Agile wisdom from Mongolia’s nomads: Rethinking AI with adaptability, community, and environmental harmony

Digitized Nomads: What Mongolia’s Nomadic Herders Teach Us About AI

Mongolia's digital transformation must focus on equity and access. The country’s nomadic herders offer powerful lessons about adaptability, community, and environmental harmony that can guide how we develop and govern artificial intelligence (AI).

Across the vast Mongolian steppe, traditional gers dot the landscape, camels graze quietly, and nomads live in constant motion, shaped by instinct, tradition, and a deep respect for nature. While this lifestyle might seem distant from the digital era, it holds valuable insights for AI policy and development.

About 40% of Mongolians still maintain a nomadic lifestyle. This way of life emphasizes mobility, flexibility, and a harmonious relationship with the environment—qualities essential for the AI-driven future.

1. Resilience Amid Volatility

Nomads adjust daily to unpredictable weather, changing grazing lands, and seasonal shifts. This real-time responsiveness is a model for AI governance. Technology evolves quickly, and policies must keep pace.

The European Union’s AI Act, for example, categorizes AI systems by risk and demands transparency and safety for high-risk applications. Its design allows for evolution alongside technology. Like nomads preparing for uncertainty, digital systems need agility to handle constant change.

2. Community as Digital Infrastructure

Mongolian nomads survive by sharing resources, caring for each other’s livestock, and passing down knowledge orally. This communal approach should inspire AI infrastructure design.

Digital systems must avoid deepening divides between those with and without access. AI should be inclusive, ensuring no one is left behind. Building technology with collective responsibility means prioritizing fairness over just speed or efficiency.

3. Environmental Harmony

AI’s energy needs are growing, sometimes with significant environmental costs. Training large language models consumes massive energy, contributing to carbon emissions and stressing power grids.

For example, a data center in Memphis, Tennessee, has faced criticism for its impact on local water supplies and reliance on gas turbines. Nomadic herders live in tune with their environment, taking only what nature can sustain.

This principle should guide AI development—aligning innovation with environmental care and using technology to restore rather than deplete natural resources.

Mongolia’s Approach: Tradition Meets Innovation

The National AI Campaign in Mongolia is more than a technical training effort. It integrates data skills, ethics, digital literacy, and equity, aiming to reach even the most remote communities.

This human-centered approach sets a blueprint for emerging economies to shape inclusive and ethical AI. As one researcher noted, AI has the potential to democratize technology globally, leveling the field between urban centers and remote regions, provided there is internet access.

A Balanced Future for AI

AI’s future should be technically advanced yet culturally grounded, ecologically sustainable, and centered on people. Mongolia’s nomadic heritage reminds us that resilience, interdependence, and harmony with nature are essential as we build digital systems.

Learning from those who thrive amid uncertainty offers a path to develop AI with integrity and care for both society and the environment.

For those interested in ethical and practical AI skills, exploring courses on Complete AI Training can provide valuable knowledge aligned with these principles.