World Bank maps how it will actually use AI in development work

The World Bank's independent evaluation group documented its own process for deciding where and how to deploy artificial intelligence across development projects — not a mandate or new rule, but a public record of how the institution is thinking through the tradeoffs. This matters because the World Bank funds and advises governments on everything from healthcare to infrastructure, so how it decides to use AI in those decisions will influence how AI gets deployed in poorer countries.

Most AI deployment at scale happens without public documentation of the reasoning — this is an institution saying: here's how we actually evaluated whether to use AI, where we used it, and what we learned. That transparency becomes a reference point for other development organizations and governments trying to figure out if they should trust AI systems to influence lending, policy advice, or project design.