مهسا شرج شریفی

Background: This study explores the paradoxical role of artificial intelligence as both a tool of exploitation within surveillance capitalism and a force for resilience in disaster risk management, highlighting the ethical and governance challenges that arise at the intersection of these domains. Aims: This article aims to enable the ethical use of AI in DRM while insulating public systems from the structural harms of commercial data exploitation. Methodology: Drawing from a comparative qualitative analysis of 35 academic sources, the study investigates how BigTech corporations and data brokers leverage AI to commodify personal data, consolidate informational power, and erode democratic agency. Results: The present study critically examines the dual role of artificial intelligence in contemporary digital society, contrasting its exploitative deployment within surveillance capitalism with its constructive use in disaster risk management (DRM). Simultaneously, it highlights a parallel body of research showcasing AI’s capacity to enhance early warning systems, situational awareness, and post-disaster recovery, especially in resource-constrained and climate-vulnerable regions. Conclusion: To reconcile these conflicting trajectories, the article proposes the Public AI for Resilience (PAIR) framework—a governance model grounded in data sovereignty, public infrastructure, algorithmic explainability, and cross-sectoral collaboration. Ultimately, the article argues for a normative recalibration of AI governance that prioritizes equity, transparency, and collective resilience over market imperatives, demonstrating that AI’s public good potential can be realized without surrendering to surveillance-based capitalism.

This study investigates the evolving crisis of national sovereignty in the context of artificial intelligence and the expanding power of transnational technology corporations. Drawing from over thirty peer-reviewed academic and policy sources published between 2018 and 2025, this paper critically examines how traditional concepts of sovereignty—particularly data, digital, technological, and normative sovereignty—are being redefined by global AI infrastructures and the algorithmic authority of private firms. Employing a qualitative, interdisciplinary methodology grounded in law, political theory, and ethics, the research reveals growing asymmetries between state authority and corporate influence over digital infrastructures, data governance, and regulatory norms. Our findings highlight divergent policy responses, including efforts to reassert sovereign control through data localization, the pursuit of strategic autonomy, and emerging international cooperation frameworks. The study also evaluates normative debates surrounding legitimacy, democratic oversight, and algorithmic accountability. The study concludes that sovereignty in the AI era must be reconceptualized beyond territorial jurisdiction to include infrastructural and ethical dimensions, necessitating hybrid governance models that integrate states, civil society, and corporations, while prioritizing democratic legitimacy and public interest.