Payal Arora

Flipping the Narrative: Tech Optimism in the Global South

In an era dominated by rapid technological advancements, Payal Arora is a leading voice for inclusivity. For the last 20 years, she has worked as a digital anthropologist studying the tech habits, trends, and attitudes of people throughout the Global South. With one foot in academia and one in advocacy, Payal enacts research findings to support policies and practices that are representative of the tech industry’s global user base. 

Payal’s research has shown a sharp dichotomy between Western and non-Western attitudes toward emerging technologies.“If you look at the last decade of top books published about AI, you will see that they have framed it as something of mass destruction. The headlines are about resisting algorithms of oppression that hurt democracy, our mental health, and so on,” she said, describing the Western viewpoint. However, Payal notes that a contrasting sentiment is alive in the Global South: “We have survey after survey that report highly optimistic views toward AI and digital innovation.” 

Payal understands this tech optimism as a logical response to the significant threats that communities in the Global South face, like the climate crisis. “They are rational optimists because they see there is no choice but to be hopeful if you want to take control of your future,” she said. “Pessimism is a privilege for those who can afford to live in despair.”

Lessons in Optimism

Payal cites AI’s potential to rapidly scale new solutions to systemic challenges like water management, which is a challenge across the country. “India, for example, has 22 different languages and thousands of dialects. Before it wasn’t feasible to reach all of them with information, but with AI, it’s absolutely possible,” she said.

India ranks as one of the most optimistic countries in the world. Payal links this to the country’s rapidly advancing digital innovation, including its pioneering approach to mobile connectivity and digital public infrastructure (DPI). These developments are particularly exciting for youth, Payal said, “because digital connection allows them a few more freedoms compared to their parents and grandparents. They may come from conservative cultures, but they see their whole futures ahead of them and know that very little change comes from a place of despair.” 

The unifying theme throughout all social movements in the Global South, according to Payal, is optimism. “Take women in Afghanistan going to the streets to resist the Ayatollah. They’re not saying, ‘What’s the point? There’s no hope.’ They are risking their lives because they believe that change is possible,” she said. “It’s always astounding to me how people put themselves at such high risk for the things that they believe in when they’re driven by hope.” 

Optimism in what technology can bring is just one of the many things the West can learn from non-Western countries. Next is a new approach to developing affordable, scalable and sustainable innovations. Payal looks at China’s developments in renewable energy and autonomous vehicles as an example, which she says are a decade ahead of the West. “China has inspired many other countries to say, ‘we can come up with affordable, scalable technologies that can genuinely help us in the struggle with the climate crisis.’ And that’s something to take note of,” she said. 

Beyond optimism, Payal points to Western mindsets as a key barrier to innovation. “The West is not accustomed to investing in learning from the rest. Colonial pasts give people a mindset that we can’t learn from them.” Payal asserts that this does a great disservice to innovation. She says it is essential that the West engage with the Global South to work together and tackle the greatest threats to our species and planet. 

Finding Cross-Cultural Collaborators

Payal says she experienced a microcosm of this cross-cultural collaboration during her residency at the Bellagio Center in 2023, where she wrote half of her forthcoming book, From Pessimism to Promise. Payal valued the diverse perspectives she found in her interdisciplinary cohort of collaborators, including artists, academics, lawyers, and politicians from across the globe. 

She recalls one particular discussion that she had with two Americans of opposite political persuasions about the title of her book, which initially referred to the “privilege of pessimism.” Payal said, “They were open to engaging in the discussion because that’s why they came to Bellagio, to go across the aisle.” After the title excited one collaborator and triggered the other, Payal landed on a less polarizing name. 

“I realized that if certain words lead to a shut door, it’s not worth using them. At the end of the day, people’s minds have to be open for them to change. We have to keep our eye on the prize.” She landed on a title for the forthcoming book that reflects the optimism and forward-thinking she has witnessed in the Global South: “From Pessimism to Promise.” 

As she continues her work after her Bellagio Center residency, Payal wants more innovators to champion optimism. “We have this enormous capacity, intellectual energy and momentum that can be directed at creating hope, which leads to change.”