Resisting, Refusing, Reclaiming, Reimagining: Charting Challenges to Narratives of AI Inevitability

Increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is widely framed as inevitable; a destiny which cannot be avoided. In the context of AI, “inevitability” is often used to argue for the need to adopt AI solutions, or to adapt and prepare for speculative AI developments.

With soaring investments into AI technologies and infrastructure, unabating coverage of AI stories in the media, and growing enthusiasm from governments, it is unsurprising that AI is widely perceived as inevitable. However, this perception is shaped by narratives that diminish our agency as humans, as they present technology as advancing independently from human activity and interests. In this paper, we outline instances of individuals and collectives actively defying narratives about the inevitability of AI. We propose a taxonomy of such efforts, which are instances of Resisting, Refusing, Reimagining and/or Reclaiming AI. The taxonomy serves as a conceptual framework for those challenging the power dynamics underpinning AI technologies, and illustrates that there are many ways individuals and collectives can influence how technology is developed and used. The taxonomy is also a call to unity for a collective effort; a plurality of resistances which can define and build a future on terms not dictated by techno-determinist ideologies and agendas.