Artificial intelligence for development (AI4D): A contested notion

Recently, the notion of artificial intelligence for development (AI4D) has been mobilized by various actors in the global South and North. We identify five analytical categories to help us understand the different and often contested perspectives on AI4D. They are (a) a developmentalist framework that emphasizes discourses around modernity and progress through a technoliberal lens of ‘catching up’; (b) an economic development framework taken up by African states, private sector and civil society, highlighting a positive and more future-looking outlook on AI's potential for development; (c) an international policy framework tied to globally agreed on policies such as the Sustainable Development Goals; (d) a colonial and extractivist framework that articulates how AI4D reinforces old processes of oppression in new ways; and (e) decolonial AI discourses grounded in Latin American, African and Indigenous approaches. Our critical review of literature on AI4D and related expressions shows that while the notion applies broadly to the global South, the majority of publications use the term in reference to AI development on the African continent. This commentary enriches our understanding of the plurality of meanings, where they come from, what they do, and what they leave unaddressed.