AI and Prosperity: A Journey Beyond Technology and Wealth

Dr. Putthiphan Hirunyatrakul

Understanding AI: More Than Just Algorithm

When you hear “artificial intelligence,” what springs to mind? Perhaps ChatGPT answering your questions, Netflix suggesting your next film, or Google Maps navigating your route to office. But AI is more than just clever technology. Beneath the glossy surface of smart apps and seamless interfaces lies a complex human story.

AI doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s built by people, trained on our data, influenced by our biases, and shaped by our values. As Kate Crawford points out in her book Atlas of AI, behind every algorithm lies hidden labour - workers labelling data, minerals mined from fragile ecosystems, and power dynamics that reflect and reinforce existing inequalities.

Take the simple example of online shopping: personalised ads feel convenient, but they are also part of a broader system that commodifies personal data, sometimes eroding privacy and autonomy. AI isn’t inherently neutral - it is a reflection of the world we live in, with all its strengths, contradictions, and complexities.

Rethinking Prosperity: Beyond GDP

For too long, we've measured prosperity in purely economic terms: GDP, stock prices, and income levels. But as Robert Kennedy famously said, GDP measures “everything except that which is worthwhile.” True prosperity is about more than numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about living well together, in harmony with each other and the planet. It means having secure jobs, access to quality public services, and a healthy environment.

The Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) champions this holistic understanding. Through direct engagement with diverse communities - from East London to Kenya to Lebanon -IGP explores how prosperity varies dramatically according to unique histories, cultures, and circumstances. Prosperity isn’t universal or static; it’s dynamic and deeply rooted in the values and aspirations of each community. We know AI is a powerful driver of economic growth and productivity. But can AI also reflect and support this richer, human and nature relational-induced view of prosperity?

AI and Prosperity: Conflict or Convergence?

The relationship between AI and prosperity is multifaceted, offering both significant challenges and promising opportunities. At its core, much of AI today is built on principles of extraction and accumulation. Data, often personal and collective, is commodified, stripped from its original context, and used to generate profit. This process consolidates power and wealth in the hands of a few corporations that control vast data resources, leaving individuals and communities with little say over how their information is used. Even more troubling is the rise of “dataism”, the belief that data-driven decisions represent objective truths. This mindset prioritises what can be measured and quantified, often at the expense of expense of other forms of knowledge, such as cultural practices, local wisdom, and indigenous traditions and reduce complex social issues to technical problems - ignoring power imbalances and human dignity.

On the other hand, just as prosperity means different things to different communities, AI can take on diverse forms and serve a variety of purposes. While the dominant Silicon Valley ethos of “move fast, break things” has often prioritized speed and profit over inclusivity, a growing shift toward interdisciplinary and participatory approaches is opening new possibilities for AI development. Frameworks such as value-sensitive design, intersectional design, and indigenous data sovereignty are increasingly being embedded in AI development. These approaches invite us to ask deeper questions about power, agency, and who truly benefits from AI, prioritize collaboration with communities, ensuring that AI systems reflect local values, needs, and priorities.

Toward an AI-Prosperity Alignment

AI and prosperity are not isolated paths, they are intertwined journeys that shape one another. In the next blog, I will delve deeper into the framework of AI-Prosperity Alignment to illustrate how we can reposition AI as a tool for emancipation, sustainability, and multivocality - one that amplifies diverse voices rather than silencing them.

Yet, such an alignment won’t happen automatically. It demands deliberate efforts to challenge the assumptions underlying AI’s development, prioritising governance frameworks and collaborative models that empower rather than exclude. The future we want depends on our willingness to shape AI not merely as tools for efficiency, but as partners in creating meaningful, thriving societies.

Dr. Putthiphan Hirunyatrakul is a longstanding member of the IGP community, having completed his MSc in 2019 and his PhD in 2025. Building on the Institute’s redefinition of prosperity, Putthiphan introduces an AI-Prosperity Alignment framework that identifies context-specific pathways for participatory AI projects to foster social emancipation, creating a deliberative space and enabling multivocal governance at the national level. By linking grassroots initiatives with top-down policies, his framework establishes a positive feedback loop where each informs the other, ultimately advancing a vision of technology that is shaped by and supports inclusive prosperity.

Photo by Aleksei Malenchik on Unsplash