Spotlight on AI, Innovation & Ethics: National Visions and Digital Labour

The rapid ascent of artificial intelligence reveals a fragmented map of ambition, risk, and hidden labour. While Switzerland cultivates a thriving ecosystem through strategic state–industry partnership, the costs surface elsewhere: chatbots that over-validate vulnerable users can deepen delusional spirals, with real consequences for mental health. At the same time, the race for AI supremacy carries a material footprint. From Mexico to Ireland, communities push back against data centers powering AI that strain electricity and water supplies. Yet within this tension lies promise: personalized AI “experts,” shaped through careful system instructions, can assist with editing, translation, finance, and creative work. Curated by JOSHA through a cross-disciplinary editorial lens, this Spotlight places these accounts in dialogue, so readers can see both what AI enables and what it exacts.