ICED Labs

Project Summary

This ongoing investigation dives into the implications of artificial intelligence within the context of rural communities and examines how communities and organizations are being affected and affecting AI, data infrastructures, and governance. The project examines rural x AI in various contexts including civic, health, and community sustainability.

Key Findings

①

Bi-Directional Agency Between Rural Communities and Tech Infrastructure. Rather than viewing rural regions as passive consumers of tech, the research demonstrates how rural populations actively shape, adapt, and negotiate AI deployment and data infrastructures to serve local governance, civic, and economic needs.

②

Intersection of AI Deployment with Vital Rural Systems. Artificial intelligence directly impacts localized resource management—such as precision agriculture, public health access, and critical environmental assets (like land and water systems)—requiring policy frameworks built around rural-specific realities rather than urban-centric defaults.

③

Equitable Governance and Community Resilience. Effective rural AI policy relies on strong local institutional capacity, ethical oversight, and community participation. Protecting rural spaces from non-consensual algorithmic surveillance and data exploitation is essential to long-term community sustainability.

Team

Jasmine McNearly

Jasmine McNealy is an attorney, critical public interest technologist, and social scientist who studies emerging media & technology with a view toward influencing law and policy.