Time: Wed 2025-10-08 12.15 - 13.00

Location: Salongen, KTH Biblioteket, Osquars backe 31

Language: English

 Participating:  Amir H. Payberah, Associate Professor of Computer Science at KTH

AI systems are increasingly embedded in today’s applications and infrastructures. But behind these technical systems lie political and social structures that shape how they function and who they benefit. These systems rely on the large-scale extraction of labor, resources, and data. The human work that sustains them, such as data labeling, content moderation, and data cleaning, is often outsourced, poorly compensated, and rendered invisible.

At the same time, the environmental footprint of AI infrastructures, from high energy consumption to the mining of materials for hardware, is significant and disproportionately impacts vulnerable regions. Yet both forms of extraction remain largely overlooked in mainstream AI research.

In this talk, we examine how power operates in the design and deployment of AI systems. We analyze how current practices prioritize scale, automation, and optimization, often reinforcing global inequalities and ecological harm. Drawing on research in data justice, intersectional feminist studies, and political ecology, we argue that AI systems are shaped by social and political choices, not just technical ones. As an alternative, we explore participatory design and community-centered approaches as strategies for redistributing power and building AI systems that serve the common good.

This lecture is part of the Nobel Calling Stockholm 2025 program.