LIBREVILLE – The dominant narrative about artificial intelligence (AI) is move fast or fall behind. Governments are urged to adopt the technology quickly, scale it aggressively, and regulate it lightly, as if speed itself were a development strategy. This assumption is as wrong as it is dangerous. In reality, the main risk for many developing economies is embracing AI too early, before they have the digital infrastructure, institutional capacity, labor-market absorption mechanisms, and productive capabilities required to ensure that automation delivers broad-based gains. I call this risk premature automation, which mirrors a phenomenon that Dani Rodrik described as premature deindustrialization: the erosion of manufacturing employment in developing countries before they could realize its full growth potential. Hasty AI adoption will likely produce a similar outcome: destroying jobs, eroding capabilities, and hindering development rather than fostering transformation. In advanced economies, AI can help supplement an aging labor force and boost white-collar workers’ productivity. By c