AIgemony: power dynamics, dominant narratives, and colonisation

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the potential challenges posed by the unmeasured applications of AI, particularly in fostering less-recognised forms of ‘hegemony’—understood as facilitated by AI’s development, rather than caused by it. Skyrocketing advancements demand appropriate preparedness to handle the consequences of significant transformations. Nevertheless, inadequate public awareness, combined with regulatory and legal framework lags, and the exploitation of such vulnerability by influential actors, could intensify inequalities to unprecedented levels. Founded on design and broader social science approaches, this research introduces the concept of AIgemony. It elucidates how specific circumstances may equip certain individuals with persuasion catalysts in the form of ‘dominant narratives’. Notably, as a broader foundation, this form of hegemony could reshape or even transcend traditional systems of power relations such as colonialism, class relations, racism, and sexism. Yet, AIgemony differs from traditional hegemony in crucial respects, specifically in that it is internally unstable, and does not automatically function to the benefit of the ruling elite. A collaborative method is outlined for systematically evaluating these emergent imbalances and positively reconstructing power dynamics.