Short Abstract

This roundtable critically examines the impact of generative AI on academic publishing within Development Studies. We argue that AI is not a neutral technological advance and explore strategies for resistance, and reimagining publishing as a site of care, social justice, and intersectionality.

Description

This panel/roundtable critically examines the impact of generative artificial intelligence on academic publishing within the field of Development Studies. We argue that AI is not a neutral technological advance but a colonial, patriarchal and necropolitical tool (Barry and Stephenson 2025, McQuillan 2022) designed to increase productivity while eroding intellectual rigour and diversity. In the name of efficiency, AI generates homogenised “slop” content (Nemeroff 2025), facilitates plagiarism, and reinforces epistemic hierarchies that marginalise scholars from the Global South and underrepresented communities.

Academic journals are increasingly pressured to adopt AI-driven editorial tools, plagiarism detection systems, and productivity metrics that compromise academic freedom of speech and editorial autonomy. These shifts raise urgent questions for Development Studies scholars and practitioners:

• How do AI systems reproduce colonial knowledge structures and silence diversity?

• What are the implications for scholars working in non-Western languages, methodologies, or political contexts?

• Can journals resist the commodification of knowledge and reclaim space for critical, slow, and situated scholarship?

In this roundtable of Development in Practice editorial team, we will explore strategies for resisting AI-driven homogenisation and reimagining publishing as a site of care, social justice, and intersectionality.

Barry, Isobel, and Elise Stephenson. 2025. “The Gendered, Epistemic Injustices of Generative AI.” Australian Feminist Studies 40 (123): 1–21. doi:10.1080/08164649.2025.2480927.

McQuillan, Dan. 2022. Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Nemeroff, Adam. 2025. “What is AI slop? A technologist explains this new and largely unwelcome form of online content.” The Conversation September 2, 2025. https://theconversation.com/what-is-ai-slop-a-technologist-explains-this-new-and-largely-unwelcome-form-of-online-content-256554