crafting effective policies, enlarging economic
benefits and mitigating digital and AI divides in the 21st century.

This chapter outlines the importance of digital infrastructure for wide-spread adoption
and optimized performance of AI applications and systems, and recommends key
investments and policies needed across stakeholders to ensure the availability and
access of necessary infrastructure.

1�1 Global Connectivity

1�1�1 Connectivity Infrastructure Overview

According to the ITU’s Global Connectivity Report, more than 2.7 billion people remain offline,
and nearly 60% of users in low-income countries report affordability as the primary barrier to
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connectivity. This underscores the need for public and private sector support for both modernizing
infrastructure and establishing new ones. The benefits of modernizing outdated network equip-
ment by phasing out and eventually replacing it with high-performing connectivity infrastructure
are multifold: it increases digital access, enhances network security, and promotes efficient energy
consumption.
Digital infrastructure can be mapped from the Internet’s backbone to users across three major
sections: first mile, middle mile, and last mile. Connectivity begins in the first mile, where subsea
fiberoptic cables facilitate the bulk of long-haul data transmission, increasingly complemented by
wireless satellite communication networks in low earth orbit (LEO). 4

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