AI could bring an end to famine, says World Bank president

Traditionally famine is classified in five stages, from "minimal" food insecurity through "crisis" to "famine". Modelling of last year's famine in Somalia suggested intervening before stage five could reduce aid costs by 30 per cent. But the real saving, Mr Kim said, would be in preventing the permanent developmental damage done to children by malnutrition, which leaves them with "fewer neural connections" and less ability to participate in the workforce. Research shows that children born during a famine earn around 13 per cent less over their lifetime. Mr Kim said: "One of the things that has been shown in Ethiopia is that if you think a famine is coming, if you do something really simple like double the amount of cash transfers that poor people get, you can actually stop the famine from going forward. "We have not yet had a system like Artemis that tells us about potential famines that early in the process... our hope is that by working closely with it we'll be able to detect potential famines early enough that we can start investing in things."