Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 30 minutes ago
So-called artificial intelligence and big technology more broadly are often portrayed as either a net force for good or at least inevitable. Universities for example, having at first been apprehensive about what generative AI would mean for students' ability to acquire knowledge are now encouraging them to learn how to harness the power of AI. This turn can only be understood in the context of the enormous investment of industry and governments in AI technology despite the significant risks it poses, not only to learning but to the environment and the economy, as well as its embeddedness in the military technologies that pose a threat to human life.
I was joined by the radical computer scientist and decolonial scholar Syed Mustafa Ali who provided anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist analysis of the racial regimes and colonizing constructs of Big Tech and the conceptual possibilities for resistance.
These are the questions we discussed:
* Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work. Specifically, can you break down in simple terms what are Decolonial Computing and Algorithmic Racism.
* So-called Artificial Intelligence seems to be treated as though it is too big to fail from an economic point of view. As such, it is everywhere - pushed by private and public institutions as the way to make work more efficient and as tools for research for example. Can you tell us what is meant by AI. How did it emerge? Who are the main players behind it? What are its benefits and the main problems with it?
* Why do you think AI is being so aggressively pushed today when only a few years ago universities saw its use as a crisis for learning?
* In her work on AI and colonialism, the writer Karen Hao warns that the impact of AI is repeating the patterns of colonial history. Can you explain what you think she means by that from your perspective?
* The ongoing genocide in Palestine has highlighted the use of AI-powered weapons and surveillance systems for accelerating the genocide. Israel has positioned itself as a leader in the development of such tools which it is selling to government around the world. Can you tell us a little about the ways AI is being used for military and policing purposes? How do you connect this to the coloniality of AI?
* Finally, do you think AI is here for good or can we successfully resist it? What are some of the strategies you would advocate for fighting against the rise and rise of AI?
Dr Syed Mustafa Ali is a Lecturer in Computing at the Open University in Britain. There are two main strands to his trans-disciplinary research:
The first (main) strand is concerned with the social and ethical aspects of computing and ICT and is motivated by a concern to explore how critical engagement with these phenomena can be used to inform computing/ICT policy – social, political, economic, and cultural, both locally and globally – with a view to enhancing social justice. He is interested in developing a hermeneutic framework that can be used to inform critical investigations of computational, informational, cybernetic, system-theoretical, and Trans-/Post-human phenomena. The framework is grounded in Heideggerian phenomenology, critical race theory, and postcolonial/decolonial thought and is being used to explore how race, religion, politics, and ethics are 'entangled' with various technological (more specifically, ICT) phenomena. In this connection, I have published work in the areas of Decolonial Computing and Algorithmic Racism, interrogating Trans-/Posthumanism, AI, and internet governance.
The second (subsidiary) strand is concerned with research, scholarship and knowledge exchange activities associated with exploration of issues at the intersection of religion, phenomenology, and decolonial thought – specifically, the forging of an 'Islamic Decoloniality'.
Writings mentioned in the talk can be accessed here https://open.academia.edu/SyedAli
Dr Ali mentions the Cartography of Generative AI which can accessed at this link:
cartography-of-generative-ai.net
So-called artificial intelligence and big technology more broadly are often portrayed as either a net force for good or at least inevitable. Universities for example, having at first been apprehensive about what generative AI would mean for students' ability to acquire knowledge are now encouraging them to learn how to harness the power of AI. This turn can only be understood in the context of the enormous investment of industry and governments in AI technology despite the significant risks it poses, not only to learning but to the environment and the economy, as well as its embeddedness in the military technologies that pose a threat to human life.
I was joined by the radical computer scientist and decolonial scholar Syed Mustafa Ali who provided anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist analysis of the racial regimes and colonizing constructs of Big Tech and the conceptual possibilities for resistance.
These are the questions we discussed:
* Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work. Specifically, can you break down in simple terms what are Decolonial Computing and Algorithmic Racism.
* So-called Artificial Intelligence seems to be treated as though it is too big to fail from an economic point of view. As such, it is everywhere - pushed by private and public institutions as the way to make work more efficient and as tools for research for example. Can you tell us what is meant by AI. How did it emerge? Who are the main players behind it? What are its benefits and the main problems with it?
* Why do you think AI is being so aggressively pushed today when only a few years ago universities saw its use as a crisis for learning?
* In her work on AI and colonialism, the writer Karen Hao warns that the impact of AI is repeating the patterns of colonial history. Can you explain what you think she means by that from your perspective?
* The ongoing genocide in Palestine has highlighted the use of AI-powered weapons and surveillance systems for accelerating the genocide. Israel has positioned itself as a leader in the development of such tools which it is selling to government around the world. Can you tell us a little about the ways AI is being used for military and policing purposes? How do you connect this to the coloniality of AI?
* Finally, do you think AI is here for good or can we successfully resist it? What are some of the strategies you would advocate for fighting against the rise and rise of AI?
Dr Syed Mustafa Ali is a Lecturer in Computing at the Open University in Britain. There are two main strands to his trans-disciplinary research:
The first (main) strand is concerned with the social and ethical aspects of computing and ICT and is motivated by a concern to explore how critical engagement with these phenomena can be used to inform computing/ICT policy – social, political, economic, and cultural, both locally and globally – with a view to enhancing social justice. He is interested in developing a hermeneutic framework that can be used to inform critical investigations of computational, informational, cybernetic, system-theoretical, and Trans-/Post-human phenomena. The framework is grounded in Heideggerian phenomenology, critical race theory, and postcolonial/decolonial thought and is being used to explore how race, religion, politics, and ethics are 'entangled' with various technological (more specifically, ICT) phenomena. In this connection, I have published work in the areas of Decolonial Computing and Algorithmic Racism, interrogating Trans-/Posthumanism, AI, and internet governance.
The second (subsidiary) strand is concerned with research, scholarship and knowledge exchange activities associated with exploration of issues at the intersection of religion, phenomenology, and decolonial thought – specifically, the forging of an 'Islamic Decoloniality'.
Writings mentioned in the talk can be accessed here https://open.academia.edu/SyedAli
Dr Ali mentions the Cartography of Generative AI which can accessed at this link:
cartography-of-generative-ai.net
