The transformative nature of AI on academic scholarship

Abstract The use of AI in academic research offers new opportunities for knowledge creation but also creates new forms of inequality between the Global North and the Global South. This paper uses epistemic justice theory to analyze the developing “AI-Enabled Scholarship Divide. Drawing on a comprehensive synthesis of existing empirical studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America, this paper illustrates how differential access to AI technologies, computational infrastructure and developmental capacity may be creating a two-tier system of knowledge generation. The paper advances the discourse by proposing concrete governance frameworks, including international AI commons modeled on CERN, modular open-source research AI libraries, and regional computational centers. It also introduces specific capacity-building approaches such as university-based AI makerspaces and South-South research networks, alongside design principles for culturally-appropriate AI that respect indigenous knowledge systems and local epistemologies. The findings suggest that, while technical solutions are necessary, achieving epistemic justice through AI mediation in scholarly processes likely requires fundamental attention to underlying power structures in the global production of knowledge.