The global AI race is accelerating, but the real question is who gets to build it, shape it, and benefit from it in the Global South.

In this episode of Global Southing, we speak with Anima Anandkumar, AI and Science leader, TIME100 Impact Award Winner, and Caltech Professor, about what it will take for emerging markets to move from AI adoption to real AI agency.

From compute access and energy realities to local language data, talent pipelines, and practical use cases in agriculture, weather forecasting, healthcare, and smart cities, this conversation cuts through hype and gets specific about what’s feasible now, what needs policy support, and where the biggest opportunities and risks sit.

With grounded examples including AI enabled weather prediction, pandemic preparedness, and disease modeling, Anima explains why democratizing AI is not just about tools, but about infrastructure, education, and local control over data and governance choices.

Tune in to learn:
→ Why access to compute and energy is the real starting line for AI in the Global South
→ How AI weather forecasting can support food security and climate resilience
→ What it takes to build local language AI when the data is not online
→ Where AI can close healthcare gaps, from disease modeling to drug discovery
→ How cities can use AI for mobility, safety, and pollution monitoring
→ Why regulation before adoption can slow innovation, and what to do instead
→ How AI will reshape jobs, and why reskilling speed matters
→ The infrastructure moves that matter most, including sovereign AI, GPUs, and universities

Key Moments
00:00 Opening and episode setup
01:10 AI access and agency, what the Global South actually needs
02:00 Compute and energy, the real bottleneck no one talks about
04:00 Weather forecasting and climate resilience, why prediction is power
06:40 Agriculture and food security, what works in the real world
11:10 Pandemic preparedness, early warning and disease modeling
15:20 Healthcare breakthroughs, underserved diseases and drug discovery
19:30 Smart cities, mobility, safety, and public trust
23:40 Data privacy and surveillance, where the lines get blurry
28:00 Jobs and reskilling, how to stay ahead of the shift

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Follow the guest
Anima Anandkumar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anima-anandkumar/
Caltech: https://www.caltech.edu/

The global rulebook is being rewritten, and the Global South is holding the pen.

In this episode of Global Southing, we speak with Dr. Serhat Suha Cubukcuoglu, Head of the Trends Research and Advisory Office in Turkey, about Policy Power Rising: How Global South Writes Its Own Rules and how this shift is changing the way global decisions are made.

With expertise across policymaking, geopolitics, maritime affairs, and energy, Dr. Cubukcuoglu shares how countries across the Global South are building leverage through new partnerships, regional blocs, trade corridors, and alternative financial pathways, while navigating competing interests and real-world constraints.

Through clear examples and grounded analysis, he explains how rule-setting is moving beyond legacy institutions into practical cooperation, economic strategy, and digital governance, and what this means for middle powers, emerging alliances, and the next phase of the global order.

Tune in to learn:
→ Why “collective policymaking” is gaining momentum across emerging markets
→ What BRICS+ signals, and where its influence is real vs overstated
→ How alternative finance and local currency trade are changing the options on the table
→ The role of trade corridors, logistics, and resource diplomacy in modern power
→ Why middle powers are becoming key conveners in a multipolar world
→ Where South-South cooperation works, and where it gets complicated
→ Why digital governance, data sovereignty, and AI ethics are becoming the next battleground
→ What to watch next as global norms evolve

⏱️ Key Moments
00:00 Opening and episode setup
01:05 Introducing Dr. Serhat and the core question of rule-setting
03:10 What “Global South” means in today’s policy context
05:45 BRICS+ and the push for more agency in global systems
08:20 Alternative finance, NDB, and the rise of parallel options
11:10 Trade corridors and why geography is strategic again
14:30 South-South cooperation, coordination, and friction points
18:40 Middle powers and strategic autonomy, including the UAE’s role
23:10 Digital sovereignty, data governance, and policy choices
31:20 AI, ethics, and the next global standards conversation

Follow Global Southing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-southing/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/globalsouthing/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@globalsouthing

Follow the guest
Dr. Serhat Suha Cubukcuoglu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scubukcuoglu/
Trends Research and Advisory Office: https://trendsresearch.org/