Nepal, June 13 -- The arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and new technology has been heralded as a game changer. But how will it unfold, and who will be able to take advantage of AI to win the contest of the century, the United States, China or some other country?

Writing in Foreign Affairs (November 2023), James Manyika and Nobel Laureate economist Michael Spence argued that "by the beginning of the next decade, the shift to AI could become a leading driver of global prosperity." These gains would come from not just the rapid advances in AI in creating new content and applications in daily life, but also its rapid spread through the democratisation of innovation.

But for it to happen, "not only a new policy framework but...