The Gambia Urges Small Nations to Use Size as an AI Strategy

Small developing countries should view their scale as an operational advantage rather than a constraint when adopting artificial intelligence, according to Professor Muhammadou M.O. Kah, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of The Gambia to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Speaking at the AIFOD Geneva Summit 2026, organised by Africa AI Monitor’s publisher, the AI for Developing Countries Forum (AIFOD), Ambassador Kah argued that smaller nations can actively shape their own technological pathways.

Practical Deployment Over Scale

Ambassador Kah presented artificial intelligence as a practical tool for national development, noting that for The Gambia, the technology could assist smallholder agriculture, rural clinics, schooling, transparent governance, entrepreneurship, and tourism. Emphasising local utility over raw computational scale, he remarked: "We choose pragmatism over spectacle: small models, local data, real problems and measurable dignity." However, he stressed that deploying such systems requires dependable national foundations, notably electricity, internet access, data, processing infrastructure, and domestic skills.

Youth Skills and International Governance

To move beyond passive consumption, Ambassador Kah called for targeted education and training so young Gambians can design and build AI systems directly. External partnerships, he argued, must build local self-reliance rather than entrench reliance on foreign vendors.

Turning to international policy, the ambassador insisted that smaller developing states must actively draft global regulations governing data, intellectual property, and artificial intelligence. Having "a seat at the table is not enough," he told attendees, urging developing nations to act as co-authors of global rules rather than observers.