For AI to work for us, it will have to stop pretending to be us

April 21, 2026

The author, a feminist technology advocate, questions whether ethical and feminist AI is possible after years of observing how tech companies prioritize business models over people's rights. She argues that AI systems inherently encode and amplify existing inequalities because they are trained on biased data reflecting historical exclusion, racism, and sexism, while being developed by profit-driven corporations without meaningful accountability. The article emphasizes that AI cannot replicate genuine human connection, empathy, or care work, warning against narratives that position technology as capable of replacing human relationships and decision-making.

Who is affected

Feminists and human rights advocates grappling with ethical technology engagement
Marginalized communities subject to algorithmic bias (those affected by racism, sexism, and economic inequality)
Communities whose lands are acquired for data centers
People whose knowledge is appropriated for AI model development
Individuals in militarized contexts who are reduced to data points and targets
Platform users subject to terms of service without meaningful company accountability
Workers in care, community building, and relationship-centered roles
People affected by AI-driven decisions in hiring, policing, healthcare, welfare, and warfare
General public excluded from decision-making rooms where AI development occurs

What action is being taken

The author is interrogating new technologies by questioning how they are designed, who they are built for, how they are governed, who benefits from them, and who deals with consequences. She is asking uncomfortable questions at technology and rights conferences, including directly challenging tech company representatives about their platforms' operations.

Why it matters

This matters because AI systems are being positioned as decision-makers in critical areas affecting human lives while encoding and amplifying existing structural inequalities at scale. The framing of AI outputs as neutral obscures how these systems reproduce biases from their training data and corporate profit motives, making inequality harder to trace and challenge. The dehumanization enabled by AI—particularly in militarized contexts where people become data points and targets—represents a fundamental devaluation of human life and dignity. The false narrative that AI can replace human connection, empathy, and care work threatens to normalize treating people as disposable inputs rather than recognizing the irreplaceable value of lived human experience and relationships.

What's next

No explicit next steps stated in the article

Read full article from source: Global Voices