KDI and the World Bank Convene 2025 Global Forum on AI for Economic Transformation

On September 25, 2025, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and the World Bank convened the 2025 Global Forum in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, under the theme “AI for Economic Transformation: Building Knowledge Partnerships to Drive Innovation and Inclusive Growth.” The forum brought together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) can support innovation, productivity, and inclusive development—and what kinds of governance, safeguards, and partnerships are needed to ensure those benefits are broadly shared.

The forum focused on a timely development question: how countries can harness AI not only as a new technology, but as a tool for economic transformation. Discussions explored both the opportunities and the risks of AI adoption, with particular attention to how international knowledge exchange can help countries build the institutions, skills, and policy frameworks needed to use AI responsibly and effectively.

In his keynote remarks, Mahesh Uttamchandani, the Regional Practice Director for Digital & AI, East Asia & Pacific and South Asia, highlighted two essential dimensions of the digital transition: expanding the conditions for innovation and ensuring that AI development remains safe, trusted, and aligned with public interest objectives.

In Session 2, “AI Governance and Inclusive Development,” Jason Allford of the World Bank Korea Office moderated a discussion featuring Zaki Khoury, Senior Digital Specialist and the Korea Digital Development (KoDi) program Lead at the World Bank, alongside Korean experts on the governance choices needed to maximize AI’s development impact. The session highlighted that translating AI innovation into inclusive economic gains will depend on more than technology alone; it will also require sound governance, appropriate safeguards, and institutions capable of ensuring that AI benefits are shared broadly across society.

The forum underscored that the future of AI will be shaped not only by breakthroughs in technology but by the choices countries make today on governance, skills, and cooperation. For developing economies in particular, the challenge is not simply to adopt AI, but to do so in ways that expand opportunity, strengthen resilience, and translate innovation into inclusive growth.