Boao Forum for Asia secretary general Zhang Jun said on Friday youths play a key role in bridging the artificial intelligence development gap between the Global South and Global North.

He made the remarks as the International Science, Technology and Innovation Forum of the Boao Forum made its debut in Hong Kong, with previous editions held in Macau, Zhuhai and Guangzhou.

Speaking at a roundtable session, Zhang, who served as a permanent representative of China to the United Nations, said the digital divide, which includes AI development gaps, will further weigh on global fragmentation.

He called on youths to help forge global collaboration to tackle such challenges.

"Youths have a key role... in trust-building, partnership-building, which is also badly needed in today's world, because we are more divided than at any time after the end of the Second World War.

"And we are living in a world which is becoming very much dangerous because of the failure of the international governance system, including the United Nations," Zhang said.

Many of the forum's participants pointed out challenges encountered during their countries' own digital transformation, especially with access and skills for youths and young entrepreneurs.

Many said it's essential to ramp up digital literacy training and partnerships between nations.

Vilayphone Inthilat, an official of the Institute of Foreign Affairs in Laos, cited the China-Laos AI Innovation Cooperation Centre as an example.

Launched in February, she said the centre marks the first China-Asean AI innovation cooperation.

Conrad Ho, a member of the Youth Development Commission, called for more efforts to be made to address the employability gap created by the emergence of AI technology.

"The post-AI world presents many challenges and also opportunities, including how youth might gain more senior-level skills as AI reduces the demand for entry-level and middle-management roles," he said.

"I think as AI unlocks more capacity, we're going to transition from [having more] large corporations to smaller ventures, one-person teams, smaller teams that can still create very massive value.

"And yet for all these companies, for them to be successful, the founders still need to have the critical hard and soft skills that they need to learn."

The two-day innovation forum ends on Saturday.