Скачать или смотреть The rise of the digital oligarchy in the AI age

Article link: https://open.substack.com/pub/johanos...

The article argues that we now live under a digital oligarchy: a small group of global technology giants and billionaire founders who control the platforms, data, infrastructure and AI systems that shape how we live, work and learn. These unelected actors make decisions that look increasingly like public policy, from what information is amplified to how algorithms assess credit, jobs or education, yet they are driven primarily by shareholder value. Massive investment in AI infrastructure and the rapid growth of tech fortunes have concentrated wealth and power in their hands, while countries in Africa and the wider Global South remain largely dependent on imported platforms and rented cloud services.

The piece warns that this arrangement has profound implications for democracy, inequality and especially for children, whose education, social lives and worldviews are mediated by systems built in distant boardrooms. It calls for stronger competition enforcement, clear rules for high-risk AI, and a serious push for digital and AI sovereignty in countries like South Africa. Beyond government, it urges universities, civil society, the media, parents, teachers and business leaders to scrutinise AI tools, make more conscious technology choices, and challenge the assumption that every new digital product is automatically in the public interest. The central message is that if we want AI to serve human flourishing rather than a narrow elite, we must confront and constrain the power of the digital oligarchy.