The supply chain capitalism of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is woven into a supply chain of capital, commodities and human labour that has been neglected in critical debates. Given the current surge in generative AI – which is estimated to drive up the extraction of natural resources such as minerals, fossil fuels or water – it is vital to investigate its entire production line from a critical infrastructural perspective. Drawing on supply chain capitalism, a concept coined by Tsing (2009), this paper contributes to critical AI studies by investigating the structure of AI supply chains, taking into account the mining, electronics, digital and e-waste industry.

This paper illustrates how the supply chain capitalism of AI is precipitating geographical asymmetries connected to contested struggles in México by focusing on a key element of these chains: data centres. In times of climate emergency, this paper calls to reconsider algorithmic harms and resistance by investigating the entire capitalist production line of the AI industry from critical and environmental lens.

A light lunch will be available from 12:30. Please register to attend: https://ccs-supplychain.eventbrite.co.uk

Dr Ana Valdivia is a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Capitalism Studies and a critical artificial intelligence scholar at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research explores how datafication and algorithmic governance shape social, economic and ecological worlds.

Professor Stephen M Hart, Deputy Director at the IAS with an interest in AI and humanities methods, will respond to Ana's paper.

Image credit: Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash