Here we are asking you to provide an overview of the story you’d like to research, your research plan and goals. The central topic of the fellowship is generative AI and the value chain it is built on. We are looking for research projects that:

• focus on the political economy of AI (preferably in one of the categories listed below),
• in Europe,
• that take into account the impact of AI on society, and
• that bring new information to light, or that provide the point of view of people who are rarely given a voice in the debates on AI.

What we are not looking for:

• Information on commercialisation and manufacturing of tech products, such as hardware (e.g. “Nvidia releases new version of microchips”).
• Major tech announcements without researching its impact on society (e.g. “Meta plans to open a data center in X”).
• Theoretical and/or academic research (e.g. “What is the political economy of AI”).

We will positively value stories that not only reflect the social impact of this structure, but also provide practical cases and real examples that are already influencing or affecting people at an individual or collective level.

These are the areas of research you can choose from:

• Conflicts around infrastructure: Data centers and communication cables are causing conflicts with local communities around water and electricity consumption, space, pollution. Who is impacted?
• Rights violations of people along the value chain: How are the rights of people working to build AI (e.g. click workers) affected? What about people working on the other side of the AI value chain (i.e. platform workers)? Are there people overly susceptible to doing this work and to having their rights violated as a result (e.g. young people or migrants)?
• Data extractivism: The models used in gen-AI require massive amounts of data. Where is it taken from? Who labels and polishes it?
• The TESCREAL ideology: TESCREAL is a bundle of ideologies linked to the far-right and pervasive in the corporate world of AI. How are followers of the TESCREAL ideology organized in Europe? Who are their champions in politics and in the administration? And who is fighting against them?
• AI as national security: Governments increasingly see themselves as running a new arms race, this time with AI. How does this thinking impacts society at large? Can data centers or other technological constructions be militarised? How is nationalism creeping into tech?

Please apply using the following form. If you have any doubts regarding the process, write to bellio@algorithmwatch.org: