Can Al help SriLanka leapfrog in digitisation drive?

ARTIFICIAL intelligence is reshaping our world, how governments deliver services, how businesses operate, and how people live.

- By Dishnira Saparamadu-Ariyarathne and Chinthaka Abeysekera

A defining question for the decade ahead

The question for Sri Lanka is not whether AI will shape our future, but whether we can use it to move faster than the path we are currently on. Can it help us skip slow stages of transformation and push us ahead in our digitisation journey?

Leapfrogging is not new. Countries like Kenya, with its M-Pesa mobile payments, India with its Aadhaar digital identity system, and Rwanda with drone-based medical deliveries, have all used technology to jump over traditional barriers to development. Mobile banking, for instance, brought financial services to millions without the need for physical branches. AI offers Sri Lanka a similar opportunity. If used strategically, it can accelerate digital transformation, strengthen the economy, and improve daily life.

Why digitisation matters now

Sri Lanka is at a crucial stage in its economic story. The economy grew by 5% in 2024, a sign of recovery after one of the worst financial crises in its history. Long-term resilience will depend on whether we modernise the systems that underpin the economy, the institutions, services, and infrastructure that determine how efficiently we work, how fairly we deliver services, and how competitive we are globally.

The digital economy already plays a significant role. It is valued at around $ 3.47 billion, or roughly 4.37% of GDP, and there is a plan to grow this share much further. The IT and business process management workforce is projected to expand from 125,000 in 2018 to 300,000 by 2024, and the Government aims to raise annual IT sector revenue from $ 1.2 billion to $ 5 billion by 2030. These targets are ambitious, but they also highlight the gap between where we are and where we need to be. Without faster digitisation, these goals will remain difficult to achieve.