Hi everyone, I hope you are well. Our group of fabulous authors and I as editor of the new collection Critical <https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-14090-6> Political Economy and Southern Approaches to AI: A Dialogue <https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-14090-6> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026) would like to invite you to our online book launch. I would love for you to come by and hear our authors speak about their respective chapters and the research underpinning them. Online joining details as well as information about the book are below: Online book launch of ‘Critical Political Economy and Southern Approaches to AI: A Dialogue’, edited by Preeti Raghunath Date: May 12, 2026/Tuesday Meeting time and time zones: Yogyakarta: 8 - 9.30 pm New Delhi: 6.30 - 8 pm São Paulo: 10 - 11.30 am Toronto/Ontario: 9 - 10:30 am Texas: 8 - 9:30 am Sheffield: 2:00 – 3:30pm Google Meet joining info: https://meet.google.com/xhy-vyha-jcd About the book: This book presents a dialogue between two seemingly incompatible bodies of social theories - Critical Political Economy and Southern approaches - to the study of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. In doing so, the book presents scholarly engagement with the ways in which AI is being experienced in sites in the Global South, with authors exploring questions of sociality, further entrenching of inequities along labour and caste lines, socio-legal ramifications of digital IDs, and undesired outcomes such as deepfakes and their integration in the political ecosystem, among others. These perspectives interrogate and provide scholarly vocabulary to understand the various applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in our professional, legal and media spaces. Table of contents 1. Conversing Across Incommensurables?: Critical Political Economy and Southern Approaches to Artificial Intelligence Preeti Raghunath 2. Data, Anthropology and the Surplus Value of Sociality Deepak Prince 3. The Plight of Female Gig Workers in Indonesia Suci Lestari Yuana 4. A Critical Political Economy of Campaign Deepfakes in Indian Elections Sananda Sahoo 5. The Brazilian State and Human Rights: Citizen Identification and Informational Separation of Powers Gabrielle Bezerra Sales Sarlet, Lucas Reckziegel Weschenfelder 6. Caste Bias in Indian Prison Datasets: A Data Feminism Study on Kaggle.com Nishanshi Shukla 7. Epilogue: From Frontier Technologies to Frontier Lives Preeti Raghunath This book is published as part of the Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business Series <https://link.springer.com/series/14699>, which has published over 22 books since its launch in 2012. Concentrating on the social, cultural, political, political-economic, institutional, and technological changes arising from the globalization and digitization of media and communications industries, the series considers the impact of these changes on business practice, regulation and policy, and social outcomes. If you’re interested in pitching to the book series, you can reach the editors and editorial board here <https://link.springer.com/series/14699/editors>. Looking forward to seeing you there! Best, Preeti Dr Preeti Raghunath, SFHEA Lecturer in Digital Media and Society School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations University of Sheffield, UK 🌐preetiraghunath.com