Bangladesh must think ahead in the AI world

In Bangladesh, we are very good at reacting. We debate inflation, reserves, elections, and floods. Our policy imagination is often tied to the immediate crisis at hand.

But sometimes the more important question is not what is happening now; it is what is quietly reorganizing the world around us. Artificial intelligence is doing precisely that.

What was once a niche technology sector is becoming the gravitational centre of the global economy. According to estimates by PwC, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030. This creates the possibility of an economic layer that will sit on top of finance, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and logistics. With this shift, diplomacy is changing. 

When companies begin to look like countries

Consider the scale of the companies driving this transformation. Microsoft has crossed a market valuation of roughly $3 trillion. Nvidia, the leader of AI chip production, has reached similar territory. Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are investing tens of billions of dollars annually in AI infrastructure.

A number of these companies are economically bigger than some mid-sized countries. As corporations hold economic weight comparable to states, diplomacy cannot remain state-to-state alone.

Governments must now negotiate with cloud providers, semiconductor firms, data platforms, and AI labs. The competition between the US and China increasingly centres on chip exports and AI supply chains. The European Union’s AI Act is not just regulation -- it is a geopolitical statement about who sets the rules of emerging technologies. The United Arab Emirates appointed a Minister for AI years ago to signal strategic intent.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just innovation. It is economic statecraft.

Where do we fit?

At first glance, Bangladesh may seem peripheral to this race. We are not building large language models. We are not manufacturing advanced semiconductors.

But that does not mean we are irrelevant.

Bangladesh’s economic story has always been about scale and labour. Our RMG sector did not rise because we designed the world’s fashion. We rose because we could produce at scale, efficiently and competitively, integrating ourselves into global supply chains.

The AI economy also has a supply chain.

Behind every intelligent system lies enormous human effort -- data labelling, model testing, validation, quality assurance, fine-tuning. This is often described as the “human-in-the-loop” layer of AI: People who help machines learn, correct them, and adapt them to real-world contexts.

This is not glamorous work. But it is indispensable work.

As AI expands globally, demand for data annotation and model training support is rising sharply. Large technology companies and AI labs require scalable, affordable, and reliable workforces to perform this foundational layer. Whoever can offer quality, affordable and organized labour at scale will attract these contracts.

China became the hardware manufacturing hub of the world not because chips could not be produced elsewhere, but because it offered scale and affordability. Germany could manufacture many of the same products -- but cost and ecosystem matter.

In AI, Bangladesh could become the human infrastructure layer.

With a predominantly young population, even training a fraction of our youth in data operations, AI annotation, AI testing, model validation, and digital quality assurance could create a significant new services export segment. A good number of our population have experience in freelancing and IT outsourcing. What we need is structured, large-scale skill development tied directly to global AI demand.

The diplomacy here is straightforward but strategic: Engage with major AI companies and technology-driven economies and position Bangladesh as a reliable base for AI operations support, testing environments, and data work. Instead of only seeking factories or garment orders, we would be negotiating for digital contracts and long-term technology partnerships.

AI may be the next big industrial shift. And in every industrial shift, capital flows toward affordable, organized, and scalable labour ecosystems.

From labour advantage to productivity advantage

This is not about keeping wages low. It is about upgrading productivity.

AI tools allow one worker to produce the output of several, if trained correctly. If Bangladesh invests in AI literacy across universities, polytechnic institutes, and vocational centres, our workforce could move from basic digital tasks to AI-augmented services.

The transition from “labour-intensive” to “intelligence-assisted” work could redefine our export narrative. Instead of exporting primarily physical goods, we could increasingly export services through AI support operations and software analytics.

For this, we require internal readiness. Curriculum reform, industry partnerships, regulatory clarity and visible coordination between the ministries of ICT, education, finance, and foreign affairs.

Climate as leverage

Bangladesh’s climate vulnerability offers another unexpected diplomatic opening. We are one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Flood forecasting, cyclone prediction, crop resilience modelling, and disaster response optimization are the talk of the future.

International climate bodies and advanced economies are searching for real-world environments to refine and test climate AI systems. They fund climate projects where there is both vulnerability and data richness. Bangladesh offers both.

If Bangladesh systematically provides structured data, collaborates on modelling, and becomes a live testing ground for climate-resilience technologies, it creates a mutually beneficial arrangement and helps Bangladesh tackle the climate matters better.

Regional opportunity through SAARC

South Asia remains fragmented in digital cooperation. Yet our challenges, such as cybersecurity, workforce transition, and cross-border data flows, are shared.

Within the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bangladesh could propose an AI cooperation platform.

A regional AI consortium could share best practices, promote regional and global AI diplomacy, pool anonymized datasets, coordinate on cybersecurity standards, and jointly bid for international funding in areas like climate AI or digital workforce development.

For Bangladesh, taking the initiative to convene such a platform would enhance its regional standing.

By 2030, AI is expected to underpin manufacturing competitiveness, logistics systems, healthcare diagnostics, financial services, and governance processes worldwide. Countries that prepare now will shape where value accumulates.

For Bangladesh, the question is not whether we can become an AI superpower. That is not the point.

The question is whether we can intelligently position ourselves within the AI value chain -- as a skilled human support base, a climate data hub, a regional convener, and a digitally upgraded workforce.

We have transformed demographic pressure into export strength before. We have built global industries from modest beginnings.

The world is reorganizing around intelligence -- artificial and human.

If we think beyond today’s crises and begin to anticipate tomorrow’s economic architecture, AI diplomacy could become not just a fashionable phrase, but a practical strategy for Bangladesh’s next chapter.

Ashfaq Zaman is the founder of Dhaka Forum and a strategic international affairs expert.