History has a way of repeating itself—pandemics return, wars resurface, economies ebb and flow, and technological revolutions upend the established order. Yet, as the African News Agency reported on November 6, 2025, the world may be witnessing an inflection point that is fundamentally different from those before. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now shaping not just how nations interact, but also how economies evolve and how societies connect. In this rapidly changing landscape, the BRICS bloc—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—finds itself at the crossroads of technological transformation and financial realignment.
Under Brazil's 2025 presidency, the BRICS nations have placed AI governance and inclusive growth at the heart of their agenda. According to the African News Agency, the group is keenly aware that the architecture of technology will determine development paths and global influence for decades to come. While land, military strength, and trade once defined power, today's metrics increasingly include data sovereignty, digital infrastructure, and computational capacity.
AI, for the BRICS countries, is more than just a commercial opportunity. It's a tool for public good. China is leveraging AI for health diagnostics, India is deploying multilingual education platforms, South Africa is investing in future-skills initiatives, and Brazil is using environmental monitoring systems to protect its vast natural resources. These efforts, as highlighted in the African News Agency article, are expanding access to healthcare, education, and food security—especially in rural and marginalized communities. The Global South, through the BRICS, is demonstrating that AI can empower rather than exclude, challenging models that prioritize profit over people and digital dependence over sovereignty.
Yet, the promise of AI comes with its own set of risks. Without robust ethical safeguards and a commitment to digital equity, AI can deepen existing inequalities. Algorithmic bias, digital surveillance, and data exploitation threaten to replace economic exclusion with digital exclusion, particularly for marginalized groups. Nations lacking cyber resilience and technological capacity become vulnerable—not just to cyber-attacks and manipulation but to technological dependency itself. The African News Agency notes that the same technologies meant to uplift can, without proper oversight, leave societies further behind.
In response, BRICS countries are doubling down on ethical AI governance. They emphasize digital sovereignty, privacy, equity, and cultural preservation as pillars for future development. The African News Agency reports that the bloc is advocating for frameworks that defend community agency and uphold human dignity. As the article puts it, "The future is too important to be left to algorithms alone; it must be guided by values that uphold humanity, social inclusion, and equitable access to opportunity."
Culture and identity, the article reminds us, remain central to human engagement—even in the digital age. Technology may reorganize power, but it cannot erase the need for belonging, justice, and meaning. The BRICS nations see AI as both a risk and an opportunity in this regard. Recommendation algorithms, for example, can reinforce cultural homogenization and amplify dominant narratives, sometimes at the expense of local identities and indigenous knowledge. AI-generated media blurs the lines between authenticity and manipulation, affecting how communities tell their stories and preserve their histories. This is why, as the African News Agency emphasizes, cultural preservation, linguistic diversity, and ethical design are non-negotiable for global AI governance.
But it's not just technology that's in flux. The global financial system is undergoing its own transformation, and once again, the BRICS countries are at the center of the action. On November 6, 2025, CareEdge Ratings released a report, as covered by ANI, highlighting a resurgence in gold as a principal reserve asset. The report stated, "Resurgence of gold as a principal reserve asset underscores a profound transformation in the global financial architecture." This shift is driven by rising fiscal vulnerabilities, persistent inflationary pressures, and escalating geopolitical uncertainties.
Traditional pillars like the U.S. dollar and the Euro are facing increased scrutiny due to sovereign risks and structural weaknesses. Gold, by contrast, has re-emerged as a politically neutral and inflation-resistant store of value. Central banks—especially those within the BRICS bloc—are recalibrating their reserve strategies, reducing their reliance on dollar-denominated assets, and instead building portfolios that feature gold more prominently. This move isn't just about hedging against volatility; it's a bid for monetary autonomy and protection against external shocks. It also signals a broader rebalancing of global economic influence.
The numbers are striking. Gold prices soared to an average of USD 3,665 per ounce in September 2025 and hit a record high of USD 4,000 per ounce in October. From January 2024 to mid-2025, the price of gold climbed by nearly 64 percent, buoyed by strong investor sentiment and aggressive central bank purchases. In India, gold imports in September 2025 reached a ten-month high, outpacing the five-year monthly average. This surge was fueled by robust domestic demand during the festive season, despite the persistently high prices. CareEdge Ratings notes that gold's renewed appeal is not just as a commodity, but as a strategic reserve asset in a world where financial certainties are increasingly hard to come by.
The shift away from the dollar is not merely anecdotal. The share of dollar holdings in central banks' foreign exchange reserves has been on a steady decline for more than two decades. In 2000, the dollar accounted for 71.1 percent of global reserves; by 2024, that figure had dropped to 57.8 percent. Central banks are actively diversifying, reducing exposure to dollar-denominated assets, and turning to gold as a strategic alternative. This trend, according to CareEdge Ratings, reflects both a desire for greater resilience and a rebalancing of global economic power.
In many ways, the technological and financial transformations underway are two sides of the same coin. Both are about sovereignty—over data, over money, over the future itself. The BRICS bloc is positioning itself not just as a participant, but as an architect of this new era. By driving inclusive AI development, safeguarding human values, and setting ethical standards, these countries are working to ensure that innovation serves society, not just markets. At the same time, by diversifying reserves and embracing gold, they are striving to insulate themselves from external shocks and assert greater control over their economic destinies.
As history repeats itself in new and unexpected ways, the choices made by the BRICS nations today will reverberate far beyond their borders. Whether it's through the ethical deployment of AI or the strategic accumulation of gold, these emerging powers are shaping a future where technology and finance are harnessed for the greater good. The world is watching—and the stakes couldn't be higher.
