Essay: Before We Meet in the Kitchen- Notes Toward Equitable Partnerships in an Age of AI

Mahi Ramakrishnan shares a powerful essay reflecting on equitable partnerships in humanitarian and development contexts at a moment when artificial intelligence is increasingly framed as inevitable and benign.

In February 2026, I will travel to South Africa to facilitate a workshop on equitable partnerships. I know this already: not the faces in the room or the precise contours of the conversations that will unfold, but the questions that will arrive with us. They are familiar questions, ones that trail many contemporary discussions about artificial intelligence, development, and humanitarian work; questions about power, ownership, accountability, and who ultimately gets to decide what progress looks like, and for whom.

These questions do not announce themselves politely. They surface in moments of tension: when a “pilot project” ends and the data migrates elsewhere; when a community realises that participation was never truly optional; when efficiency gains are celebrated even as local decision-making shrinks. AI has not invented these dynamics, but it has sharpened them, accelerating processes that were already uneven and often opaque.