Reclaiming AI for the Public Good

Today’s AI systems are not only shaped by algorithms, code, data, and capital. They are shaped by the imagined futures of the people building them. This session explores how dominant AI sociotechnical narratives and imaginaries, particularly those rooted in elite fears of societal collapse, national security, and technological pessimism, quietly influence what AI is built, who it serves, and which harms are prioritized or ignored. Drawing on real-world examples from AI development, governance debates, and workforce pipelines, this talk explores how sociotechnical imaginaries shape assumptions about the future that become embedded in technology itself. The session reframes AI not as a system to be “managed” by an elite minority, but as a social project that must be shaped by many, lest it ultimately serve only a homogenous few.