AI for Social Justice: A Community-First Vision From Grassroots to Governance

By Digital Empowerment Foundation

Published on: June 30, 2025

This blog is published by the Just AI – Data and Algorithms for Communities initiative at Digital Empowerment Foundation.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in systems of governance, economy, and daily life, its social impact can no longer be viewed as a secondary concern. While AI offers enormous potential for innovation, it also carries deep risks, particularly in societies marked by long-standing, deep-seated social and institutional inequalities.

In India, where digital access, literacy, and infrastructure are deeply uneven, AI could either deepen marginalization or become a tool for empowerment. That choice depends on the values that shape its development. Just AI – Data and Algorithms for Communities, an initiative of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), is a response to this critical moment. It places social justice at the heart of the AI conversation, demanding that technologies be rooted not in abstract efficiency, but in equity, inclusion, and human dignity.

Why Social Justice in AI?

Technological systems are often mistakenly viewed as neutral. In reality, they reflect the data, assumptions, and social structures from which they emerge. If these foundations are biased as they often are in India, shaped by caste, class, gender, and language hierarchies, then the technologies they power will be biased too.

AI systems are now being used to determine who gets hired, who receives welfare benefits, who is flagged for surveillance, and who is deemed “efficient” in workplaces. Yet these systems are rarely transparent, often unaccountable, and typically designed without the participation of those most affected.

Social justice in this context means asking not only what AI can do, but who it serves, and whether it reinforces or challenges systemic exclusion.

What Just AI Does?

Just AI is grounded in DEF’s long-standing belief that technology must be developed with communities, not imposed on them. It brings together grassroots voices, researchers, civil society organizations, and young technologists to reimagine AI through a justice-first lens.

Here’s how Just AI works to embed social justice in technology:

AI Literacy and Community Capacity Building

Just AI begins with education that empowers. Through community workshops, visual toolkits, and local-language engagement, people learn what AI is and how it impacts their lives, from facial recognition to data profiling.

But more importantly, communities are equipped to ask critical questions: What rights do we have? Who profits from our data? How can we demand transparency?

To reinforce this, the Just AI Pledge has introduced a values-based commitment to participatory, meaningful, and rights-respecting AI adoption in the last mile. It draws upon Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India, including:

* Right to Equality

* Right to Freedom of Expression

* Right to Privacy

* Right to Access to Information

* Right to Education

These rights guide how AI must be designed and implemented, with inclusivity, transparency, and accountability at the forefront.

The pledge affirms every individual’s:

* Right to Know – to understand how AI works in their lives

* Right to Say No – to control how and when their data is shared

* Right to Fairness and Access – ensuring AI does not exclude or discriminate

* Right to Accountability and Data Protection – so AI systems are answerable for their decisions

* Right to Learn and Teach Others – to build a shared, informed AI future

Policy Advocacy for Equitable AI Governance

The current AI policy discourse in India is largely driven by the government and the tech corporations. Just AI intervenes by advocating for policies that prioritize human rights, accountability, and community participation.

It contributes to ethical frameworks and regulatory conversations with grounded evidence, always pushing for technology that is accountable to those most impacted. Whether engaging with policymakers, drafting ethical guidelines, or voicing in stakeholder consultations, Just AI ensures that social justice is not sidelined in policy rooms.

Community-Led Research and Storytelling

AI research often speaks about marginalized communities without involving them. Just AI flips this model, training communities to conduct their own research, document their own stories, and share their own experiences with AI.

From gig workers navigating app-based platforms to rural women confronting algorithmic bias in welfare schemes, these stories reveal how AI intersects with real-world injustice, and how it can be transformed.

Storytelling here is not decorative. It is a political tool for accountability, solidarity, and systemic change.

Just AI Awards: Recognizing AI for Social Good

In a landscape often dominated by profit-driven AI development, the Just AI Awards celebrate innovation that aligns with equity, access, and justice. These awards recognize individuals, organizations, and grassroots initiatives using AI to solve real-world problems in ways that uplift the most marginalized.

From local AI solutions improving healthcare delivery in remote villages to open-source education platforms breaking language and caste barriers, the awards celebrate AI for Social Good, not just innovation, but ethical impact.

A Socially Just Digital Future

Just AI offers a new way forward, where communities do not just adapt to AI, but help define it. Where knowledge is a right, not a privilege. And where AI becomes a force for dignity, equity, and inclusion, not exclusion or harm.