AI as Asia’s new growth engine?

Two decades after globalisation fuelled a global economic boom, growth has shifted onto a more subdued path, where it is likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

- Lee Jong-Wha

Beyond the immediate shock of fragmenting trade and investment ties —a result of rising geopolitical tensions, particularly between the United States and China — lie structural headwinds, including population ageing, stagnant productivity, and the growing costs of inequality and natural disaster. These challenges strike at the heart of Asia's growth model.Not only is fragmentation causing Asia's export-oriented growth engine to sputter, but rapid population ageing is tightening the labour supply and compounding fiscal pressures across the region. The share of people aged 65 and above in Asia will nearly double by mid-century, from 9.8% in 2023 to 18.6% by 2050. Japan and South Korea are already “super-aged” societies, with more than 20% of the population aged 65 or older, and China's population has begun to decline. India and some Southeast Asian economies still enjoy a demographic dividend, but that window is closing quickly.

But demographics need not be destiny. Using new digital technologies — and, in particular, AI — Asia can invigorate productivity growth, ease labour shortages, and extend people's working lives. After all, like electricity and the internet, Al is a general-purpose technology with the potential to transform production, services, and innovation.