Global South AI Cooperation Must Build Capability, Not Dependency

International declarations increasingly promise cooperation on artificial intelligence, digital literacy, research and education. For institutions in the Global South, these commitments matter. They can widen access to expertise, infrastructure, scholarship and markets that no college, ministry or public agency can build alone.

Yet cooperation is not automatically mutual. A partnership may deliver licences, devices, training sessions or a hosted platform while leaving the receiving institution unable to inspect the system, adapt it to local curricula, evaluate it in relevant languages, protect its data, negotiate future terms, maintain the service or continue when outside support ends.

The central question is therefore not whether technology crossed a border. It is whether capability, authority and accountable judgement grew on both sides. Responsible AI cooperation should leave people and institutions more able to choose, shape, govern and, when necessary, refuse the systems through which they learn and serve.

On 12 September 2026, leaders of the expanded BRICS group adopted the New Delhi Declaration during their summit in India. The declaration links access to AI resources with safety, security, inclusion, reliability, energy efficiency, innovation, social good and risk mitigation. It explicitly presents international cooperation as necessary for a fairer future, especially for the Global South, and commits the members to implementing their earlier statement on global AI governance. New Delhi Declaration

The same document encourages digital literacy, safe and human-centred…