Digital Colonialism s AI Chains Breaking IP Barriers for Human Rights and Knowledge Equity ANAGAH BHATTACHARYA

DIGITAL COLONIALISM’S ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHAINS: BREAKING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BARRIERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND KNOWLEDGE EQUITY

Anagah Bhattacharya,

Kingston Law College, Undergraduate Law Student of B.A. LL.B. (Hons.)

• Abstract:

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying ‘This is mine’, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society…[how many misfortunes might anyone have saved mankind] by pulling up the stakes.”

• Jean – Jacques Rousseau.¹

Echoing Rousseau’s critique of resource enclosure, the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (A.I.) has catalysed a profound paradigm shift in global intellectual property (I.P.) and human rights. This transformation disproportionately concentrates technological capital within the Global North, perpetuating digital colonialism through uncompensated data extraction and the aggressive of algorithmic enclosures.

1. Background & Problem Statement: Existing intellectual property frameworks – especially rigid legacy copyright laws – are deeply ill-equipped to regulate generative A.I. systems that rely on the large-scale, uncompensated extraction of training data. This creates a highly contested legal vacuum that disproportionately disadvantages the Global South, threatening its digital sovereignty and reducing it to a mere exporter of raw data.
2. Purpose/Thesis Statement: This paper argues that prevailing A.I. – driven knowledge production models perpetuate a sophisticated form of "digital colonialism" and epistemic injustice. It asserts that achieving global equity requires a fundamental recalibration of international intellectual property law to actively protect the "Right to Research" as derived from Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights².
3. Methodology: Employing a multi-methodological qualitative design, this study conducts a rigorous doctrinal and comparative legal analysis. It synthesizes foundational critical theories (epistemic injustice and digital colonialism) with a close examination of international treaties (UN Global Digital Compact, Council of Europe Framework Convention), domestic statutory shifts (Saudi Arabia's 2026 Copyright Law), and active, landmark litigation case studies (Authors Guild v. Google³ and A.N.I. v. OpenAI⁴).
4. Findings/Results & Conclusion: The analysis reveals that while Intellectual Property maximalism currently acts as an algorithmic enclosure stifling Global South innovation, a burgeoning multilateral consensus is prioritizing epistemic equity. Through emerging mandatory text and data mining (T.D.M.) exceptions, state-backed sovereign A.I. infrastructure (e.g., India's "Digital Sangam"), and open science imperatives, the study concludes that a fundamental restructuring of international Intellectual Property Law is necessary. With appropriate legal frameworks, A.I. can be transformed from a tool of systemic marginalization into a democratizing force that advances universal human knowledge.

In the end we can end this abstract with an impactful quote by B.F. Skinner, “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.”

• Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Digital Sovereignty, Epistemic Justice, Global Digital Compact, Right to Research,.
• Selected References

International Legal Instruments

• G.A. Res. 79/1, The Pact for the Future, annex I, Global Digital Compact (Sept. 22, 2024).
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, U.N. Doc. A/810, art. 27 (Dec. 10, 1948).

Cases

• Asian News Int'l v. OpenAI, CS(COMM) [Suit Pending] (2024) (High Court of Delhi) (India).
• Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 804 F.3d 202 (2d Cir. 2015) (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) (United States of America).

Books

• B.F. Skinner, Contingencies Of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis 288 (1969).
• Cecilia Rikap, Capitalism, Power And Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered 45 (2021).
• Jean – Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men 44 (1755) (Donald A. Cress trans., 1992).