• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how organizations perceive, use and compete for talent.
• The global talent divide, between high-income countries and the rest of the world, is widening.
• Switzerland tops this year’s ranking, followed by the United States, its highest position yet. Singapore is the third most talent-competitive country.

While the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents tremendous benefits for humanity, AI development and the resources required for are unevenly distributed. Without proper safeguards and policies, AI may reinforce the digital divide, according to key findings from the 2020 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) report launched by INSEAD, a partner and sponsor of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Tent in Davos, Switzerland today.

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AI skills are scarce and unequally distributed across industries, sectors, and nations. However, the report’s analyses found that, with the right policies and approaches, AI may also provide significant opportunities for emerging markets to leap ahead in talent competitiveness and potentially become ‘global delivery centers’ for AI applications. AI technologies could also play a key role in solving seemingly intractable global issues such as poverty, endemic diseases, climate change, and terrorism.

This year’s GTCI report explores how the development of AI is not only changing the nature of work but also forcing a re-evaluation of workplace practices, corporate structures, and innovation ecosystems. As machines and algorithms continue to advance and enable a growing set of tasks and responsibilities, jobs will be affected and in some cases reinvented. The right talent is required not only to adapt but to capture value from this transformative technology. These changes and other AI influence including new opportunities and challenges are covered in specific chapters in the report.

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AI as a force for good

The GTCI was launched in one of three sessions hosted by INSEAD’s Hoffmann’s Global Institute for Business and Society in the SDG Tent. It will be followed by a panel discussion taking a deeper look at the impact of AI from a productivity standpoint as well as its ethical and social implications. A third session, also hosted by the Hoffmann Institute, will convene government and business leaders to explore ways in which policy-makers and industry can work together to manage the growing inequalities at the global level.