Mongolia’s Bold Plan to Make AI Work for All - Bolor-Erdene Battsengel with Nicholas Thompson

AI might have ignited a new Cold War. As China and the US battle for supremacy, other countries are beginning to find their place between the two superpowers. Mongolia is in a unique position. It's sandwiched between China and Russia—but has strong ties to the West. It's rural and young, with a large percentage under the age of 35. It has also, thanks in part to Bolor-Erdene Battsengel, made great strides in technological literacy. As the country's first vice minister of digital development, she helped take government services online, making bureaucracy more navigable for its 3.5 million citizens. Now, as the head of AI Academy Asia, she’s leading an ambitious plan to prepare thousands of students for the AI era.

In conversation with Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, Battsengel describes her unconventional path from Mongolia to Oxford, then SpaceX, and back again; why AI is more popular in rural communities than in cities; and what other countries in the Global South can learn from her efforts.

Produced independently of The Atlantic’s editorial staff.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:50) Why Mongolians see AI as an equalizer  

(04:23) Bolor's nomadic childhood  

(11:49) How Bolor ended up at Oxford  

(16:59) Digitizing Mongolia's government  

(22:37) Fighting corruption as the country’s first vice minister of digital development 

(30:58) What drove Bolor out of government  

(33:31) Why Bolor started Girls Code  

(40:07) The plan to train thousands of students and teachers in AI  

(48:53) Mongolia's sovereign AI model  

(57:) What Bolor would do if she had an unlimited budget to invest in AI

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