Occupied Futures: AI, Visual Cultures, and Neo-Colonial Visions

Anthony Downey

Occupied Futures: AI, Visual Cultures, and Neo-Colonial Visions

Anthony Downey

Department of Art and Design

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Sociological Approaches to Algorithmic Images
Editors	Gary Bratchford, Dennis Zeuv
Place of Publication	London
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Pages	TBC
Volume	1
ISBN (Electronic)	9783032201591
ISBN (Print)	9783032201584
Publication status	Published (VoR) - 1 Jul 2026

Publication series

Name	Social Visualities
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan

Keywords

Artificial intelligence
Visual Culture
Warfare
Geopolitical Risk
Legal and regulatory issues
legal compliance

4 Invited talk
1 Membership of a Board

The Future of Death in an Algorithmic Age
Downey, A. (Speaker)
3 May 2024
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
The Future of War: The Civilian and AI
Downey, A. (Speaker), Gupta, A. (Speaker) & Illingworth, S. (Speaker)
5 Nov 2024
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Visualising Threat: AI and Warfare
Downey, A. (Speaker) & Illingworth, S. (Speaker)
29 Nov 2024 → 1 Dec 2024
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Centre for Drones and Culture (Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge University) (External organisation)
Downey, A. (Member)
1 Aug 2024
Activity: Membership types › Membership of a Board
Neo-colonial Visions: Artificial Intelligence and Epistemic Violence
Downey, A. (Speaker) & Ganesh, M. I. (Speaker)
29 Mar 2023
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk

Cite this

@inbook{f5d18054334147c680d508ed986e405a,

title = "Occupied Futures: AI, Visual Cultures, and Neo-Colonial Visions",

keywords = "Artificial intelligence, Visual Culture, Warfare, Geopolitical Risk, Legal and regulatory issues, legal compliance",

author = "Anthony Downey",

note = "This essay examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) extends and intensifies the predictive, extractive, and disciplinary logic of colonial and neo-colonial power. Situating the evolution of AI within the historical genealogies of colonial mapping and surveillance, the essay argues that cadastral, photographic and photogrammetric techniques have evolved into algorithmic infrastructures that seek to not only predict and describe but also occupy the future. AI{\textquoteright}s inferential projections—frequently mistaken for objective, deterministic truths—transform probabilistic forecasts into prescriptive realities, enabling the management of populations, behaviours, and potential threats as if the future was already known. Producing a regime of algorithmic governance that collapses diagnosis, prediction and command into a single apparatus of control, these dynamics underpin the incorporation of AI into drones, Automated Target Recognition (ATR), and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). In this paradigm, algorithmic systems generate an AI-driven thanato- and techno-political regime of death, pre-empt future potential by pre-defining who has the right to life, and summon forth apparently eternal threat—the spectre of “forever” wars—through opaque computational models. The essay concludes that algorithmic systems, embedded within military and political infrastructures, remake the future as a governable, exhaustively calculable terrain—one increasingly aligned with the neo-colonial imperatives of anticipatory warfare and risk management.",

year = "2026",

month = jul,

day = "1",

language = "English",

isbn = "9783032201584",

volume = "1",

series = "Social Visualities",

publisher = "Palgrave Macmillan",

pages = "TBC",

editor = "Bratchford, \{Gary \} and Zeuv, \{Dennis \}",

booktitle = "Sociological Approaches to Algorithmic Images",

}

TY - CHAP

T1 - Occupied Futures: AI, Visual Cultures, and Neo-Colonial Visions

AU - Downey, Anthony

N1 - This essay examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) extends and intensifies the predictive, extractive, and disciplinary logic of colonial and neo-colonial power. Situating the evolution of AI within the historical genealogies of colonial mapping and surveillance, the essay argues that cadastral, photographic and photogrammetric techniques have evolved into algorithmic infrastructures that seek to not only predict and describe but also occupy the future. AI’s inferential projections—frequently mistaken for objective, deterministic truths—transform probabilistic forecasts into prescriptive realities, enabling the management of populations, behaviours, and potential threats as if the future was already known. Producing a regime of algorithmic governance that collapses diagnosis, prediction and command into a single apparatus of control, these dynamics underpin the incorporation of AI into drones, Automated Target Recognition (ATR), and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). In this paradigm, algorithmic systems generate an AI-driven thanato- and techno-political regime of death, pre-empt future potential by pre-defining who has the right to life, and summon forth apparently eternal threat—the spectre of “forever” wars—through opaque computational models. The essay concludes that algorithmic systems, embedded within military and political infrastructures, remake the future as a governable, exhaustively calculable terrain—one increasingly aligned with the neo-colonial imperatives of anticipatory warfare and risk management.

PY - 2026/7/1

Y1 - 2026/7/1

KW - Artificial intelligence

KW - Visual Culture

KW - Warfare

KW - Geopolitical Risk

KW - Legal and regulatory issues

KW - legal compliance

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9783032201584

VL - 1

T3 - Social Visualities

SP - TBC

BT - Sociological Approaches to Algorithmic Images

A2 - Bratchford, Gary

A2 - Zeuv, Dennis

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - London

ER -

Occupied Futures: AI, Visual Cultures, and Neo-Colonial Visions

Publication series

Keywords

Activities

The Future of Death in an Algorithmic Age

The Future of War: The Civilian and AI

Visualising Threat: AI and Warfare

Centre for Drones and Culture (Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge University) (External organisation)

Neo-colonial Visions: Artificial Intelligence and Epistemic Violence

Cite this