AI for All - African and Arab Feminist Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

AI, Global Tech and the Need for Feminist Arab and African Perspectives

Recent dynamics in AI development have fired euphoria and dystopian fears alike. AI’s interaction with gender relations and complex inequalities is still largely neglected. Feminist AI therefore emphasizes the need for decolonization, inclusivity, and equity in technological development. Advocates see a feminist approach as pivotal in addressing the systemic biases and power imbalances entrenched in the global tech sector. In African and Arabic contexts, AI is often associated with a high potential for leapfrogging and hence, technological, and economic advancement. Yet, women and marginalized communities are underrepresented in AI spaces. They are prone to data exploitation by the data industry, which is still mostly located in the Global North, to biases in machine learning as well as to invisible and precarious jobs in the gig economy, such as data labelling often conducted in the South.

In an online panel discussion, speakers from the African and Arab context in exchange with GIZ colleagues elaborated on how to challenge gender and intersectional inequalities inscribed in the AI ecosystem.

This event was organized by the GIZ departments Africa and European, Middle East and Central Asia and supported by the GIZ Data Lab. It was opened by the GIZ Managing Director Anna-Sophie Herken.

The guiding question: How can GIZ support and adapt feminist approaches to AI in order to make AI work for all?