Investigating AI Colonialism
A new MIT Technology Review series called AI Colonialism investigates the parallels between AI development and European colonialism. Although the AI industry doesn’t aim to capture land nor does it use mass-scale slavery, the industry has developed new methods of exploiting cheap labor. The series takes a closer look at the development of this “new colonial world order.”
What does the series talk about?
Karen Hao, senior AI editor at MIT Technology Review, writes, “Together, the stories reveal how AI is impoverishing the communities and countries that don’t have a say in its development—the same communities and countries already impoverished by former colonial empires. They also suggest how AI could be so much more—a way for the historically dispossessed to reassert their culture, their voice, and their right to determine their own future.”
What’s the purpose of the series?
Artificial intelligence and colonialism may seem like unrelated topics, but the ultimate purpose of the series is to shed light on the lesser-known, sinister impacts of AI. Hao writes that we must acknowledge the obstacles and limitations of AI before we can discuss its benefits.
Where can I learn more?
Hao talks about a “new generation of scholars [that] is championing a ‘decolonial AI’ to return power from the Global North back to the Global South, from Silicon Valley back to the people.” You can read the full MIT Technology Review series here to get a better sense of what “decolonial AI” might look like.