C.L.AI.M, an acronym for Critical Lens on AI in/from Majority World(s), is an advocacy and reading group that brings forward humanistic and social scientific inquiry on 'AI' or ‘Artificial Intelligence’. Our work unfolds through shared intellectual labour, careful listening, and sustained engagement with debates, discussions, and diversities of AI, as lived and contested in Majority World contexts.
Going beyond boundaries of disciplines and geographies, CLAIM is a space open for all. As long as you are invested in how ‘AI’ impacts our lives, you should call this group your home and brave space.
In the beginning…
As scholars and enthusiasts in the field of Critical AI Studies—we, Lavanya Dahiya, Vasundhra Dahiya, and Dr Dibyadyuti Roy—often missed the lack of a focused discussion space about 'AI'.
Coming from different disciplines (sociology, cultural studies, computer sciences, and digital humanities) and different interests (algorithmic cultures, digital sociology, and ethical and responsible AI) all of us met collectively and critically at: Critical AI. It is our hope to similarly organise people with the same interests and goals.
The collective, CLAIM, was founded in 2024 with the aim of creating space for Critical AI discourse rooted in Majority World perspectives. We hold a space to nourish visions and curiosities of anyone invested in everyday sense-making of their lives since AI.
In divisive times of binary discourses between the harms and benefits of Artificial Intelligence, this reading group engages in criticality for/in all-things-AI. Reading is an act of collective interpretation, and what better way is there to learn! Through reading together, we foster literacies about data, algorithms, automations, and 'artificial intelligence' that transcends disciplinary and social boundaries. That means, to look at what we design using algorithms, how we do it, the way it impacts our social and technological future. The low-entry barrier allows for an open discussion, one where one need not think about, "AI? I don't know" and "AI, there is so much to know"... "Where do I begin?"
Artificial intelligence, but critically:
Understanding ‘AI’ must begin with its complicated disciplinary evolution, political history, and socio-technical manifestations. Who makes AI what it is today, which visions come to light, and how do they manifest in social lives today are only a few questions. By focusing deeply on epistemic histories, knowledge infrastructures, and power structures that shape algorithmic realities, we encourage technical and socially informed lenses to AI.
Majority World(S):
Majority World, as coined by Shahidul Alam challenges the rhetoric of the ‘third world’, encouraging to “define the community in terms of what it has, rather than what it lacks.” We use ‘world(s)’ in our name to draw focus on the social lives that are inherently embedded in/around AI systems. We centre voices, experiences, and knowledge systems in/from the Majority World that are often unheard, unseen, and unappreciated.