A radical paradigm shift in the way we think about AI and tech, taking hope and inspiration from the aspirational users of new technologies around the world.
When it comes to tech, the mainstream headlines are bleak: Algorithms control and oppress. AI will destroy democracy and our social fabric, and possibly even drive us to extinction. While legitimate concerns drive these fears, we need to equally account for the fact that tech affords young people something incredibly valuable—a rare space for self-actualization. In From Pessimism to Promise, award-winning author Payal Arora explains that, outside the West, where most of the world’s youth reside, there is a significant different outlook on tech: in fact, there is a contagion of optimism toward all things digital. These users, especially those in marginalized contexts, are full of hope for new tech.
As AI disrupts sectors across industries, education, and beyond, who better to shine the light forward, Arora argues, than the Global South, the navigator of all manner of forced disruptions, leapfrogging obstructive systems, norms, and practices to rapidly reinvent itself? Drawing on field insights in diverse global contexts such as Brazil, India, and Bangladesh, Payal describes what drives Gen Z to embrace new technologies. From Pessimism to Promise discusses the shift to relationally-driven approaches to design; how to create “algorithms of aspiration”; how to reimagine the digital space for sex, pleasure, and care; and, what we can learn from feminist digital activists and women’s collectives in the Global South on shared digital provenance and value, as well as indigenous approaches to sustainability, that challenges sacred ideas on degrowth, circular economy, and the doughnut economy. Arora also takes heart in the power in numbers, as the users from the majority world infuse algorithms with everyday aspirations, pushing for a new digital order.
Timely and urgent, From Pessimism to Promise makes a deeply compelling case that it is not naïve to be optimistic about our digital future. On the contrary, it is our moral imperative to design with hope.
Endorsements/
Charles Hayes, Executive Managing Director, Asia & Partner, IDEO‘ “This book is not a feel good, do good, symbolic appeal; it illustrates a rationally framed reality. The Global South, with its young and ambitious majority, approaches life with a “do more with less” mentality. I agree with the book’s framing of many of the challenges of our time as opportunities for responsible design. While highlighting what is problematic about Western tech’s current impact on the Global South, the book offers ways to design social solutions that can benefit all . . . From drones on African wildlife reserves to music sharing in the Middle East to pornography as education in India, this book provides context and direction for business leaders, digital creators, policymakers, and anyone else looking to realize a better future—a future that both benefits and is benefited by the Global South. Arora is at the top of my list when it comes to making sense of how to navigate many of these potential futures.”
Don Norman, Author of Design of Everyday things “Payal Arora’s brilliant book turns standard beliefs upside-down. Many people hold pessimistic views about the digital world, but not the youth outside of western culture: they find it uplifting and powerful.”
Leyla Acaroglu, Founder of Disrupt Design “In this perspective shifting new book, Payal Arora offers us a dynamic version of our shared designed and digital futures. A highly recommended read for all interested in crafting a green and equitable future.”
Gina Neff, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at the University of Cambridge, author of Venture Labor “Arora urges us to “pop the pessimism bubble” in this important and timely book, teaching lessons from the Global Majority to help us build hope for a digital future that truly serves the planet.”
Arundhati Bhattacharya , Chairperson & CEO, Salesforce India “This book brings a fresh wave of optimism towards all things digital. I think the Global South, where most of the world’s youth resides, will provide the direction to how technology will emerge and shape the mankind’s future. Payal has done an excellent job in giving us a glimpse of a new digital order which is full of hope.”
In the Media/
T3N magazine on tech & society interview [German] “We simply cannot allow ourselves to despair”
Podcast with Zoomer meet Boomer: Learnings from the Global South
The People and Ideas of Bellagio : Interview for the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency
Interview with the UCD Digital Economy and Extreme Politics Lab / Deep
Machines That Fail Us #4 | Building different AI futures: St Gallen Podcast
German Radio Breitband episode on new narratives of the digital future based on Arora’s keynote ‘From Pessimism to Promise’ at Republica 2024 that drew in 30,000 people.
Interview by Darik Radio, the biggest private radio station in Bulgaria, on why we should not fear AI but embrace change based on the P2P book.
Book covered in the Financial Times : The AI race is generating a dual reality
Payal Arora interviewed by re:publica Berlin Why it is not naive to imagine a positive digital future
3 Questions on what a positive digital future could look like with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union.
Interview by Nicholas Barrett: Why are some countries more optimistic about AI than others?
Op-Eds/
How ‘AI for Good’ is Bad for Product Design Digital absence negates the lives of billions of people already at the margins.
OpEd from book with Fast Company: Where the Next Billion Creatives Will come from
Op-Ed from book in IEEE Spectrum, the world’s leading engineering magazine Making “AI for Good” Better: What tech philanthropy needs to do to combat Global South problems with AI
Op-Ed from book in REVOLVE (award-winning magazine on sustainability) on Green Design Digital Inclusion Versus Planetary Good?
Commentary for SAGE Dialogues on Digital Society journal on ‘The privilege of pessimism: The politics of despair towards the digital and the moral imperative to hope’
Select Talks/
- Sept 18, 2025/Keynote Brave New World, Optimism/ Resilience,Leiden
- Sept 4, 2025/ Keynote, PRO Nederlands Theater Fest, Amsterdam
- Aug 26, 2025/ Keynote Danish Digitization , Data Science, AI, Nyborg
- June 18, 2025/ Keynote World AI Summit, San Francisco
- June 5, 2025/ NL Internet Gov Forum, Hague
- May 23, 2025/CAMRI Keynote, University of Westminster, UK
- May 22, 2025/ MindLabs Keynote ADDA5. Tilburg University: NL
- May 15, 2025/ FAIR Barcelona Keynote, Spain
- April 30, 2025/ Future Days Keynote, Lisbon, Portugal
- March 31, 2025/ UMass Dept. of Comm Annual Lecture, Amherst
- March 25, 2025/ Keynote CIES, Chicago
- Jan 22, 2025/ Schauspiel Köln, Germany
- Jan 16, 2025/ V2 Lab for the Unstable Media, NL
- Jan 11, 2025/ Indian Science Festival, Pune
- Nov 29, 2024/ Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Berlin
- Nov 11, 2024/ AI & Journalism Keynote, Univ. of the Basque Country
- Oct 27, 2024/ Brainwash Festival, Amsterdam
- Oct 26, 2024/ Reshaping Work, Amsterdam
- Oct 25, 2024/ Univ. of Aberdeen, Scotland
- Oct 8, 2024/ Book launch at Utrecht University, NL
- Oct 3, 2024/ EMERCE Fest Keynote, NL
- Sept 27, 2024/Betweter Festival Keynote, NL
- Sept 23, 2024/ AI & Planet in a Crisis, Univ. of Vienna Keynote, Austria
- Sept 19, 2024/ NEXT Hamburg Keynote, Germany
- July 5, 2024/ Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences. NL
- July 1, 2024/ University of Bonn, Desirable AI Group: Germany
- June 17, 2024/ Society 5.0 Ethics, RMIT Keynote. Melbourne: Australia
- June 13, 2024/ Critical Digital Infrastructures Fest, Deakin Univ.
- June 2, 2024/ NexSM24 Digital Media and Migration, Hamburg
- May 28, 2024/ re:publica Keynote Berlin: Germany
- Apr 25, 2024/ The Digital Society Conference, Utrecht NL
- Apr 15, 2024/ Keynote, Minderoo Centre for Tech Dem. Cambridge
Payal Arora 