AI: NOT GOING TO HAPPEN FOR 1/2 OF HOMO SAPIENS. SO ARE WE GOING TO BE ARTIFICIAL OR INTELLIGENT?
The digital divide is a chasm, and AI’s price tag is widening it. A $40/month per-person subscription for an AI service like Grok, applied to all 8.2 billion people, costs $3.936 trillion annually—3.75% of global GDP—draining household budgets. Yet, 2.76 billion people, one-third of humanity, remain offline, locked out by unaffordable costs, missing infrastructure, and low digital literacy.
High-income countries: A US family of four faces $1,920/year, potentially tripling internet costs. Even here, 56% of households share streaming services to save money.
Low-income nations: In sub-Saharan Africa, where 85% live on less than $5.50/day, $40/month consumes 24% of monthly income per person. In India, it’s 19% of annual income. This isn’t access—it’s exclusion.
Worse, 4.07 billion people—half our species—can’t afford $40/month:
Low-income: 1 billion (100%).
Lower-middle-income: 2.4 billion (80% of 3 billion).
Upper-middle-income: 0.5 billion (20% of 2.5 billion).
High-income: 0.17 billion (10% of 1.7 billion).
The digital divide isn’t just a tech issue; it’s a crisis of equity. Has Wall Street planned for this $3T burden? Are government agencies, profiting from telco taxes, ready to fund universal access? Do tech shareholders, enriched by the internet economy, care about the billions left behind? Clearly not.
A $40/month model cements the divide, barring billions from AI’s benefits. Subsidies are patches. The NetBridge Foundation (https://netbridge.foundation) pioneers solutions like GrokPods for affordable connectivity, but without radical change—global income redistribution or free AI access—AI will remain a privilege for the elite, not a right for all.
How do we dismantle the digital divide and make AI inclusive? Share your thoughts in the comments below.