Cycles of development in systems of survival with artificial intelligence: a formative research agenda

ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (AI) may take over many functions performed by humans while offering new opportunities for socio-economic development. However, the unchecked ubiquitous adoption of generative Machine Learning (ML)that appears to assist humans while increasing job losses, inequities and threats to social institutions. Systems of survival are explored in the light of the synergies between governments who aim to protect their citizens and corporations who trade with them. Understanding how these processes affect human agency, particularly that of refugee populations whose data is harvested from their cellphones while they seek to build new lives in foreign lands. Their resilience, ingenuity and contributions to the global economy may hold the key to supporting positive cycles of development. A formative agenda is offered that enables researchers to support positive cycles of development that account for the systems of survival needed for equitable artificial intelligence implementations.