2025-2026 Model UN Scenario

TU-BCPS Model United Nations
2025-2026 Debate Scenario
 
“Artificial Intelligence and Global Inequality”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform economies, reshape labor markets, expand access to health and education services, and improve climate resilience. However, the benefits of AI are unevenly distributed. According to the United Nations, AI is accelerating a new digital divide that risks widening economic and social inequalities both between and within countries (UN, Mind the AI Divide). While advanced economies rapidly deploy AI systems across industries, many developing states lack reliable internet access, adequate digital infrastructure, high-quality local data, and the skilled workforce needed to harness these technologies. Global inequality may deepen if AI becomes concentrated in a few countries and corporations.

The UN warns that 2.6 billion people still remain offline, most from developing regions (UN, Global Internet Use). Limited connectivity, high cost of digital devices, and the scarcity of trained AI professionals hinder participation in the digital economy. This inequity means that AI’s benefits, such as productivity growth, improved public services, early-warning systems for climate disasters, and expanded access to medical diagnostics, medical treatments, and other scientific advances, are often inaccessible to communities that would benefit from them the most.

Developing states also face risks from lack of representation in global datasets, an issue known as “data inequality” (UNCTAD, The Many Faces of Inequality). When AI models are trained primarily on data from wealthier countries, they can produce biased or inaccurate outcomes for populations in the Global South. This incomplete foundation leads to discrimination in areas such as credit access, health diagnoses, social services, environmental technology, and employment opportunities, reinforcing marginalization rather than alleviating it. Additionally, concerns about “data colonialism”, or the extraction of data from developing countries without fair compensation or governance, raise questions about sovereignty, ownership, and economic dependency (UNESCO, 2024).

AI is also reshaping global labor markets. Automation in manufacturing, agriculture, customer service, and logistics may disproportionately impact developing economies that rely on labor-intensive industries. However, the World Bank reports that AI may have a smaller impact on developing economies than on developed ones (World Bank Blogs, 2025). As AI accelerates productivity in advanced economies, economic inequality between countries, between industries, and between urban vs rural areas may intensify, triggering displacement, unemployment, and widening income gaps (UN, 2024).

Moreover, AI raises significant concerns regarding human rights, governance, privacy, and surveillance. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warns that poorly regulated AI systems can threaten rights to equality, dignity, privacy, education, and nondiscrimination (OHCHR and privacy in the digital age). Weak regulatory institutions, limited cybersecurity capacity, and inadequate oversight mechanisms make developing states especially vulnerable to misuse of AI technologies, corrupt practices, and exploitation by external actors.

Infrastructure inequalities further compound these challenges. Many regions lack consistent electricity, secure data centers, or cloud-computing capabilities, which are fundamental to developing and deploying AI systems. Without massive investments in digital public goods, technical training, and affordable connectivity, AI progress will likely bypass poorer communities altogether and push countries further behind in terms of economic development. (UN, SDG 9).

Despite these challenges, AI also represents an opportunity to reduce inequality if deployed responsibly. AI-powered tools can improve crop yields, strengthen climate-resilience systems, expand access to medical consultations in remote areas, improve local and global environments, and support inclusive education. The United Nations emphasizes that inclusive governance, international technology transfer, and global cooperation are essential to ensuring that AI becomes a force for widespread human development rather than division (UN University, 2025).

Given that these examples represent only some of the many challenges associated with AI and global inequality, please consider the following:

1. What is the connection between human rights violations, corruption, and unequal access to artificial intelligence? What is the relationship between AI deployment and financing from illicit or opaque sources? Does corruption intensify existing AI-related inequalities, and if so, how? What policies can be instituted that will reduce corruption and simultaneously promote equitable AI governance? How does corruption at border crossings or in data governance systems exacerbate AI misuse and deepen global inequality?

2. How does unequal access to AI technologies relate to children’s rights? Does AI-driven inequality hinder the educational development of children? What can be done to protect children from harmful or biased AI systems in developing states? Can the UN address the socioeconomic factors that cause children to become vulnerable to exploitation through AI-enabled misinformation, surveillance, or labor displacement, and if so, how? How is AI-driven inequality connected to the recruitment of children into extremist groups or criminal networks via digital platforms? What measures can be taken to address these factors?

3. Does unequal access to AI affect economic and social development? Does AI-driven automation and digital concentration hinder the economic and social development of a country? If so, how is global inequality reinforced by uneven AI diffusion? What can the UN do to address these issues? Does AI affect current UN development programs and the ability of past and future programs to address economic and social inequality? If so, what measures could be taken to mitigate these effects? If not, how can AI be leveraged to ensure that existing inequalities are not further exacerbated?

4. How does unequal access to AI relate to environmental challenges? Are environmental vulnerabilities exacerbated by disparities in access to climate-modeling and early-warning AI systems, and if so, how? What kinds of solutions exist to ensure AI supports environmental resilience in impoverished, overpopulated, or polluted areas? What impact might sustainable development initiatives have on reducing AI-driven inequality? How are environmental risks heightened by the concentration of AI infrastructure—such as energy-intensive data centers—in certain regions?

5. How does unequal access to AI relate to global health disparities? How do existing health inequities exacerbate the harmful effects of biased or inaccurate AI in medical diagnostics? How does unequal AI access worsen health outcomes in states whose healthcare systems already lack sufficient resources? What can be done to assist populations who lack access to AI-enabled healthcare tools? How did global health emergencies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, expose and intensify AI-related inequalities in health systems? How is unequal AI access connected to broader health and development challenges? What can the UN do to address these issues?

6. How is unequal access to AI connected to human rights? How do AI systems affect rights to privacy, nondiscrimination, dignity, and equal treatment? How can the UN protect member states from the negative impacts of AI misuse while also safeguarding individual human rights? What is the UN doing about AI-related abuses linked to forced prostitution, slavery, forced labor, or surveillance? Should security or technological advancement be prioritized above human rights—such as freedom of movement, the right to life, and the right to pursue economic freedom? Why or why not? Where can or should compromises be made, and why?

7. How is AI-driven inequality related to the legal protection of disadvantaged populations? How can the international community strengthen legal safeguards for marginalized groups who may be disproportionately harmed by biased or discriminatory AI systems or by restrictions built into AI systems by governments? What legal actions, if any, should states and the UN take to ensure that AI technologies do not target or exclude specific social or economic groups? How can international law hold accountable states, corporations, or developers that violate AI governance agreements or deploy harmful AI systems? What legal mechanisms should apply to states that ignore or promote discriminatory AI practices within their borders? Should new international treaties, conventions, or enforcement mechanisms be considered, and if so, what should they include?

8. How is AI related to refugees and forced displacement? How can AI-enabled surveillance, biometric mismanagement, or discriminatory digital systems contribute to forcible displacement and border security? What existing AI-related inequalities cause marginalized groups to leave their places of origin? What is the relationship between forced displacement and illicit financial flows connected to AI-enabled exploitation? What can the UN do to address the relationship between traffickers, refugees/IDPs, and digital technologies? What about everyday corruption and surveillance at border crossings, which may worsen AI-related harms for displaced people?

9. How are sustainable communities affected by unequal access to AI? How are farmers in poor countries impacted by the lack of AI tools for agriculture, climate forecasting, and market access? How are rural, undeveloped areas disadvantaged by limited access to AI-enabled economic opportunities? How can the UN encourage development programs that provide alternatives for communities excluded from digital transformation? How do AI-driven economic shifts in urban areas undermine growth and impede social development? How can developing states create sustainable communities with their limited technological resources? What should be the role of the UN? Of developed states?

10. What security challenges exist when seeking to protect states, people, and the international community from risks related to AI and global inequality? Does unequal access to AI-enabled cyber tools, autonomous systems, or information operations create instability or further the security interests of some states vs others? How does AI misuse trigger violence or undermine state security? Do current security protocols provide an appropriate response to non-state actors that leverage AI to recruit or exploit marginalized populations? Why or why not? What measures might be more effective? How would these measures reduce AI-related harms to state security?

11. How do AI inequality and the global distribution of technological capacity relate to science and technology development? What is the relationship between AI-driven economic power and access to computing infrastructure? Do advances in AI and digital technologies lead to more or less global inequality, and why? How can the international community harness AI research, open-source tools, and scientific cooperation to reduce these inequalities?

12. How are AI inequality and global trade patterns connected? Should the UN promote equitable access to AI through trade and development policy, and if so, how? Which trade and development policies could support fair AI deployment across countries and regions? What challenges arise when AI infrastructure and computational power are concentrated in developed countries? How does (or does not) global inequality in AI affect promoting trade between developed and developing countries?

Bibliography 

International Telecommunication Union. Facts and Figures 2023: Measuring Digital Development. www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/11/Measuring-digital-development-Facts-and-figures-2023-E.pdf 

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age. https://www.ohchr.org/en/privacy-in-the-digital-age 

UN Conference on Trade and Development. Data and Digitalization for Development. https://unctad.org/page/data-protection-and-privacy-legislation-worldwide 

UN Development Programme. Data protection and privacy legislation worldwide. https://www.undp.org/publications/digital-divide 

UNESCO. Addressing digital colonialism: A path to equitable data governance. https://en.unesco.org/inclusivepolicylab/analytics/addressing-digital-colonialism-path-equitable-data-governance 

UNESCO. Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/recommendation-ethics-artificial-intelligence 

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Global Internet use continues to rise but disparities remain. August 8, 2024. https://social.desa.un.org/sdn/global-internet-use-continues-to-rise-but-disparities-remain 

United Nations. Artificial Intelligence (AI). https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/artificial-intelligence 

United Nations. “Mind the AI Divide.” www.un.org/digital-emerging-technologies/sites/www.un.org.techenvoy/files/MindtheAIDivide.pdf 

United Nations. SDG 9. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/infrastructure-industrialization/ 

United Nations. “Tech progress, automation, AI, cut workers’ share of wealth: ILO” 4 September 2024, https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1153906 

UN University. “AI: A Ladder To Progress Or A Trap Of Division? The Choice Is Ours.” September 19, 2025. https://unu.edu/article/ai-ladder-progress-or-trap-division-choice-ours 

World Bank Blogs, “AI’s impact on jobs may be smaller in developing countries.” February 18, 2025, https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/investinpeople/AI-impact-on-jobs-may-be-smaller-in-developing-countries