April 23, 2026   401 Warren Hall       Register    Artificial intelligence (AI) is viewed by some as having great promise, while others view the arrival of this novel technology with skepticism or concern. AI is certainly having a significant impact in many arenas of life. What are the specific implications of AI for people living in the Global South? This conference will examine the specific social, political, environmental and economic impacts of AI in and for the Global South, taking a holistic, perspective that considers the historical, socio-cultural, environmental and political-economic context in which AI is embedded in and entangles with across the Global South. Keynote speakers from a range of disciplines will focus on specific themes. 

Conference Schedule

8:00am - 8:30am Breakfast

8:30am Welcome Rachel Bezner Kerr Professor, Global Development Section Director, Institute for African Development, Global Cornell

8:45am - 9:00am Opening Remarks: Wendy Wolford Vice Provost for International Affairs, Office of the Provost Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor, Global Development Section

9:00am - 10:00am Keynote Address: AI and Development Impacts Arthur Mutambara Director and Professor, Institute for the Future of Knowledge (IFK) University of Johannesburg (UJ) Q & A

10:00am - 10:15am Networking and Coffee Break

10:15am - 11:15pm Session I: Culture and Representation Rethinking AI Equity: Collaborative Perspectives from Ghana and the U.S

Hua Wang PhD, Associate Teaching Professor, Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell

Nancy Henaku PhD, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Ghana

Kwaku Owusu Afriyie Osei-Tutu PhD, Senior Lecturer, Dept of English, University of Ghana

 11:15am-12:15pm Session II: Political Economy and Governance of AI in the Global South Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhungaha Professor, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Youssif Hassan Assistant Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and School of Information University of Michigan

12:15pm - 1:30pm Lunch and Poster Viewing 1:30pm-2:45pm Session III: Safety and Ethics with AI

Aditya Vashistha Assistant Professor, Cornell Ann. S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science Cornell Ethics of AI in, for, and by the Global South

Trystan Sterling Goetze, Director, Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay Program in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering, Cornell Duffield Engineering

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence against women in Sudan as a threat to the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda

Lucie George PhD, University of Witwatersrand (Wits) Johannesburg

2:45pm - 3:00pm Tea break and Networking

3:00pm - 3:45pm Session IV: Creativity, Visual Arts, Healthcare and AI

The Problem in Pandamatenga’: Precarity, Power and AI as Actors in Southern African Border Communities

Rebecca Upton Professor of Global Public and Environmental Health; Director, Global Public and Environmental Health Program, Colgate University

Kelly Van Busum Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Software Engineering, Butler University

Artists, Creativity, and the Challenges of AI

Pedro Molina Political Cartoonist

3:45pm - 4:00pm Closing Discussion

cosponsors: STS, Cornell Global AI Initiative, Global Development.