IN A NUTSHELL
  Author's Note  
 ...AI is already embedded in military targeting, financial speculation, energy grids, and global communications, amplifying vulnerabilities rather than solving them. This trajectory is likely to further concentrate power into the hands of a microscopic elite... 

...Without guardrails, we face a world where inequality could deepen from the current “one-per-thousand” plutocracy toward a “one-per-million” technocracy of ruling trillionaires, with the rest of humanity reduced to precarious dependence...

 By Juan Garay

Professor and Researcher in Ethics and Metrics of Health Equity (Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil) 

The Inequity Risks of AI When the Global Good Is Not the Goal

 

On the road to so-called “superintelligence”, the worst of human instincts are paving a perverse way forward. Instead of prioritizing renewal, sustainability, and collaboration, the race for Artificial Intelligence is accelerating the already suicidal ambition of burning through finite resources. Current estimates suggest that AI training and operation may already add 10 gigatons of CO₂ annually by 2030 if current energy trajectories persist, rivaling the total emissions of the United States today (International Energy Agency). Most large language models require enormous data centers, with a single training run consuming as much electricity as several thousand households use in a year (Patterson et al.). And yet the narrative driving this frenzy is not planetary wellbeing, but geopolitics and profit—epitomized in claims that it is “crucial that America get there first.”

Greed and competition are thus fueling the way toward a system we are profoundly unprepared for. AI is already embedded in military targeting, financial speculation, energy grids, and global communications, amplifying vulnerabilities rather than solving them. This trajectory is likely to further concentrate power into the hands of a microscopic elite, much as quantum computing and high-frequency trading have already done—except now at exponential scale. Without guardrails, we face a world where inequality could deepen from the current “one-per-thousand” plutocracy toward a “one-per-million” technocracy of ruling trillionaires, with the rest of humanity reduced to precarious dependence.

The risks are not abstract. Already, AI systems have been used to manipulate democratic processes, spread disinformation, and distort public debate. The expansion of biometric surveillance, predictive policing, and behavioral nudging shows how AI can control human lives in ways once thought dystopian. If paired with direct neural interfaces or microchip implants linked to AI-driven data centers—technologies already in development—the autonomy of individuals could be eroded in every dimension: thought, consumption, movement, and even health choices. Humanity risks becoming blind consumers of manipulated information, destructive energy, and toxic food and goods, in service to markets that optimize profit, not wellbeing.

The obsession with speed—faster models, faster deployment, faster dominance—is irrelevant if we are racing down the wrong path. Without a fundamental shift of purpose, AI will only magnify our ecological overshoot, social fragmentation, and spiritual emptiness.

Redirecting AI Towards the WiSE Paradigm

The real alternative is not “superintelligence” that mimics or surpasses the human brain, but simple, collaborative lives in harmony with nature, supported by technologies aligned with human dignity, planetary regeneration, and equitable prosperity. A constructive vision is articulated in the paradigm of WiSE: Wellbeing in Sustainable Equity (Juan Garay).

Across cultures and times, the most cherished human aspiration is long and healthy lives, not domination or accumulation. This is recognized in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing, and in the WHO Constitution, which defines the only common global health objective: the best feasible level of health for all people. The WiSE paradigm operationalizes this aspiration by defining the “best feasible” level of wellbeing—measured by life expectancy at birth—within the dual constraints of ecological planetary boundaries and equitable economic thresholds.

WiSE research shows that below a dignity threshold of about $10 per person per day, no country has ever achieved the best feasible levels of health. Conversely, beyond an excess threshold of around $50 per person per day, no country has ever respected planetary boundaries, and gains in wellbeing plateau. Today, some 16 million avoidable deaths each year stem from health inequities linked to this dignity gap—about 30% of all mortality. Redistribution of just 7% of global GDP—comparable to annual fossil fuel subsidies—would be sufficient to close this gap and enable universal access to the best feasible levels of wellbeing.

AI, if reoriented away from fueling inequality and ecological destruction, could be harnessed to advance WiSE objectives: ensuring fair distribution of resources, monitoring ecological thresholds, and supporting collaborative research into global public goods. Instead of creating a technocratic elite, AI could help humanity live within sustainable limits while maximizing health and wellbeing for present and future generations.

In short, the real challenge is not to build machines “smarter” than humans, but to align intelligence—human and artificial—with the WiSE paradigm of wellbeing in sustainable equity, the only path toward a just and livable future.

 

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Works Cited

International Energy Agency. Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks. IEA, 2023.

Juan Garay. “Wellbeing in Sustainable Equity (WiSE): Towards a Paradigm Shift for Global Collaboration.” PEAH – Policies for Equitable Access to Health, Dec. 2023, www.peah.it/2023/12/12800.

Patterson, David, et al. “Carbon Emissions and Large Neural Network Training.” Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Machine Learning, 2021.

United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN, 1948.

World Health Organization. Constitution of the World Health Organization. WHO, 1946.

 

 

IN A NUTSHELL
Author's Note 
 

The Sustainable Health Equity Movement (SHEM) remains steadfast in advocating for sustainable equity as both the compass and the destination.

 By combining local resilience with global collaboration, we can ensure equitable access to shared resources while respecting planetary boundaries.
 
On this fifth anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to stay the course, knowing that achieving sustainable health equity is not optional—it is the only viable path toward a just, resilient, and thriving future in harmony with nature and all life forms in our shared planet

By Juan Garay

Founder and Co-chair of SHEM. Professor of Global health. Lead of the Valyter ecovillage.  Valyter.es

By the same Author on PEAH: see HERE and HERE

Fifth Anniversary of SHEM

Keeping Up the Quest for Sustainable Health Equity

As we mark the fifth anniversary of the Sustainable Health Equity Movement (SHEM), the imperative to stay committed to the goal of sustainable equity has never been more urgent. Sustainability is at risk in every dimension of human life, and achieving equity is central to addressing these threats.

Environmental sustainability is under unprecedented strain: humanity is trespassing planetary boundaries, undermining the livelihoods and security of future generations. Biological sustainability is increasingly fragile, with humans exposed to radio-magnetic, physical, biological, and chemical threats largely beyond our control. Social sustainability is challenged by widespread mistrust in hierarchical structures—political, ideological, religious, and academic—and by the concentration of influence over communication in the hands of a few driven by narrow self-interest. A clear case is how most humans see with pain the genocide in Gaza and the tragic wars and suffering in Ukraine, Sudan and others with the UN and its anachronic security council blocking any global decision to end war and secure peace. These threats are compounded by self-destructive risks, including underregulated genetic engineering and nuclear confrontations.

Economic equity, which underpins all dimensions of wellbeing, continues to erode. Financial speculation increasingly dominates production and access to essential goods, reinforcing inequalities already skewed toward large-scale, centralized production. The disconnect between GDP and per capita income is widening, while political systems fail to define and protect a minimum dignity income threshold—leaving half of humanity living with less than what is feasible even with a fraction of global resources. Excessive accumulation by the wealthiest 10% further undermines both societal and environmental balance, without producing meaningful gains in wellbeing or life expectancy.

Health, and human wellbeing more broadly, is now declining—a historic first. Over 16 million deaths annually result from national inequities, with total mortality due to subnational inequities likely exceeding 20 million, approaching 40% of all deaths. Healthy life expectancy is stagnating or declining in some regions, where gains are achieved through unsustainable end-of-life healthcare, reduced wellbeing, institutional dependency, and increasing loneliness, particularly among older adults in high-income countries.

The connection between sustainability, equity, and wellbeing is clearer than ever, and the need to stay focused on sustainable equity as our guiding goal is increasingly urgent. Respecting planetary boundaries requires reducing production, trade, and consumption, prioritizing local scales while reserving global collaboration for shared public goods. Local dynamics foster inclusive sociocracy, participatory dialogue, and empathetic social relations—key factors in reducing loneliness, chronic stress, and chronic disease while enhancing holistic wellbeing. Localized economies also limit the scale of production and financial speculation dominated by few, mitigating inequity and its destructive impact on nature.

SHEM remains steadfast in advocating for this path: sustainable equity as both the compass and the destination. By combining local resilience with global collaboration, we can ensure equitable access to shared resources while respecting planetary boundaries. On this fifth anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to stay the course, knowing that achieving sustainable health equity is not optional—it is the only viable path toward a just, resilient, and thriving future in harmony with nature and all life forms in our shared planet.