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Episode 5.1: The Majority-World Experience of A.I. – Rigoberto Lara Guzmán and Ranjit Singh

Interviewer: KIM FERNANDES. Our perspective on emerging technology such as A.I. is often future-oriented and technocratic, focused on how its design features might someday transform the world – and, above all, the advanced economies of the world – in ways wanted and unwanted. In their work at the Data & Society Institute, RIGOBERTO LARA GUZMÁN and RANJIT SINGH have focused instead on the current impacts of A.I. and other data-driven technologies on the lived experience of people in the Majority World – that is, outside of the wealthy economies of the “West” or “Global North.” In their discussion with anthropologist Kim Fernandes, they describe the process of collecting stories for their anthology, Parables of AI in/from the Majority World, and how visions of technology shift when the focus is less on how it works and more on how people must adapt to the parameters it sets, especially when they lack the power or privilege to push back.