xponential technologies promise to reshape our economies. But for whom, and for how long?
As we navigate a myriad of intersectional crises, inequalities are worsening. Emerging technologies hold promise for our future, but its caveats cannot be ignored. Digitalization traverses borders, but not as indiscriminately as we may think—often completely passing by states with infrastructural deficits, functionally widening gaps in societal and economic infrastructure over time.
AI remains fundamentally extractive, trained on vast volumes of (mis)information, powered by unseen energy, and cooled by water drawn silently from aquifers in places unlikely to benefit from the intelligence it “creates.” What we are witnessing is the encoding of a new form of ecological amnesia: technologies designed without reference to the planetary systems they depend on.
Those with access possess more than just data, they command a new kind of capital: algorithmic cognition. Those lacking access typically suffer larger systemic issues, from lack of internet access to attaining literacy. This asymmetry extends far beyond access, it borders on temporal inequality.
Parallel to diplomacy and the facade of climate action, AI governance lacks a focus on intergenerational justice. Today's technological systems are being built to optimize the present, often at the expense of the future. Decisions are being made with limited accountability to those who will inherit their consequences. As technological power becomes more decentralized, diplomacy’s scope has expanded beyond nation states. It now encompasses negotiations between governments and tech companies, AI systems and their users, data sovereignty, and global legislation. In this landscape, diplomats are stewards of time and intergenerational justice.
At a time where exponential technologies outpace regulation, diplomacy must reclaim its relevance, not as a slow–moving apparatus of statecraft, but as a force capable of negotiating justice across unequal geographies and uneven futures. Redirecting innovation away from extractive growth toward regenerative transition is at the heart of this. Rather than legitimizing the race for digital supremacy, it must create common ground for a just, green economy that treats climate goals not as collateral to growth, but as its core architecture.
This means crafting binding frameworks that embed environmental safeguards in technological development, making space for plural visions of progress. Contemporary diplomacy must negotiate the cost of AI. Mediating between generations and ecosystems on one side and economies, speed, and sustainability on the other. From the nuclear race to the space race, there has always been a race in the realm of technology, with AI now also taking center stage. But what legacy will AI leave on the world it claims to improve?
a global affairs media network
Why AI governance needs intergenerational justice
Image by alberto agostini from Pixabay
September 9, 2025
Exponential technologies promise to reshape our economies, but AI remains fundamentally extractive. Ensuring AI works for more than just a privileged few requires an approach to AI diplomacy which focuses on intergenerational justice, writes Namrata Bhandari.
E
xponential technologies promise to reshape our economies. But for whom, and for how long?
As we navigate a myriad of intersectional crises, inequalities are worsening. Emerging technologies hold promise for our future, but its caveats cannot be ignored. Digitalization traverses borders, but not as indiscriminately as we may think—often completely passing by states with infrastructural deficits, functionally widening gaps in societal and economic infrastructure over time.
AI remains fundamentally extractive, trained on vast volumes of (mis)information, powered by unseen energy, and cooled by water drawn silently from aquifers in places unlikely to benefit from the intelligence it “creates.” What we are witnessing is the encoding of a new form of ecological amnesia: technologies designed without reference to the planetary systems they depend on.
Those with access possess more than just data, they command a new kind of capital: algorithmic cognition. Those lacking access typically suffer larger systemic issues, from lack of internet access to attaining literacy. This asymmetry extends far beyond access, it borders on temporal inequality.
Parallel to diplomacy and the facade of climate action, AI governance lacks a focus on intergenerational justice. Today's technological systems are being built to optimize the present, often at the expense of the future. Decisions are being made with limited accountability to those who will inherit their consequences. As technological power becomes more decentralized, diplomacy’s scope has expanded beyond nation states. It now encompasses negotiations between governments and tech companies, AI systems and their users, data sovereignty, and global legislation. In this landscape, diplomats are stewards of time and intergenerational justice.
At a time where exponential technologies outpace regulation, diplomacy must reclaim its relevance, not as a slow–moving apparatus of statecraft, but as a force capable of negotiating justice across unequal geographies and uneven futures. Redirecting innovation away from extractive growth toward regenerative transition is at the heart of this. Rather than legitimizing the race for digital supremacy, it must create common ground for a just, green economy that treats climate goals not as collateral to growth, but as its core architecture.
This means crafting binding frameworks that embed environmental safeguards in technological development, making space for plural visions of progress. Contemporary diplomacy must negotiate the cost of AI. Mediating between generations and ecosystems on one side and economies, speed, and sustainability on the other. From the nuclear race to the space race, there has always been a race in the realm of technology, with AI now also taking center stage. But what legacy will AI leave on the world it claims to improve?
