The real AI economy is being built by ordinary people
Rest of World Rest of World Staff
The article profiles workers across Asia and Africa using AI for everyday work and business tasks, from hiring and pricing to marketing and content production. Making a minidramas series previously cost about $200,000 and involved 50 people for two months. As a result, small businesses delegate more routine work to cheap AI tools and some video production shifts away from actors and camera crews toward AI prompt writing and generated clips.
Why it matters
Far from Silicon Valley pitch decks, workers across Asia and Africa are bypassing tech industry hype to quietly rewire their daily jobs — one prompt, workflow, and local problem at a time.