Feminist African Ethics for sustainable AI | bpb.de

In her presentation, Modestha Mensah will explore the connection between African feminist ethics and the concept of Sustainable AI. There is no doubt about the crucial role that artificial intelligence (AI) plays in the digital transformation that pervades our world.

Both big and small tech companies are optimistic about AI's potential for positive change, especially when green and renewable energy is tapped into. In spite of this positive attitude to AI technology, there are attending costs that cannot be jettisoned, some of which have received attention in AI ethics discourse.

Unfortunately, the discourse on AI ethics has so far been steeped in Western experiences and value systems to the neglect of those of marginalised groups, in this case African people in general, and African women in particular.

However, as AI is a planetary endeavour, various parts of the world are involved, admittedly, at varying levels, in its development, deployment, use and disposal. Therefore, this talk 1) highlights the ways that Africa is intimately involved in the material development, deployment, use and disposal of the technology, 2) emphasises the region and its people's, especially African women's high vulnerability to environmental and social impacts of AI technology, and 3) contributes feminist African ethical pathways, grounded in values of care, responsibility and communality, to the discourse.