Bangladesh stands at a defining moment to position itself as an AI-enabled economy by capitalising on its youthful workforce, expanding digital infrastructure and ongoing policy reforms, speakers said on Wednesday, stressing that strategic investments in skills, innovation and responsible artificial intelligence could accelerate sustainable economic growth and strengthen the country's global competitiveness.

They, however, warned that the rapid rise of AI also presents significant challenges, including threats to intellectual property, data privacy, human creativity and critical thinking, calling for a balanced approach that embraces technological advancement while safeguarding human capability and ethical standards.

Speakers said Bangladesh should prioritise developing AI talent, integrating AI into high-impact sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education and industry, and transforming its ICT outsourcing sector into a knowledge-driven AI services industry capable of competing in global value chains.

They also underscored the need for a national AI ecosystem built on research, innovation, digital infrastructure and international collaboration, saying countries that invest wisely in AI today will be better positioned to shape the future global economy.

The remarks came at a discussion titled "AI Future for Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects" held in the city's Baridhara diplomatic zone.

President of Eelaia Foundation and honorary consul of Ireland in Bangladesh Masud Khan said that Bangladesh has a unique opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) as a strategic driver of sustainable economic growth, governance modernisation and regional leadership, said 

Speaking at a discussion on AI, he said the country stands at a pivotal moment in its development journey following the student-led July Revolution of 2024, which has created new opportunities for inclusive governance, economic reform and technological advancement.

With a young and growing population, a resilient industrial base and the government's commitment to digital transformation, Bangladesh is well-positioned to transition towards an AI-driven economy, he said.

Khan said Bangladesh's AI future is moving towards an AI-native strategy under the National AI Policy 2026–2030, backed by investments in digital skills development and technology infrastructure.

He cited the establishment of a new AI laboratory at Daffodil International University, equipped with high-performance NVIDIA workstations, as an example of the country's efforts to strengthen AI capacity.

Outlining Bangladesh's priorities, Khan said the country's AI strategy should be built on three key pillars.

The first is upskilling and education to prepare the country's young, digitally literate population for the global AI economy rather than focusing solely on developing large foundation AI models locally, he said.

The second is the adoption of AI in high-impact sectors, including agriculture, healthcare and education, to accelerate development while minimising the risk of widespread job displacement.

The third pillar is transforming the country's outsourcing industry by enabling local IT firms to move beyond traditional labour-based services into enterprise AI management, data infrastructure and participation in global AI value chains, he added.

President and Founder of the Institute of Strategic Intelligence Professor Henrik von Scheel said  that AI represents the biggest infringement on intellectual capital, functioning as a tool that collects information and, in many cases, "resells it back" to users.

Addressing a session on AI and Bangladesh's future, von Scheel said the current generation of AI systems, particularly large language models (LLMs), should be viewed with caution as they rely on massive amounts of user-generated data while raising concerns over privacy, intellectual property and human capability.

"AI is the biggest infringement on intellectual capital. It's stealing information and reselling it to yourself," he said, adding that although many AI services appear free today, users will eventually bear the economic cost while the information they share could become exclusive assets.

Calling AI "a spying tool," von Scheel said concerns over data surveillance are not limited to any single country, arguing that both Western and Chinese AI ecosystems collect vast amounts of user data.

He noted that public attention has become overwhelmingly focused on large language models following breakthroughs in transformer technology around 2017, despite AI encompassing several distinct disciplines beyond conversational systems.

According to him, one of the major limitations of current LLMs is their "black box" nature, where developers can observe outputs but cannot fully explain the internal reasoning behind them.

"The results are based on mathematical formulas, algorithms and probabilities, but we cannot fully re-engineer what is happening inside the black box," he said.

Von Scheel said some AI disciplines beyond LLMs could prove even more important for countries like Bangladesh, particularly in supporting economic development and industry.

Comparing global AI models, he said Chinese consumer AI platforms have reached performance levels comparable to leading US systems while remaining significantly cheaper, making them increasingly popular among users in developing countries, including Bangladesh.

However, he cautioned developing countries against becoming overly dependent on consumer AI tools, warning that excessive reliance could undermine human learning and critical thinking.

"Human evolution is based on making mistakes and learning from them, not simply receiving answers," he said, arguing that skills, discipline and expertise are built through experience rather than automated assistance.

Von Scheel also stressed that AI lacks genuine intelligence or understanding, saying it can describe an object accurately but cannot comprehend its real-world meaning or context.

He further argued that AI is not inherently creative because it only recombines existing information rather than generating genuinely original ideas.

"AI works from the known to the known. Human creativity comes from interaction, experience and exploring the unknown," he said, adding that consciousness and human intuition remain beyond the capabilities of today's AI systems.

Introducing his broader strategic outlook, von Scheel said the world is undergoing an unprecedented period of transformation. He explained that, as a strategist and economist whose research focuses on identifying recurring patterns rather than predicting the future, he analyses long-term structural changes shaping governments, businesses and economies worldwide.

Saying that Bangladesh must strengthen its digital sovereignty and ensure it becomes an active participant—not merely a consumer—in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem as technological power increasingly shifts from territorial control to the governance of digital systems, senior diplomat and AI policy strategist Mohammad Khorshed A. Khastagir  said AI is fundamentally reshaping the concept of state sovereignty, with governments facing growing challenges in regulating digital platforms, managing data flows and safeguarding national interests in an increasingly interconnected world.

They said the traditional concept of sovereignty, centred on territorial control under the Westphalian state system, is giving way to a new paradigm in which influence depends on who governs the digital systems that increasingly shape society.

One of the speakers said the emergence of powerful global technology platforms has reduced the ability of states to control the digital space, citing examples of online misinformation and hate speech, including content that fuelled violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar.

The speaker said social media platforms and digital influencers are increasingly shaping public opinion and decision-making, in some cases exerting greater influence than political leaders and state institutions.

He said Bangladesh faces a strategic choice—whether to remain a consumer of technologies developed elsewhere or build the capacity to influence and shape technologies that serve its own national interests.

Explaining the evolution of sovereignty, the speaker said power has shifted over time from territorial control during the Westphalian era to economic production in the industrial age, then to data and digital infrastructure in the information age, and now towards AI-driven systems capable of influencing decision-making.

While AI remains a tool rather than an autonomous actor, he said its ability to process vast amounts of information gives it a form of agency that amplifies its influence across society, economy and governance.

The speaker identified language, digital infrastructure and technological control as key battlegrounds for preserving national agency in the AI era, stressing that countries must strengthen their own capabilities in areas such as large language models, digital platforms and semiconductor technologies.

He also warned that AI-mediated systems are increasingly influencing human mobility, communication and access to information, making digital governance an essential component of national security and future economic competitiveness.

They also cautioned against excessive dependence on consumer AI platforms, warning that although AI offers significant opportunities, it also raises critical concerns over data privacy, intellectual property, surveillance and the erosion of human creativity and critical thinking.

Speaking at the event, Professor of Jahangirnagar University Dr. Shahab Enam Khan said Bangladesh's AI ambitions must be grounded in geopolitical realities, technological sovereignty and long-term investment in digital infrastructure rather than a narrow focus on applications.

He said many people mistakenly equate advanced data management with artificial intelligence, although AI goes far beyond data processing by generating insights tailored to specific users and contexts.

"The real question is not how we perceive algorithms, but how algorithms perceive us," he said, arguing that AI systems increasingly shape human behaviour, decision-making and governance.

Highlighting the challenges of building domestic AI capabilities, he said Bangladesh remains dependent on imported high-performance chips and graphics processing units (GPUs), making data sovereignty difficult to achieve.

He noted that the procurement of advanced AI chips is closely monitored internationally because of their strategic significance, creating additional hurdles for countries seeking to develop independent AI infrastructure.

Referring to the government's draft National AI Policy, the speaker welcomed the target of producing hundreds of thousands of AI professionals but questioned whether the country was investing sufficiently in developing highly skilled AI researchers capable of creating algorithms and foundation models rather than only supporting AI deployment.

He said developing a competitive Bangla large language model (LLM) would require substantial long-term investment in education, research and computing infrastructure.

The speaker also expressed concern over the country's startup ecosystem, saying many AI startups struggle because of weak digital infrastructure and limited institutional support despite growing entrepreneurial interest.

He warned against excessive reliance on foreign cloud service providers, saying outsourcing critical government data infrastructure could expose public institutions to operational and geopolitical risks.

Drawing on international examples, he said access to cloud services and digital platforms can be restricted during geopolitical tensions, underscoring the importance of building sovereign digital infrastructure.

He said Bangladesh's existing public-sector computing capacity remains inadequate for large-scale AI development, stressing that establishing a national high-performance GPU infrastructure shared by universities, research institutions, government agencies and the private sector should become a strategic priority.

According to him, the country's AI debate has focused largely on apps and application programming interfaces (APIs), whereas the more pressing challenge is investing in the underlying computing and digital infrastructure needed to support future AI innovation.

Executive director of Centre for ALTERNATIVES Imtiaz Ahmed said Bangladesh faces intertwined challenges of political, economic and data sovereignty, making it essential to define a clear national strategy for artificial intelligence (AI) and digital governance.
He said AI should be viewed not only as a technological issue but also as a matter of national interest, requiring long-term planning, investment in human capital and a shared understanding of sovereignty in the digital age.

Drawing lessons from international experience, the speaker cited Iran's long-term investment in education, engineering and scientific research, saying the country had spent decades preparing its technological capabilities in anticipation of future strategic challenges.

He said Bangladesh should similarly adopt a long-term vision, investing in education from the school level to build a workforce capable of developing and applying AI technologies over the next two decades.

According to him, AI could play a transformative role in sectors such as agriculture, climate adaptation, disaster management and public administration, enabling governments to make more informed and timely decisions.

He stressed that AI literacy should not be confined to universities but introduced at the school level so that future generations develop the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven world.

The speaker also called for a broader debate on the meaning of sovereignty in the digital era, arguing that traditional notions centred on territorial control are evolving alongside technological change.

Recalling discussions with Indigenous representatives at an international conference on the Arctic, he said different societies may define sovereignty in different ways, suggesting that future AI policies should take into account changing concepts of governance, control and national agency.

He urged policymakers to carefully consider these broader strategic questions while shaping Bangladesh's AI future, saying technological progress must be aligned with the country's long-term national interests and sovereignty.