The Political Economy of African AI: - A Primer on Concepts,

In the long tradition of understanding the key policy issues of the day through a political economy lens, the primer is the outcome of an internal seminar and learning series, led and carefully curated by Dr Scott Timcke, to familiarise ourselves across disciplines with some of 4 the seminal political economy literature and debates. [...] He focuses on four aspects: property rights over productive resources; the division of labour with forms of cooperation and conflict between and among different groups; the distribution of income and wealth and the mechanisms for extraction and accumulation; and the patterns of consumption and investment along with their associated meanings. [...] Depending on their evidentiary base, many of these theories share some common features, like the recognition of the increasing importance of information, knowledge, and networks in various domains of social life, the transformation of production processes and occupational structures, and the emergence of new forms of social organisation and cultural expression. [...] 3.1.3 The influence of the counterculture movement and anti-establishment politics In the 1960s, the hippie movement rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream US society and embraced alternative lifestyles, values and forms of expression. [...] This era was marked by the dot-com boom and bust, the emergence and dominance of the internet platforms, and the challenges and opportunities posed by new technologies from the 2010s like AI, blockchain, and metaverse.