Whether you like it or not, very soon, AI will take over most human responsibilities. It will reason and think for you and attend to the most basic of needs. AI will function in such a way as to demonstrate such superhuman capabilities that can literally not be overridden by the humans who created it in the first place. In our part of the world, we probably are already expecting that AI will fix our roads and spare road users the horror of spending three days on a six-hour journey, fix our power infrastructure, attract children back to school, prevent election rigging and, in fact, solve every problem ever created by our very narcissistic politicians!
It is the story of technology. Each wave is bigger than the previous ones and would usually boast of more potentials. AI companies are attracting mega investments globally and nations are already at each other’s throats fighting for dominance although such squabbles are hidden under trade disputes. Technology is usually at the centre and, this time, AI is attracting all the attention. This is understandable. The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) projects that the global AI market will hit $4.8 trillion by 2033, which is roughly the size of the economy of Germany, the largest economy in Europe. Such a package is worth fighting for, and nations are already doing the fighting and ready to yield some grounds to AI companies in this respect.
But the New York City which plans a ban on the use of AI in public schools through eighth grade, that is age 13 or 14, thought less about money but raised more concerns about children’s cognitive surrender to technology. Largely accepted as the largest school district in America which enrols about 900,000 students a year, the district adopts some technology policy measures which are usually watched by the rest of the United States. It is about safety and the growth of the students. The parents of New York City don’t want AI to reason for their children or control their mental development. The City’s Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said the district “will disable the AI components of more than 38 previously allowed programs that do not meet our new safety and oversight standards,” according to a CNN report. Meanwhile, the G20 ministers who had a two-day meeting in North Carolina last week released a consensus statement which weighed more in favour of growth and development in line with the Carolina Principles for emerging technologies. The ministers of developed economies canvassed light-touch regulations for AI to accelerate economic productivity, eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and preserve global competitiveness.
Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, in a White House statement on the meeting, said, “Achieving consensus in the G20 is no small feat, but the topic of innovation as a driver of growth brought us together for a historic moment of unity. The statement released by the G20 ministers today (September 2, 2026) gives entrepreneurs the confidence to invest in their ideas, promote domestic manufacturing, and ensure intellectual property frameworks foster and protect innovation.” And the guys to do the investment and perhaps permanently control our future were in attendance or keeping close watch to ensure that nothing troubles their business trajectory. AI poster personalities – Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Tom Brown, Co-Founder of Anthropic, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir – were in Chapel Hill.
Others are: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Demis Hassabis, Co-Founder and Chair of Google DeepMind, and Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO of Meta. Michael Kratsios, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), who was excited about the outcome of the meeting, said: “In Chapel Hill, G20 countries realized an optimistic vision for the future of emerging technologies, recognizing that flexible policy frameworks crafted to promote innovation will drive economic growth and prosperity. That is the spirit of Carolina Principles, and that is how we will expand opportunity for Americans and people around the world.” Without doubt, there is so much AI can offer to the world and this has expanded the bounds of optimism. This is also a cardinal message from UNCTAD. While insisting that “Ensuring AI benefits everyone is key to development in the global south,” the global body observed as follows: the benefits of AI are far from evenly distributed; a small group of economies and around 100 firms control the bulk of AI research, patents, and computing power; and fewer than one-third of developing countries have a national AI strategy. Among least developed countries, the figure is just 12 percent; and about 65 percent of people in least developed countries remain offline, putting AI out of reach from scratch.
UNCTAD also observed that 118 countries – mostly in the global south – are absent from major AI governance forums, which translates to the alarming reality that norms on safety, transparency and accountability are being written without them. UNCTAD posits that AI can deliver the greatest human development where needs are most acute – agriculture, primary healthcare, disaster management and public administration. Success will therefore depend on the following interdependent factors, which include: infrastructure such as electricity, broadband and computing, locally relevant data; and workforce skills. Nigeria is not a wayfarer in this respect.
The country has developed an AI strategy and is building out other support elements for the development and promotion of ethical and inclusive AI innovation that improves welfare and expands opportunities for all its citizens. A key element of the digital plan of the government is the training of 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT), which is expected to form a pool for digital talent export and a needed backbone for the nation’s digital aspirations. Without support technology, AI earns no value. However, the ambitious project of a 90,000 km fibre optic network around the nation, for which the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said funding has already been secured from several sources, is expected to play a prominent role in the nation’s AI buildout and development with much improved and reliable broadband connectivity.
The 90,000 km fibre ring will further strengthen the existing fibre infrastructure of 35,000 km and give fillip to the nation’s aspirations to play big at the international level through the development and responsible use of AI. It is safe to state here that when the AI roll call is made, Nigeria will stand proudly to stake a claim to its share of that projected $4.8 trillion. The minister has done well in this respect and can earn some rubrics for his efforts. However, there are those who will insist that a light regulatory approach to regulating new technologies and, in this case, AI, could persuade jurisdictions to overlook some red flags that could prove to be harmful in the long run. Nigeria has always emphasized the responsible use of AI. Truth be told, fears over AI are genuine.
Teachers and parents of New York City expressed the worry that AI could harm children’s mental health and cognitive development, and cause them to abdicate reasoning to software. There is already the fear that AI could negatively impact the global job market. UNCTAD says that 40 percent of jobs worldwide could be affected by AI-driven automation. This, according to the organization, threatens to wipe out the low-cost labor advantage which many developing economies rely on for growth and poverty reduction. Yet AI comes with lots of advantages and possibilities which translate to a lot of positives and economic advantages. However, the concerns globally, including Nigeria, are deeper than economic returns. Like in the New York City schools, they are intrinsically human, and this seeks to affect the very base of society across nations.
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