Can AI Empower the Underprivileged?

A panel discussion on the topic ‘Artificial Intelligence and Empowerment of Underprivileged Communities for Pursuing Learning and Education,’ organised at the World Book Fair in Pragati Maidan, Delhi, on January 16 enlisted the participation of journalist Insiyah Vahanvaty, author Come Carpentier de Gourdon and me. Moderated by Abbas Panakkal, the discussion threw light on applicability of AI for underprivileged communities and why adequate caution should be exercised in doing so.

While participating in the discussion I was reminded of the thought that slavery in the US could be abolished because of electricity. By linking the abolition of slavery with a scientific leap, this idea underlines the point that some of the great ideals proclaiming equality of human beings are often materialised by scientific discoveries and not by mere formal declarations by leaders. The first line of the American Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal,” was drafted, among others, by leaders like George Washington and John Adams who were slave owners. That ideal became a reality, in this strain of thought attributed to Albert Einstein, thanks in some part to science.

AI for work 

Will AI result in empowering underprivileged communities like electricity which had the power to liberate slaves? As is well known, electricity and machinery reduced the drudgery of work and enabled humans to work faster and most effectively. In the same pattern, AI has a huge potential of reducing the drudgery of work which is consigned to underprivileged communities.

AI cannot be employed to do creative work or any work concerning literature, art and culture. Such tasks can only be justly done with the application of human faculty and intelligence. Anecdotal evidence suggests that when teenage school students seek solutions of mathematical problems by applying AI, they often get wrong answers and end up spending more time and energy to rectify those errors. Those asking AI platforms to write articles on desired subjects get disappointed when the texts contain haphazard information which are unsubstantiated. Therefore, AI would never help if it is employed for creative and research work. Articles written by employing the Google search function are often of higher quality, compared to articles generated by AI. Therefore application of AI must be informed by a nuanced approach.

AI endangers diversity 

AI endangers diversity of language and cultures. If AI is employed to get a text in Odia it is sure to miss the dialects of Odia language and will always give a standardised format of Odia. So linguistic diversity marked among underprivileged communities would be in peril if reliance on AI is excessive.

Yuval Harari's dystopia 

Historian Yuval Noah Harari has repeatedly warned that AI could give rise to what he calls “a useless class”. In earlier eras, thinkers and political leaders imagined a very different future: the creation of a classless society. Today, however, the prospect of AI replacing doctors, technocrats and trained professionals has revived fears of a new dystopia – one in which large sections of society are rendered economically and socially redundant.

The utopian ideal of a classless society has faded, replaced by Harari’s warning of a technologically driven underclass. This will hasten existing inequalities and the marginalisation of already underprivileged communities.

Gandhi's vision

Mahatma Gandhi had sharply interrogated modern civilisation's proclivity to replace human labour with machine power, causing massive unemployment and propelling, in his words, "incessant multiplication of wants and desires". These are now accepted as the factors behind global warming and climate change. Therefore, he emphasised on manual labour and labour-intensive methods such as the spinning wheel to enable underprivileged sections to earn their livelihood from jobs beyond agriculture which only kept them engaged for six months a year. He argued that machinery must reduce drudgery of all and not just of the well off.

Gandhi's logic is eminently applicable in the context of the application of AI to reduce the drudgery of the underprivileged communities. That was why he famously stated during freedom struggle that while a great science could be used to build a bridge over Ganga, a greater science will be required to manufacture equipment for village people that will save them from the grind of work and allow them their humanity. AI might be cautiously seen as a manifestation of that “greater science" but its impact in shaping human civilisation needs careful scrutiny and examination.

Nehru's vision 

India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote in his monumental book Discovery of India, that mankind passed through steam age, was passing through the age of electricity and was bound to pass through the age of electronics. AI is a product of the age of electronics. Nehru also talked about the future alliance of science and philosophy out of which, he said, would emerge scientific humanism.

It is feared that AI has robbed the human element by employing algorithms which are owned by people in the US or China. Such algorithms have their bias, limitations and even prejudices. People from underprivileged communities may be badly or even adversely impacted by such biases embedded in those algorithms. Human contacts and human touches afforded by face-to-face interaction in schools with students and others in underprivileged communities can never be replaced by AI. So, Nehru’s scientific humanism assumes seminal significance to give primacy to human contact. AI, therefore, must be understood in a nuanced manner and used by exercising discretion.

AI and inequality 

AI's application in this age of inequality has the potential of exacerbating existing inequalities and plaguing underprivileged communities.

Swami Vivekananda famously stated that India declined in its history because of the monopolisation of education and intelligence by a few.  So if monopoly of human intelligence in India by a few led to its decline then what dreadful prospects would India confront in the 21st century in the context of the monopolisation of AI by a few in the US and China? The democratisation of AI is a categorical imperative to make it more creatively employable for underprivileged communities. The government at the Union should focus its attention on such pressing issues in the manner in which Nehru did at the formative stage of nation-building after India attained Independence.

B.R. Ambedkar in the context of the sub-human treatment of Dalit people in caste-ridden Hindu society radically called for the “reclamation of human personality”. AI has to be employed for the reclamation of human personality and intelligence so that the dystopia of creating a useless class can be averted.

S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.

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