HOW MANY laws and regulations are needed to govern an archipelago(群岛), home to 287m people, spread across some 13,500 islands, and stretching more than 5,000km? For Indonesia, the answer is 251,232. Yet all too often(常常；屡屡) this bureaucratic morass(泥沼；困境) only worsens persistent problems, from rampant(猖獗的；泛滥的) graft to sluggish(缓慢的； sluggish growth 增长乏力) growth.
治理一个拥有2.87亿人口、散布在约13500个岛屿、绵延5000多公里的群岛国家，需要多少法律法规？对印度尼西亚而言，答案是251232条。然而，这片官僚泥沼往往只会加剧从猖獗腐败到增长乏力等老大难问题。
Indonesia is a vivid(生动的；鲜明的) example of a challenge common to Asia’s populous(人口众多的) poorer countries. Governments need to manage complex economies and provide services to diverse societies with limited resources. Officials across the region have long turned to digital technology for help making their operations more transparent(透明的；公开的) and effective. Yet Indonesia has launched more than 27,000 digital public-sector platforms and apps, to little avail(几乎无效；徒劳). Now they hope artificial intelligence can do better.
印度尼西亚是亚洲人口众多且较贫穷国家所面临共同挑战的一个生动例证。政府需要用有限的资源管理复杂的经济，并为多元社会提供服务。长期以来，该地区的官员们一直求助于数字技术，以使他们的运作更加透明和高效。然而，印度尼西亚已经推出了超过27000个数字公共部门平台和应用，却收效甚微。如今，他们希望人工智能能做得更好。
AI models could help boost(提升；促进) the very capabilities that poor states often lack. They are adept at(擅长于) analysing lots of data, from tax filings(纳税申报) to farm yields(产量；收益), at a relatively low cost. Properly adapted to local conditions, AI could allow developing countries to do “in a decade what might otherwise take a century”, the World Bank argues.(只要因地制宜，AI能让发展中国家用十年完成原本需一个世纪的事。)
人工智能模型可能有助于提升贫穷国家往往缺乏的能力。它们擅长以相对较低的成本分析大量数据，从纳税申报到农作物产量。世界银行认为，只要因地制宜地加以改造，人工智能就能让发展中国家“用十年时间完成原本可能需要一个世纪的事情”。