Harnessing artificial intelligence as a catalyst for peace: Exploring the transformative potential of AI in conflict transformation while embedding ethical peacebuilding principles at its core.
Our Focus
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Our Focus *
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Exploring institutional structures and policy mechanisms that guide the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies. This research examines how different governance approaches can balance innovation with ethical considerations, addressing challenges of accountability, transparency, and power distribution across diverse contexts.
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Investigating methodologies that place local communities at the center of AI development and implementation. This work examines how AI solutions can be designed with and for communities facing complex challenges, ensuring technologies reflect local needs, values, and knowledge systems while distributing benefits equitably.
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Researching alternative paradigms for data governance based on indigenous knowledge systems and rights. This work explores how traditional approaches to knowledge stewardship can inform more equitable data practices, challenging conventional frameworks while supporting communities' rights to control information that represents their identities, territories, and cultural practices.
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Examining how processes can enhance the design and implementation of AI-enabled peace monitoring. This research focuses on creating inclusive spaces for diverse stakeholders to shape technology applications in conflict settings, ensuring systems are conflict-sensitive and responsive to complex local dynamics.
Who are we
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Who are we *
We are a team of interdisciplinary researchers, peacebuilders, technologists and educators.
Where we work
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Where we work *
Malawi
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NYU PREP’s collaboration with UNDP in Malawi is developing innovative communication technology that allows populations without internet access to participate in peace and security monitoring using local languages. This partnership creates more inclusive crisis monitoring systems that help bridge the digital divide while preserving linguistic diversity and supporting conflict prevention in underserved communities.
Kenya
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NYU PREP is investigating the concept of digital sovereignty and participatory approaches to AI governance in the Global South, focusing on how communities can meaningfully engage with technologies affecting their lives. Our work in Kenya brings together academic institutions and policy leaders to develop practical oversight mechanisms that address power imbalances in AI deployment.
The Philippines
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NYU PREP is working with indigenous communities in the Philippines, and an indigenous university to develop culturally appropriate oversight mechanisms for AI. This work examines how AI deployment affects local innovation ecosystems and sovereignty, creating frameworks that enable meaningful community participation in technology governance while respecting traditional knowledge systems and norms.
New York
Our Partners
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Our Partners *
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NYU PREP is partnering with CIV:LAB and Unified Ground on AI Empower—a collaborative initiative to bridge the AI gap for community-based organizations on the frontlines of climate change. Our work centers on developing participatory frameworks and toolkits that help environmental justice organizations safely adopt AI while maintaining community agency and sovereignty. Through deliberative co-design processes and harm prevention frameworks, we're ensuring that AI serves communities rather than extracting from them—turning technical capacity building into genuine empowerment for those leading climate action on the ground.
New Graduate Course | NYU CGA | Fall 2026
AI and the Global Majority: Peace, Power, and Participation
This fall, PREP launches a new graduate course at NYU's Center for Global Affairs. Students examine what AI is actually doing in and to the majority of the world's population, from data labor in Nairobi to language erasure online to the gendered costs of automation. Working directly with partners including the UNESCO, students will develop concrete skills on to use AI ethically and develop real policy products for real stakeholders.
Events and News
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Events and News *
On April 9th, researchers, policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society representatives gathered in Nairobi to examine the complex power dynamics shaping Kenya's rapidly evolving AI landscape. The workshop was organized by NYU PREP in collaboration with the University of Nairobi and facilitated by researchers Katerina Siira, Marine Ragnet of New York University and Dr. Benedict Mkalama, and Dr. Florence Muindi of the University of Nairobi as part of a broader initiative examining AI's impact on peacebuilding globally.
Digital Sovereignty Workshop
Call for Papers | AI and Power Concentration PREP is partnering with the Cambridge Journal of Artificial Intelligence on a special issue examining how power concentrates in and through AI systems. We welcome empirical, theoretical, policy, and case study contributions on resource extraction, language and data sovereignty, compute as dependency, regulatory capture, labor and value chains, epistemic power, and the gendered dimensions of AI.
Building Voice Infrastructure for Crisis Response in Malawi
In September 2025, our Malawi Voice Data Commons won Microsoft's New Commons Challenge, announced at the UN General Assembly. The award recognizes our partnership with UNDP, Mozilla Foundation, Ushahidi, and Malawian universities to create a voice-based crisis reporting system that works in local languages. Instead of requiring literacy and internet access, anyone can call a toll-free number and speak in Chichewa to report emergencies—while communities maintain full control over their voice data.
Contact us.
peacebuilding@nyu.edu
196 Mercer Street
New York City, USA
Get Involved.
We're looking for partners who share our commitment to participatory governance:
🔬 Researchers in the Global South leading their own inquiries
🤝 Funding partners who understand that community work operates on community timelines
💻 Technical contributors who recognize that technology is never neutral
🌍 Communities interested in shaping AI governance on their own terms