The Case for Globally Beneficial Technology

2026-07-04

AI Summary

This study addresses how advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence should be distributed to ensure they benefit all of humanity rather than solely their inventors or select groups. Drawing on moral philosophy and theories of global justice, the work proposes a five-dimensional normative framework integrating human rights, the principle of beneficence, the moral significance of birth contingencies, global epistemic genealogies, and global economic justice. This framework systematically demonstrates the ethical imperative of technological inclusivity, establishing that emerging technologies ought to serve the collective well-being of humankind. In doing so, it not only grounds the moral necessity of equitable technology access but also offers an innovative theoretical foundation for global technology governance and policy formulation.

Abstract

To whom do the fruits of advanced technological innovation belong? To their inventors, to the organizations and individuals involved in making such discoveries possible, or to still larger groups of people, potentially encompassing all of humanity? This question sits at the heart of the present investigation. The arguments developed here focus on an expansive reading of the entitlement to benefit from technological breakthroughs: we argue that they should be designed, developed, and distributed in ways that benefit everyone. This central claim, which encompasses technologies such as advanced forms of artificial intelligence, is grounded in an exploration of five moral arguments that involve human rights, beneficence, contingencies of birth, the global tree of knowledge, and global economic justice. Taken together, they underpin the argument for globally beneficial technologies.

Problem

• technological innovation
• global benefit
• moral arguments
• human rights
• economic justice

Innovation

• globally beneficial technology
• moral arguments
• artificial intelligence ethics
• global justice
• technology governance