SINGAPORE, Oct 7 — The global AI boom is fast becoming the key driver of economies around the world but the boom is risking wider global inequality by leaving some nations behind, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned today.

She also lamented a lack of “decisive action” in heavily indebted advanced nations and called for “very tough policy choices” to restore the health of their public finances.

Georgieva said in a speech ahead of the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings in Singapore next week that AI investment-to-GDP will likely top the cash pumped into railroads, the electricity grid or the telecommunication network.

Growth in AI-related trade was being seen most in the United States, China and India, where companies splashed out on data centres and other infrastructure, while others were benefiting from the manufacture of chips and robotics.