A rally in stocks tied to artificial intelligence today helped Asia’s stock benchmark erase the losses caused by the Iran war and climb to an all-time high. It’s part of a growing trend of AI-related stocks buoying stock markets despite the Iran war sending oil markets through the rough and spiking inflation in parts of the world.

Whether AI can offset the conflict’s shock to the global…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis asked what it will take to prepare economies for the age of AI and how quickly it needs to happen. Microsoft’s Vickie Robinson was direct: “Yesterday.” But beyond urgency, she laid out what readiness actually requires: coordinated action across governments, development finance institutions, and the private sector,…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke with Microsoft’s Vickie Robinson and the World Bank Group’s German Cufré on why AI readiness depends on closing the digital access gap.

Despite progress, 2.2 billion people remain offline. “You need to cross the Rubicon from access to actual adoption,” Robinson said, noting that connectivity alone won’t…