Historical Echo: When 'Small Tech' Broke the Inequality Trap
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If public institutions prioritize small-scale AI deployment in rural health systems, then the geopolitical value of AI shifts from benchmark dominance to sovereign resilience and inclusive infrastructure.
It happened with the printing press, with electricity, and with the internet: every great technological wave is initially captured by the powerful, only to be reclaimed by the people through institutions that democratize access. In 1882, when Edison switched on the Pearl Street Station, electricity was a luxury for Wall Street banks and elite homes—yet within decades, public utilities and New Deal programs turned it into a public good. The same arc unfolded with radio: from a military-controlled medium to a tool of mass education in post-independence India under All India Radio [10]. What’s unfolding with AI today is not new—it’s the latest chapter in a centuries-long struggle over who owns the future. The insight is this: technology does not determine destiny; institutions do. When the World Bank speaks of 'small AI,' it is echoing what Gandhi meant by 'small machines'—tools scaled to human need, not corporate appetite. The most transformative AI may not be the one that wins benchmarks, but the one that lets a midwife in Chhattisgarh diagnose a high-risk pregnancy with a voice message in Gondi. That’s not innovation for profit. It’s innovation for survival—and history shows it’s the kind that lasts.
—Marcus Ashworth
Published February 21, 2026