“It’s laughable”: Global AI experts challenge Zuckerberg’s “AI for everyone”
Rest of World Ananya Bhattacharya
Zuckerberg said AI should be for everyone. Experts say that leaves out people without power, internet, or trust.
Based on reporting by Rest of World, Ananya Bhattacharya — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
On August 10, Mark Zuckerberg published a letter called “The Future for Everyone,” arguing that superintelligence could widen human capability and spread AI’s gains more broadly. He framed wider access across countries and companies as the route to a better AI future, and pointed to Meta’s own efforts as part of that plan.
Rest of World asked six AI observers from different regions what they made of it. Their answers were far less rosy. The common thread was simple: access is not the same as control, and “everyone” can mean very different things depending on where you live, what language you speak, and whether you can actually get online in the first place.
Chinasa T. Okolo said Meta has inflated the economic upside of data centers, especially in Africa. She pointed to grid strain around projects such as Kenya’s paused Microsoft- and G42-backed geothermal data center and warned that new plans like Cassava AI’s Nvidia-powered AI factories could worsen stability problems in places such as South Africa and Nigeria. The jobs story, she said, is thin once the construction crews leave.
Others pushed on the same blind spot from a different angle. Sagar Vishnoi argued that Zuckerberg’s version of “everyone” skips low-resource language speakers, shared-device households, people with patchy connectivity, and communities where infrastructure still falls short. Mark Mulobi said AI could help as a tutor, but only if people have electricity, fast internet, affordable devices, and support for African languages and local knowledge.
The sharper criticism was about power, not just access. Juan Ortiz-Freuler said Meta’s global talk of openness sits alongside a role as a U.S. power tool, while Abeba Birhane said the company has spent years accumulating data and influence in Africa with little visible return for the people it once promised to help. Priya Vora cut to the core: participation without agency, choice, transparency, and real recourse is just branding.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the usual Silicon Valley trick: call concentration “access” and hope everyone forgets who owns the pipes. The bigger the model, the easier it is to sell a universal story while local communities get the bill, the grid stress, and the cleanup.
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