(Op-Ed Evaluation) In 1757, the East India Firm (EIC), a small London dealer, seized Bengal, launching a colonial empire that plundered India’s wealth, starved thousands and thousands, and toppled governments.
As we speak, AI giants—OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, DeepSeek—wield comparable ambitions, extracting information, water, and labor to gasoline a digital dominion.
Journalist Karen Howe, in her guide Empire of AI, attracts a chilling parallel, warning that these companies may erode democracy and fairness.
“If we permit them to be unfettered… they may in the end erode democracy,” she advised Downstream.
As AI disrupts elections and exploits communities, X customers echo her fears, branding tech giants “digital colonizers” (#AIGovernance).
May the AI trade match the EIC’s harmful legacy? The parallels recommend sure—however resistance provides hope.
Financial Dominance and Political Clout
The EIC managed world commerce, manipulating Indian rulers and British coverage to amass riches. AI companies, with a projected $279 billion market by 2030 [1], mirror this dominance.
OpenAI’s $300 billion valuation and NVIDIA’s GPU stranglehold create a tech oligarchy, whereas Microsoft’s $80 billion AI information heart investments [2] dwarf nationwide budgets.
Just like the EIC’s non-public military, these companies wield political sway—OpenAI’s protection contracts and lobbying for a 10-year U.S. AI regulation moratorium [3] sign rising affect.
Google’s $75 billion AI spend in 2025 [4] alone underscores the size. On X, customers like @TechWatchdog warn, “Huge Tech’s shopping for governments just like the EIC purchased princes” (#AIColonialism).
This consolidation threatens democratic sovereignty, as companies form insurance policies to favor their empires, a lot because the EIC dictated colonial legislation.
(The historical past of the East India Firm EIC in quarter-hour)
Useful resource Plunder
The EIC exploited India’s land and labor, triggering famines. AI companies extract information, power, and water, typically from susceptible areas.
Knowledge facilities, projected to eat 0.5–1.2 occasions the UK’s annual power by 2030, depend on fossil fuels—xAI’s unlicensed methane generators pollute Tennessee air, bypassing rules.
Two-thirds of those facilities siphon water from drought-stricken areas, like Montevideo, Uruguay, the place residents drank poisonous wastewater whereas Google proposed a water-intensive facility [5].
In Africa, “information colonialism” sees companies like Amazon exploit low-paid staff for AI coaching [6]. Howe’s interviews reveal Kenyan moderators, paid $2 hourly, struggling PTSD to filter ChatGPT’s poisonous outputs.
X posts below #AIClimateImpact share photographs of parched landscapes close to information facilities, with @GreenTechNow raging, “AI’s stealing our water for his or her income!”
This useful resource seize echoes the EIC’s plunder, prioritizing company acquire over human welfare.
Social and Cultural Devastation
The EIC’s insurance policies induced the 1770 Bengal famine, killing thousands and thousands. AI’s hurt is subtler however pervasive.
AI-generated deepfakes disrupted elections in 50 international locations in 2025, from faux Trump endorsements to Romania’s nullified vote, eroding belief [7].
In India, AI’s bias in opposition to languages like Kannada dangers cultural erasure [8]. Howe’s “disaster playbook” exposes how companies exploit crises, like Venezuela’s financial collapse, to rent determined information annotators, deepening inequality.
A Venezuelan refugee in Colombia, battling diabetes, sprinted to say fleeting duties, her life managed by algorithms.
By 2028, 44% of staff’ abilities face disruption, hitting girls hardest [9]. X customers below #AIEthics, like @GlobalJustice, decry “AI’s sweatshops,” demanding accountability.
Just like the EIC’s cultural devastation, AI threatens social cohesion, amplifying inequities and distrust.
A Damaging Future?
The EIC’s unchecked development sparked the 1857 Indian Rise up, forcing British intervention. AI companies, largely unregulated, threat comparable chaos.
Their scaling obsession—regardless of environment friendly alternate options like DeepSeek, which matches OpenAI’s efficiency with much less compute—drives environmental and financial pressure [10].
Howe warns of democracy’s demise inside 20 years if tendencies persist, a concern echoed by Brookings students who see AI worsening inequality [11].
The trade’s monopolistic path may replicate the EIC’s financial disruption and social hurt.
A Reuters report notes AI’s potential to widen world wealth gaps, with creating nations lagging [12].
But, resistance is rising. Chilean activists stalled a Google information heart for 5 years, forcing accountability.
Artists sue over information theft, and EU residents reject cookies to reclaim privateness. On X, #AIResistance tendencies as customers like @DataRebel share guides for opting out of AI information assortment.
“Anybody can form AI’s trajectory,” Howe insists, urging advocacy for information privateness and regulation.
To keep away from the EIC’s harmful path, governments should implement oversight, prioritize equitable AI fashions, and amplify World South voices.
The choice—a digital empire unchecked—may rival the EIC’s legacy, impoverishing communities and dismantling democracy.
Conclusion
AI giants are fashionable East India Corporations, extracting wealth and energy with colonial zeal. Their financial dominance, useful resource plunder, and social hurt mirror the EIC’s playbook, threatening a way forward for inequality and democratic erosion.
However not like 1857’s rebels, now we have instruments—regulation, activism, information sovereignty—to combat again. Reject cookies, query native information facilities, and demand moral AI.
As Howe urges, “Contest each stage of this AI pipeline.” The clock ticks—will we tame these digital empires, or allow them to rule?
References
- Grand View reasearch. Synthetic Intelligence Market Measurement.
- Reuters. (2025). Microsoft’s $80B AI Knowledge Middle Push.
- Monetary Instances. (2025). Trump’s AI Deregulation Plan.
- Reuters. (2025). Google’s $75B AI Funding.
- Bloomberg. (2025). AI Knowledge Facilities and Water Shortage.
- CIGI. (2024). Knowledge Colonialism in Africa.
- New York Instances. (2025). Deepfakes Disrupt World Elections.
- Reuters. (2025). AI Bias in India’s Languages.
- World Financial Discussion board. (2024). Way forward for Jobs Report.
- MIT Know-how Assessment. (2025). DeepSeek’s Environment friendly AI Mannequin.
- Brookings Establishment. (2024). AI and Inequality.
- Reuters. (2025). AI’s World Wealth Hole.
