Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming economies, societies, and systems of governance, creating unprecedented opportunities for innovation while also intensifying existing inequalities. Access to AI technologies, digital infrastructure, advanced skills, and technological resources is becoming a critical factor shaping social inclusion, economic competitiveness, and political influence. The emerging AI divide extends beyond differences in internet access, creating new forms of inequality between digitally empowered and digitally excluded citizens, as well as between technologically advanced and less developed countries.
This Open Panel explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping patterns of digital inequality at individual, societal, and global levels. It examines the consequences of unequal access to AI capabilities, differences in digital literacy, disparities in technological development, and the implications of AI adoption for governance, economic development, education, and democratic participation.
The panel invites theoretical, comparative, and empirical contributions addressing AI governance, digital inclusion, technological sovereignty, algorithmic inequality, digital skills, global technology competition, and strategies for reducing emerging digital divides. It welcomes perspectives from political science, public policy, international relations, development studies, technology studies, and related disciplines.
By examining the political and social consequences of unequal AI transformation, the panel seeks to advance understanding of how societies and states can ensure that technological progress contributes to inclusive development rather than deepening existing inequalities in the digital age.
