AI Doom Warnings Are Being Used to Shield Tech Monopolies, Critics Say

As artificial intelligence spreads, it is already creating real problems - companies laying off workers whose jobs AI can now do, data centres driving up energy use and carbon emissions, biased algorithms, automated disinformation, and AI targeting in warfare.

Yet the loudest policy conversations have shifted to apocalyptic warnings about AI "existential risk," pushed by some in the industry and echoed by figures such as Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vatican and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Critics argue this panic is being weaponised to justify rules that target open-source AI - free or cheaper models users can adapt - under the banner of "safety." The effect, they say, is to protect the monopolies of a few tech giants by shutting down competition, a pattern likened to digital colonisation.

The Global South is especially exposed. Building frontier models from scratch can cost upwards of $100m in compute power alone, leaving many countries dependent on imported systems that often fail locally. Kenya's AI-driven Social Health Authority rollout, built on assumptions that missed the country's vast informal economy, overestimated incomes and overcharged the poorest citizens, according to the report.

The article's author argues that banning open-source AI is the wrong answer, and that safety research and rigorous testing can coexist with equitable access. The views are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.

Source: Al Jazeera