Age of AI is age of monopolies. AI businesses are fundamentally an inegalitarian force. Both governments and businesses can and do leverage AI led platforms to gain power over common people and resources. Civil Societies need to come together and fight these tendencies. We can't do it effectively if we don't understand the forces and logic of this new reality. Here's a quick primer to understand AI's implications on businesses and civil society. Hope you find it useful.

1. Monopolies
In the age of AI
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Counteringthefundamentally
inegalitarianforceofAI.
And what can Civil
Society do about it.

2. 1. Virtuous
cycle of Big
Data
Data
Product
User
Big data -> Exponential Growth
From images of lettuce heads to consumer profiles, access at scale to
usable datasets has defined valuation growth of companies.
Big Data -> Intelligence enhancement ->
Unique Value -> Strategic Moat
AI enables creation of unique values that were not possible before.
The next decade will be about owning strategic moats of uniquely
valuable datasets and AI led unique exchanges.
There is a race on for accumulation of all conceivable forms of useful datasets.
And these datasets will be privately ‘owned’, even though many of these datasets are part of commons,
the public resources.
The civil society needs to have a strategy in place to maintain control
over the commons datasets.
IMPLICATION 1

3. 2. Age of AI led
monopolies
AI* is limited only by the datasets
Given a sufficiently large amount of data of desired outputs and possible
inputs, a modern neural network continues to improve its predictions.
‘The Network effect’ creates monopolies
More users, more data, better product. This necessarily leads to
monopolies which grow superior with number of users.
Future is that of specialist AI led monopolies
Most conceivable consumer segment’s need would eventually be
amenable to AI led improvements. Each segment will typically be led by
only a few players.
Indeed, market valuations of current AI led platforms are based on their
potential to become a monopoly.
*Supervised learning, which is most prevalent form of machine learning now.
Accelerated flattening of global cultures, economies, interests of smaller groups.
Specialization and simplification of processes also mean exclusion and less freedom of ways of being.
What can civil society do to maintain our global plurality?
IMPLICATION 2

4. 3. New
exchange,
new ‘Agency’
Platform success only by creating new
consumer ‘agency’
Netflix lets me binge watch where networks tried to dictate media
consumption appointments.
Youtube lets anyone upload content and become stars.
Facebook enabled connecting with others like never before.
Most successful enterprises today enable unique valuable exchanges
between people.
However, most current successful platforms enable narrow
individualistic agencies at the cost of meaningful civic agency.
Platforms are being leveraged right now by powerful forces to mould civil society in ways that are
profitable for them. Platforms have become the most important propaganda tool in the hands of
governments and special interest groups.
How can we enhance civic ‘agency’ of people?
IMPLICATION 3

5. 4. Age of P2P
Death of agents
Technology and societal trends point to a world devoid of most
agents and middlemen.
P2P ≠ Decentralization
Fragmented user exchanges, singularity in
service
While the movement towards decentralization will intensify with
open source alternatives, the capitalists will create centralized P2P
networks too.
Singularity in service = rent seeking monopoly that will extract value at the expense of commons to
justify their monstrous valuations.
We must create viable Open Source alternatives to capitalist P2P
networks.
IMPLICATION 4

6. 5. Hacking
Culture,
At Scale.
AI led Scale’s unintended consequence
Ethical issues of using other’s data, of influencing behaviors of
creating filter bubbles, of destabilizing sustainable economic/ social
practices.
Ethical AI
Regulations might catch sooner or later with technological and
economical advancements.
Platforms need to figure out ways of ‘doing no evil’. There must be
consciousness among the makers about AI’s potential risk of
amplification of unethical behaviors.
We need civil consultancies that helps platforms, regulators in
ensuring ethical operations and results and plurality of society.IMPLICATION 5

7. A call to setup a new civil
society coalition to

8. Thank You.
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