UN launches AI tools to tackle global challenges from Jamaica to Ethiopia
The United Nations has deployed artificial intelligence tools to screen for tuberculosis in Ethiopia, convert textbooks into accessible formats for disabled children in Jamaica and detect methane leaks worldwide, according to UN agencies.
Source: United Nations News · August 22, 2026 at 11:45 PM · AI-assisted report
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KUALA LUMPUR, 23 AUGUST 2026 —
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The United Nations has deployed artificial intelligence tools to screen for tuberculosis in Ethiopia, convert textbooks into accessible formats for disabled children in Jamaica and detect methane leaks worldwide, according to UN agencies.
Market Impact
In Jamaica, AI-based software converts existing schoolbooks into interactive formats tailored for six-year-old Ari, who has learning difficulties. The system helps children with disabilities read in their own language, the UN children’s agency said.
“There are countless more examples like Ari’s, showing what becomes possible when digital learning is designed to reach every child,” Pia Rebello Britto, UNICEF’s global director of education and adolescent development, told UN News.
UNICEF’s Accessible Digital Textbooks for All programme now operates in 17 countries, reaching nearly two million children, with a goal of expanding to 50 countries by 2030. Six new countries joined this year.
On climate change, the UN Environment Programme uses AI to analyse satellite data from 30 sources and pinpoint methane leaks. Its Methane Alert and Response System has issued 7,500 alerts since 2024, triggering 42 mitigation actions, UNEP said.
“AI is 12 to 15 times faster and more accurate than humans at detecting methane leaks,” Martin Krause, director of UNEP’s climate change division, told UN News.
Fixing methane leaks also reduces smog and avoids product loss for companies, Krause said. Methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere.
The UN Health Organisation has supported developing countries in using AI to screen chest X-rays for tuberculosis. In Ethiopia, computer-aided detection helps gold miners, who face higher TB risk from dust and silica exposure, receive faster diagnoses.
“It’s really helping people move through the diagnostic cascade onto treatment much sooner,” said Dr Vanessa Veronese, a scientist at WHO’s tropical diseases programme.
WHO said AI-generated likelihood scores help overstretched radiologists in low-resource settings. The agency endorsed computer-aided detection for adult TB screening in 2021 and has since assisted countries in deploying it.
UN agencies are also applying AI to clear land mines, assess disaster damage, monitor radioactive contamination and speed nuclear fusion research. The UN has established a global dialogue on AI governance and an independent scientific panel to ensure technology promotes peace and democracy, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said.
For Malaysian business readers, the UN’s AI deployments show how emerging markets can leapfrog infrastructure gaps by adopting advanced tools in health, education and climate monitoring.
Related: PETRONAS · Ministry of Education · Pia Rebello Britto · Kuala Lumpur