#AI, the great equalizer?

#Artificialintelligence (AI) has often been hailed as having the potential to be the great equalizer - a technology that could help alleviate global inequalities. However, when we examine the development and deployment of AI systems through the lens of complicated, emergent systems, it becomes clear that AI will likely follow the tendency of new technologies to exacerbate rather than ameliorate inequality.

A core reason AI will not necessarily be an equalizing force is what we might call "the problem of unequal data." The datasets used to train AI systems reflect wider socio-economic disparities and biases. Facial recognition systems, for example, have been shown to work less accurately for non-white populations. As long as the underlying data reflects existing inequalities, AI will likely propagate and amplify those divides. Treating AI as an impartial, egalitarian technology ignores how it emerges from and interacts with complex human systems and institutions.

Relatedly, while AI could improve efficiency and access to services like healthcare for disadvantaged groups, current development trajectories suggest the benefits will likely accrue disproportionately to the already privileged. Those with more resources can dedicate them to harnessing AI, attracting talent to develop new systems towards their own ends. Rather than mitigating inequality, rewards follow the tendency of capitalist markets to centralize resources within dominant groups. Even public goods like healthcare risk optimizing more for those already well-served by the system.

Finally, increasing reliance on algorithmic decision-making shifts power into technical systems that few understand and have oversight over. This creates potential vulnerabilities and blindspots - dynamics that historically have harmed marginalized communities most. It remains an open question whether governance mechanisms can be established ensuring AI systems answer equally across populations.

The dream that technological progress leads inevitably to greater equality is a stubborn one. But if we have learned anything about complex emergent systems, it is that technology alone does not correct entrenched societal issues—and often exacerbates them. AI is no exception; technological change depends fundamentally on how human values and institutions guide its development. True progress requires conscientious steering of that process towards justice and empowerment for all people. AI will do little to challenge status quos if we do not intentionally shape it to do so.