In this blog, Data2X unpacks key insights from Episode 3 of AI: Alternative Intelligence, a podcast from Data2X, featuring Dr. Maliha Khan. Listen to or watch the full conversation on Spotify or YouTube.
This episode takes a step back from the usual focus on artificial intelligence and technology to consider their place in a much broader historical and political moment. Technology today sits at the intersection of two major forces: the legacy of the industrial revolutions that reshaped economies a century ago, and the seismic shifts now transforming the global and foreign aid system. Our guest, Dr. Maliha Khan, President and CEO of Women Deliver, connects technology, multilateralism, and gender equality—linking questions about innovation to the structures that govern global cooperation.
A Sector in Seismic Change
Dr. Khan characterizes the current moment in international development as one of profound transformation. Over the past year alone, the sector has witnessed sharp reductions in foreign aid budgets, amounting to tens of billions of dollars. A shift she calls “utterly devastating.” This, paired with the weakening of multilateral spaces and shrinking global dialogue, has created an unprecedented period of instability for NGOs across the development sector. Many, she warns, may not survive.
Yet within this crisis lies opportunity. Dr. Khan argues that the international aid system, built in the aftermath of decolonization seventy years ago, is no longer —as she puts it— “fit for purpose.” When those structures were built, only a handful of African and Asian countries were independent; today, the world looks entirely different.
This disruption, she notes, offers a rare chance to reimagine the structures that define international cooperation—to design institutions that better reflect the realities and aspirations of people in the Global Majority.
A Feminist Playbook for Transformation
As the head of Women Deliver, Dr. Khan is leading a global consultation to create what the organization calls A Feminist Playbook, a collective effort that outlines a feminist vision for action: a unifying roadmap toward gender equality, rooted in care, solidarity, and intersectional justice. The Playbook, to be launched at Women Deliver’s 2026 conference in Melbourne, seeks to re-center the relationship between people and their states as the foundation of global development.
The vision emphasizes accountability and mutual responsibility: states must fulfill their obligations to citizens, while citizens—supported by vibrant civil societies—must hold governments accountable and help raise expectations for what inclusive governance can deliver. In this model, international NGOs, donors, and multilateral institutions play a supporting role, facilitating dialogue rather than dictating policy.
And as Dr. Khan points out, governments and major sectors will increasingly rely on AI – and the data that underpins it – for decisions that shape people’s lives. This makes the Playbook’s focus on accountability and citizen–state relationships even more urgent: AI must reinforce, not replace, the social contract between people and their governments.
Technology, AI, and Equity
Technology, including artificial intelligence, features prominently in Dr. Khan’s thinking. She argues that AI must be integrated into feminist and development agendas rather than treated as a threat or afterthought.
As she puts it, “I cannot imagine a world in which you’re not using AI to help in these aims and goals.”
Dr. Khan underscores that the influence of AI will extend far beyond individual users. Whether or not people choose to engage directly with it, governments, industries, and entire sectors will increasingly rely on AI for analysis, prediction, and decision-making. It will shape entertainment, information, and even narratives that define public life. Ignoring these developments, she argues, is not an option. The challenge, then, is not whether to use these technologies, but how to engage with them responsibly—by ensuring they reflect real-world contexts, support the rights of women and girls, and amplify rather than erase their lived realities. Every organization, she suggests, should ask how AI can improve its efficiency, strengthen its connection to communities, and influence social and political power structures.
However, Dr. Khan cautions against protectionist approaches that exclude women or youth from digital spaces under the guise of safety. Drawing on her experiences in Pakistan and her work on responsible data practices at Oxfam, she emphasizes the need to equip people to navigate technology safely rather than restrict access. True equity, she argues, depends on agency, inclusion, and respect for privacy and rights.
Toward Equity in Innovation
Reflecting on this turbulent period, Dr. Khan quotes the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who described moments when “the old-world order is dying, and a new one has not yet been born” as the interregnum. She sees today’s uncertainty as exactly such a moment: unsettling but full of potential. Her call is to pair innovation with justice, ensuring that the coming technological revolution serves all of humanity, not just the privileged few.