Artificial Intelligence and the Mobilities of Inclusion: The Accumulated Advantages of 5G Networks and Surfacing Outliers

Abstract

The use of artificial intelligence in a learning increasingly mediated through mobile technology makes inclusion problematic. This is due to the ubiquity of mobile technology, the complexity of the machine learning regimens needed to function within increasingly sophisticated 5G cellular networks, and the legions of professionals needed to initiate and maintain these AI and mobile ecosystems. The promise of artificial intelligence in inclusion is curtailed due to the accumulated advantage (the Matthew effect) presented in such a technological sophistication: only those with the most sophisticated of educational systems will stand to benefit, a scenario that poses significant impact on inclusion strategies increasingly mediated through ICT. Inclusion operates as an outlier in these data-driven environments: as an equitable model in education, it is designed to counter prevailing societal biases, rather than conforming to them. As more and more education is engaged through mobile technology and more and more of that mobile education is driven by an artificial intelligence emerging from curricula of greater and greater sophistication, a situation emerges that poses great challenges for any sort of meaningful inclusion, particularly in the potential acceleration of entrenched advantage. This chapter explores the problematic intersections of AI, mobile technology, and inclusion.