The twenty-first century has brought humanity to yet another historical turning point. The history of humanity consists of an unbroken chain of inquiry and discovery. If the first discovery of fire was a tremendous revolution, the invention of the steam engine opened the way to industrial civilization. Today, the digital revolution is fundamentally transforming human thought, the economy, and social life. Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is not merely a technology — it is emerging as a force opening the door to a new intellectual civilization.

    Today, the fastest-spreading technology in the history of humanity is precisely artificial intelligence. According to various reports, AI is gaining popularity even faster than the internet once did. The fact that, over the past three years, more than 1.2 billion people worldwide have used AI platforms demonstrates the enormous scale this process has reached. Technologies that only yesterday seemed like science fiction have today become an ordinary part of everyday life. Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, medical diagnostic algorithms, automated translators, and AI analytics platforms are penetrating deeply into people's daily activities.

    We have entered an exceedingly delicate and responsible era. This is an era in which humanity is creating a digital reflection of its own mind.

    As emphasized in the report "People and Possibilities in the Age of AI," published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), humanity lives not only in an age of technology but also in a time when "new frontiers of human potential" are opening. Artificial intelligence is now no longer a mere program or technical tool — it has become a new reality bound up with the economy, politics, education, medicine, and even human thought.

    Processes that only yesterday seemed like science fiction have today become a reality of life. Algorithms write texts, recognize human speech, make diagnoses, conduct analysis, and even intervene in decision-making processes. If human thought was once committed to paper, today it is being transformed into code. Data is taking the place of ink, digital platforms the place of books, and cloud storage the place of archives.

    This process, however, is not confined to technological progress alone. It is also transforming the world economy and geopolitics. According to forecasts by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), by 2033 the global AI market will reach 4.8 trillion dollars. This is a figure equal to the size of Germany's economy. The principal growth is observed in the spheres of cloud technologies, data centres, AI chips, generative AI, and cybersecurity. Today, the United States and China control approximately 86 percent of the world's AI computing capacity. This means that artificial intelligence is becoming not an ordinary technology but a geopolitical force.

    Yet it is here that the most important question of development arises: whom does technology serve?

    In the "Technology and Innovation Report 2025," the idea of "Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development" is put forward as a guiding principle. The essence of this idea is that artificial intelligence must not remain a weapon in the hands of technological giants or wealthy states alone. It must serve the most remote village in the world, the person with limited opportunities, and developing countries alike.

    For in the future, wealth will be measured not by oil or gold but by data, innovation, and intellectual capital.

    Today, the world is living amid a new digital race. Whichever state possesses a powerful AI infrastructure, an extensive database, and digital personnel will also hold tomorrow's economic supremacy. According to reports, in the future states may divide into "creators of artificial intelligence" and "consumers of artificial intelligence."

    This confronts humanity with yet another danger — digital inequality. At present, nearly 4 billion people in the world cannot fully participate in the AI ecosystem. The reason lies in limited access to the internet, electricity, and digital education. While the rate of AI adoption in high-income countries stands at 23 percent, in low- and middle-income countries this figure remains at around 13 percent. The UNDP refers to this process as "The Next Great Divergence."

    While algorithms govern the economy in developed states, in some countries the possibility of full access to the internet is still limited. While in some places children are studying robotics, in other regions even basic digital literacy remains a problem. Consequently, the new social challenge of the twenty-first century is the opportunity for equal access to technology.

    At this point, the question of humanity itself returns to the agenda.

    Artificial intelligence calculates. But it cannot feel. It analyses. But it does not experience the pangs of conscience. It writes. But it does not know what longing is.

    However fast a processor may operate, it cannot fully comprehend a mother's love, human suffering, or creative inspiration. The irreplaceability of the human being lies precisely in this — in their spiritual essence.

    For this reason, in UN reports the question of digital development is closely bound up with human capital. The principal issue is not the replacement of the human being by the machine but the expansion of human capabilities. The machine calculates; the human being gives meaning.

    The truth is that artificial intelligence may transform millions of jobs. Some professions will disappear, and new fields will emerge. According to UNDP research, nearly half of the world's population believes that their work may be automated. However, 60 percent of people believe that AI will create new jobs. Only 13 percent of people expressed concern that AI might increase unemployment. This shows that humanity has begun to perceive AI not as a rival but as an opportunity.

    Among the fastest-growing professions are such fields as AI engineer, data scientist, cybersecurity analyst, cloud architect, and prompt engineer. The world now requires not so much physical labour as analytical thinking, digital literacy, and creative thought. The most valuable wealth of the twenty-first century is knowledge.

    The 2025 Human Development Report revealed yet another troubling trend: after the pandemic, the growth of human development has slowed sharply, and in 2024–2025 the growth of global human development has fallen to its lowest level since 1990. This means that the world is simultaneously contending with economic crises, geopolitical tensions, climate problems, and technological imbalances.

    At the same time, AI is creating unprecedented opportunities in the fields of education and medicine. In countries with low and medium levels of human development, 70 percent of residents believe that AI increases labour productivity. Many are planning to use AI in education, medicine, and work processes in the coming years. Today, AI is advancing early diagnosis in medicine, individualized teaching in education, predictive analysis in agriculture, and smart governance systems in public administration.

    For Central Asia, too, this process is of exceptionally great importance. For the economy of the future relies not on natural resources but on technology and intellect. Teaching AI, data science, and cybersecurity at universities is an investment in tomorrow's development. The digitalization of public administration, in turn, enhances transparency and efficiency.

    Yet technological progress must not prevail over human values.

    For if artificial intelligence amplifies injustice, turns the human being into an object of control, or serves digital colonialism, progress may turn into a spiritual crisis.

    Today, humanity stands before a historic choice: will the future be determined by algorithms or by human thought?

    The answer is simple but weighty: whoever governs technology also creates the future.

    Therefore, the greatest task of the present day is to make artificial intelligence serve human interests. The future lies not in the rivalry of human and machine but in their harmony. For the true value of technology lies not in its power but in how much benefit it brings to humanity.

    Elyorjon Saminov Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development