The AI Era Will Not Be Inclusive by Default

The AI revolution is accelerating at historic speed.

But 2.2 billion people are still offline.

If we are not careful, artificial intelligence will not close the digital divide.

It will multiply it.

Models are improving. Compute is exploding. Investment is massive.

Since 2013, more than $1.6 trillion has been invested in AI, with trillions more flowing into digital infrastructure globally.

But there is a harder question beneath the momentum.

Who actually benefits?

Because the uncomfortable truth is this:

The AI revolution is not unfolding on equal ground.

While advanced economies debate the next generation of AI models, 2.2 billion people remain offline.

That gap is not just a connectivity problem.

It is becoming an economic divide.

And in the AI era, it could become an existential one.

That reality framed the conversation at Huawei’s Tech Cares Forum during Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, where governments, international organizations, academics, telecom operators, and technology leaders gathered to address a simple but urgent question:

How do we ensure the intelligent world includes everyone?

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From “Tech Innovation” to “Tech That Cares”

Huawei’s Tech Cares initiative is built on a straightforward premise.

Technology must do more than improve efficiency.

Technology must improve lives.

The initiative focuses on three fundamental priorities:

• Connecting the unconnected
• Delivering inclusive digital services
• Developing essential digital skills

This work is closely aligned with the ITU Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, a global effort to mobilize investment and partnerships for digital inclusion.

Huawei initially pledged to connect 120 million people in remote areas by 2025.

By the end of 2025, the company had exceeded that target.

170 million people across more than 80 countries have now gained access to the digital world through these efforts.

That includes projects such as:

• rural connectivity infrastructure
• digital skills training programs
• remote healthcare initiatives
• financial inclusion programs
• mobile digital classrooms

But access alone is not enough.

Connectivity without capability does not create opportunity.

Infrastructure connects people to the internet. Skills connect people to the economy.

It simply creates exposure.

And that is where one of the most interesting initiatives discussed at the forum enters the story.

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The DigiTruck: A Classroom on Wheels

The DigiTruck is one of the most practical examples of digital inclusion in action.

At its core, it is simple.

A shipping container or mobile unit transformed into a fully equipped digital classroom, designed to travel into remote and underserved communities.

Inside the truck:

• laptops and connectivity
• digital literacy training
• coding education
• AI introduction programs
• entrepreneurship, and online work skills

The goal is not just to teach people how to use technology.

It is to help them enter the digital economy.

Since its launch in 2019 under Huawei’s Skills on Wheels program, DigiTruck initiatives have helped more than 130,000 people across 21 countries gain basic digital skills.

The trucks operate in regions where traditional education infrastructure often cannot reach.

They are designed to go where opportunity currently stops.

And sometimes, they produce unexpected transformations.

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What Happens When the Internet Arrives

During the panel discussion at the forum, several speakers shared examples from the field.

One story stood out.

A farmer who had never used a computer steps into a DigiTruck classroom.

Within hours, he learns basic digital navigation.

Soon after, he began using mobile tools to manage agricultural data and connect to markets.

Another example involved rural women launching small businesses online using smartphones.

Others included seniors learning how to navigate apps and communicate digitally with their communities.

The pattern repeats.

The moment people gain both connectivity and skills, something changes.

The internet stops being an abstract infrastructure.

It becomes an economic gateway.

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Kenya: When Skills Meet Infrastructure

My own experience reinforced that reality.

Two weeks before Mobile World Congress, I was in Kenya visiting several digital inclusion initiatives.

One of them was the DigiTruck operating in Wajir, a remote region where access to digital education has historically been limited.

What I saw there was not theoretical.

It was practical.

Students were moving from analog to digital.

Learning basic computing.

Understanding online safety.

Exploring remote work opportunities.

And more importantly, they were thinking about how to use digital tools to build businesses.

At another site in Kakamega, a digital hub supported through the Partner2Connect initiative, I met entrepreneurs already applying these capabilities.

One example stood out.

A young woman running a fertilizer distribution business.

Two years earlier, she had never used a computer.

Now she is using digital platforms that:

• manage inventory
• communicate with farmers
• process payments using M-PESA mobile money
• coordinate deliveries

In other words, she was running an end-to-end supply chain from a rural digital hub.

That is not digital literacy.

That is market participation.

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AI Is Changing the Stakes

The urgency behind these efforts is increasing because of AI.

AI will not eliminate inequality by default. It will amplify whoever already has access.

Artificial intelligence is not just another layer of technology.

It is an amplifier.

It amplifies productivity.

It amplifies expertise.

And increasingly, it amplifies economic competitiveness.

If a skilled worker has access to AI tools, they can perform tasks that previously required entire teams.

That means a young developer in Nairobi or Addis Ababa can now compete globally.

But the opposite is also true.

Without connectivity and digital skills, entire populations risk being excluded from this new economy.

This is why several speakers at the forum emphasized that digital inclusion is no longer simply a social goal.

It is an economic strategy.

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The Infrastructure Reality

Connectivity remains a major barrier.

Around 300 million people still live outside mobile network coverage, often because infrastructure deployment in remote areas is economically challenging.

Building traditional telecom sites in these regions can require:

• new towers
• reliable power infrastructure
• long transmission links
• complex maintenance logistics

In many rural areas, those costs simply do not make commercial sense.

To address this, Huawei presented new simplified connectivity solutions designed specifically for remote environments.

These include:

RuralStar technology

• Solar-powered wireless connectivity systems are designed to serve villages of several thousand people.

Pole-based base stations

• Smaller, simplified installations replacing traditional telecom towers.

Wireless backhaul solutions

• Transmission systems capable of connecting remote areas without requiring fiber infrastructure.

Some of these deployments can now be installed in a single day, dramatically reducing costs and accelerating coverage expansion.

The goal is simple:

Make connectivity possible where it previously wasn’t.

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Partnerships Make It Work

One message repeated throughout the forum.

No single organization can solve digital inclusion alone.

Governments create policy frameworks.

Telecom operators deploy networks.

Technology companies develop infrastructure.

Universities train talent.

Nonprofits deliver education programs.

When these actors collaborate, progress accelerates.

The DigiTruck itself is a good example.

The initiative combines:

• Huawei technology
• Close the Gap device recycling programs
• local government support
• community organizations delivering training

Together they create something larger than any one participant.

A functional ecosystem for digital inclusion.

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The Skills Gap Is Still Massive

Even where connectivity exists, digital skills often lag behind.

According to forum speakers:

• 44 percent of people in developed regions still lack basic digital skills
• in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, and fewer than 10 percent of adults possess them

That means millions of people live within network coverage but cannot fully benefit from it.

This gap is known as the usage gap.

And it may now be more significant than the coverage gap itself.

The solution is not just building networks.

It is building capability.

Programs like DigiTruck aim to close this gap by delivering hands-on education directly inside communities.

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AI Could Become the Great Equalizer

One of the most interesting insights from the forum came from observing how quickly people adopt AI tools once they gain access.

In rural communities, AI is not always seen with skepticism.

Often, it is embraced with curiosity.

Farmers using AI advisory tools.

Students experimenting with coding assistants.

Entrepreneurs are using generative AI to write marketing materials or build websites.

When combined with connectivity and training, AI becomes something powerful.

A productivity multiplier.

For populations historically excluded from advanced technology, that multiplier can dramatically accelerate economic participation.

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The Risk of a New Divide

But the speakers also warned about a new challenge.

The AI divide.

AI systems rely on:

• massive datasets
• computing infrastructure
• highly skilled talent

If these resources remain concentrated in a few countries, the gap between digital leaders and digital followers could widen.

This risk is already visible.

Regions with limited local data representation may find their languages, cultures, and economic realities poorly reflected in AI systems.

Without deliberate effort, billions of people could become invisible in the algorithmic world.

That is why initiatives around local skills, local data, and local innovation ecosystems matter.

Digital inclusion is not just about access.

It is about representation and participation.

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The Human Side of Technology

The final message from the Tech Cares Forum was perhaps the most important.

Technology alone will not create inclusion.

Inclusion must be designed.

Designed into infrastructure.

Designed into education.

Designed into policy.

Designed into AI systems themselves.

If the industry simply focuses on innovation speed, the benefits will concentrate where infrastructure and talent already exist.

But if inclusion becomes a design principle, the intelligent world can expand opportunity instead of narrowing it.

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What I Took Away

After visiting Kenya and attending this forum, one thing is clear to me.

Digital inclusion is not charity.

It is economic acceleration.

When a student learns coding in a DigiTruck classroom, they are not just learning technology.

They are entering the global market.

When a farmer uses mobile tools to manage supply chains, they are not just adopting innovation.

They are increasing productivity.

When young entrepreneurs gain AI capabilities, they are not just experimenting.

They are competing.

That is the real significance of these initiatives.

They are not about connecting devices.

They are about connecting people to opportunity.

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The Real Test of the AI Era

Artificial intelligence will reshape industries.

It will redefine productivity.

And it will transform how economies compete.

But the real test of the AI era is not technological.

It is societal.

Will the intelligent world include everyone?

Or will it amplify existing inequalities?

Programs like Tech Cares and DigiTruck offer a glimpse of what the inclusive path could look like.

Infrastructure.

Skills.

Partnerships.

And a deliberate commitment to ensure technology reaches beyond the most connected parts of the world.

The AI revolution will not wait.

The only real question is this:

Will billions of people participate in the intelligent world… or simply watch it happen without them?