Balancing Innovation with Equity: Integration of Artificial Intelligence into US Agriculture and Potential Ramifications for Smallholders and Farmworkers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently being heralded as a panacea for many of the world’s problems, including those in the domain of agriculture. Yet the integration of AI into agriculture raises profound ethical concerns in regards to agricultural labor, especially considering the complex socioeconomic, racial, and citizenship contexts of the United States agricultural workforce. Additionally, agricultural AI innovations often sideline small-scale farmers in the quest to make industrial agriculture ever more precise, efficient, and profitable. The concept of “just transition” must be applied when thinking about the implementation of AI, especially AI Robots, in agriculture: without thoughtful consideration, such “innovation” could have profoundly negative impacts on farmworkers and smallholders alike while facilitating further consolidation and hegemony of industrial farms in the United States.