A circle of gers – traditional Mongolian yurts – dots the golden steppe, a vast grassland stretching endlessly beneath a cloudless sky. Camels graze nearby, each recognized by name, their silhouettes shifting in the early morning light. In this boundless landscape, where wind is constant and seasons arrive without warning, life is lived in motion – shaped by instinct, tradition and a deep respect for nature.
This way of life may seem worlds apart from the digital revolution. Yet, as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes global society, the philosophy and practices of Mongolia’s nomadic herders offer unexpected lessons in adaptability, community and sustainability.
According to the BBC, approximately 40% of Mongolians live nomadic lifestyles – an extraordinary statistic in an increasingly urbanized and digitally-focused world. Nomadism in Mongolia is characterized by mobility, adaptability and a harmonious relationship with nature.
Mongolia is now actively embracing digital transformation through the launch of the AI Academy Asia’s National AI Campaign, a bold initiative to train teachers and software engineers, bridging the digital divide and preparing Mongolians to thrive in an AI-powered world.
The campaign aims to train 250 AI engineers and 2,250 teachers from all 21 aimags (provinces) in Mongolia by 2029.
The Girls AI programme has trained 150 girls and is now training 100 female teachers and 100 girls from the most disadvantaged communities of Mongolia in collaboration with Golomt Bank, which has already been actioning a digital inclusion initiative across Mongolia in the past 30 years.
This commitment to digital inclusion is especially relevant for Mongolia’s nomadic herders and rural pastoralists, who are already experimenting with drones, sensors and other advanced digital tools to monitor herd health, access weather data and optimize land use. What if the wisdom of nomads could shape how we build, deploy and govern AI?
Here are three lessons from Mongolia’s steppe that can inspire our approach to governing AI.
Lessons for Mongolia’s digital transformation
1. Resilience in the face of volatility
Nomads adapt in real time to volatile weather, shifting grazing conditions and the uncertainty of seasonal migrations. This mindset offers valuable lessons for AI governance. Technology evolves at a breakneck pace and so too must our policies.
The European Union’s AI Act is one early model of this adaptive governance. This legislation categorizes technologies based on risk and requires high-risk AI systems to meet strict transparency, safety and ethical standards.
Importantly, it is intentionally designed to be broad and evolve in tandem with the technology itself. When institutions can pivot swiftly, they can better anticipate change and manage the disruptions of the AI era.
Just as nomads don’t expect stability but prepare for volatility, our digital systems must be built not only for security but for agility and responsiveness.
2. Community as infrastructure
Mongolian nomads are not only hospitable out of kindness but because it helps them survive as a community. Often at the mercy of nature, families share resources, tend to each other’s livestock in times of illness or absence and pass down oral knowledge that reinforces communal responsibility.
This ethos should inspire how we design and govern AI. Digital infrastructure must not reinforce existing divides between those with access and those without. Just as herder communities ensure no person or animal is left behind, AI must be inclusive by design.
Like nomadic communities, our technological systems must embody a spirit of collective responsibility – not just optimizing for speed or efficiency but ensuring no one is left behind.
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The future of AI should not only be technically sophisticated but it must also be culturally grounded, ecologically sustainable and human-centred.
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3. Environmental harmony
As AI scales globally, we must confront its growing energy and resource demands. Training a single language model can require vast amounts of energy, resulting in increased carbon emissions and pressure on electric grids.
The environmental cost of AI isn’t abstract. In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk’s Grok data facility has drawn scrutiny for tapping into the Memphis Sand aquifer, a vital freshwater source and using gas-powered turbines, raising alarm among residents about water depletion and environmental justice.
Nomadic life is inseparable from the rhythms and limits of the natural world. Survival depends on listening to the land, not extracting from it. This philosophy should also guide the future of AI.
AI development must learn to do the same – aligning innovation with stewardship and using technology to restore rather than deplete the ecosystems we rely on.
Mongolia’s model: Tradition meets innovation
As an article in the Harvard Business Review recently noted, “AI won’t replace humans – but humans with AI will replace humans without AI.”
This quote underscores a pressing global risk: digital exclusion. Without intervention, entire groups risk being left behind. This mirrors the displacement of traditional farming knowledge during the Green Revolution, when top-down modernization erased centuries of ecological wisdom. Without digital inclusion, the AI revolution may repeat this history.
Mongolia is taking a different path. The National AI Campaign is more than a technical upskilling programme – it’s a human-centred, ethically grounded movement.
It embeds data, coding, ethics, digital literacy and equity into its curriculum and seeks to ensure that no community, no matter how remote, is left behind. This is a powerful blueprint for other emerging economies to co-lead in shaping ethical and inclusive AI.
In an interview with the academy, Cambridge University researcher Ander Biguri notes that “AI has the potential to be uniquely democratizing,” because the quality of the technology is the same whether you’re in the United Kingdom or the remotest regions of the Gobi Desert, as long as you have an internet connection.
This levels the playing field for nations like Mongolia, presenting a rare opportunity to leapfrog into leading a global digital transformation.
Holistic path of AI
The future of AI should not only be technically sophisticated but it must also be culturally grounded, ecologically sustainable and human-centred.
By learning from Mongolia’s nomadic heritage, we can reimagine a digital future that doesn’t sever us from tradition but strengthens our collective resilience, interdependence and harmony with the environment.
To navigate the AI era wisely, we must listen to those who have long thrived in the face of uncertainty so that we can adapt with integrity.

Published Date:2025-09-04