Justice / Publication
January 23, 2025

Governing artificial intelligence means governing data: (Re)setting the agenda for data justice

This paper reviews leading approaches to governing data and AI and assesses their potential for data justice. It proposes four benchmarks (public goods, inclusion, accountability, and global responsibility) to evaluate whether these models genuinely redistribute power and enable a more democratic politics of AI.

Abstract

The field of data justice has been evolving to take into account the role of data in powering the field of artificial intelligence (AI). In this paper we review the main conceptual bases for governing data and AI: the market-based approach, the personal–non-personal data distinction and strategic sovereignty. We then analyse how these are being operationalised into practical models for governance, including public data trusts, data cooperatives, personal data sovereignty, data collaboratives, data commons approaches and indigenous data sovereignty. We interrogate these models' potential for just governance based on four benchmarks which we propose as a reformulation of the Data Justice governance agenda identified by Taylor in her 2017 framework. Re-situating data justice at the intersection of data and AI, these benchmarks focus on preserving and strengthening public infrastructures and public goods; inclusiveness; contestability and accountability; and global responsibility. We demonstrate how they can be used to test whether a governance approach will succeed in redistributing power, engaging with public concerns and creating a plural politics of AI.

To continue reading please visit: https://doi.org/10.1177/29768640241306800

This open access article was published in Dialogues on Digital Society on 23 January 2025.

Taylor, L., de Souza, S. P., Martin, A., & López Solano, J. (2026). Governing artificial intelligence means governing data: (Re)setting the agenda for data justice. Dialogues on Digital Society, 2(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768640241306800

Keywords: Data justice, artificial intelligence governance, data commons, data trusts, data protection, data governance, indigenous data sovereignty, data sovereignty